Galatians 3:5-9 “He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”
God ministers (truly, fully supplies – see Strong’s) to us the Spirit. If we are blessed to really consider what is being said to us here, it is overwhelming. The Creator of the universe ministers to us and works miracles among us. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever: He is still a miracle working God. However, He does not supply us the Spirit because of works of righteousness which we have done (Tit 3:5).
God ministers to us by the hearing of faith. By His grace, we hear His word spoken unto us and are blessed to receive the truth of that word. The Spirit teaches us the truth by revelation, even as it was with Abraham. Consider that Abraham (then called Abram) was living in Ur, going about his daily routine, and serving the gods of his fathers. The law had not been committed to him in any way.
When the living God spoke to him, telling him to leave all he had ever known and worshipped and go into a land that he would be shown (Gen 12:1), he believed God. Abraham’s belief (faith) was imputed (accounted) to him for justification (righteousness). We have never had any righteousness that was ours by our works. Our righteousness is literally in Christ, regardless of what we think about it. We cease to labor under the bondage of trying to establish our own righteousness when God reveals to us the truth that our righteousness is in Christ.
When we walk after the things of the Spirit by faith, we are the children of Abraham. Circumcision does not make us the children of Abraham. Keeping a set of rules and regulations does not make us the children of Abraham. Not even our bloodline makes us true children of Abraham if we reject the truth of Jesus Christ. Being of faith makes us children of Abraham. If we are children of Abraham, we are also heirs according to the promise God made to Abraham.
The scripture preached the gospel unto Abraham before he was ever commanded to circumcise himself and his offspring. The inspired word of God pointed ahead of time to the fact that God would justify the Gentiles (heathen) through faith when it was said, “In thee shall all nations be blessed.” This blessing was not referring to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. This blessing was pointing to the birth of our Lord, Jesus through the lineage of Isaac. In Jesus Christ, our Lord, all nations (Jew and Gentile) are blessed!
Our ability to believe that Jesus is the promised seed is a blessing from God. This is a blessing we share with our faithful forefather, Abraham. It is in this blessing of faith (Jesus Christ) that we find our righteousness, and not in the works of the law. The law can never make us perfect because it was only ever a shadow of good things to come (Heb 10:1): a shadow has no power to affect reality. Our reality is in Jesus Christ, and we know this by faith.
May God grant us the grace to walk more in the liberty of faith and less in the bondage of legality!