Galatians 3:2

Context

Galatians is a letter that Paul wrote to the churches in the region of Galatia, which he had founded through his preaching of the gospel. After Paul left, people came into these churches teaching that Gentile believers also had to be circumcised and keep the Jewish law (Galatians 5:2; 6:12). In 3:1 Paul rebukes them, "O foolish Galatians," and then in verse 2, saying "This only would I learn of you," he appeals to the believers' own experience as evidence: they received the Holy Spirit not by keeping the law but when they heard the gospel. In verse 3 he goes on to ask, "having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" From verse 6 onward he develops his argument with the example of Abraham.

Interpretation

• The Reformation reading: Martin Luther and the Reformed tradition understand "the works of the law" as merit accumulated in order to be accounted righteous before God. They read this verse as evidence that the Spirit and salvation are given as grace through faith rather than by works, and they connect it with the doctrine of justification (God's declaring the sinner righteous).
• The "New Perspective on Paul" reading: Some scholars since the late twentieth century, including E. P. Sanders, James Dunn, and N. T. Wright, regard "the works of the law" chiefly as the markers that distinguished Jews from Gentiles, such as circumcision, the food laws, and the Sabbath. In this reading the focus of the verse is that Gentiles belong to the people of God without becoming Jews.
• The Pentecostal and charismatic reading: This reading notes that Paul asks about the reception of the Spirit as an event the believers remember, and that verse 5 mentions the one who "worketh miracles." It therefore sometimes treats the verse as one basis for understanding the reception of the Spirit as an event accompanied by observable experience.

Debates and Issues

• The translation of "the hearing of faith": The Greek expression translates literally as something like "hearing of faith." Scholars disagree over whether to render it as "hearing with faith" (hearing and believing) or as "the message that produces faith" or "the report about faith." The former places the emphasis on the faith of the hearer; the latter, on the gospel message itself. Korean Bible translations likewise differ slightly in their wording.
• The timing of the reception of the Spirit: Presbyterians and others in the Reformed tradition hold that this verse means the Spirit is received upon believing, and therefore that it does not support a baptism in the Holy Spirit that comes separately after conversion. Pentecostal denominations respond that the verse states only that faith is the condition for receiving the Spirit and does not rule out experiences of being filled with the Spirit or of Spirit baptism after conversion.

Related Passages

• Galatians 3:5
• Galatians 2:16
• Galatians 3:6-9
• Acts 10:44-46
• Romans 10:17