It is not the works we do that make us ‘righteous’ but trusting in what has been done for us by another.

The Galatian churches were in danger of falling away from the Gospel and that is why the apostle Paul wrote to them. In this passage, Paul takes the Galatians back to the cross. He says in the second part of verse 1 ‘Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.’ Christ’s perfect sacrifice, then as well as now, is absolutely sufficient to atone for all our sins, making us righteous in God’s sight. Justification by faith in Christ does not permit any works of our own to, seemingly, merit salvation. He asks them this question: ‘Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith?’

This question should have caused the Galatians to reflect on how they came to know the Lord Jesus … that it wasn’t by anything they had done, deserved or merited in any way. Then Paul asks two questions together: ‘Are you so foolish?’ followed by:  ‘After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?’ The fact that there was a division among them pointed to what is here called ‘the flesh’. This is what happens when believers try to justify themselves instead of continuing to rely on what God has done for them in Christ.