O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Comment: ‘It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified’ – In a few words this is meant to bring to us a starkly vivid and very meaningful period of the end of Christ on the cross and of His resurrection. It is a phrase filled with treachery, whips, injustice, blood and death! But leads to Jesus’ cry ‘It is finished!’ He had done the saving work for which He had come. How dare you turn from Him to your own achievements?
Abraham was a man like all of us. He lied, he doubted, he struggled but Paul makes two points here. God promised Abraham that through his descendants and through a particular unnamed One God would bless the whole world. Secondly for all his failures basically Abraham lived believing God and this was what made him accepted in God’s sight. And faith brings the same acceptance for us!
Prayer: Open my eyes and heart wide to Your amazing dealings, O my God!
As I read it! 
Thank you Barry for your comments on this passage. Paul is amazing the way he picks up on the where these Galatians were taking the wrong direction in their faith and belief in the work of Jesus. Paul’s background as a Pharisee and his knowledge of the Scriptures is used by God to give Paul the capability to be able to see what is wrong in people’s perception of the truth, and correctly guide them back to the right path. God used Paul to bring Peter back to the truth of God too. God knew what He was doing when He appointed Paul to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. God bless you.
LikeLike