Galatians 3:3 - Faith, Perfection, and the un-American Way

"So mindless, are you, having begun by Spirit now by flesh are you being completed?"

-Mindless.  Foolish.  They have lost their minds, these.  They started out so well, by faith, trust, leaning not on their own understanding or on their own self-effort, not trusting in their flesh, in their own innate (in)ability to somehow make themselves better, perfect, more acceptable and pleasing to God.  They were trusting in Him, in His indwelling Spirit for that, for acceptance, for guidance, for power, for the understanding of and enabling to do all that God wanted, for an increase and harvest of fruit and righteousness.  It is folly indeed to ever try and do this thru good deeds done in my own strength, but all the moreso to go back to doing so after having been enlightened by God’s Spirit and introduced to the way of faith.  The best my flesh can do is filthy rags (Isaiah 64.4), dirty deeds done dirt cheap.

-Yet at some point, as a result of the teaching and influence of some Judaizers, these believers in Galatia have begun to believe that the way forward to progress in their faith is to exercise not their faith but their flesh.  There are certain works which they must do in order to please God, in order to follow and become more like Jesus.  Self-effort, self-help, pulling myself up by my own bootstraps.  It sets nicely in the heart of fallen man, loathe as we are to ask for help and to have to depend on another in any way.  That’s humbling.  It’s "inefficient".  It’s outright embarrassing.  Frankly, it’s un-American.  Rugged individualism - that’s what made this country great, right?  Apparently that set just fine with the Galatians too.

-In no uncertain terms are we talking about the abandonment of a sound work ethic, about embracing and enabling laziness and sloth.  No, no, faith and hard work must always be held in tension, with the awareness that in the way of holiness, work which is truly good in the eyes of the God with Whom we have to do always issues forth from faith.  Absolute trust in and dependence on (someone else, on) God to save us, to make us clean and right in His eyes (thru Jesus our Savior).  Yes, I am always to work hard when it is time to work, and earn my pay (2Thessalonians 3.10-12; Ephesians 4.28; Proverbs 10.4, 18.9; Nehemiah 4.6), but faith always precedes truly good and perfect deeds, and there is nothing meritorious, no progress towards spiritual perfection apart from faith, from absolute trust in God’s grace and power and provision thru Christ.  Perfection - that which is necessary in order to gain entrance into heaven - is arrived at not by any fleshy self-effort, and to come to know this truth but then abandon it would be the height of folly.