Gal 3:1-5 says,
¶O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
This passage establishes seven fundamental truths about God, truth, and God’s word. They are:
1. There is truth. Every word men may devise is NOT necessarily true. If every word of man was true, Paul would not have found it necessary to write a letter to Galatia that defended truth.
2. God’s word is truth. Paul had preached God’s word to the Galatians and he defends the word he had preached as truth.
3. It is possible to know truth. Paul expected the Galatians to recognize what they had been taught as truth.
4. God does have a will for man. If God did not have a will, He would not have spoken through Paul, and Paul would not have reminded the Galatians that he had spoken God’s revealed will to them.
5. It is possible to pervert God’s truth into a lie. Being bewitched is to be deceived into believing a lie.
6. It is possible to be led astray from the truth. Paul was afraid the Galatians were so perverted as to be fallen from God’s grace (Gal 5:4).
7. Not every thing that one does in the name of religion is acceptable to God. You can’t believe just anything you choose to believe and still remain pleasing to God.
Men cannot teach just anything they please, call it the truth, and expect God to be happy with the result. God has a law and He expects men to learn it and follow it.
