Galatians 3:5
5 He therefore [oun] that
ministereth [epichoregeo] to you [humin] the Spirit, [pneuma] and [kai] worketh [energeo] miracles [dunamis] among [en] you, [humin] doeth he it by [ek] the
works [ergon] of the law, [nomos] or [e] by [ek] the hearing [akoe] of faith
[pistis]? KJV-Interlinear
5 Does He then, who provides you
with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or
by hearing with faith? NASB
He that provides the Spirit, is God. The Spirit is not only the Holy Spirit, but the
mechanics by which the Holy Spirit operates within the soul of the believer,
namely bible doctrine.
The works of miracles within you, refers to miracles
that are not from the actions of a magician or from some supernatural event, because
they work within you and the only thing within you is doctrine, that is assuming
that you have learned any and have any within your soul.
Works of the law, again is a reference to the
ritual observances of the Mosaic Law, but is also a general reference to the
many volumes of human works that had evolved within the Levitical Priesthood
over the centuries by the time that Paul had written these words.
So works is a reference to deeds. This book uses one work, namely circumcision,
but we have already seen that it applies to men only and not women. There was never a female version of
circumcision within the Levitical Laws.
Thus if a work eliminates a whole gender, then it cannot be a method for
salvation or spiritual growth, simply because of its narrow scope of use. Simply
put, women could never be saved, and that is of course a ludicrous concept.
Faith, ‘pistis,’ refers to persuasion, credence,
moral conviction, constancy, truth, belief, and thus is generally translated as
faith. This is the content of ones thoughts, by which one develops a belief or
faith in something.
Faith is determined and developed by knowledge and
facts, and thus comes to refer to the content of the scriptures or doctrine.
Since the scriptures have a primary subject, Jesus Christ, then faith is all
that applies to Jesus Christ, from salvation to spiritual maturity.
You cannot do something, to advance in your spiritual
life. You cannot do something to gain
salvation. Being good or sincere or busy
is often used as a system of belief to gain some spiritual attribute.
But then anyone can dip their head in water, wash
their hands, use religious vocabulary, wear certain colors, put up a front of
piety and so forth, but that does not make them legitimately spiritual or even
saved.
Back in verse two, the question was asked, what
provided the Holy Spirit, works or faith.
The answer is faith of course.
When in ones life, and by what work could one gain the Spirit? How would you know?
When you were twelve and cleaned up your room,
perhaps? When you were one and said your
first words? Who determines the work or
the age? And then what after that? Most people would debate the age and
especially the work, or series of works, or effort, or series of efforts. And this places people in charge of making that
determination. That is what Judaism and even Islam and all religions are all
about. People deciding, rather than God.
But by faith, then, it is God who decides and it is
God who does all of the work, not you, not humanity.
The ultimate miracle that God works within you, is
the transformation of your spiritual life in you. It is the enhancement of your soul through
the work of doctrine that you learn, use, understand, and ultimately develop
the faith muscle of your soul. This
results in your spiritual maturity and the ultimate objective of the completion
of your life, which works cannot accomplish.
