Bewitched!
How?
Why?

By whom?
So soon?
Terrible false doctrine against which Paul contended!
The lie against which the apostle contended is a Christ-denying error. That error is a God-denying doctrine. That error is a grace-denying error.

Destroying doctrine! That lie destroys. It destroys comfort; it destroys joy; it destroys peace; it destroys harmony and fellowship; it destroys assurance; it destroys families; it destroys congregations; it destroys denominations; and it destroys souls. That is what the lie always does. The lie always and only destroys. This lie, in particular, destroys.

Demonic doctrine! Behind the lie stands the devil, who with all his wicked tricks and devices seeks the destruction of the truth, of the church, and of the souls of men. Oh, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places!

Bewitching doctrine! It is dangerous for the reason that it bewitches. When false doctrine comes and false doctrine is preached, that can never be harmless. False doctrine always has its effect. Indeed, false doctrine in whatever form it is preached is dangerous. But false doctrine in the specific form in which it was being preached in Galatia—that specific error—was dangerous. Beware the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees! Do not give place to it for one hour!

Listen! What does the false doctrine say?

“Along with faith in Christ Jesus, you also must be circumcised.” “You are righteous by the works performed by grace.” “God revokes the demand of perfect obedience, and the only thing man must do to be saved is believe by grace.” “Our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter the kingdom.” “We have fellowship with God on the basis of Christ’s work and in the way of our obedience.” “We are filled with the Spirit and Christ dwells in us richly in the way of our singing.” These are all the same error. The error teaches Christ plus something—Christ plus your obedience, Christ plus your activity of faith, Christ plus your repentance—as the way to the Father. All of these are forms of the error against which the apostle fought.

And the apostle said, “The error bewitches.” That specific error is a terrifyingly dangerous error. The danger is that it bewitches. The error bewitches, so that the one whom it bewitches does the most inexplicable things. He behaves as though he is out of his mind. He turns away from Christ and turns unto himself. Turning away from Christ, the bewitched one turns away from salvation and turns unto condemnation.

Urgent question! Who bewitched you?

Deadly serious question! Who bewitched you?

In the New Testament scriptures, that word “bewitched” occurs only in Galatians 3:1. The word can
mean three different things. First, “bewitched” can mean to cast a spell upon someone. Second, “bewitched” can mean to hypnotize someone. Third, “bewitched” can mean to fascinate, to turn one’s eyes away from one thing to another and to fix one’s attention on that other. All of these meanings of “bewitched” are applicable in the text.

When the false teachers of Galatia came, they said, “Galatians, we know that Jesus Christ died upon the
cross, and we know that the gospel is Jesus Christ and his righteousness, and we know that you must believe, but… but you don’t enjoy fellowship with God apart from your obedience.” With that teaching the false teachers cast a spell on the congregation.

Bewitching is sorcery, and sorcery is the work of the devil. Behind that error of legalism, in whatever form that error comes, stands Satan. The error of Satan is this: Christ plus! Satan is so wicked that he will teach Christ and something else as the way to fellowship with God. Satan is so wicked that he will teach faith and obedience as the way of salvation. The error that the apostle combatted is a demonic error, a demonic error that works with all of the power, all of the sorcery, and all of the trickery of Satan. The power behind that error was not the man who preached. The power was not the preacher’s words and the force of his persuasion. It is true that when Satan teaches his error, he often uses a very pleasant face, a very pleasant voice, and a very pleasant demeanor. But a man is not the power behind that error. Satan is that power. The spirit that moves and motivates the man to speak such ungodliness as Christ plus—Christ’s righteousness plus your righteousness; Christ’s obedience and your obedience; faith and your faithfulness—is Satan. And when he speaks, he casts a spell.

Who has bewitched you?

The bewitching of Satan is by deception. He is the author and master of all deception. Deception makes a thing appear other than it is. Satan makes righteousness appear as unrighteousness and unrighteousness appear as righteousness. He makes good look evil and evil look good. Such is the
power of Satan’s deception that he can take the glorious blood of Christ, the eternal righteousness of Christ, the spotless holiness of Christ, and the perfect obedience of Christ and make them look insufficient and impotent. And Satan can take Christ and your obedience, Christ and your act of repentance, and Christ and your activities and make them look sufficient and powerful. Satan takes the perfectly sufficient work of Christ and makes that look insufficient. Satan takes your polluted works and makes them look sufficient. He takes the true minister of the gospel, Paul, and makes him look evil. And Satan takes the wicked servant of Satan and transforms that servant into an angel of light. Satan deceives. By that deception he bewitches, and in that bewitching he destroys. He takes away all comfort, peace, and joy. He takes away salvation. He takes away God and Christ. And Satan kills by that bewitching.

O, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

Satan!

He had cast a spell on them so that he could deceive them and, in that misdirection, rob them of the gospel.

And Satan had hypnotized the Galatians.

Could we explain their hypnosis this way? They thought and acted differently than who they were; they acted in a manner totally out of character; they did inexplicable things. The Galatians became mad and played the part of the lunatic. After they had listened to the false apostles, who taught them to keep the law of Moses in addition to Christ, the Galatians thought that they were positively glowing with goodness and righteousness. Understand that Paul had put on them the robe of Christ’s righteousness. But the false apostles taught them that they also must have good works in order to fellowship with God. So the Galatians clothed themselves with the filthy rags of their own righteousness. They paraded about like strutting roosters with their obedience, their repenting, their acts of faith, and their singing. They thought
that they were righteous when, in fact, they were covered in worn, tattered, smelly, dingy, old rags.

Satan could do that to the Galatians because he had fascinated them with something other than Christ.

How does Satan make Christ look insufficient? How does Satan make your righteousness look sufficient? How does he hypnotize you, so that you act so foolishly and so differently than when you first heard the gospel? He fascinates you. To fascinate is to take someone’s eyes and cause them to look somewhere else and then to hold their gaze there. The eye of faith looks only on Christ. Faith cannot look anywhere else; it is impossible. Faith by its very definition looks to Christ. But Satan takes the eyes of the
believer—the eyes of the believer that by faith are fixed on Jesus Christ—and Satan turns the believer’s eyes to his works. Satan says, as it were, “Look over here for a moment. Look at these things. Do not your works matter? Are they all worthless? Did not God work these good works in you and through you? Now will you offend the Holy Spirit and call them dung?”

We must remember the specific form of the error that Satan was teaching and that the apostle was preaching against in Galatia. It was the wicked doctrine of righteousness before God and thus fellowship with God by both Christ and works.

It was the same error that the apostle Peter showed by his behavior. Peter by his behavior dissimulated with the gospel. He lied with the gospel. Prior to the coming of certain men from James, Peter had lived like a Gentile. Peter had eaten with the Gentiles. He had fellowshiped with the Gentiles. To the Gentiles he had preached the gospel that Christ is their righteousness. That was because Peter believed justification by faith alone. Living like a Jew or living like a Gentile was immaterial to the truth of the gospel. Christ and Christ’s righteousness made those Gentiles righteous by faith alone. They needed nothing else. They did not need a particular lifestyle, a certain way to dress, a specific and peculiar way of speaking, or circumcision and the law of Moses. They were righteous by Christ alone through faith alone. And by faith alone they were filled with the Spirit, and Christ dwelt in them richly. And Peter had fellowshiped with the Gentiles because he was also righteous by Christ alone through faith alone. But when some from James came to Galatia, Peter withdrew. In that withdrawing Peter was saying, “The Gentiles are not righteous. They are still sinners. They still have to do something to be righteous so that I can fellowship with them.” By his behavior Peter taught the error that faith in Christ is not enough for
righteousness.

Peter’s error means that even though you have faith in Christ, you still need to obey in order to be righteous; and in that way of obedience, God’s Spirit dwells in you. It does not matter how you define that other thing besides Christ that is necessary; the message is clear: Christ is not enough. There is something other than Christ that is necessary for righteousness. By Peter’s withdrawing from the Gentiles, he was saying, “They are still sinners. They believe in Christ, but they are still sinners. God does not dwell with them. They are not filled with the Spirit. They are not truly pleasing to God.”

Combatting that error, the apostle Paul asked, “Is Christ the minister of sin?”

When Christ became flesh and dwelt among us; when Christ obeyed the law of God; when Christ died upon the cross; when Christ rose again and imputed his righteousness to us by faith only and then poured out his Spirit upon us by that same faith, did Christ leave us sinners and unrighteous before God? Did Christ leave us as those who must still do something in order for Christ to dwell with us or for us to dwell with Christ?

God forbid!

Christ is the minister of righteousness, by whose righteousness we are righteous by faith alone without works. Christ is the minister of reconciliation, by whose righteousness we are brought nigh unto God. Christ is the minister of the Spirit, by whose power we seek things that are above. Christ is the minister of salvation, and he is not a lawgiver as Moses.

But the false teachers in Galatia were teaching that after all of his work Christ left the Galatians sinners who must still do something, so that Christ could be with them, and they could be with him. The false teachers were teaching both Christ and Christ’s perfect death and man’s obedience as the way to have fellowship with God.

The apostle said over against that teaching of the false apostles, “Not only does faith in Christ justify men, but it is also by faith in Christ alone that they truly live to God.” Yes! The righteousness of Christ freely given to his people by faith alone also brings with it the Spirit, and by the Spirit they live unto God without any of man’s laws, rules, and regulations. The righteousness of Christ gives to his people the best life—life unto God and life with God—because that righteousness is worthy of eternal life.

The truth is not Christ plus! The truth is Christ alone!

With their error the false apostles took the eyes of the Galatians off Christ. The false apostles said, “What about your good works? Don’t they matter? Shouldn’t your good works matter for your assurance? We understand, of course, that your fellowship with God is by faith in Christ, but what about your enjoyment of that fellowship? Do not your works matter? Is not there something to your works?” Thus the false apostles fascinated the Galatians with their own works.

O, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

False teachers!

In his bewitching work Satan uses the false teacher. The minister is charged by Jesus Christ with one task: “Teach me.” Christ commands the minister, “Teach me in all of my fullness. Teach me in all of the power of my atoning death. Teach me and my gracious gift of the life-giving Spirit. Teach me as salvation full and free to God’s people. Teach me as reconciliation. Teach me as salvation and as life. Teach me alone for righteousness to everyone who believes. I am the way, the truth, and the life!”

And the false minister says, “I won’t teach you alone. I will teach you and good works.”

And when the false minister teaches and—Christ and…, Christ and in the way of your obedience, Christ and your faithfulness, Christ and your singing—then the false minister speaks with the tongue of Satan. With that word the false minister bewitches: he casts a spell over the church and hypnotizes the people. And when they are in his power, he turns their eyes away from Christ to their works. In that way the false minister destroys: he destroys souls and churches, families and friendships, comfort and joy, and life itself.

O, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? You no longer obey the truth! Before you obeyed the truth and followed righteousness. Now you are so disobedient. With all of your obedience, you are nothing but disobedient, disobedient to the truth.

“The truth” in Galatians 3:1 is not truth in a general sense, for instance that one plus one equals two. Truth is not simply the truth that there is a God. The devils believe that and tremble. The truth is not that someone says some things—even some true things—about Jesus Christ, the truth about Christ in all the fullness of his person and natures as crucified as the only ground and foundation of the believer’s salvation and the perfection of all things.

“The truth” is Christ crucified and risen for righteousness to everyone who believes. The truth is Christ crucified as the only way to God. The truth is Christ crucified as salvation itself, so that when by faith we are made members of Christ, all his holy works, perfect obedience, and satisfying atonement when
imputed to us are abundantly sufficient to cover all our sins and to make us worthy of eternal life. The truth is Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

And all this the Galatians had seen. They had seen all this in Paul’s preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In that preaching of the gospel, Jesus Christ had been crucified before their very eyes. They had seen Christ in all the glory of his person. They had seen him crucified by the soldiers and between two thieves. They had seen Christ in his agony, pain, and suffering as really as the people who passed by at Golgotha.

There was a word of God there at the cross, and the word of God was the word of salvation. That word of God said, “Let there be a cross; and let that cross accomplish righteousness, holiness, satisfaction, reconciliation, and redemption for my precious people.” And the word of God accomplished these blessings there at the cross.

When the preaching of the gospel comes, that word of God comes—that word of God that created the cross and accomplished salvation at the cross. The word portrays the cross of Jesus Christ before the people of God. They see Christ. They see him with the blood pouring down his head from the crown of thorns. They see him with the blood dripping from the nail holes. They see him being mocked and ridiculed. They see him as he reveals the truth that God is a righteous God and that God will never acquit the guilty, so that if you transgress his law, you must perish eternally for that. They also see then the truth that Christ Jesus in his incarnation, in his lifelong suffering, and in his atoning death upon the cross satisfied the justice of God and accomplished redemption. When the child of God hears the preaching
of the cross, he sees the blood and water pour from the side of Christ, and he hears Christ shout, “It is finished!”

Then by faith the child of God says, “That sacrifice is sufficient. Being justified by Christ’s death while I was an enemy, how much more being reconciled to God shall I not be saved by his life? My God accomplished that in his love for me, in his desire for my salvation, and according to his eternal will, so that I will not perish but have everlasting life. That suffering is sufficient. It is righteousness. It is holiness. It is obedience. There is nothing that can compare to that. There is nothing else that I need in order to stand before God, to be with God, and to be blessed by God.”

And the false teacher says, “It is not. It is not enough that Christ was incarnate. It is not enough that Christ died on the cross. It is not enough that Christ arose from the dead. You also must do something!”

As soon as you listen to that false teacher and take your eyes off the suffering Christ, who was crucified among you and so portrayed in all his saving efficacy, you have said, “Christ is not sufficient. He is not enough. He is not enough to bring me to God. Christ is not enough to give me the experience of my fellowship with God. Christ is not enough to cause me to enjoy the assurance of my salvation. He is not enough. I also must do something.”

That was the Galatians’ sin. They had been bewitched, and they were fascinated, not with Christ but with their works. The blood flowing from Christ’s side was still warm, and his cries of agony still echoed from Golgotha, and the Galatians said, “Christ is not enough!” They turned away from that beautiful scene at Calvary, where God had accomplished all their salvation, and they became fascinated with what they had to do.

And in that the Galatians did not obey the truth. For all their obedience—they went to church on Sunday; they gave lots of money in the collection plate; they ran good businesses; they were honest with their customers—they were disobedient. That was God’s charge against them: “All you talk about is obedience, but you are disobedient, disobedient to the truth.”

The apostle could have said to them, “O, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you do not believe the truth?”

But Paul did not say that. Rather, he said, “Why do you disobey the truth?”

You must understand why the apostle said that because that has to be your bulwark against those who say to you, “Obedience, obedience, obedience, obedience! What about your obedience? Don’t you know that obedience matters?” You must have a strong bulwark against that deception of the false teacher, so that your eyes are not taken off Christ and turned to your obedience and you are bewitched and become fascinated by your obedience. The false teacher always says, “Obedience, obedience, obedience, obedience. You must obey the law of God in order to enjoy God. You must obey the law of God in order to be blessed of God. You must obey the law of God in order to be received of God. What? Do you think that you can experience God’s fellowship when you are walking in sin?”

Obedience, obedience, obedience!

Then the apostle said, “In this matter of your righteousness, fellowship with God, and blessedness, there is only one obedience that matters: obedience to the truth.” If you have obedience to the truth, you have all the obedience that you need because with obedience to the truth you have the obedience of Christ.

What is obedience to the truth? It means that you confess that you and all your work, you and all your obedience, you and all your activity, you and all your repentance, you and all your obedience to the law of God, you in all your humbling of self are nothing. Nothing. You cast all these away as dung and as worthless for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus and to know his righteousness and his obedience. If you become something in your eyes, you disobey the truth. If you are fascinated with what you must do in order to be with Jesus Christ and near to God, you are disobedient to the truth. Obedience to the truth is believing the truth; and believing that truth is doing nothing and resting on the obedience of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, the holiness of Christ, and the sufferings of Christ alone for your righteousness before God, so that you draw near to God not with what you have done but by what Christ has done.

God in the truth says, “Christ is everything, and Christ is enough.” God portrays the crucified Christ wherever and whenever God sends the gospel, so that Christ Jesus is crucified before the eyes of the congregation as the only way of salvation. God declares in the crucifixion of Christ that God’s justice is satisfied, that all righteousness is accomplished, that all obedience is finished, and that all who believe on Jesus Christ shall be saved.

The Galatians disobeyed that by insisting also on their works for righteousness. They said, “No, no.” They told God no.

You better remember that. Christ and, Christ plus, is telling God no! Christ and, Christ plus, means that God is a liar.

The truth says that the righteousness, obedience, and holiness of Christ he imputes to an ungodly people. By that righteousness they have fellowship with Christ. He takes them within his fellowship; he loves them as his dear children; he turns all things to their profit; and he gives them eternal life, not for what they do or who they are but for Christ’s sake.

But the foolish Galatians had been bewitched. That must have been some power of Satan that he could turn their eyes from Christ.

Can you imagine anything more beautiful than Christ with all his atonement, all his sufferings, and all his
obedience?

That must be some bewitching that we could have had our eyes turned from Christ, that we would have given ear to someone who said, “What about your good works?” That we would have said, “Yes, what about our good works?” That is some bewitchment. That is some spell that Satan can cast.

Why?

Because you and I remain foolish. O, foolish Galatians!

God sends the gospel. He raises up true ministers of the gospel, so that by them the very word of God comes and Jesus Christ is portrayed in all his saving power. And we believe that. We are saved by that, but we remain foolish—every one of us. There is a fool alive in every one of us, and this fool wants his works to be something. Thus he so readily gives eyes and ears to the devil. That is why when the false teacher says, “What about your good works?” you will quickly look away from Christ, and you will say, “Ah, what about my good works? Does not God regenerate me? Do not I have the Spirit? And do not I
do many good things in Christ’s name?” You will be fascinated with that. And when you say that and are fascinated with your good works, you have just said, “Christ is not enough.” You have been bewitched. You need to hear the gospel every week, so that this foolish man can be destroyed by the gospel.

And yet that bewitching ultimately is of God. When that lie comes, when that lie—Christ and—is preached, that lie comes in the sovereignty of God, so that those who are approved may be made manifest and so that those to whom he gave not the love of the truth might be damned.

Even the bewitching is in the sovereignty of God.