20. Our Law-ish Hearts, His Lavish Heart

Paul sounds almost exasperated at the start of Galatians 3: "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?" These are people who have genuinely believed. They know Jesus was "publicly portrayed as crucified" before their eyes. Yet something has quietly crept in. They are starting to act as if the gospel got them in the door, but now they have to work to stay in the good graces of God.

Ortlund describes this as a stubborn tendency in all of us, which he calls a law-ish heart. Most of us do not announce, "I am earning my salvation." It sounds more like a low hum: I need to do better before I can pray, I should feel worse about this, he is probably disappointed in me this week. This is the hum Paul is hearing in Galatia.

Follow just one thread through the passage. Paul asks two parallel questions. First: "Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?" The Galatians know the answer. Their Christian life began with a gift they received, not a wage they earned. Then comes the sharper one: "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" Here is the whole point. The way in and the way forward are the same. Ortlund puts it that the Spirit is both gateway and pathway. The Spirit does not just open the door and then hand you a rulebook for the hallway. He is with you in every step down it.

That changes the picture of what it means to grow. If the Spirit is only the gateway, then after conversion the rest depends on you, and the old hum gets louder. If the Spirit is the pathway too, then growth is more like continuing to receive than finally succeeding. Paul closes the section by pointing again to the one "who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you." The tense is ongoing. He supplies. It is a present generosity, and Paul asks whether that supply comes from your performance or from "hearing with faith." Hearing is a posture of the open hand.

None of this makes effort bad or obedience optional. It means effort flows out of a gift that is still being given, not toward a gift you hope to unlock. This is lavish, not law-ish: a heart that gives freely and keeps giving.

If you tend toward constant self-checking, anxious about whether you have done enough, it can help to talk with a pastor, counselor or trusted friend, since that weight is real and does not need to be carried alone.

Today, listen for the hum in your own head. When you catch it, you are not stuck with it. You can answer Paul's question out loud.