In Paul’s epistle to the Galatian churches, the reader, both ancient and modern, receives a series of important glimpses of the Spirit which contribute greatly to a systematic formulation of the doctrine of Pneumatology. The Greek term used by Paul for the Spirit, πνεῦμα, occurs fifteen times within Galatians’ six chapters, thirteen of which refer explicitly to the Holy Spirit, signaling for the reader His vital importance within Paul’s argumentation. A careful reader, therefore, will be able to mine this epistle deeply for a rich knowledge of the Spirit. For instance, one may learn much about the Spirit through those titles which Paul assigns to Him, such as the “promised Spirit” (3:14), or the “Spirit of His Son” (4:6). Similarly, one’s understanding of the Spirit may be informed, refined, and sharpened through Paul’s descriptions of the Spirit which pertain to how He relates to us and how we relate to Him. For instance, Paul declares that the Spirit is “supplied” to and is “received” by those who trust in Christ by faith (3:2-5, 14), that He is sent “into our hearts, crying ‘Abba! Father!’” (4:6), that it is through Him that we are born anew as children of promise (4:28-29), that it is through Him that we “eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness” (5:5), that we walk by Him (5:16), are led by Him (5:18), produce His fruit (5:22), live by Him (5:25), keep in step with Him through holy living (5:25-26), and finally, we sow holiness to Him and reap eternal life from Him (6:8). From these examples, a picture of the Spirit arises out of the bright horizon of exegetical survey, a picture which communicates profound and beautiful truths worthy of prolonged and joyful meditation. The Holy Spirit, promised in the Old Testament covenantal promises, has in these last days of joy been sent from the Father, through the Son, and into our hearts, and having received Him by faith, it is through Him that we were reborn, through Him that we now live, with Him that we now walk, by Him that we bear fruit, and from Him that we reap eternal life. As Paige asserts so succinctly, “The Spirit is himself an in-breaking of the powers of the age to come and a guarantee of the reality of that age together with the believer’s part in it.”[1] What a glory!
Now to the question of how the Holy Spirit’s role contributes to the argument of the epistle. In Galatians, Paul is combating a false gospel which certain “false brothers”[2] had been promulgating throughout the Galatian churches and which it seems had greatly affected these congregations for the worse, having deceived many. This false gospel which they brought with them, in brief, was the declaration that Gentile believers were required to accept the mark of circumcision, as well as take part in a number of other ethnic boundary markers, in order to be justified before God and included amongst the covenant people of God. These false brothers were certain men from James (2:12), whose false gospel even led to hypocrisy on Peter’s part, in that he separated himself from Gentile believers, reverting back to an OT covenantal worldview in which Gentiles were an unclean people, and in which to have table fellowship with them would render a Jew unclean and a great sinner (2:12, 17). Paul’s argument against this false gospel, seen in a nutshell form in 3:1-14, is twofold, in that it is grounded both in the redemptive declarations of God within the Abrahamic covenant and in the evidence of Gentile reception of the Holy Spirit by faith.
With regards to the Abrahamic covenant, Paul points the Gentiles backward to Genesis 15:6 where “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Just as in Romans 4, this text is used to prove that righteousness was counted to Abraham prior to the “work” of circumcision, and was done so through faith. Paul then follows this with the declaration that this same gospel which he preaches was likewise preached by God to Abraham beforehand in the covenant promises, when God promised that “in you shall all the nations be blessed.” That is, all of the Gentile nations will be blessed as Abraham was blessed, being counted as righteous through faith apart from any works of the law.
The Spirit factors into Paul’s argumentation as the divine evidence of the reception of this covenant “blessing” which the Gentiles would receive by faith. As Hansen says with relation to the Gentiles, “Their past (Gal. 3:2, 3) and present (Gal. 3:5) experience of the Spirit is indisputable evidence that they are already experiencing the full blessing of God.[3] That is, the manifestation of the Spirit amongst the Gentiles stands as a clear evidence of their current justification and covenantal inclusion, and thus these false brothers stand in contradiction to God Himself and to the gospel promises which He declared to Abraham in the past and is declaring through Paul now to the world. The Gentiles have received the Spirit by hearing the gospel message with faith (3:2), a clear evidence of their covenantal inclusion.
[1] Paige, T. “Holy Spirit,” Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid, Eds., (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1993), 411.
[2] Galatians 2:4; This term,“ψευδάδελφος,” is used one other time by Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:26.
[3] Hansen, G. W., “Galatians, Letter to the,” Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid, Eds., (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1993), 331.