‘That on the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.'

And the purpose of His being made a curse for us was so that through faith we might be accounted as righteous, receiving the blessing of the Spirit. For we can only receive the Spirit because of what He has done for us. Paul here links the blessing of Abraham, which will come on all nations (Genesis 12:3) with the giving of the Holy Spirit. He is linking Abraham's responsive faith, which resulted in him being seen as righteous, and in his willingness to sacrifice his own son, receiving him back as it were from the dead (Genesis 22:18), with the giving of the promised Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit was to be poured out on the people of God in so far as they looked to Abraham as their father and walked in the same way as he did, by true faith in God (Isaiah 44:1 with Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 51:1). The Holy Spirit was to be poured out on ‘all flesh', that is on all kinds of people, not only on the people of Israel, but on servants and handmaids as well (Joel 2:28), and the One on Whom is the Spirit is the One Who will bring forth justice to the Gentiles as well as to Israel (Isaiah 42:1).

Thus it is through His death on the cross that the promised Holy Spirit can come, coming to those who respond in faith. For the new birth of the Spirit (John 3:5) is linked with the lifting up on the cross (John 3:14), through which those who believe receive eternal life.

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