Galatians 3:1 ¶ O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. 5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
This is a very important question for us all. If we
are saved by Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit and we did not save ourselves
but our salvation was predicated upon our belief and the faith we received why
do we then regard our justification as not being the result of Christ’s rising
from the dead but our slavish adherence to a set of rules that we are not
required to follow? Baptism is not proof we are saved.
We begin in the Spirit. How can we think that we can
be made perfect in the flesh? We will see in Galatians 5 what the fruit or the
proof of our having the Holy Spirit indwelling us is. It is not something you
can fake easily or for a long time.
Galatians 3:6 ¶
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. 7 Know
ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of
Abraham. 8 And
the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith,
preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations
be blessed. 9 So
then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Notice what Jesus called the works of God.
John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work
of God, that ye believe on him whom
he hath sent.
Here lies the essence of
the blessing for the world that the messiah would come through Abraham and that
salvation would be preached to the whole world. Please refer to my comments on
this promise in Genesis for further development. I think that here the
statement is sufficient for understanding.
For verse 6 see Genesis
15:6 and Romans 4:21-22.
For verse 8 see Genesis
12:3 and Genesis 26:4 as examples of cross-references.
See how the scripture
is given an ability to see and to preach in verse 8.
Romans 9:17 For the scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might
shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth.
Notice that in Romans 9:17 the Scripture is elevated to the status
of God Himself. See the reference in Exodus. We know from Exodus 9:13-21 that
it was God who said this through Moses. We know that Pharaoh refused to
honestly hear God’s commands to let God’s people go free. God saith and the
Scripture saith in this case are the same thing. Think of this in Hebrews.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word
of God [lowercase w] is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and
of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart.
Notice that gospel, good
news or glad tidings, includes many different statements and declarations. Here
the reference is made to the promise given to Abraham for the world that will
be blessed through his faithfulness.
Galatians 3:10 ¶
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is
written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which
are written in the book of the law to do them. 11 But
that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it
is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And
the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it
is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that
we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
We are not justified by the Law. Notice the allusion
in verse 11 to Habbakuk 2:4.
Behold, his soul which is
lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
Galatians 3:15 ¶
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's
covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth
thereto. 16 Now
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as
of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 17 And
this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in
Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot
disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. 18 For
if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise:
but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
Just as in Genesis where God made an agreement with
Himself for Abram while Abram was asleep and unable to perform any part in the
ritual, Paul here declares that God’s covenant was made with Himself, in His
physical form, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, the Holy Spirit has shown us two
sides to the covenant God made with Abram but God the Father and the Son of God
acting out both parts.
See Genesis 15:17-21 and Genesis 17:7.
We’ve discussed the four hundred and some odd years of
Israel’s persecution under Egypt previously in Genesis and elsewhere.
Galatians 3:19 ¶
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of
transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and
it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. 20 Now
a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. 21 Is the
law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law
given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the
law. 22 But
the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe.
What was the purpose of the Law besides revealing
God’s standard of righteousness? It was to show man how sinful his very nature
is until the coming of Christ. Again, God has mediated between Himself and
Himself to deliver mankind from the justice he and she deserves. This is
accomplished if one believes on Christ.
1Timothy 2:5 For there is one
God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
We typically don’t think of a mediator as working
between someone and himself but someone and another person but God is one.
Imagine a king who sends his own son with all of his authority vested in the
son to negotiate an amnesty with a rebellious tribe, offering up his own person
to pay the price for their treachery, negotiating with himself without their
participation other than to accept the offer of amnesty. See the previous
verses mentioned in Genesis for God performing the ritual of a covenant without
Abram being able to even wake up to participate.
Galatians 3:23 ¶
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which
should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might
be justified by faith. 25 But
after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
We are not under the Law. We are not justified by the
Law. The Law given to Moses, particularly the moral law, is still God’s
standard of righteousness but we can only attain it through Jesus Christ. We
have too many religious leaders trying to put us back under the Law and too
many Christians denying that, at least, the moral law is God’s standard for all
of His people. We should venerate the Ten Commandments and uplift them and any
Law that Jesus and Paul underscore and repeat but we should not use them as a
justification for self-righteousness or think we are somehow good because we
attempt to honor those standards of God.
Galatians 3:26 ¶
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For
as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And
if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
the promise.
Paul made a philosophical statement when arguing with
the philosophers in Athens in Acts 17 that we are all God’s offspring in that
He created us but this statement here in verse 26 is fundamentally different,
theologically different. We become the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus. Note a previous statement made to the religious elite of Judea by
Christ.
John 8:41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to
him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye
would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of
myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because
ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a
lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
We can only claim to be the child of God by our faith
in Christ. Without Christ we are considered children of another god, little g,
Satan, the Devil himself.
Human beings are only “all God’s children” from the
perspective of issue as in He made man and permits him to procreate. But that
is where the connection ends if you reject Christ.
Verse 28 is a great leveler that has disturbed a lot
of men of European descent in that they think in history they are all that and
a bag of chips because they conquered the world.
We are all one, with no difference between us in the
Lord, if we are in Christ Jesus. God makes no distinctions of value based on ethnicity,
social class, or gender in Christ. For the men in the congregation who want to
feel smugly superior to others of a different sex, racial group, or social
status this is quite the slap in the face. I love it for that among other
things.
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