NOTES for Gal 3:7

What is the first thing we remember about Abraham? That he "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." "Believed" here means nothing light or simple. Abraham's faith is labor and struggle. He gathered his family and went where God called him. No one could stop him, he listened to no one. He trusted God so much that he was ready to sacrifice his only son. He received God in his home; he was the first to experience communion with the Trinity. And all this happened to him not because he was righteous in himself. On the contrary, he was sinful, and the Bible describes not only his faith but also everything that in no way fits with it. But Abraham's righteousness became not the fulfillment of all ritual prescriptions, but unconditional trust. Paul calls believers sons of Abraham. Not distant descendants, but the next generation. This means that we inherit Abraham's basic traits if we believe. Yes, sin is still strong in us. But faith in God, whom we serve, for whose sake each time we fall we rise again, with whom we continue to live, this faith will become our justification.

The apostle Paul speaks to us today about the importance of a living relationship with God. Everyone who has experienced a personal encounter with God knows this experience of Christ's cross “publicly portrayed before our eyes.” His death for us and His resurrection become the reality of our daily life. Then we continue on our way, the way with Christ and in the Church. Here it is important not to replace our relationship with Him by external signs. This certainly does not mean that we may neglect the sacraments or the teaching of the Church. The question is what comes first: rules or the living God? How do we obtain salvation: do we earn it, or receive it freely by God's grace? Enthusiasm for the “works of the law” so often leads to a sense of self-sufficiency. Paul reminds the Galatians, and us along with them, that the Lord Himself acts within us and that attempts to achieve something by our own efforts in the spiritual life are futile.

Continuing the discussion of faith and "works of Torah," Paul draws attention to the most important difference between them: faith is based on relations between God and the human person, while "works of Torah" remain the fruit of human efforts alone. The apostle does not remind the Galatian Christians by accident that the reality of the breath ("Spirit") of God, the breath of the Kingdom, was opened to them through an act of faith, through the trust in Christ of which they proved capable, and not through any "works of Torah." So why, Paul asks the recipients of his letter rhetorically, do you now rely not on this trust, not on the breath of the Kingdom so well known to you, in a word, not on the spiritual, but on purely human means, which is what any religious activity is in God's eyes (vv. 2-3)? And the One who gave you a share in the reality of the Kingdom, who let you feel His breath ("Spirit"), did He do this by means of "works of Torah," rather than by calling you to faithfulness ("through instruction in faith") (v. 5)?

The apostle once again turns to the image of Abraham: after all, he was certainly faithful to God, and God was with him, but in those days there could be no talk of any "works of Torah," since the Torah itself did not yet exist; it was first revealed to the people much later, through Moses. But then others also can count on receiving what Abraham received if they turn to God and remain faithful to Him, becoming Abraham's spiritual heirs (vv. 6-8). Paul does not deny the path of unfailing adherence to the Torah; he merely points to the obvious fact that the Torah was given not as a means of justification before God, but as a kind of signpost indicating the direction in which one must move, though without faith one cannot arrive there (vv. 9-11). If one walks the path indicated by the Torah to the very end as one should, without violating a single commandment, one can obtain at the end the same life that those who follow Christ obtain (v. 12).

But everything must be fulfilled, fully and to the end, and no human being has the strength to do this. Only one thing remains: to follow Christ, who opened to everyone ready to entrust himself to Him the path of faith walked by Abraham (vv. 13-14). Paul reminds the Galatian Christians of the foundations. He speaks to them not about religion, which in itself brings no one closer to the Kingdom, just as it does not move anyone farther away from it, but about spiritual life in the true sense of the word, where the relations of people with God and with one another turn out to matter most. Relations without which there is no Kingdom.

What is the first thing we remember about Abraham? That he “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” In this case, “believed” does not mean anything easy or simple. Abraham’s faith is labor and spiritual struggle. He gathered his family and went where God had called him. No one could stop him; he listened to no one. He trusted God so deeply that he was ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice. He received God in his home; he was the first to experience communion with the Trinity. And all this happened to him not because he was righteous in himself. On the contrary, he was sinful, and the Bible describes not only his faith but also everything that was utterly incompatible with it. Yet Abraham’s righteousness consisted not in fulfilling every ritual prescription, but in unconditional trust. Paul calls believers sons of Abraham—not distant descendants, but the next generation. This means that if we believe, we inherit Abraham’s principal traits. Yes, sin is still strong within us. But faith in God, whom we serve, for whose sake we rise again each time we fall, and with whom we continue to live—this very faith will become our justification.