"Therefore, the [One] fully-supplying to you the Spirit and working powers in you, [is it] out of works of law or out of hearing of faith?
-Paul summarizes here, and clarifies - they had seen miracles, these Galatians. Supernatural. Scientifically impossible. God had shown up in Galatia after these put their trust in Christ and as this assembly was launched and began to grow. The Lord had shown up and worked some wonderful impossibles, wondrous wonders which no eye had seen and no ear had heard (1Corinthians 2.9), which no man can do apart from the Spirit and power of God showing up and doing what He do. Inexplicable - defying explanation.
-And to Paul’s point, there was not one thing these Galatians DID to unleash or otherwise facilitate these miracles, not one work of law, not one good deed, no not one. There was not one eency weency good deed they did in order to receive the Holy Spirit. All they did was believe. THAT is the point which Paul is making. And that, my friends, is the key to miracles, the key to unlocking the greater works which Christ Himself promised (John 14.12), that which unleashes the supernatural in your life and in mine. Belief. Faith. Trusting in the truth that God is, that He is the great I AM, and that He is able. Scripture tells us that it was actually unbelief - lack of faith and trust - which hindered Christ from doing miracles in one place (Matthew 13.58). Faith requires that one relax their reliance on limited human reason and their absolute insistence on being able to fully explain every phenomenon in strictly scientific terms. It’s not inconceivable, rather it’s that which is simply beyond the known laws of physics and beyond the capacity of finite man to be able to explain, much less produce. And that’s ok. You and I need to be ok with there being some things which we cannot explain, with the existence of that unseen Greater Power, something/someOne greater than ourselves. That's what faith is, by definition, the conviction of things NOT seen... (Hebrews 11.1).
-Note that the Spirit and wonderful impossibles go hand in hand in the NT. Everywhere He shows up, there are supernatural signs and wonders, visions and boldness and powerful speaking, there is fruit - genuine life-changing love and inexpressible inexplicable joy and peace and hope, sharing and serving and patience and kindness. There is life - new life, and there is death, death to self and to the deeds of the flesh. Make no mistake, the supernatural is part of the package Paul has in mind when he thinks about God pouring out His Spirit on the Galatians. And ultimately, when Christ’s Spirit shows up and fills His people there is glory (2Corinthians 3.8) - and that’s precisely the point. He comes - into hearts and lives - to show off how breathtakingly great is our Savior (John 16.14). Glorious greater works - can that be said of my life? Is there any aspect of my life which cannot be explained by reason and strictly human terms? Is there any whiff of the supernatural about me? Anything which, humanly speaking, no eye has seen?
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