Thank you for joining us this week. We will finish chapter three with a detailed discussion about the Law Paul has been referring to throughout the past couple of chapters. I could not find an easy way to break this passage up without destroying the full intent and meaning that comes from reading it all the way through. If you do not have a strong understanding of the history of Christianity, then this passage will help to enrich your experience of why Christ came. This passage also gives a more substantial base for Paul's argument against the false teachers who have corrupted the Church in Galatia. I want to remind everybody of our overarching theme of Truth. Truth is consistent, absolute, and does not need to change. God is Truth. He is the creator of all things and cannot be changed. God's word, known as the Holy Scriptures, is a physical embodiment of that Truth. Truth cannot be altered or covered up to meet the standards of social environments; instead, we should strive to lead the social settings to change according to God's Truth.
Galatians 3:15 - 29 "15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the Law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the Law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the Law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the Law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the Law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise."
I want to begin by saying that men do not create Truth. Truth transcends men and exists outside of time and space. We cannot affect it, change it or own Truth. God is Truth. As a result, we cannot attempt to understand or justify Truth by human standards. Human Standards are corrupt, and God is perfect without corruption, so to understand Truth, we must seek to understand it through a spiritual lens. The great theologian Martin Luther speaks on this passage and subject in his commentary on Galatians. Luther proves to be a challenge to read but a tremendous aid when studying the book of Galatians.
Verses 15-18 touch on the context of the Law and the relationship it holds to the Covenant; Paul here is explaining that the Covenant was given to Abraham to work as a placeholder until Jesus Christ comes. Paul goes into detail, showing that when God gives his promises to Abraham and his offspring, a plurality is missing (Genesis 12:7). This indicates that God is not talking about the Jewish and Arab nations that physically are the descendants of Abraham. God is referring to a single inheritor, and that is Jesus Christ. God created the Covenant showing His commitment to the Jewish people as they followed God in Faith. Still. After 430 years, the descendants of Abraham proved to be imperfect creatures unable to keep this Covenant (Exodus 12:40-41). God then delivers to them the Law, recorded in the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Jews call these books the Torah.
Paul attempts to explain to the Galatians that just because God introduces the Law, it does not nullify the Covenant. The Law was not the Covenant, and the Law did not promise salvation (Romans 4:13). The Law became a blueprint and guideline for the Jews to assist them in following God more faithfully.
This leads us into Verses 19-20. We were unfit to meet the standards of the Covenant. We could not keep from sinning, and we alienated ourselves that much further from God every time we sinned. The Law was given to us to provide a guideline to help us keep from sin and describe the penance owed for our sins. The penance required the blood sacrifices of the innocent to cover our sins. These sacrifices came in the form of birds, cows, sheep, and the like. No human was found pure and without iniquity, so you don't have to worry about any virgin sacrifices or anything of the like.
God delivered the Law to us through intermediaries; these intermediaries were agents from God. The word angels here means "messenger from God" I do not think this particular passage is speaking of spiritual angels with wings, but it is more likely referring to the Old Testament prophets. These intermediaries were not gods but instruments God used to deliver his Law to man. Paul is quick to explain this; God is one, God is Truth, and Truth can only be given from Him.
Verses 21-22, the Law was not a replacement for the Covenant. The Covenant was a gift from God to reward Abraham for his Faith. God gave the Law to men as a means to help them to follow God when their Faith was weak. The Law was not a substitution for faith. The Law convicts us of our sin, and we are all guilty of sin by the Law. Faith gave us the Covenant. The Covenant promised a future covenant of eternal life. Jesus came to fulfill that Covenant, kept the Law, and became the living sacrifice that cleaned us of all our sins (Hebrews 2:14-15). Faith in Jesus and through Faith alone is the measurement of our salvation and our freedom from the Law (Acts 13:39).
Paul sums this all up in verses 23- 29. The Law held us prisoners; by the Law's standard, we deserve death, which is what we would have earned. The Law acted as a Guardian to guide us and keep us closer to God, but we could not keep it. Jesus came; he fulfilled the Law, answered the promise of the first Covenant, and established with us through His sacrifice on the Cross a new Covenant bound in Faith. When we become Christian, God adopts us into the family of Christ (Ephesians1:5, Romans 8:23). As an adopted child of God, we are free from the Law and saved through our Faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8, Romans 8:2). We could not do the work to save our own lives, but Jesus was able to save us. Our Faith does not require physical action such as circumcision. If physical acts could save us, then we would have been protected by the Law. We needed more, someone stronger than us; we needed the living embodiment of Truth to come down from Heaven and save us.
This should be encouraging for you; I know it is for me. Even before I was a Christian, I always had an inner feeling that I was a terrible person. I didn't believe in God, didn't believe in good and evil, but I still thought that I was insufficient. We all have a spiritual knowledge that we are lacking in being whole, and if you are like me, you feel like you don't deserve to be complete. You are not wrong; you don't deserve to be whole; I didn't deserve to be whole. Being a Christian, and having Faith in Jesus, made me whole. I always felt a piece of myself missing, and with Christ, I feel complete. Not only did I find the missing piece, but every day I get to discover new elements to that piece. I could have never understood or become the person I am, someone true to myself and free (2 Corinthians 3:17). The beauty of Christ is that there is no slavery; there is no greater sex or race. We are all equal in Christ, and in Christ, we are all free.
Below are this week's reflection questions:
Do you have Faith in Jesus, or are you still working to be good enough to receive eternal life?
Are you living consistent with God's Truth, or do you believe God's word is outdated and needs to be changed to meet the current times?
If you believe God's word needs to be changed. Are you limiting God to your ambitions or submitting to him?
Who do you let rule your life, God or yourself?
Do you feel whole? Or, like something missing from your life, you lack purpose?
If you feel like something is missing, are you willing to discuss question 1 with someone?
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