The Law & The Promise

Bill Connors

Dear Church: A Study of Galatians • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Galatians 3:15–25

The Abrahamic Covenant

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Bookmarks & Needs:

B: 15-25; Walk N Roll card

Housekeeping Stuff & Announcements:

Welcome guests to the family gathering, introduce yourself. Thank the band. Invite guests to parlor after service.

Tonight during our evening service at 5:30 we will be ordaining Curtis Smith as a deacon. We voted on ordaining Curtis at the March business meeting. Any ordained men are welcome to come and be a part of Curtis’ examination at 4:00 in room 104, across from Miller Hall. We’ll have a fellowship afterwards in Miller Hall to celebrate together.

I wanted to let everyone know that next Sunday night, September 22, during our evening service at 5:30, we will be ordaining Curtis Smith as a deacon. We voted on ordaining Curtis at the March business meeting. Any ordained men are welcome to come and be a part of Curtis’ examination at 4:00 that afternoon in Miller Hall.

This coming Saturday, September 28, the ministry Joni & Friends will be hosting a Community Disability Health and Safety Fair and fundraiser called the Walk N Roll. It will be held at Hoffmantown Church from 8am to 3pm. The money raised will be used to help people affected by disabilities. If you want to put a team together and raise funds for the Walk N Roll, you can visit their website (on screen)… get your camera out and take a picture. There are also a few cards out on the Get Connected table in the foyer, and a poster on the “What’s Happening” wall.

On Wednesday, October 2, our church is hosting a lunch for students at the Christian Challenge at UNM (aka the BSU). We are in need of some yummy desserts for that day. If you can provide some, please bring them to the church office by 9 am on that Wednesday. The college students thank you.

Mission New Mexico State Mission Offering thru September and October. Goal is $8,000.

Opening

We are in the middle of Paul’s argument against the Judaizers in Galatia in our study of Galatians, which we’re calling “Dear Church.” Let’s stand in honor of God’s Word this morning as we read our focal passage, chapter 3, verses 15-25:

Galatians 3:15–25 CSB

15 Brothers and sisters, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to a validated human will. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ. 17 My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise. 19 Why then was the law given? It was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not just for one person alone, but God is one. 21 Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe. 23 Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. 24 The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. 25 But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

Pray

How many of you are wearing a diamond this morning? My lovely wife, Melanie, really likes diamonds. She always has. The thing that she really likes about diamonds is what I think most of us like: they sparkle. And what makes them sparkle? Well, mostly it’s a diamond’s cut that allows it to sparkle. “Brilliant cut” round diamonds appear to have the most sparkle, because they have the most facets: the little flat surfaces that act like mirrors to light. That’s where most of the sparkle comes from. As you turn a diamond, you change which mirror you’re looking at, and so you get that different little flash of light.

This is kind of what we’re doing with the book of Galatians. Over my last couple of messages, and to a certain extent over this whole series on the letter to the churches of Galatia, we’ve had the underlying themes of works & grace, flesh & spirit, legalism & freedom. What we’re doing is slowly turning the diamond of Galatians and seeing more facets of what God has done for us in Christ. Each of these facets is meant to give us another vantage point to view the beauty of the Gospel.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve spend time looking at

While it may seem like Paul sometimes is basically repeating himself in Galatians, he isn’t. He’s methodically making a case against those who are disturbing the churches God had used him to found in Galatia, those who were saying that faith in Jesus wasn’t enough to truly be saved. You needed to follow the Jewish laws and regulations as well.

Last week, we considered the Blessing of Abraham: that Abraham was justified (made right with God) by God’s grace alone through faith alone. Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. We learned that those who have faith like Abraham are Abraham’s “spiritual children” (3:7), and have inherited the blessing of Abraham: justification through faith.

Diamond and facets of Galatians. Connect to last week. Spending a lot of time on theology of salvation, justification, sanctification. Eventually (chapter 5) we will get into more practical?

In our focal passage this week, Paul continues his argument against legalism by contrasting the law and the promise. He starts by setting up the order of things, and we’re going to have to take a little extra time on verse 15:

Galatians 3:15 CSB

15 Brothers and sisters, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to a validated human will.

Will

So the CSB here translates the Greek word diathEkE as “will”. How many of you have a different translation in front of you right now, and it says “covenant?” Probably all of you that have a different translation. At first, I was intrigued by this difference in the CSB. Where did they get the idea of a “will” here, especially since the same word is translated “covenant” in verse 17? Also, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, the Hebrew word for covenant was often translated with the word diathEkE.

Well, Paul is making a word play here. God made a covenant with Abraham that Abraham wasn’t a party to: it was completely by promise. However, this word in Paul’s time was also used in legal circles for a will, a binding document that was to be opened only once which made certain promises by the one making it, upon that person’s death (as it is used again in ).

Hebrews 9:15–17 CSB

15 Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 Where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in effect while the one who made it is living.

Hebrews 9:15–16 CSB

When Paul said that no one “sets aside or makes additions to a validated will,” he’s referring apparently to how wills were managed in those days. The will would be written out on a scroll, signed by the one making the will (generally called the testator), and then signed by as many as six witnesses. The scroll would then be rolled up, and then each signer—the testator and each of the witnesses—would place their seal upon the will, sealing it up until the death of the testator.

When the will was opened, each of the witnesses (if they were still alive themselves) would have to appear and confirm that their seal was still on the will and was still intact before the will was opened. This guaranteed that the will could not have been tampered with or altered in any way.

Paul is arguing that the giving of the law to Moses did not invalidate or modify the covenant promise that God had made to Abraham—the will had not been opened yet. The testator had not yet died. Jesus Christ, the God-man, 100% God and 100% man, died on the cross (Gal. 3:13)… something that is completely unthinkable! In Christ, the immortal God tasted death on behalf of His sinful creation. Daniel Akin wrote in his book “A Theology for the Church:”

Paul is arguing that the promise has come to fulfillment.

Paul is arguing that the giving of the law to Moses did not invalidate or modify the covenant promise that God had made to Abraham. God’s covenant with the people of Israel in Moses’ time had a different purpose, as we will see as we go through our passage today. What is critical for us to remember is that Christ is the ultimate focus of the promise to Abraham.

Jesus, as that testator, has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and while men must die and then face the judgment, Christ was “offered once to bear the sins of many.”

So, in one fashion, Christ is the maker of the covenant, the testator of the will. And now that He has died, the will can be opened, and the inheritance can be given. God’s covenant with the people of Israel in Moses’ time had a different purpose, as we will see as we go through our passage today. What is critical for us to remember is that Christ is the ultimate focus of the promise to Abraham.

Akin, Dr. Daniel L.. A Theology for the Church (pp. 455-456). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

God’s covenant with the people of Israel in Moses’ time had a different purpose, as we will see as we go through our passage today. What is critical for us to remember is that Christ is the ultimate focus of the promise to Abraham.

1) Christ is the focus of the promise to Abraham.

But in another critical fashion, Christ is the fulfillment of the promise made by God to Abraham. Christ is in this way the go-between for us and God. In Him, God—the maker of the promise—died. But also in Him, Abraham’s line received the promise that was made. This is why Paul writes:

Galatians 3:16–18 CSB

16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ. 17 My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.

gal 3:16-

Paul is likely looking to when he references this “seed” idea:

Genesis 17:7 CSB

7 I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.

Now, Paul knows that the word “seed” could be taken as a collective plural. But again, he’s making a wordplay, intentionally using the singular to point to Jesus as the ultimate offspring of Abraham, the One through whom the total promise would come.

The problem with the Judaizers is that they had the two covenants backwards. They were looking back at the covenant with Abraham through the lens of the covenant with Moses, and so thinking that the latter had basically revised the former. But this doesn’t make sense! For God to put the law into effect would be to make the promise no longer a promise. It would mean that God had changed His mind about how He was going to deal with Abraham and His offspring—that we would now have to earn the blessings He had promised.

Instead, Paul argues that the right perspective was to look forward at the covenant with Moses through the lens of the permanent covenant promise to Abraham. He argues that the terms “law” and “promise” are essentially mutually exclusive: they can’t both be right. If Abraham’s inheritance must be earned by the keeping of the law, it isn’t by a promise. Or if it’s given by a promise, then it need not be earned.

So which is it? God obviously gave the law. Did He change His mind? No, says Paul… God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.

2) The Mosaic law was given to point us to Christ.

This leads us to the same point that Paul anticipated the Judaizers, and maybe the Galatian readers also, would arrive at. A critical question for us to consider:

“Why then did He give the law?”

Paul addresses this question in verses 19-21:

Galatians 3:19–21 CSB

19 Why then was the law given? It was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not just for one person alone, but God is one. 21 Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law.

Christ’s death fulfills the law in its entirety. (matthew 5)

Here’s why it was given: “for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come.” My take on this sentence is that Paul is basically saying, “because of man’s sinfulness, the law was given to show people how bad sin really is, and just how hopeless they are, and thus drive them to faith in the promise.”

Last week, we said that in many ways, Romans is the best commentary on Galatians. This week is no different as far as this point is concerned. Paul speaks about this in :

First, it could mean that, “because of man’s sinfulness, the law was given to show people how hopeless they are, and thus drive them to faith in the promise.”

I believe that Paul here is referring to

Romans 7:7–11 CSB

7 What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. 8 And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again 10 and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

Romans 7:7-11

Or, it could mean that, “because of man’s sinfulness, the law was necessary , and thus drive them faith in the promise.”

So Paul, reflecting on his life before faith, says that he discovered that coveting was a sin through the law. And then his sin nature proceeded to make him covet like crazy, making him deserving of the death penalty as a rebel against God, because the “wages of sin is death,” according to . This is what happened in the garden of Eden, wasn’t it? They had ONE rule. ONE law. And they didn’t follow it. They looked, they desired, they took, they died… and we died right along with them.

The law was given to expose our sin.

I don’t have a toddler in my house any more. I have had two of them. And there’s something very… rebellious about a toddler. There is a reason they call them the terrible two’s, right? When both of our girls were little, we could see their little sinful natures clearly in how they sometimes responded to our commands. “Maggie, do this,” and she would look right at us and give a defiant, “NO.” Suddenly, the sinful heart is exposed. The command brings it to the surface. (She’s not that way anymore, by the way) In kind of the same way, the law exposes our sinful hearts.

The law also intensifies our sinfulness. It makes our sinfulness look even worse. Look at how Paul continues in :

I think that one could make a great argument for either position. I personally believe that Paul is primarily referring to the second option, given how he speaks in :

Romans 7:12–13 CSB

12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. 13 Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.

The law is a good thing, because it exposes my sin. But how my sinful flesh uses the law is bad, because I’m like that disobedient toddler who only wants my way. As a result, no one can stand before God and say, “I’m perfect. I’ve never sinned,” because we know that we have. The more we try to obey the law in our own strength, the more we try to jump through all of the various hoops, the more the law tells us we are guilty… that we’ll never live up to God’s standard. So the law intensifies our sinfulness, making it so that “sin might become sinful beyond measure,” because it takes what is good: God’s instructions for our well-being; and it uses it to make me guilty before God.

So, to take it back to Galatians, is the law bad? No!

Galatians 3:21 CSB

21 Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law.

The law has the power to show us that we are NOT righteous, but it cannot give us the power to BE righteous. The purpose of the law was never to give life. If it was, then the Judaizers would be right: our justification, our right standing before a holy God, is something that we have to earn by doing all the right things. The law would negate the promise.

The law drives us to our knees to say, like Paul did at the end of : “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” ()

Romans 7:24–25 CSB

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

3) Faith in Christ sets us free.

But that’s not how it works, and thank God for that!

matthew 5:17-18

Matthew 5:17–18 CSB

17 “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.

Christ’s death fulfills the law in its entirety. (matthew 5)

Connect to Romans 7

3) Faith in Christ sets us free.

No, because Jesus has fulfilled the law! He’s done the perfect living that we couldn’t do, so that when we discover that we cannot be save through our performance, the requirements for our justification have already been met:

Matthew 5:17–18 CSB

Jesus didn’t make the law go away. He made it so that every aspect of it had been done perfectly, so that we could have His righteousness imputed to us if we trust in Him for our salvation. He makes it so that He is our righteousness, not the law:

Romans 10:4 CSB

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,

This isn’t to say that we no longer have anything to do with God’s law. It’s to say that it’s no longer what we look to in order to be saved. Instead, we look to Jesus.

Here in Galatians, Paul displays this fact in two ways in these last four verses of our focal passage today:

Referenced in three ways:

Galatians 3:22–23 CSB

Galatians 3:22–25 CSB

22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe. 23 Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. 24 The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. 25 But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

Referenced in three ways:

When Paul says, “the Scripture” here, he’s referring to the law: the Hebrew people had kind of seen the law as a fence, keeping the Gentiles out. But now we discover that because of the sinful nature, all of the rules and regulations that they had placed on it, and the misguided hope that they had placed in it, meant that it was not really a fence keeping corruption out. Paul flips the picture, declaring instead that the law is a prison wall keeping people in. It became a trap and a snare.

Galatians 3:22 CSB

22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe.

It also “was our guardian.” This sounds so kind, this provision of a guardian. And that is kind of accurate. The Greek word here for guardian is paidagOgos. This would have been a slave in the household who was in charge of the rearing, training, and disciplining of the children. Not like a nanny or a babysitter. No, more like a drill sergeant, but often not quite as nice.

But again, why? “So that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ.... so that we could be justified by faith.” Again, it’s not about performance: it’s about the promise. You can’t (normally) break out of prison… you have to be set free. Because God loves us, He sent His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life in our place, to die a sinner’s death in our place, and to defeat death and the grave in our place. And He offers us the forgiveness that He bought for us if we will just receive it by faith, promising eternal life to those of us who have trusted our eternity to Jesus. This is the coming faith that was revealed: believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Galatians 3:23 CSB

23 Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed.

There is one other way that we are set free from the law as a means of salvation:

There is one more picture here:

Galatians 3:24–25 CSB

24 The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. 25 But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

Once that faith has come, we no longer need the guardian to train us. We walk in obedience more out of grateful obedience than fear and coercion, because we know that God loves us and wants His best for us, and obedience is best for us.

Verse 22: promise given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe

Verse 23: confined, imprisoned

Verse 24-25: guardian (explain paidagogos).

Closing

The one additional place I want to make application is this as we close:

What are we trusting for salvation?

What are we telling people about how we are saved?

What do we testify about?

We can be extremely moral people, and still be lost.

We can tell people about Jesus as a morality repairman and not as a Savior.

We can testify about how good we are, and lead people away from Jesus instead of toward Him.

This summer, we started this focus called “Who’s Your One?” I haven’t done a very good job of keeping that in front of us. But I want to remind you: Who’s your one? Who’s the one person in your sphere of influence that you believe God would have you tell about the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ?

Think about

I guess the big application here is: What are you going to tell them? Through what are we saved? The law, or the promise? We’re to call people to faith in Christ, not to good behavior. We’re to call people to come to Jesus with their messes, not to whitewash their lives and fake it till them make it.

Now, how do I make useful application to this?

This morning, I want to be clear, in case I haven’t been in past weeks. You can be a “good person” without ever trusting in Jesus to save you, and you will be lost for all eternity. It’s only through faith in the work of the promised Son of God on the cross that we are saved from the punishment of our sins and given eternal life. Have you been going through the motions? Surrender your trust in earning your salvation and trust in Jesus today.

I’ll be here, Trevor and Camille will be here, and Joe and Kerry will be in the back to pray with you and celebrate with you if that’s you today.

First, we are to call people to faith in Christ, not to good behavior.

If God is calling you to join this family of believers this morning so you can serve and grow here, then come and share that with us as well.

If there is some other thing that God is speaking to you about this morning, you can come and pray with one of us, or at the steps. Listen and respond to God now as the band comes.

Pray.

Good behavior doesn’t save. Jesus does. Remember our “ones”.

Invite to Parlor.

Zoolapalooza.

Closing

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