Listen for God’s word to you from Galatians 3:15-4:7…
Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
So, in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Paul speaks, especially in this part of Galatians, and makes his argument like a first century Rabbi. However difficult it may be for us to understand what Paul is saying, it would have been crystal clear to his first century Jewish audience. In short, what Paul is continuing to do in this letter is to show us the superiority of the way of grace, which he here calls the way of the promise, over the way of the law. I realize there is a lot in this section of Galatians. But it basically breaks down into three parts: Promise, Law, and Result. Let’s look first at the promise …
PROMISE
First, Paul shows that the way of grace is older than the way of the law. Paul calls the way of grace, the way of promise, or the way of the covenant. Most importantly, Paul talks about a covenant that God made with Abraham that cannot be altered. Then he notes that the law, which was given through Moses, came along four hundred and thirty years later. Paul notes that a covenant that has been ratified cannot be altered or added to. Therefore, the law that came later through Moses cannot alter the covenant God made with Abraham. Paul’s argument is that it was faith that set Abraham right with God, and faith is still the way for us to be set right with God.
The story of God’s covenant with Abraham, or Abram as he was called at first, is told beginning in Genesis 12 and continuing through Genesis 24. Perhaps my favorite part of the story comes in Genesis 15 where we read…
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward.”
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Isn’t that an evocative scene? Standing in pitch black darkness under a night sky filled with countless stars—that is a scene that can fill us with a sense of the majesty, the awesome nature, and the beauty of our creator God. But God uses this scene to teach Abram a very practical lesson. “Count the stars if you can.” Of course, Abram cannot count them. Then, in effect, God says, “Your offspring will number more than the stars in the heavens.”
The word for “offspring” can also be translated as “seed”. In Genesis 15, this obviously refers to numerous offspring. But this same word is used in Genesis 12:7, Genesis 13:15, Genesis 17:7-8, and Genesis 24:7. In all these places it refers to God’s promise to Abram to give him land that will be passed on to his seed.
As William Barclay explains, ancient Rabbis, like Paul, were fond of using arguments that depended upon the interpretation of single words. The Rabbis could build an entire theology on one word. And, in a sense, that is what Paul does here. He takes one word and builds an argument upon it. And that word is “seed” in Genesis 17:7-8. This is the passage where God gives Abram a new name: Abraham. Abram means “exalted father”. Abraham means “father of many”. And God says to Abraham…
I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your seed after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your seed after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your seed after you; and I will be their God.”
Now, Paul’s argument is this, namely that the word “seed” is singular, not plural. And therefore, this promise is fulfilled in one person, not in many people. Paul believes that the one person in whom the Abrahamic covenant finds fulfilment is Jesus Christ.
Barclay sums up Paul’s argument this way: “Therefore, the way to peace with God is the way of faith which Abraham took; and we must repeat that way by looking to Jesus Christ in faith.”
The problem of human life is to get into a right relationship with God. But how can we do that when we are afraid of God? Self-torturing attempts at obedience to the law only lead to greater fear. It is only as we realize God loves us and we respond in faith that we can get into right relationship with God through Christ.
LAW
This leads to a question: Why did God introduce the law at all? This is the key question that Paul seeks to answer in the next part of this section of Galatians. Paul says that the law was added because of transgressions. In short, the law was given to show us where we have gone wrong. But the law cannot make us right because we can’t and don’t keep it.
Paul goes on to show us how the law is not only later than the promise it’s inferior to it. Why is this so? Because the law was not given directly by God. Now, this might seem a bit confusing to some of us who remember reading the book of Exodus. In Exodus 20 it certainly appears like God gives the law directly to Moses. But Deuteronomy 33:2, Psalm 68:17, Acts 7:53, and Hebrews 2:2 all talk about the law being given through angels as intermediaries. Paul picks up on this idea and builds upon it to suggest that the law is inferior to the promise because the promise was given directly by God to Abraham, but the law was given indirectly by God through angels to Moses.
Then Paul shows another way in which the law is inferior to the promise. He says, “A mediator implies more than one party; but God is one.” What Paul is getting at here is that in law there are always two parties—the person who gives the law and the person who must obey it. But a promise only depends upon one person. The way of grace, the way of promise, depends totally on God. Human beings broke the law and now nothing can fix that. But human beings cannot undo the promise that God gave to Abraham.
At this point, Paul anticipates another question: Is then the law opposed to the promise?Paul’s answer is an emphatic “No!” He says, “if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.” But we simply cannot get to God by obeying the law. Why? Because we cannot and do not obey it completely. Paul uses very evocative language here. He says, “But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin…” We are held captive by the law. We are “locked up” under arrest!
It is at this point that Paul introduces another interesting and powerful word picture. Paul says,
So, the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
The word translated as “guardian” is παιδαγωγὸς in Greek. Wealthy Greeks had household slaves called paidagogos. This person was put in charge of the children in the household and was responsible for their moral welfare. It was the duty of the paidagogos to see that the child acquired the qualities essential to true manhood. Every day the paidagogos had to take the child to and from school.
So, Paul compares the role of the law to the paidagogos. The law has come to lead us to Christ. The law cannot take us into Christ’s presence, but it can take us into a position where we realize our need of Christ. Once we have come to Christ, we no longer need the law. Now we are dependent not on law but on grace.
RESULT
So, what is the practical result of all this talk about the law and the promise? All this talk about the law as our guardian raises yet another important question: If the law is our guardian, then who is our parent? Paul’s answer is: “So, in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith…”
As Paul says in Galatians 4, when we come to Christ through faith, God adopts us as his children, and so we have the privilege of calling God by the same name that Jesus called him: Abba. Daddy. God becomes our heavenly father through faith, as we trust in God’s Son as our Savior.
This raises yet another question: If the law has made us prisoners, separated from God by our sin, then how, precisely, do we get reconnected to God as our heavenly father? That reconnection, Paul says, happens through faith. But it also happens through something connected with faith, namely baptism. Of course, in the early church, at the time of baptism, adult converts to Christianity would make a profession of faith. And so, faith and baptism were related. Baptism was an outward sign of faith. But the early church really believed that baptism connected people to Christ. Paul talks about being baptized into Christ. William Barclay explains…
By Christian baptism a man entered into Christ. The early Christians looked on baptism as something which produced a real union with Christ… Baptism was no mere outward form; it was a real union with Christ.
Paul goes on to say that those who have been baptized into Christ have clothed themselves with Christ. Paul may be reflecting on the fact that, in the early church, people would be baptized naked, and when they came up out of the water they would put on pure white robes, symbolic of their new life in Christ.
The upshot of all this is that there was a great sense of equality in the early church. There was no sense of difference between any of the members. All had become children of God. Paul says that all distinctions are wiped out: between Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, all are one in Christ Jesus.
This is an amazing statement on Paul’s part. It is a total reversal of what Paul must have prayed every morning of his adult Jewish life before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. In ancient times, every morning, every Jewish man would thank God that God had not made him a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. Paul takes that prayer and draws an eraser across it. All these distinctions are ultimately unimportant for the person who has met Jesus Christ and identified with his cause. A relationship with Christ wipes out racism, slavery, sexism. In short, a relationship with Christ wipes out every distinction that keeps us separate from one another as human beings. Paul sums up everything in this passage by saying, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
“But heirs of what?” you might ask. Paul spells out the answer in Titus 3:7, “Having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Through faith in Christ, we become children of God and heirs of eternal life.
You know, we live in a time of great division and separation between people. Especially in our nation we have a great need for unity. Ultimately, there is only one thing that can bring an end to the divisions that keep people apart all around the world. And that one thing is the experience of grace in Jesus Christ. It is not force, not law, that can unite a divided world. Only the love of God in Jesus Christ can do that.
And there is a great value in coming to a point where you make a definite decision to commit your life to Jesus Christ. I realize that for many of us, our growth into grace is gradual. But there is also a value in being able to look back on your life and realize there was a day of decision, a day of commitment, a day that changed your life forever.
Paul here talks about a child growing up. There is the time where a child is under the authority of guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. I wonder if Paul has in the back of his mind the day of bar mitzvah.
In ancient times, on the first Sabbath after a boy had passed his twelfth birthday, his father took him to the synagogue, and the boy became a “son of the law”. That’s what bar mitzvah means. The father uttered a benediction, “Blessed be thou, O God, who has taken from me the responsibility of this boy.” And the boy prayed a prayer in which he said, “O my God and God of my fathers, on this solemn and sacred day, which marks my passage from boyhood to manhood, I humbly raise my eyes unto thee, and declare with sincerity and truth, that henceforth I will keep thy commandments, and undertake and bear the responsibility of mine actions towards thee.” So, there was a clear dividing line in the boy’s life and almost overnight, he became a man.
I think Paul has that picture in his mind of bar mitzvah. But Paul turns it all around, almost upside down. Paul argues that in the childhood of the world, the law held sway. But the law contained only elementary knowledge. Paul calls it stoicheia. The word originally meant a line of things. It could refer to a line of soldiers. Or it could refer to a child learning his ABC’s. It’s like Paul is saying the law teaches us our ABC’s.
But at just the right time, in the fullness of time, Paul says, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem us from the law that we might receive the full rights of children of God. At our bar mitzvah in Christ, instead of becoming sons and daughters of the law, we are set free from the law, and we become sons and daughters of our heavenly father. We enter the promise made to Abraham. We enter grace. Our spiritual journey is no longer like following a rule book. We enter relationship, and now we follow a person, the person of Jesus Christ.
Have you ever had a day where you decided, definitively, that you were going to follow Jesus Christ for the rest of your life? For me that day was August 29, 1976. I know the exact day because I wrote it down. I was visiting my brother’s church in Philadelphia, Calvary Memorial Church at the corner of Roosevelt and Cottman. The pastor, George Rebsamen, invited people in the congregation to make a public commitment of their lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and as a sign of their commitment he invited people to walk to the front of the church. I remember my heart was beating so hard that I thought it would leap out of my chest. But I got up and walked to the front and publicly committed my life to follow Christ. And I have never regretted that decision.
I invite you to make a similar commitment today if you have never done so before. Accept Jesus’ forgiveness for your sin, bought by his blood shed on the cross. Commit your life today to follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your Leader and Forgiver.
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