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Monday, October 4, 2010

Galatians - Chapter 3

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This chapter is among my favorites in the Bible. It explains the promise from God, which allows us to become His children. My 5 year old granddaughter likes to pretend she’s a princess. I explained to her that Jesus is the King of Kings, and we are his children, therefore she IS a princess. We who have accepted His gift of salvation are all princes and princesses, heirs of the Kingdom.

In this letter, Paul is appalled that the people in Galatia were turning away from his teachings so quickly simply because some Judaizers had come into the churches and were teaching that in order to be saved, you had to be Jewish or converted to a Jew. This completely invalidated everything Paul had taught them.
  • 1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
Paul is upset with those who are listening to the Judaizers. He says ‘how can you be such fools as to believe what they are teaching? Jesus was crucified! You know this!
  • 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?
Paul is asking “How did you receive the Holy Spirit anyway? By observing the old laws? No, by believing what I taught you; you heard the good news and you believed it.”

Paul mentions the Holy Spirit 16 times in this letter to the Galatians.  

  • 3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
Again he asks them how they can be so foolish. They’ve experienced the Holy Spirit, so what is it they think they can accomplish by turning back to the old ways? Trying to achieve righteousness by works, including circumcision, was part of life in the flesh. After receiving the Holy Spirit, we no longer should be living life in the flesh, but in the Spirit.

  • 4Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing?
Paul asks, “Why have you suffered the ridicule if it meant nothing?”

  • 5Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
Again he asks how they received the Holy Spirit in the first place—was it by obeying the law of Moses or through belief in Jesus Christ?

  • 6Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Paul is referring to Scripture from Genesis 15:6: “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”

He says to remember Abraham and how he believed God, and God rewarded him with righteousness.  

  • 7Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
If you believe, you become a child of Christ, and therefore become a decendant of Abraham. Abraham was the physical and spiritual father of the Jewish race. So how can these Gentiles be decendants of Abraham?
  • 8The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you."
Paul again refers to the Scriptures. Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

God told Abraham “All nations will be blessed through you.” He didn’t say all Jews, or all of your kin, he said ALL NATIONS. So we know from this God had a plan, even then, for all to be able to receive salvation. Paul suggests these Scriptures revealed God would save non-Jewish people through their faith. 

  • 9So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
All who have faith are blessed just as Abraham was blessed because of his faith.

  • 10All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."
We find this particular Scripture in Deuteronomy 27:26: "Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

If you rely on the law for your salvation, you cannot be saved. For the Scriptures say if you disobey even one of the laws, you are cursed. 

  • 11Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."
Paul is referring to the Scripture found in Habakkuk 2:4: "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous will live by his faith”

So it’s obvious no one could possibly be so perfect as to do everything the law requires. Habakkuk 2:4 says even when a person is puffed up (arrogant) or has sinful desires, thereby disobeying the law, he can still be righteous by living by his faithfulness. God’s blessing has never been earned, but has always been freely given. 

  • 12The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them."
The law is not based on faith, far from it. The Scriptures say “the man who does these things will live by them”.

This is found in Leviticus 18:5: “Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.” 

  • 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
This Scripture is taken from Deuteronomy 21:23: “You must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.”

Christ released us from the curse of the law by becoming cursed for us, for the Scriptures say “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree”. (word used for tree here originally meant stocks and poles on which bodies were impaled). 

  • 14He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
Christ did this so the promise given to Abraham could come true, and all people (including Gentiles) could receive the promise of the Spirit through faith in Him.
  • 15Brothers, 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.
Here Paul tries to appeal to them by giving them an example they can identify with. ‘Human covenant’ normally indicated a last will and testament. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it had been used to indicate God’s promise to His people. So this was an apt analogy and one they could understand. Paul says no one can change or add to a last will and testament once it’s been established, and the same is true with God’s promise.

  • 16The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed,"meaning one person, who is Christ.
Here Paul is again referring to Genesis, when the Lord gave His promises to Abraham. The Scripture said the promises were spoken to Abraham and ‘his seed’, not plural, but one seed—one person—that one being Christ.

  • 17What 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.
The law wasn’t introduced until 430 years after God made this promise to Abraham and doesn’t change the promise. God’s ‘will’ could not be changed. 

  • 18For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
The inheritance (being the blessing God gave to Abraham) was given by a promise, or covenant, from God and cannot be given by the law. 

  • 19What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator
So if the law didn’t change God’s plan for salvation, then why was there a law given at all? It was given so men could understand right from wrong until the time when Christ (the seed, or special descendant of Abraham) had come, fulfilling the promise. The law was given through angels to a mediator (Moses).

The promise God had given to Abraham had stood at the center of God’s relationship with his people (the Jewish people). After the exodus from Egypt, the law became an additional element in that relationship. The law is what Jeremiah spoke of as the ‘old covenant’ and Christ was the ‘new covenant’.

Paul says the law was given through angels.

Deuteronomy 33:2   He said: "The LORD came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran. He came with myriads of holy ones from the south, from his mountain slopes.

Acts 7:38,53  He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us…53you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."

Hebrews 2:2-3  For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 

  • 20A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.
Moses was a mediator and was given the law in a formal arrangement of mutual commitments between God and Israel. But the promise given to Abraham was given directly from God and involved no commitment from Abraham, only from God. No mediator was involved.
Whenever there is only one side committing to something, with nothing in return by the other party, there is no need for a mediator. So the law was purchased by commitment from the Israelites. The promise to Abraham was a ‘gift’ from God. 

  • 21Is 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. 22But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
So is the law a bad thing, going against God’s will?
No. The reason for the law is this: although it cannot save, it serves to reveal sin, which alienates God from man, and shows the need for the salvation the promise offers.

  • 23Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.
Before Christ (wherein lies our faith), we were prisoners of the law (or of sin), for the law revealed to us what sin was. And since no one could live without disobeying some of the laws, it exposed sin, yet gave us no way to be forgiven for that sin, making us prisoners.

  • 24So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
The law was “put in charge” to lead us to Christ—to understand this fully, we have to understand what this terminology meant in those days.
The Greek word used here was ‘paidagogos’ (ped i gog us) which was an attendant who accompanied a young boy to be sure he arrived at his intended destination safely, using discipline whenever necessary (a sort of guardian or baby-sitter; literal translation would be ‘schoolmaster’). The paidagogos usually accompanied his charge to, and from, his teachers.
In this analogy, the teacher was Christ and the law was the guardian. Once the law (or guardian) had done it’s job and led us to Christ, then it was possible for us to be justified by faith.  

  • 25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Now that the law (or guardian) has safely delivered us to Christ (the teacher), the guardian is no longer needed.
  • 26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
By faith we are adopted into God’s family and therefore justified to be an heir with all the rights and privileges of a family member.

  • 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Unity in Christ transcends all distinctions such as ethnicity, sex, or social standing.

  • 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Since Christ was of Abraham’s lineage, and we are adopted as His children, then all Christians are Abraham’s true, spiritual descendants, fulfilling the promise God made to Abraham. Because of this promise, we receive all of God’s blessings.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this website. Thank you, I'll try and check back more often. How frequently you update your site?

Unknown said...

Thank you.