Gentiles Receive the Spirit

Paul's rhetoric and appeal in Galatians is to destroy the false gospel of righteousness by law keeping, and uphold the true Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in the death of the Savior.

Paul points out that by being made a curse in our place, our Lord Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law. By His substitution in the judgment in our place, He satisfied the justice of God's law, and delivered us from that justice.

Thus, God can declare His people just and righteous by imputation through faith in the Lord Jesus, because the Lord Jesus delivered us from the judgment we ought to have received by satisfying it Himself at Calvary.

This is the blessing of Abraham - imputed righteousness by faith in the promised seed, which is the Lord Jesus. So those who have faith in the Savior are blessed just like Abraham was, who also had faith, by being declared righteous by God.

But a further consequence is that we receive the promised Holy Ghost by that same faith. We could never have done so had not Christ redeemed us so that we could be declared righteous by God through faith.

The law could never bring the Spirit, because it could never yield righteousness. It could only condemn. The history of Israel proves this.

That is why only Christ could bring to us the Holy Ghost, which was foretold by John the Baptist and by Isaiah, because only Christ could bring us righteousness.

The Holy Ghost makes dead men alive spiritually, able to hear and believe the Gospel, and makes us adopted sons of God by faith.

And it is the Holy Ghost, not law keeping, that brings obedience and practical righteousness to the Saints by His work in our hearts and lives.