Galatians 3:27 — The True Meaning of “Putting On Christ”: The Baptism Received in Union with Christ
Galatians 3:27 — The True Meaning of “Putting On Christ”: The Baptism Received in Union with Christ
A Preview of Pastor Paul C. Jong’s New Book on Galatians
In chapter 3, verse 27, the Apostle Paul gives the core answer: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
Then, does the phrase “those who were baptized into Christ” here simply refer to a person who has received a ceremonial water baptism? No. The meaning carried by the original Greek of this word is closer to “the one who has entered into the very baptism that Christ received.”
That is, it refers to the one who is spiritually united with the event in which Jesus, by receiving the baptism of the laying on of hands from John the Baptist in the Jordan River, took upon Himself all the sins of humanity once and for all — the one who accepts Jesus’ baptism as his very own baptism. The one thus united with the baptism of Christ also enters together into the cursed death He suffered on the cross while bearing our sins, and shares together in His resurrection, finally becoming the one clothed with Christ. The mystery of which Galatians 2:20 speaks, “I have been crucified with Christ,” is precisely another expression of this putting on of Christ.
Today, Pastor Paul C. Jong, a servant of God of The New Life Mission, testifies that, seen from the perspective of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, this single verse is indeed the essence of this gospel. The way for us to become righteous and to become children of God is not to weave and put on clothes of righteousness by our own effort, but to enter by faith into that completed ministry — in which Christ took our sins through the baptism in the Jordan River, paid the wages of sin with the blood of the cross, and accomplished righteousness through His resurrection — and to put on Christ Himself like a garment.
His baptism becomes my baptism, His death becomes my death, and His resurrection becomes my resurrection. For the one thus clothed with Christ, the outward distinctions of Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female no longer hold any meaning.
The gospel of the water and the Spirit brings true freedom to all nations — through Jesus’ baptism and the Cross.
By having this faith, you too all alike become “one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26), and alike become “Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). Neither the presence or absence of circumcision, nor the works of the law, nor the number of prayers of repentance can add even a single point to this putting on of Christ, nor take away even a single point from it. The one faith that accepts like a little child the gospel of the water and the Spirit, which Christ Himself accomplished, is all that is enough.
Furthermore, in his Bible-study book Galatians Seen from the Perspective of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit, Pastor Paul C. Jong throws out the question, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit by the works of the law, or did you receive the Holy Spirit by hearing and believing?” and explains the answer from within the words of Galatians.
The following is excerpted from the piece titled “Bible Study” contained in his book Galatians Seen from the Perspective of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is received not by the works of the law but by hearing and believing
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Galatians 3:1–5)
Deep sorrow and regret underlie the Apostle Paul crying out “O foolish” (Galatians 3:1) toward the Galatian church members.
Legalists, who argued that one must receive circumcision to become God’s people, had entered the Galatian church and were deceiving the saints. Thus, the Apostle rebukes, “Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified” (Galatians 3:1). Even though the cross of Christ was a clearly drawn fact when the Galatian church members first heard the gospel, before they knew it, their gaze was shifting from the completed ministry of Christ to their own works.
The core of the question Paul throws is condensed into this one phrase: “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Galatians 3:2). The event of the Holy Spirit coming upon them inside them did not happen because they kept the law well, received circumcision, or added some effort of the flesh, but because they believed the word exactly as it was when they heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.
However, having begun by the Spirit, they were now trying to finish by the flesh. It is the foolishness that always follows human religiosity, trying to fill the finish with one’s own works while having made the start with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Seen from the perspective of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, there is only one way to receive the Holy Spirit. It is when one hears and believes exactly as it is that gospel that Jesus, following the word of Matthew 3:15, “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness,” took upon Himself the sins of all humanity once and for all by receiving the baptism of the laying on of hands from John the Baptist, suffered the death of the curse on the cross while bearing those sins, and justified us by resurrecting in three days, that the Holy Spirit comes as a gift. The moment one hears this gospel and accepts it in the heart, sins are blotted out and removed once and for all, and the Holy Spirit indwells the heart, making one a new person.
However, if one tries to wash away sins and supplement the Holy Spirit with the works of the law, the frequency of prayers of repentance, or the perfection of religious rituals, that is falling into the foolishness of having begun by the Spirit and now trying to finish by the flesh.
There is absolutely no other way to receive the Holy Spirit other than hearing and believing exactly as it is that gospel which the Apostle John testified in 1 John 5:6, “This is He who came by water and blood — Jesus Christ,” and that once-and-for-all salvation of which the same text says, “For there are three who bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood-ASV” (1 John 5:8).
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📖 Next in This Series — Romans
Finished Galatians? The journey continues. Rev. Paul C. Jong’s next Bible study, Romans Seen from the Perspective of the Gospel of the Water and the Spirit (I), reveals why the Apostle Paul declared, “I am not ashamed of the gospel” — and how the righteousness of God, completed through Jesus’ baptism and the Cross, is received by faith alone.
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