Galatians 3:1 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? 2 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? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

The New Covenant operates by faith, not works.  A New Covenant relationship is based on being saved by grace through faith. All the promises of God are received by faith.  Thus, Paul reminds the Galatians of how they already experienced being filled by the Holy Spirit without any work to earn it.

I am not saying that true faith does not produce righteous works.  The righteousness a person knows themselves to be will translate outwardly in their lives, and the more grounded they become in His righteousness that they now are, the more they are empowered to manifest that righteousness outwardly.  But that is different from trying to merit things from God based on behavior.

Philippians 3:2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,

Bewitching like what happened to the Galatians always offers a subtle temptation to put your confidence in the flesh.  It tempts you to trust in your ability to perform at such a level that God has no choice but to admire it.  It relates to God like He’s an employer who must reward based on work performance.  It strips the believer of relating with God as a dearly loved child.

Bewitching is an identity thief!  It seeks to steal your identity and security in Christ and make you question the completeness of Christ’s finished work at the cross.  How does it do that?  By trying to bring a believer back under the law for relating with God and experiencing spiritual growth.  It seeks to mix the Old Covenant with the New because it knows that to outright come against the New would be too easy to spot as a fraud.  This was very serious to the Holy Spirit, who moved Paul to write the following:

Galatians 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

It’s possible to be enticed by another gospel because the package delivering it can seem way more impressive than what you are ordinarily used to.

Paul rebuked Peter for not being straightforward about the gospel because Peter separated himself from the Gentiles when Jewish men came up to Antioch from Jerusalem.  It gave the impression that there was a special advantage to being Jewish and being under the law, and it even led Barnabas astray.  Paul openly rebuked Peter to help him get his perspective right again.

Getting the gospel right, getting it in, and getting out matters!

Being caught between two covenants will never bring you spiritual maturity and growth.  You have to cast out the bondwoman covenant!  The Law Covenant and the New Covenant of grace should never coexist together!

The New Covenant is the only Covenant with a Savior who took our sins and gave us His righteousness.  Is there a mixture in you?