Galatians 3:2,3 - Are you so foolish?

3:2

So Paul reminds them of what they had heard, and is urging them to come to their senses. Now he calls on their experience. When they heard the word they received the Spirit. How and why had this happened? Was it by observing the works of the Law, or was it by hearing the gospel with faith. Clearly it was the latter. Note the implication that receiving the Spirit was something that had a tangible effect, it was not a mere theological truth, but a real experience with observable effects. Based on Acts this would probably include speaking in tongues and prophecy. Whatever the case, they knew they had received the Holy Spirit.

3:3

“Are you so foolish”. Again Paul is very direct. It wasn’t just an alternative way of looking at things, it was completely wrong, and this was over what might be called a “theological issue”. There is a time to be direct. They had begun “by the Spirit”, but now they were living by the “flesh”, seeking to be perfected by the flesh. This is the same flesh which had manifestly failed prior to their conversion, and which had manifestly failed to make the Jews perfect! Why follow a failed method?