耶路撒冷教会里面有一群人认为「信耶稣」与「变成犹太人」是同样重要的事，他们认为外邦人信耶稣的同时也要变成犹太人。但保罗否定这种说法，因此他在本章展开了「因信称义」与「因行律法称义」的辨证。

用更宏观的角度来看，这个世界上只有两种宗教：依靠行为得救的宗教和依靠信心得救的宗教。几乎世上所有的宗教都是依靠行为得救的宗教，包括保罗所面对的犹太教。犹太教的律法说你得做什么才能得救，然后就让你自己去努力达成。

世上只有一个宗教属于第二种，那就是亚伯拉罕与耶稣的宗教。这个宗教不是相信一套行善得救的方法，而是信靠一位慈爱良善的上帝。

保罗每到一个地方就有昔日的犹太同胞跟着破坏他的工作，他们告诉基督徒：「你们不但要信靠基督，还要努力行善，遵守旧约的律法（包括割礼），才能得救。」他们试图把信耶稣也变成依靠行为的宗教。

依靠行为得救的宗教好像只能靠划桨的船，无论你如何努力都不可能永远保持逆流而上。我们需要的是帆船！基于信靠的宗教就是帆船，并且只有一艘。一但你信耶稣，你就上了这唯一的一艘帆船，圣灵如风降临的时候，这艘船就随风逆流而上，直到目的地。

划桨的船与帆船最大的差别，并不是在帆船上什么都不用做；在帆船上仍然有很多事情要做，但不是凭你的力气让帆船前进，差别就在这里。

简体圣经 | https://www.bible.com/bible/140/GAL.3.RCUVSS

繁體聖經 | https://www.bible.com/bible/139/GAL.3.RCUV

In the Jerusalem church, there was a group of people who believed that "believing in Jesus" and "becoming a Jew" were equally important. They believed that Gentiles who believed in Jesus should also become Jews. However, Paul rejected this idea, and in this chapter, he discussed the distinction between "justification by faith" and "justification by the law."

From a broader perspective, there are only two types of religions in the world: religions that rely on behaviour to be saved and religions that rely on faith to be saved. Almost all religions in the world rely on behaviour to be saved, including the Judaism that Paul faced. The Jewish law says what you must do to be saved, and then lets you work hard to achieve it.

There is only one religion in the world that belongs to the second type, and that is the religion of Abraham and Jesus. This religion does not believe in a set of methods for doing good to be saved, but rather trusts in a loving God.

Whenever Paul went to a place, his Jewish compatriots would follow him and destroy his work. They told Christians, "Not only do you have to believe in Christ, but you also have to work hard to do good and follow the Old Testament law (including circumcision) to be saved." They attempted to turn faith in Jesus into a religion that relies on behaviour.

A religion that relies on behaviour to be saved is like a rowing boat, no matter how hard you try, you cannot keep going against the current forever. What we need is a sailboat! The faith-based religion is a sailboat, and there is only one. Once you believe in Jesus, you are on this only sailboat. When the Holy Spirit comes like the wind, this boat sails against the current until it reaches its destination.

The biggest difference between a rowing boat and a sailboat is not that there is nothing to do on a sailboat; there are still many things to do on a sailboat, but it is not by your own strength that the sailboat moves forward, and that is the difference.

Reading the Bible | https://www.bible.com/bible/59/GAL.3.ESV