You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
Galatians 3:1
In Galatians 3:1-4, the Apostle Paul identifies three reasons we backslide. Today, we will consider the first of these three. Tomorrow we will consider the second, and the next day we will consider the third.
The first reason we backslide: we lose sight of the cross.
The Galatian believers heard the teaching of the cross from Paul while he was on one of his missionary journeys. Paul spoke of Christ who was crucified on a Roman cross and put to death to pay the penalty for the sin's of mankind. Jesus Christ died the death of a rebel on behalf of rebels.
In Galatians 3:1, Paul describes the Galatian believers as “bewitched” which literally means “hypnotized”. The teachers from Jerusalem had turned these young believers away from a continuing understanding of the grace of God to depending on their goodness to maintain God's acceptance.
After chiding the Galatians believers in Christ for being foolishly bewitched, Paul directs their attention to the cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to get is that it cost God so much.
From about the 6th century BC until the 4th century AD, the cross was an instrument of execution that resulted in death by the most painful process. Death was slow and incredibly painful, and often those crucified hung on their cross for weeks.
The Romans practiced several forms of execution: some they beheaded, some they burned, others they beat to death by flogging. Even though a crucified Christ seems to be a contradiction in terms, He was crucified on the cross because God told us in the Old Testament this is the way the Messiah would die for His people. Isaiah is among many prophets in the Old Testament who prophesied, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4).
On the Cross the Lord Jesus was utterly alone, and surrounded by His enemies. For this reason He came, to bring peace to the enemies of God. He did not come to make bad men good, but to give dead men life! It was at the cross that God forgave us without lowering His standards.
The emphasis here in Galatians 3:1 is on what is seen. Seeing with our eyes is one thing, but seeing with our heart is another. This is what these young believers had lost sight of: seeing Christ crucified. We will always be in jeopardy of backsliding when we forget the cost for our salvation.
Have you ever thought about the fact that John was the only disciple at the foot of the cross when He was crucified? Why? Because John was the one who reclined against the heart of the Lord Jesus. John was the one who was more consumed with Jesus' love for him rather than his love for Jesus. If we live consumed by our love for God, eventually we will lose sight of the cross of the one who loved us to death.
