3:1 For the first time since 1:6–9 Paul again turns directly to the Galatians and their fascination with the false teachers troubling them. In light of the gospel he has just succinctly described in 2:15–21, he argues that their attempt to be justified by the law (cf. 5:4) makes no sense. Greek speakers used the term “bewitch” (Gk. baskainō) to describe what an enchanter might do to jinx someone, and it is possible that Paul is hinting that some transcendent force is at play in the Galatians’ positive response to the false teachers (cf. 2 Cor. 11:13–14; Eph. 4:14; 6:11; 1 Tim. 4:1).44 Since he uses the term right after calling the Galatians “foolish,” however, it is more likely that he intends simply to say that the Galatians’ conduct is irrational. Measured by the standard of the gospel of Christ crucified, it makes no sense.

3:2 It now becomes clear that just as with the conflicts in Antioch over the circumcision of Titus (2:3–4) and the mingling of Jews with Gentiles at meals (2:11–14), the troublesome teachers in Galatia are insisting that Gentiles begin to observe the Mosaic law, particularly those parts of the Mosaic law distinguishing Jews from Gentiles. They are erecting the same barrier between Jews and Gentiles that the people from James and then Cephas, Barnabas, and “the rest of the Jews” (2:13) in Antioch were erecting, and probably for the same reason. They claimed that until these Gentiles began observing the whole law, they could not be sure that they were no longer “Gentile sinners” (cf. 2:15) and were truly part of the people of God. Here Paul reminds the Galatians that God himself had certified their acceptance into his people by giving them the Spirit when they heard and believed the gospel (cf. Ezek. 36:26–27; 37:1–14; Joel 2:28–29; Acts 10:47; 11:15–18; 15:8–9). “Works of the law” were not a prerequisite.

3:3 The assumption behind these two rhetorical questions is that the Galatians are in the process of “deserting” the gospel (to use the language of 1:6) and embracing the false teaching that has recently entered their communities. Paul’s description of the Galatians as “being perfected” is ironic: their fascination with the false teaching is a backward move from the powerful, sin-conquering gift of God’s Spirit to the powerlessness of “the flesh.”

The term “flesh” in Paul’s letters often refers to the tendency of humanity, in its weakness, to sin against God (e.g., 2:20; 5:16–17, 19, 24). God’s Spirit, however, helps the believer in the struggle against the flesh and enables him or her to live in ways pleasing to him (5:16). To exchange God’s gift of the Spirit for physical rituals such as circumcision in an effort to please God, then, makes no sense (is “foolish”; cf. 3:1).

3:4 “Suffer” (Gk. paschō) can mean “experience,” as the ESV footnote indicates and as many translators have thought (e.g., CEB, NAB, NIV, NRSV, RSV), but it means “suffer” elsewhere in Paul’s letters, and that is probably what it means here as well. Paul is probably referring to the persecution that the Galatian Christians experienced because of their newfound faith (4:29; cf. Acts 13:50; 14:2, 5, 22).45

3:5 Paul returns to the thought of verse 2, that when the Galatians first heard and believed the gospel, God’s Spirit was powerfully at work among them, and all this happened apart from any prior commitment to do what the Mosaic law requires. In this iteration of that thought, however, Paul becomes more specific. The term “supplies” (Gk. epichorēgōn) carries the connotation of giving someone all needed resources. It appears in wedding contracts of the period, for example, to describe the husband’s responsibility to provide for his wife as fully as possible.46 God’s ability to provide for the Galatians became clear in the miracles they experienced when they believed the gospel (cf. Acts 14:3, 8–18).