You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
Galatians 3:1[1]
No one likes to be called foolish. It’s one thing to be called dumb face to face, but only the people who will ever know what happened had to be right there. It’s one of those “you had to be there” moments.
But it’s another thing all together for someone to write it down and send it out for all to see. All through elementary school I had to bring my report card home for my parents to read. And I always had a pretty good report card with one exception. Spelling.
No matter how hard I tried, I always got a D in spelling. Sometimes I improved and it went up to a D+, but that has the highpoint in early educational exploits.
But the only people that knew the official depts of my spelling failures were my parents. I’m sure everyone else in the class thought that I was a horrible speller, but the written proof of my shame was reserved for me and my parents.
There had never been any doubt about what Paul told the Galatians. He was consistent and crystal clear from the beginning that Jesus had died one-time death for all sin. Period. And we know this is true because of Christ’s bodily resurrection from the dead.
Paul had started out with this message, and he never moved from it. He didn’t start with a different story and then slowly slide it over to here. He never tried to soft sell the facts of Jesus death and resurrection. They sounded unlike anything they’d ever heard before. But that was OK.
Paul clearly portrayed the entire good news story. It was like he printed up a bunch of posters and put them up all over town. When you print up posters, they all say the same thing. When you send a copy of a text or email to a bunch of people, they all get the same message.
While Paul gave the Galatians the good news, it always, always, always, ended with the resurrection. Jesus was no longer in the tomb, but raised and alive. There were still the marks on his resurrected body where he was beaten and whipped. Where he was nailed to the cross. Where the crown of thorns was spiked into his head. Where the spear went into his side.
These marks were proof that his sacrifice wasn’t just some imaginary thing. Or some spiritual story that was made up to get people interested. No, these were proof positive that Jesus was a real person, that he lived a real life, and that he died a real death.
His death changed everything. No more going to temples to offer sacrifices. Over and over having to kill an animal because we had failed in our relationship with God and one another. Np more needing to pay for sin.
Why? Because Jesus’ death was a once-and-for-all-time sacrifice. Unlike anything that had ever happened. Before, sacrifices were over, and over, and over, and over. They never stopped. But with Jesus, it was done. Finished. Over and out.
Now, let’s think about this. Which would you rather have? Which one would you choose?
A relationship with God where you had to keep coming back, over and over, to offer sacrifices? Or…
God himself comes down and offers himself as our sacrifice once-and-for-all?
Maybe when I put it like that, it now makes sense that Paul calls the Galatians foolish. In Jesus Christ, God had come down and paid our eternal debt on the cross.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:2
Jesus personally is the sacrifice, the payment, that puts us right again with God. He gave himself up for us, so we wouldn’t have to pay the terrible price that we deserved.
That’s why Paul calls the Galatians foolish. Could the same thing be said about ourselves? Are we just as foolish? Walking away from God’s eternal solution to our most desperate problem? Our separation from him because of our sin?
Yes, we would be just as foolish as they were. So, now is the time to turn back to God and gratefully accept his paying our debt.
Noodling Questions
Describe the last time you called someone foolish. Or at least thought it.
How has the resurrection of Jesus changed your life? Continues to change your life?
What is an atoning sacrifice?
[1] Unless otherwise noted, all Bible references are from the New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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