Not only was the beginning a gift, but progress is also a gift, as the question in verse 3 indicates. The contrast between beginning with the Spirit and trying to attain your goal by the flesh (remember that the NIV translates "flesh" as human effort) sets up the antithesis between spirit and flesh which recurs in 4:29, 5:16-23 and 6:8. In 4:23 and 29 the son born according to the flesh ("born in the ordinary way") is a reference to Jews who hold to the Sinai covenant (4:24) and to the present Jerusalem (4:25) as the basis of their identity. These are the same ones who desire to boast in circumcised flesh—in other words, in the proselytization of Gentile believers at Galatia (6:13). We need to keep this historical conflict in mind so that we do not slip into an interpretation derived from Greek dualism where the spirit is good and the body (flesh) is inherently evil. Paul's specific point is that the Galatians' alternative is between living by the Spirit, whom they received when they believed the message of Christ crucified, and seeking perfection by circumcision (and other rites such as food laws and sabbath observance), which would identify them as proselyte Jews. Trying to attain perfection by the flesh in that context meant the attempt to attain spiritual status by conforming to Jewish customs in order to become Jews.

Sincere Christian people have often felt that belonging to a specific cultural or religious group would enhance their spiritual status. They have sometimes conformed to extreme requirements just to gain acceptance. All such efforts to achieve spiritual progress are classified here by Paul as merely human effort (NIV), efforts of the flesh. Paul's question in verse 3 reminds us that our beginning in the Christian life was based on our response of faith to the message of Christ crucified and the consequent experience of the Spirit, and our progress in the Christian life must be on the same basis.