ガラテヤの信徒への手紙3:4-6 Galatians 3:4-6,
あなたがたに“霊”を授け、また、あなたがたの間で奇跡を行われる方は、あなたがたが律法を行ったから、そうなさるのでしょうか。それとも、あなたがたが福音を聞いて信じたからですか。
（ガラテヤ3:5）
キリストを信じる始めること自体が聖霊のお導きによることですが、キリストを信じる信仰の生活を続けることも聖霊のお働きによらなければできないことです。「あなたがたに“霊”を授け、また、あなたがたの間で奇跡を行われる方」とは、天の父なる神様、または天におられるキリストのことです。「“霊”を授け」が、天から聖霊を送って授けることであるのは言うまでもありません。それでは、「あなたがたの間で奇跡を行われる」とはどのようなことなのでしょうか？
新約聖書の時代の教会では、しばしば奇跡が起こることがありました。聖霊の働きによって、普通には起こらないようなことが起こったのです。パウロは、コリントの信徒への手紙一の12章8節から10節で、聖霊の働きについて次のように記しています。「ある人には“霊”によって知恵の言葉、ある人には同じ“霊”によって知識の言葉が与えられ、ある人にはその同じ“霊”によって信仰、ある人にはこの唯一の“霊”によって病気をいやす力、ある人には奇跡を行う力、ある人には預言する力、ある人には霊を見分ける力、ある人には種々の異言を語る力、ある人には異言を解釈する力が与えられています。」“霊”というのは言うまでもなく聖霊のことです。そして、ここに記されている聖霊のお働きは、おそらくコリント教会の状況を反映していたと思われます。それによれば、コリントの教会では聖霊のお働きによって「病気をいやす力」をもつ人やそのほかの「奇跡を行う力」たとえば、悪霊を追い出す力をもつ人がいたことがわかります。おそらく、ガラテヤ地方の諸教会でもそのような力をもつ人たちがいたのでしょう。
パウロが「あなたがたに“霊”を授け、また、あなたがたの間で奇跡を行われる方は、あなたがたが律法を行ったから、そうなさるのでしょうか。それとも、あなたがたが福音を聞いて信じたからですか」と問いかけているのは、もちろん「福音を聞いて信じたからです」という答えを引き出すための問いかけです。旧約聖書の律法を守って生きる生き方へと誤った方向転換をしていた信徒たちに、聖霊のお導きによって洗礼を受け、聖霊のお働きによって信仰生活を続けていたころのことを思い起こさせて、信仰生活の原点に立ち帰らせようとしているのです。つまり、「福音を聞いて信じた」という原点に立ち帰らせようとしているのです。
（10月1日の説教より）
Christian faith is faith in the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In other words, there is one true God, but he works in three ways: first, as God the Father, who created and rules the world and the universe; second, as Christ the Son, who died and rose again to save mankind and is in heaven; and third, as God the Holy Spirit, who purifies and guides those who believe. Of these three ways of being, the work of God the Holy Spirit is perhaps the most difficult to understand. When I explain Christian teachings, the question I often receive is: “What is the Holy Spirit?”
Each of us has an “ego.” And we live according to our “ego.” However, because this “ego” is tainted with sin, we do things that are contrary to God’s teachings. In other words, we lie, steal from others, commit adultery and murder. And even people who do not do these things in their actual behaviour, have these bad thoughts in their hearts. Some people may not admit that they have bad thoughts in their hearts, saying, “I am not like that.” But that is only because they do not recognise the evil in their own hearts. Those who do not recognise the evil in their hearts may think they are right and act to the detriment of others. As the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:10, “None is righteous, no, not one,” every human “ego” is, by God’s standards, tainted with sin.
Therefore, first of all, believing in God itself is impossible by the power of man’s sin-stained old “ego.” It is through the work of the Holy Spirit that a person who did not believe in God can be changed to believe in God. In other words, God the Holy Spirit works to change the heart of a person who has not believed in God. Above all, it is through the work of God the Holy Spirit that a person who has not believed in Christ comes to believe in Christ, breaking down his old “ego” and humbling him before the cross of Christ. In other words, it is through the work of God the Holy Spirit that a person begins to have Christian faith.
However, many people do not realise that when they begin to believe in Christ, their faith is initiated by the work of the Holy Spirit. They think they came to believe by their own power. Therefore, they think that their life of faith after becoming a Christian is also in their own power. However, as I mentioned earlier, the old human “ego” is tainted with sin, so if you try to live the life of faith in your own strength, it will not work. For example, even if you say to yourself, “I was baptised and became a Christian, so I will live a clean life,” or “I was forgiven for my sins through the cross of Christ, so I will live a life of thanks to God,” you cannot do it. Then you may say, “I was baptised, but nothing changed,” or “I believed in the cross of Christ, but nothing changed,” and you may give up.
The Christian life of faith cannot produce good results without the work of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it is impossible to live a good Christian life through the work of the old “ego.” However, by surrendering the “ego” to God the Holy Spirit and allowing him to crush and cleanse the old “ego,” it is possible to live a good and fruitful life of faith. In 5:22 of this letter, Paul writes: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” This “Spirit” refers to the Holy Spirit. Good hearts and deeds such as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” are made possible not by the work of the old human “ego” but by the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is very important to continue to receive the Holy Spirit in the Christian life.
The apostle Paul was a man who lived his life of faith by continually receiving the Holy Spirit. Paul described his life of faith in the way he lived it in 2:20 of this letter, which precedes today’s passages: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” These are wonderful words that describe the Christian way of life very well. “Christ who lives in me” means “the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit in me, giving me strength to live.” Before believing in Christ, Paul lived as a Jewish teacher, strictly adhering to the teachings of the Old Testament law. However, while travelling towards the city of Damascus to persecute Christians, he encountered the risen Christ in heaven. He was then rebuked by Christ, “Why do you persecute me?” and made aware of his sin. He was then converted to a life of faith in Jesus Christ and led by the Holy Spirit. In other words, Paul had ceased to live by the power of the old “ego” and was living by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In contrast, how was the faith and life of the believers in the churches of Galatia? In chapter 3:2, before today’s passages, Paul says: “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?” “The Spirit” is the Holy Spirit. In other words, they received the Holy Spirit and experienced Christ’s salvation. It is not clear what specific experience this refers to. When he says that they received the Holy Spirit, one gets the impression that there was a dramatic conversion experience. However, this may not necessarily be what Paul is referring to here. In Acts 13:48, when Paul preached in Antioch in Pisidia, one of the Galatian cities, “when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” This statement gives the impression that there were those who heard Paul’s sermons who were genuinely willing to believe in Christ, rather than that there was a dramatic conversion. Therefore, when it is said that they “received the Spirit,” it does not mean that they were dramatically converted, but that they received the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, through sincere believing.
Verse 4 of today’s Bible passages says: “Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. (NRSV)” The phrase “experienced so much” sounds like there was a dramatic conversion. But even if it was not a dramatic conversion like Paul’s, if people who used to believe in and worship idols such as the gods of Greek mythology stop doing so and come to believe in Christ, we can say that they “experienced so much.” It was something that was achieved through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. However, the Galatian believers had reverted to the old “ego” way of life, living by the power of the old “ego,” i.e., living by the Old Testament law. This was because the evangelists who came after Paul taught that full salvation could not be attained without not only believing in Christ but also undergoing the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law. Furthermore, the fact that Peter, the leader of the Jerusalem church, initially shared meals with Gentile believers who had not undergone the ritual of circumcision, but later stopped sharing meals with them, also seems to have caused the Galatian believers to change their direction towards a way of life that lived according to the Old Testament law. Paul then asks, “Was it for nothing?” that they believed in Christ and lived a new way of life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
In the next verse 5, Paul asks, “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” The beginning of faith in Christ is by the Holy Spirit, but the continuation of the life of faith in Christ is also not possible without the work of the Holy Spirit. The one who “supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you” refers to God the Father in heaven or to Christ in heaven. It goes without saying that “supplies the Spirit” means sending and giving the Holy Spirit from heaven. So what does it mean to “work miracles among you”?
In the churches in New Testament times, miracles often took place. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, things happened that would not normally have happened. Paul writes about the work of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 as follows.
For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
By “the Spirit,” it goes without saying that the Holy Spirit is meant. And the ministry of the Holy Spirit described here probably reflected the situation of the Corinthian church. It shows that in the Corinthian church there were people who, through the work of the Holy Spirit, had “gifts of healing” and other “the working of miracles,” for example, the power to cast out demons. Presumably there were people with such powers in the churches in Galatia, too.
When Paul asks: “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?” of course, it is a question to elicit the answer “by hearing with faith.” He is trying to bring the believers, who had been misdirected towards a life of living by the Old Testament law, back to the starting point of their life of faith by reminding them of the time when they were baptised by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and continued their life of faith through the work of the Holy Spirit. In other words, he is trying to bring them back to the starting point of “hearing with faith.”
So, in verse 6, Paul reminds the Galatian believers of one person. In verse 6, he says: “Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’” This is a quote from Genesis 15:6 in the Old Testament. There it says: “He believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” And I would like to tell you what that means according to Genesis chapter 15. Abraham lived in a city called Ur in southern Mesopotamia, which is said to be one of the oldest cradles of civilisation in the world. In today’s country, this city would be in Iraq. Abraham moved with his family from there to a city called Haran in northern Mesopotamia. In Haran, he heard God’s call and set out on a further journey with his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot. From then on, Abraham’s life became that of a traveller who lived in one place for a period of time and then followed God’s voice to travel to another place. He lived a nomadic life, moving with his livestock.
Then Abraham and his wife Sarah grew old. To Abraham, who had lived according to God’s voice, God said, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great. (Gen. 15:1)” But Abraham said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me?” and he replied, “For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. (Gen. 15:2)” He then said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir. (Gen. 15:3)” Abraham was already old and childless, so he probably wanted to say that no matter how great a reward God gave him, it would only be inherited by “a member of his household,” a man called “Eliezer of Damascus.” In other words, the words of Abraham are: “No matter what reward you give me now, my descendants will not inherit that reward.” It sounds like he was grumbling, complaining, angry and frustrated because God did not give him descendants.
However, God did not condemn Abraham for his grumbling, complaining, anger and frustration, but told him, “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir. (Gen. 15:4)” He then took Abraham outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them,” declaring, “So shall your offspring be. (Genesis 15:5)” For Abraham, who had no children, the promise that his descendants would increase beyond counting like the stars in the sky was, to common sense, unbelievable. The Lord God quietly presented that incredible promise before Abraham. Abraham’s response to this was that he believed in the Lord.
And God counted Abraham’s simple response of believing “as righteousness. (Gen. 15:6)” At this point, Abraham had not yet taken concrete action in accordance with what he believed. So, so to speak, he is in a state of “just believing.” Nevertheless, the Lord God “counted it to him as righteousness.” In this way, an unshakeable and sure communion was established between Abraham and God. And Abraham went on to live a life of unbroken communion with God. The story of Abraham does not mention that Abraham received the Holy Spirit. However, there is no doubt that Abraham communed with God through the Holy Spirit and lived his life under God’s guidance. Thus, Abraham became a model for Christians who believe in Jesus Christ and receive God’s unilateral grace. This life of faith of Abraham is what Paul reminds the believers of the Galatian churches. Across the ages, Abraham provides a model of what a life of faith should be for those of us living today.