What did you do to receive the Holy Spirit? Did you earn a series of spiritual merit badges?
I received the Holy Spirit when I was baptized at one month old. There was no choosing, doing, or earning involved. God simply gave and I passively received. The Holy Spirit has been at work in my life ever since; through my Baptism, God’s Word, and the Lord’s Supper.
How about you?
In Galatians 3, Paul is speaking to our tendency toward legalism – the idea that our relationship with God is based on keeping a series of rules or commands. We all have this in us, and we all want to earn God’s love to one degree or another. Paul is trying to burst our bubble urging us to remember that even our faith came to us as a gift because God worked through His Word in our lives. We should remember, though, that Paul is not merely taking us down a peg, but getting us back on the right foundation in our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’” Seeking to be right with God by the things we do literally places us under a curse. God provides one Way to come to Him, and to try to come by another route is to reject the Way. Instead of our efforts, we are to trust in Jesus. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us,” so that in Him we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Don’t get me wrong! Good works do matter! They just cannot save us. God wants us to keep His Law, and to break is His Law is to sin. Just as surely as we do not want to be legalists, we should not see ourselves as above God’s Law, as if it no longer applies to us. Instead we should cherish God’s Law for what it is: a curb that protects us from behaviors that would hurt us, a mirror that shows our sin so we can turn and repent, and a guide to show us how to live a godly life. Indeed, we cherish God’s Law for being the gift that it is to us and we strive to keep it, but we live by God’s promises and it is there that we find our hope and salvation.
Remember that we are now “in Christ.” Jesus stood under the curse of those accusations and paid the penalty for them on the tree. When we were baptized we were set free from the condemnation of the Law, living by the promise that we are clothed in Christ. When God the Father looks upon us, He no longer sees sinful, wayward children (as the Law would show us to be) but He sees His Son – and therefore Paul says, “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” God sees only Jesus’ perfection when He looks upon us.
In Genesis 27, Jacob tricked his father Isaac by dressing up like his brother and he stole Esau’s blessing. Because he was dressed as Esau, he received Esau’s blessing. In baptism you and I are dressed in Jesus, and we are given the blessing that Jesus deserved. Here’s the difference: Jesus chose to cover us in His clothing. He dressed us in His righteousness so we could obtain the blessing that belonged to Him. We live in that promise and find our hope for the future in what Jesus has done, and not in the works that we do.
Lord Jesus, help me to live by your promises, and clothe me in your righteousness. Amen.
I received the Holy Spirit when I was baptized at one month old. There was no choosing, doing, or earning involved. God simply gave and I passively received. The Holy Spirit has been at work in my life ever since; through my Baptism, God’s Word, and the Lord’s Supper.
How about you?
In Galatians 3, Paul is speaking to our tendency toward legalism – the idea that our relationship with God is based on keeping a series of rules or commands. We all have this in us, and we all want to earn God’s love to one degree or another. Paul is trying to burst our bubble urging us to remember that even our faith came to us as a gift because God worked through His Word in our lives. We should remember, though, that Paul is not merely taking us down a peg, but getting us back on the right foundation in our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’” Seeking to be right with God by the things we do literally places us under a curse. God provides one Way to come to Him, and to try to come by another route is to reject the Way. Instead of our efforts, we are to trust in Jesus. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us,” so that in Him we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Don’t get me wrong! Good works do matter! They just cannot save us. God wants us to keep His Law, and to break is His Law is to sin. Just as surely as we do not want to be legalists, we should not see ourselves as above God’s Law, as if it no longer applies to us. Instead we should cherish God’s Law for what it is: a curb that protects us from behaviors that would hurt us, a mirror that shows our sin so we can turn and repent, and a guide to show us how to live a godly life. Indeed, we cherish God’s Law for being the gift that it is to us and we strive to keep it, but we live by God’s promises and it is there that we find our hope and salvation.
Remember that we are now “in Christ.” Jesus stood under the curse of those accusations and paid the penalty for them on the tree. When we were baptized we were set free from the condemnation of the Law, living by the promise that we are clothed in Christ. When God the Father looks upon us, He no longer sees sinful, wayward children (as the Law would show us to be) but He sees His Son – and therefore Paul says, “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” God sees only Jesus’ perfection when He looks upon us.
In Genesis 27, Jacob tricked his father Isaac by dressing up like his brother and he stole Esau’s blessing. Because he was dressed as Esau, he received Esau’s blessing. In baptism you and I are dressed in Jesus, and we are given the blessing that Jesus deserved. Here’s the difference: Jesus chose to cover us in His clothing. He dressed us in His righteousness so we could obtain the blessing that belonged to Him. We live in that promise and find our hope for the future in what Jesus has done, and not in the works that we do.
Lord Jesus, help me to live by your promises, and clothe me in your righteousness. Amen.
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