O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 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— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 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.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
I don’t often think of “receiving the promised Spirit,” as opposed to receiving the forgiveness of sins, receiving the Word who “was coming into the world,” or receiving the gifts of God (of whom the Holy Spirit is certainly one). But this is a good phrase to consider this morning. What does it mean to receive the promised Spirit?
When Paul began sharing the Gospel of Jesus with Gentiles – and especially when the message crossed over into new territory – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit accompanied the new converts. In Acts 10:44-48, the Holy Spirit comes upon Cornelius and his household while Peter is speaking, and they begin speaking in tongues and praising God. This miraculous event convinces Peter and the Jewish believers that Gentiles are also included in God’s plan of salvation. Another confirmation is noted in Acts 11:15-18, where Peter recounts this event, emphasizing that the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit just as the Jewish believers did.
When he writes his letter to the Romans, Paul asserts that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. In 1 Corinthians 12:3, Paul says, no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the power of the Holy Spirit. So whenever one confesses faith in Jesus, it is a work of the Holy Spirit. Peter also promises that when people are baptized they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:38.
To receive the gift of the Holy Spirit is to be brought to faith in Jesus. But there is more to this than a minimalistic parroting of words. For the Holy Spirit does so much more. The Holy Spirit calls the church in Antioch to set aside Barnabas and Saul for their first missionary journey. The Holy Spirit moves people to be generous when people are in need. We are given the words to say by the Holy Spirit when it comes time to give witness to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit reminded the Apostles of Jesus’ teachings (cf. John 14-16), convinces the world of the truth of their claims, inspires them to love each other. He certainly does all these things for us as well.
The Church in Corinth had gotten far afield in their understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit and some claimed superiority because of the various gifts they possessed by the power of the Holy Spirit: tongues, miracles, knowledge, wisdom, (extraordinary) faith, prophecy, and service.
We can easily misunderstand how this works in the church. We may think, for example that because we are able to evangelize everyone ought to be able to exercise that gift equally. Some will say that their gifts are not as important as others’ are.
Whatever gift of the Spirit we may have is a gift from God. And I like to say that a gift isn’t a gift until it’s given – that is if we have the gift of helps or service, teaching, prophecy, or miracles we cannot really claim to have that gift and fail to give (use) it.
Some like to think of the Holy Spirit in human terms as the bashful person of the Holy Trinity. He’s happy when Jesus gets the attention. In fact Jesus said of the Spirit, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14).
We are blessed to have received the gift of the Holy Spirit together with all his gifts and workings in the the world, in the church, and in our lives.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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