Christ.
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! (Gal 3:1)
Nothing is as hard as the sight of these people that before had received pure grace now leave this way and then return to their former madness. These are people that have known the favorable effects of grace and tasted the sweet prayer and presence of God; they have been instructed in God’s ways and had Jesus Christ depicted before their eyes. That is to say, the preachers of the Gospel (with whom Jesus Christ is well pleased) depicted the crucifixion for them. After this, they have had Jesus Christ crucified and manifested within them. Even after all these things, they leave Jesus Christ, often because of false reports, under the pretext of a more accurate gospel. O, this is very hard to bear from people who had been educated in the truth!
The only thing I want to learn from our is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? (Gal 3:2)
This question goes to all people who have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit and grace within the interior. Is it by doing the law that you have received the Spirit of love, peace and charity? No, assuredly. The word that you have heard the Lord speak inside of you gives his Spirit and the anointing of His grace.
Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? (Gal 3:3)
After having suffered to be with God, we make our sufferings useless, since we return to our first madness. There are persons who return to sin after having left them; for others, after having been advanced in the way of the Spirit, they quit to follow nature; for others, after having left propriety for the way of surrender to Jesus Christ, leave Jesus Christ and return to the way of propriety. Now these people, having suffered much travail, have made their pains and sufferings vain and useless.
Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” 7 so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. (Gal 3:6–7)
The principal character of Abraham was his faith and his abandon to the rule of God. Abraham believed and trusted in God’s promises; he respected God’s strong rule and followed Him, even when the way seemed to destroy the promises. That is what makes Abraham’s perfect state and is what distinguishes his character from the rest of humanity. Like Abraham, the true characteristics of interior souls are faith and abandon. Faith is their foundation and prayers make their interior. Their exterior conduct is to abandon to God and to follow his step-by-step providence. They receive the will of God moment to moment, and trust God in all situations, both the bad and the good. Abraham’s children are those with interior grace. These children have faith and abandon to the rule of God and receive this rule through true contemplation. This character of the interior soul distinguishes these people from others. These interior people are the true children of Abraham.
And the Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.” 9 For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed. (Gal 3:8–9)
Scriptures prophesied the true justification of faith. God says that all the nations will be blessed by Abraham. God gave Abraham faith and abandon, and, through Abraham, his strong blessing flows out to all the nations. We may be good and virtuous without entering into the state of faith, leading a settled and good life. But for perfect justification, we must enter faith. Therefore, we receive the blessing along with Abraham, the gift of faith.
For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” (Gal 3:10–11)
Those who trust the works of the law are mistaken and bring on themselves the curse that makes them guilty. The law has power only because of its ability to condemn and kill. Because the law is ultimately based in violence, it cannot be depended upon to save and deliver. We understand that the law does not communicate grace, because the threat and use of violence must accomplish the law. Hence, the believer cannot have confidence in the works of the law. Instead, we put all our trust in the grace of God merited by Jesus Christ, who accomplished the law perfectly. He fulfilled the law by grace as he lived the will of his Father. Jesus Christ trusted his Father.
The consequence of this belief is clear. The just live by faith; therefore to be justified, live by faith. To be justified, let us live faith. When we live this faith, we will be just since the just live by faith. This argument suffers no contradictions.
But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.”13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” (Gal 3:12–13)
The law in itself does not establish trust in faith. It stops before faith. The law does not have the Spirit and is ignorant of the way of faith.
Jesus Christ delivers us from the heavy burden of the law with its servitude and curse. Instead, Jesus Christ works in our hearts so that we abandon ourselves to him and walk in faith. Paul writes that Jesus Christ delivers us from the observation of the law since it is contrary to the words of Jesus Christ. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Matt 5:17). Therefore by his death, Jesus Christ accomplishes the fulfillment of the law. He came to deliver us from the curse of the law, that is to say, the heavy slavery of the law. The violence of the law is a heavy yoke upon our hearts. Instead, the yoke of Jesus Christ is gentle and humble in heart. Jesus says, “For my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Luke 11:30).
But how does Jesus Christ deliver us from this harsh servitude? It is by making himself cursed for us, he places himself under all the rigors of the law with full responsibility for this heavy burden. By doing so, he delivers us from the severity of the law and fulfills the justice of His Father. He places in us perfect grace and makes this easy by the power and efficacy of his love. We must not look upon his love as a law, but as a pleasure greater than the world, that carries us with sweetness and with nothing contrary to God’s good will. We obey God and he delivers us from slavery to the law. For us, we remain in God’s sweetness and graciousness.
Why do people stay with the violence and difficulty of the law? They do not walk in the Spirit but they trust only in the law. They accomplish things only with strange violence. This new life of faith seems impossible to them, and instead of this, they want the pleasure and ease of the world. Because they do not want this faith, they enter into death.
In order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:14)
The blessing of Abraham is the Spirit of the Lord that brings faith and abandon. This communicates to us the promises of Jesus Christ. But do all Christians receive the Spirit? No, because not all Christians trust Jesus Christ. Instead, they trust their own actions and propriety. They do not trust God.
Brothers and sisters, I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to him offspring; it does not say, “And to your offsprings,” as of many; but it says, “And to your offspring,” that is, to one person, who is Christ. 17 My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. (Gal 3:15–17)
God gave his promise as a gift so we could have the freedom of his children. This promise was made before
