Understanding the Relationship of Faith to the Law.

Raging Rapids

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) was one of the greatest fundamental preachers and a prolific author…he once told a story about two men in a boat caught in severe rapids.

As they were being carried swiftly downstream toward the perilous rocks and falls, men on the shore tried to save them by throwing out a rope.

One man caught the rope and was saved. The other man, in the panic of the moment, grabbed a log that was floating alongside.

It was a fatal mistake!

The man who caught the rope was drawn to shore because he had a connection to the people on land.

The man who clung to the log was carried downstream by the rapids … never to be found.

Faith is like grabbing the rope from shore; it’s our saving connection to Jesus Christ.

Clinging to Good works for our salvation and sanctification is like grabbing onto the log, only leads to doom.

That is the point that Paul makes in Galatians 3.

In response to the Judaizers who emphasize salvation by works, Paul clearly argues that faith in Christ is superior to obedience to the law.

Paul knew that the message of salvation through grace by faith in Christ is a saving “rope” that leads men to eternal life.

He also knew that salvation by works, which the Judaizers preached, was a “log” that would carry anyone clinging to it to their spiritual death.

Throughout chapter 3 Paul will present the case of the superiority of faith over the law.

Simple Outline of Galatians

Personal: Defense of Paul’s Apostolic Authority — Chaps. 1-2

Doctrinal: Defense of Justification by Faith — Chaps. 3-4

Practical: Defense of Christian Liberty — Chaps. 5-6

Main Point: Faith is Superior to the Law.

How is faith superior to the law and how should that impact me today?

Throughout chapters 3 & 4 Paul is making a reference to “promises”, “covenant”, and “blessing”…often using them interchangeably.

I think it is important we pause for just a moment and examine what Paul is talking about.

Covenant = general term for a binding contract…it was often used to refer to wills or testaments…in some Scripture passages it is best to translate it that way...

A will and testament expresses the desires and intent of one party and may or may not involve other specific parties...

A covenant on the other hand, always involves two or more specific parties, although the stipulations and fulfillment can rest upon only one of the parties.

Throughout the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, the term is consistently used of God’s covenants with His people…covenants that God alone initiated and established…some were conditional and some were not.

What was the covenant God established with Abraham?

Genesis 12:2 NASB95

And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;

Genesis 15:1 NASB95

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”

Genesis 15:5–7 (NASB95)

And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.”

Later in Genesis, God would affirm this promise to Abraham to his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob.

The Judaizers argued the Law changed the original promise, Paul argues it did not.

In the time remaining, let’s consider 3 reasons Faith is Superior…2 will concern the law, 1 will concern Faith.

The Law Is Inferior Because it Does Not and Cannot Nullify Faith (15-18)

Gal 3:15-18 “Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.”

Paul provides us with four reasons why the law is inferior.

God’s Promise is Irrevocable and Unchangeable (15)

Paul uses an illustration from the human world to describe the power of the divine world.

Even in the earthy realm, once a man’s covenant has been ratified, no one is allowed to set it aside or add conditions to it...it was legally binding as it was written.

Ratification can happen in two ways…legal documents presented to the magistrate and filed with the courts, or by death of the parties involved.

So whether it is by death or by some official action there comes a point in time when nothing can be done to change the terms in any way.

So when was God’s covenant with Abraham ratified? (So glad you asked that question…shows you really are an attentive bunch)

God ratified the covenant by a ceremony common to the ancient Near East…you can read it in Genesis 15:12-17.

Let me walk you through it briefly…God told Abram to take a heifer, female goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon, cut them in half and lay the two sides of each animal opposite one another with a path in between.

Then at sunset, God caused both a deep sleep and dark terror to fall upon Abram. After reassuring Abram of His promises, the Lord symbolically passed between the animals in the form of a “smoking oven and flaming torch”.

Ordinarily, both parties would walk that path…but in this case it was God alone, indicating that even though this promise involved Abraham and his descendants, it was made by God WITH Himself…it was unilateral and entirely unconditional…God was the only one obligated to fulfill this covenant.

So Paul’s argument is that if man’s covenants, once ratified, cannot change, how much less can a covenant God makes with Himself be altered?

So when God made a covenant with Moses (the Law) He did not nullify or amend His covenant with Abraham…it is an eternal promise.

God’s Promise Is Centered in Christ (16)

Paul moves from the lesser argument to the greater...

The immutability of God’s covenant involving faith is directly related to God’s final covenant established in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Paul quotes from Genesis 22:18 and explains it to us.

Seed = in both Hebrew and Greek are like the English word and can be either singular or plural…apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Paul could not have made such a critical interpretation based on grammar alone…Hebrew, Greek, and English all allow for both…in verse 29, Paul will use this same word in the plural.

The Holy Spirit who superintends the writing of Scripture, makes it clear the singular usage of the word is necessary here…referring to one.

The one and only heir of every promise of God is Jesus.

Every promise made to Abraham was fulfilled in Jesus alone.

The only way one can participate in the promised blessings to Abraham is through faith in Jesus.

Salvation has always been and always will be through the perfect offering of Jesus on the cross.

God did not change the way of salvation when he gave the law…OT sinners were saved by faith…NT sinners are saved by faith.

The Old Testament believers who lived before the cross never knew the specifics about Jesus but nevertheless were forgiven and made right with God by faith in ANTICIPATION of His sacrifice.

The New Testament believers who lived after the cross look back to it.

When Jesus shed His blood it covered both sides of the cross!

The Old Covenant goes to the cross…the New Covenant comes from it…faith points forward and backward.

The covenant with Abraham was fulfilled in the covenant of Jesus, therefore the covenant of law cannot replace, nullify or alter the covenant of promise found in Jesus Christ alone.

God’s Promise Came First (17)

God made His promise to Abraham 430 years before He gave the Law to Moses.

430 years refers to the time elapsed between God’s last statement of the Abrahamic covenant to the giving of the law.

God repeats His promise to his son Isaac in Genesis 26:24.

He repeats it again to his grandson Jacob in Genesis 28:15.

The law came 645 years after Abraham, but 215 years after he repeated it to Jacob…exactly 430 years prior to the Mosiac covenant.

From the time of the fall, God’s salvation of man has always been about faith…the covenant with Abraham only verified and typified it.

When God ratified (perfect passive participle meaning it has lasting authority) his covenant with Abraham was eternal...no amount of time can nullify it.

Gods Promise is Complete (18)

Paul’s point here is that an inheritance based on law depends upon man’s performance…the inheritance granted by the promise of God depends on God’s power.

Granted = perfect tense = to give graciously and points to the permanent character of that which is granted.

The Law demanded perfection...Jesus completely and perfectly met the righteous demands of our Holy and Just God and there is no way we can meet those perfect demands…so God’s promise of grace completely takes care of that problem.

The New Covenant is completed in Christ alone and any performance of man to keep the law falls woefully short!

Reason #1 — The Law cannot and does not nullify faith...

Reason #2...

The Law is Inferior Because Of It’s Character. (19-24).

Gal 3:19-20 “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.”

Its Purpose is to Expose the Existence and Extent of Sin

The obvious question that comes next is if God’s plan of salvation was always by faith, then why does the law exist? What is the purpose of the law?

It was added because of transgressions…transgression = stepping over the boundary…we’ve over stepped our boundary with God

The purpose of the law was to demonstrate the total sinfulness of man and his inability to please God on his own.

When we look at all that the law demands, we should be driven to a desperate guilt before a Holy God…that is why we sang Holy, Holy, Holy…there is none beside thee…perfect in power, in love and purity.

The law shows how deep our sinfulness goes…remember if we break one part of the law, we have broken every part of the law…the law demands perfection.

Looking at the law should cause us to see that the way we live is more than wrong, it is an offense to a holy God…before whom no one can stand…

Although the covenant of law is in the distant past, the moral demands of the law have not diminished or disappeared…they did not begin or end with the Mosiac law…

included in the message of the gospel is that every man stands guilty before a holy God...of overstepping our boundary…of violating His law and deserving of divine judgment...

Until we recognize we have a huge problem of offending a holy God and that we stand in need of forgiveness and deliverance from His wrath, we will see no need for grace and mercy.

The purpose of the law was to drive us to utter despair over our sins and towards a desire for God’s gracious rescue…the law merely points to what only grace can provide.

It is Mediated by Third Parties

Ordained = technical term for carrying out laws.

Paul says here that God gave the covenant of law through two sets of mediators…first through angels, then through Moses…God to angels to Moses…Israel received the law third hand.

We know from the Exodus account that God authored and gave the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai...

He doesn’t fully explain how angels were involved but we read what Stephen says in Acts 7:53 “you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.””

The writer of Hebrews also acknowledges this in Hebrews 2:2 “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,”

We also know from the Old Testament text of Deut 33:2 that angels were present on Mount Sinai.

That is the extent of all we know about the angels role in mediating the Law

God also used Moses to communicate the law to his people…the law, as good and right as it is, came indirectly from God to angels to Moses to His people…you read the Old Testament accounts of Moses and you see Moses was constantly serving as a mediator between God and His people.

In contrast, God’s promise was made directly to Abraham (and all believers) from God Himself.

When an earthly king issued decrees it was often communicated by his servants…however if the king believed it of extreme importance, it came directly from him.

The message of the gospel of salvation by grace alone is so precious to the heart of God because it took the very life of His Son to procure that salvation and therefore He appeals DIRECTLY to all of us BE SAVED TODAY!

The law only provided a mediated relationship with God…salvation by grace through faith provides a DIRECT relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

v. 20 — is a difficult verse to translate and interpret…there are over 300 different views…what I have understood it to mean (take my understanding for what it is worth) is that Paul is pointing out that a mediator is needed when more than one party is involved. But since God gave the promise to Abraham directly, He was the only one involved in making the promise and therefore it does not need a mediator. The responsibility of keeping the covenant rests in God alone.

Abraham was witness to it and the beneficiary of it, but he had no part in establishing it or keeping it.

The covenant of law DID require two parties and a mediator…the stipulation of the law was God saying this is what I WILL do…Israel’s stipulation was this is what YOU MUST DO.

It is temporary

Until the seed would come...

The Law had a termination date...With the death and resurrection of Christ, the Law was done away and now its righteous demands are fulfilled in us through Jesus living His life in us through the Spirit…Gal 2:20.

Rom. 7:4 “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”

The law was only in affect until Jesus came and perfectly fulfilled every aspect of it.

This does not mean that the sinfulness of sin is no longer revealed through the law but only that this structure of redemptive history for Israel is now fulfilled in the coming of Christ (3:22–25).

The law was not given to provide life but to continually demonstrate sinners’ need for grace!

It Cannot Impart Spiritual Life (21)

Gal 3:21 “Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.”

Did God change the way he imparts spiritual life when he gave the Law? Does the giving of the law indicate another way of salvation? … NO

The law regulated life, it did not provide a righteous life.

Go back to verse 21 of chapter 2…if the law could impart spiritual life and righteousness, then Jesus death on the cross was meaningless...

The law cannot bring life; the law can only demand that we obey its precepts.

Paul’s entire argument rests on the view that no sinner is capable of keeping the righteous requirements of the law for justification.

The law demands perfect, personal obedience, but it cannot empower anyone to do it.

The law shows that we are not righteous; it cannot be the source of righteousness.

It is like a Prison and Harsh Tutor (22-24)

Gal 3 22-24 “But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”

v. 22. Scripture has shut up everyone under sin...

The law serves God’s purpose of grace by locking up (imprisoning) everyone (all humanity) under the accusation of sinfulness.

It takes away righteousness and provides a prison of which there is no escape.

v. 22 — so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe

Faith, not works of the law, is the path of promise.

The law imprisons us so that the promise of grace can be given to us.

The only escape out of the prison of the law is faith in Jesus Christ alone.

v. 23 — before faith came…Christ himself…faith centered in Jesus alone.

v. 23 — kept in custody… all humanity remained imprisoned by law without any means of prideful escape until the righteous demands of the law were met…so until we accept Jesus by faith, we are locked up because we are guilty of overstepping God’s boundary.

v. 24 — law became our tutor…a transliteration of the word for tutor gives us pedagogue…

Don’t think of a tutor in modern terms…in Greek and Roman homes a slave would be assigned this task of being in charge of the son’s behavior until they reached maturity…it meant they were in charge of administering the father’s discipline until such a time as discipline was no longer needed.

Paul’s point here is that instead of providing righteousness, the law disciplined sinners to come to salvation by grace alone in Christ alone.

It cannot justify the sinner…it can only demonstrate the need for justification

Reason 1…The law cannot and does not nullify Faith

Reason 2 … The character of the law is inferior

Faith Is Superior Because It Brings Radical Change (25-29)

Gal 3:25-29 “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”

v.25 — now that faith has come...

Talking about Jesus…since Jesus has come, full maturity has been reached and the disciplinary function of the law is no longer needed...

The curse of the law is fulfilled, the supremacy and control of the law has ended, it has been rendered obsolete.

The function of the law was to lead sinners to Christ the only source of justification...

now that Christ has come, our position as prisoners and minors has changed.

We are now sons of God (26-27)

Sons of God...By grace we are God’s adult children...In verse 27, Paul explains how this adult sonship occurred.

We were united with him through the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).

In addition you have clothed yourselves with Christ.

In Roman society, when a youth became old enough to be considered an adult, he took off his children’s clothes and put on an adult’s toga.

This switch indicated that he had adult citizenship and responsibilities.

In the same way, the Galatians had laid aside the old clothes of the law and had put on Christ’s new robes of righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21; Eph. 4:23–24).

2. We are now united together with other believers (28)

Having explained the vertical change that grace brought, now Paul shows its horizontal effect...

In Christ, human distinctions lose their significance.

Regardless of race, profession, or gender, all who come to Christ must come the same way—through faith and repentance.

As a result, with all distinctions erased, all believers are united in Christ.

This does not mean that all distinctions are erased on the human level…he does not say we are all identical…we are united.

We still have males and females with distinct roles, however, spiritual privileges belong to everyone in the church equally.

3. We are now heirs according to promise (29)

Through Jesus, believers are Abraham’s seed.

As the offspring of Abraham, we are heirs of the promise of righteousness through faith.

Thus, grace is superior to the law because it unites us with God and one another in a way that the law could not.

Life Steps

Recognize that God’s entrance requirement for heaven is perfection that only comes through faith in Christ.

Accept Jesus by faith today because without Him you will remain “locked up” under the penalty of sin with no way to escape on your own.

Be thankful for grace by walking in faith to please Him.

Allow your imperfections to humble you before God.

Don’t get sucked in to a system that promotes a superiority based on performance because Jesus makes us all equal.