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Examined Doctrine
PASSAGE · BSB

Galatians 3

6 positions in the corpus lean on this chapter. Cited verses are marked.

1O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

3Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?

4Have you suffered so much for nothing, if it really was for nothing?

5Does God lavish His Spirit on you and work miracles among you because you practice the law, or because you hear and believe?

6So also, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

7Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham.

8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”

9So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

11Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”

12The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”

13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

14He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

15Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.

16The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.

17What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise.

18For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.

19Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator.

20A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one.

21Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law.

22But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.

23Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.

24So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

27For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

Who leans on it

Jacobus Arminius on indwelling of the holy spiritPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Union with Christ — and therefore the Spirit's indwelling — is the effect of faith, not its cause. Arminius calls that union 'the primary and immediate effect of that faith by which men believe in him as the only saviour…Athanasius on extent of the atonementPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°The language is relentlessly universal and the argument requires it — "in the stead of all," "the ransom of all," "the debt owing from all." Because the Word assumed a body of the same nature as everyone's, the death of …Augustine on baptismPRIMARY SOURCELEANS°Every person, infant to elderly, dies to sin in baptism — infants to original sin alone, adults to their added sins too. But the real center of On Baptism, Against the Donatists is a validity/profit distinction: schismat…Chrysostom on the person of christPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°He affirms both sides firmly and has no formula for holding them together. Against the Docetists, "was made" means real flesh; against any notion of change, the divine essence "did not change to flesh" but remained what …Philip Melanchthon on natural / general revelationDISPUTED READINGNO FIT°No listed stance fits. The Apology grants that reason genuinely knows the moral law — 'the natural law agrees with the law of Moses' — and that reason can produce a real civil righteousness which God rewards, while insis…John Owen on extent of the atonementPRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°Definite atonement, argued from the intention of God rather than from the value of the sacrifice. The hinge is intention: what the Father and the Son intended to accomplish by Christ's death is certainly effected, so Chr…