The Warden

Context: We can’t achieve God’s favor by means of our effort. Specifically by works of the law. If it were possible to contribute to our salvation in this way, we would nullify the covenant God made with His people and would make Jesus and His redemptive work unnecessary and irrelevant. This captures much of what Paul has been making clear in this chapter. And this is not a mere theological treatise for Paul. Paul is not disconnected from this people and their needs. He understands what is at stake here for this church. Whenever the gospel of Jesus Christ is attacked, that is, whenever people mess with the gospel, everything that matters in the lives of people is in jeopardy. When this sense of urgency and readiness to defend the gospel is not felt or employed in this church, we can be sure a certain deception has begun among God’s people. Just like a parent would spring into action to protect his or her child at the first sign of possible danger, so should the people of God be on guard for any potential threat to the purity of the Gospel among the church. But the church in Galatia was being attacked by the proclamation of a false gospel, and the people were buying into it. This broke Paul’s heart. So he wrote this letter in an attempt to clarify the gospel in the people’s minds and hearts. So his emotion is grounded in the truth when he says, O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?..... Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

It is important to be clear on what the role of the law of God is meant to play in the lives of people. We are not suggesting, and more importantly, Paul was not suggesting that the law is irrelevant or somehow sinister in some way. It was misunderstood, taught incorrectly and used improperly, but it is from God. Paul concludes this chapter by making some important points about the law that will help us understand ourselves, one another, those with whom we interact in the world and the prevailing need we all share.

So let’s go to these concluding verses

Galatians 3:19–29 (ESV)

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Introduction

Consider what Moses said about his people of Israel:

Deuteronomy 31:26–27 ESV

“Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death!

Do you think that if Moses had made a statement like that today, he would be accused of be too critical? Perhaps his words would be thought to be defeating. Was he being censorious (condemning and judgmental)? Perhaps some of those thoughts were among those who actually heard Moses say these words.

Was Moses being too critical? Was he being unnecessarily negative? When we consider what is made clear about the people of Israel during the days of Moses, and more broadly, what the Bible makes clear about human sinfulness, we would not conclude that Moses was being too critical. He was being wise in his actions and words.

The law of God has something to offer us in our understanding of human sinfulness. When we consider the law of God from certain perspectives, the depth of human sinfulness is clarified and the depth of God’s grace is all the more incomprehensible.

But it seems to me...

FCF: We often either overestimate or underestimate human sinfulness

We are often content with too much pessimism towards others or even ourselves or too much optimism. This makes sense in light of the fact that we’re all affected by sin to the extent that we struggle to perceive the truth about people and about God. But what I think our text makes clear is that...

Main Idea:

The law of God clarifies both the severity of and the solution to human sinfulness.

Main Question

What will help us to understand the severity of and solution to human sinfulness?

The purpose of the law (19-22)

It exposes the sinfulness of man (19)

AQ: What is the purpose of the law?

Question: Why then the law?

Answer: because of transgressions

What does that mean?

Scripture interprets Scripture

Romans 5:20 ESV

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

Corruption is there and the law makes it clear.

The law is an agitator. It makes visible what was always there

The law also intensifies sin. When our rebellion meets the law it expands

Romans 7:5 (ESV)

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

So the sinful inclinations of the heart are not just exposed by the law, they are also aroused by the law. Why? Because apart from the Holy Spirit, when the self-centeredness and rebellion of our hearts rage against anything (like the law) that call it into question. It seeks to defend itself against any authority… even God’s.

It shows the unity of God’s ways (19-20)

Galatians 3:19–20 (ESV)

...until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

The intermediary here, I suggest is Moses. God gave His law to Moses and Moses gave it to the people of Israel.

Remember, this came 430 years after God made His covenant with Abraham. And, unlike what the Judaizers may have been teaching, the fact that God gave the law does not demonstrate he has somehow withdrawn the promises He made in the Abrahamic covenant. He gave the law to make clear that the only way to receive the promises of the covenant was to have the same kind of faith as Abraham did.

But what is Paul getting at here in vss 19-20?

As far as the Mosaic law was concerned, it was not given to impart life, but to make clear we don’t possess life in ourselves. Just the opposite. And the fact that God used a mediator to convey His law displays a certain inferiority to the covenant made with Abraham. It’s not that the Mosaic Covenant was evil or not of God. It was good and came from God. But it does not deliver the promises that are made in the Abrahamic Covenant.

But focus on the phrase we see at the end of v. 20: God is one. What does that have to do with anything, and what are we meant to understand about God and His covenants by it?

This same phrase shows up also in Rom.

Romans 3:28–31 ESV

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Paul makes clear everyone (Jew and Gentile) is justified faith and not by works of the law, like he does in Galatians.

And the reason God is God to both to Jew and Gentile is because God is one.

Justification is being dealt with here. Jews are justified by faith. Gentiles are justified by faith. That is the way God is God to His people, and this is made clear by the fact that God is one.

So when we go back to our passage in Gal three, and see that God is one, Paul is saying that yes, God used Moses (an intermediary) to convey the law to His people, and yes the Mosaic covenant is inferior to the Abrahamic Covenant because it does not deliver the promise of salvation, but reveals our need for eternal life, never-the-less both covenants make clear that eternal life come by grace through faith.

It exposes the hopelessness of man (21-22)

Paul poses another question in v. 21: Is the law contrary to the promises of God? In other words, does the Mosaic covenant contradict the Abrahamic covenant. We dealt wit this issue last week, and concluded that the Mosaic Covenant with it 600+ commands was not given by God to nullify the covenant He made with Abraham. The bottom line to both of the covenants is that having peace with God by grace through faith. That’s the way it worked for Abraham and that’s the way it works for everyone.

But what Paul says in the rest of vs 21 and in vs 22 makes clear that the law exposes a reality about us, and that it that we are, apart from the intervention of God’s grace, hopeless. This is what the law points to.

Look at v. 21: if a law were given that could give life, then righteousness would come by that law. And the point here is that the law was not given to grant life.... to grant peace with God. Again, no one’s obedience to the law results in becoming righteous. The law’s purpose is not to lead people on the paths of righteousness.

Consider what Paul said in Rom.

Romans 8:3–4 ESV

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Focus on the first part of this passage: For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh could not do. This is essentially what Paul is saying here in v. 21. The law does not deliver righteousness, only God does that. And the reason the law does not deliver righteousness is not because of a defect in the law, but because of a defect in us. Look what it says: the law, weakened by the flesh. People are the problem. Not the law. Just like Moses was being overly critical or negative about people, Paul isn’t either here. Paul recognizes the depth of human sinfulness, and the law helps to make that clear.

When we come to vs 22, I want us to focus on the word imprisoned. The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin.

The Scripture here, I suggest is referring to the words of God. He, in other words, has decreed that everyone (Jew or Gentile) are imprisoned under sin.

This word, imprisoned is used a few times in the NT and several time in the LXX. Consider the 2 senses it is used in the LXX

Joshua 6:1 (ESV)

Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.

Here, the word imprisoned or shut up is applied to cities as a protective measure to guard against hostile forces.

But also consider

Psalm 78:48 (ESV)

He gave over their cattle to the hail

and their flocks to thunderbolts.

Here, this is referring to the cattle of the Egyptians who were destroyed by hail and lightening because of the Egyptians’ sin. The hail and lightening were a sort of chains of of punishment and judgement.

So imprisoned here in our text in Gal. carries the ideas of protection and of judgement. The law serves as a sort of protection from ourselves. We, left to our own, will not come to God in faith but will either rebel against Him, or attempt to embrace His law as a means to display our own sense of self-sufficiency. The law, according to the decree of God (His word), imprisons us to protect us from those realities about ourselves

But the law also gives us over to the jailer, who is our sin. Apart from God’s liberating grace, we are in our sin’s prison, unable to free ourselves from its chains.

But, that not where it ends, thanks be to God, and we will get to that as we progress further in this passage, but what we must see here is that the problem is not the law of God. Remember, the law is from God. It is good, but it cannot, nor was it ever intended to deliver us righteousness by our obedience to it. It makes clear that we, in-and-of-ourselves are hopelessly sinful. And there is nothing we can do about it.

But let’s drill down a little further into the extent the law is used by God in people’s lives. We will now consider...

The scope of the law (23-26)

AQ: What is the scope of the law?

It protects us from ourselves until we are rescued from ourselves (23-24)

Go to v. 24 and find the word guardian (or school master or tutor). This was a person appointed to watch over a young child, train his public behavior, and keep him safe in public; perhaps with the fuller understanding of a tutor.

This person did not have the ability to change the child’s heart, but only enforced restrictions and boundaries for the protected person’s protection.

The law functioned this way for the people of Israel and it functions this way for people today. For those who reject Christ, the law is burdensome and unwanted. For those who follow Christ and rely on His mercy every day, the law is welcomed like advice from a skillful physician.

Doctor’s advice

In many ways, people are their own worst enemy. This is so because of the depth of human depravity. We will not desire to come to God on our own, and in God’s gracious plan of redemption, He gave the law to protect people from themselves.

Notice what v. 24 says: the law was given as a guardian until Christ came. Then, upon placing faith in Christ, people are declared righteous by God, their hearts are transformed and their relationship to the law is changed from the law being a warden to them to being a wise physician.

It frees us from protective custody upon our rescue from ourselves (25-26)

Notice v. 25

This makes clear that now that those in the Galatian church have placed their faith in Christ, they are no longer under the protective control of the guardian… the law.

why is this true? V. 26 - for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God… We will consider the distinctions that exist among us in a moment, but there is no human distinction among people that separates us from each other if we are in Christ. We are all sons, that is children of God if we are in Christ.

Jesus the Judge and Savior, come into the jailhouse, directs the warden, the law, to unshackle His people. Unlock the door, and He takes us out and sets us free to live for Him.

And if it hasn’t become clear to us yet, the law is limited. It does have limitations.

The limitations of the law (27-29)

AQ: What are the limitations of the law?

It cannot unite God’s people to God or each other (27-28)

What is most fundamental about people? In other words, what is the most basic, fundamental component of people that really defines who we are? Is it ethnicity? Is it gender? Is it a person’s socio-economic status? No. It’s one’s relationship (status) to Jesus.

This is no small consideration, and we should not take this lightly, but there are white people who go to heaven and there are white people who go to hell. There are black people who go to heaven and to hell. Both slaves and slave-masters went to heaven and went to hell. Both men and women go to heaven and go to hell. What makes the difference in all of this. Jesus. If a person is saved by grace through faith in Jesus, they will be with Him in heaven. If not, separated from Him in hell.

In light of this reality, there is neither, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. Paul is not addressing the atrocities of slavery here. There’s something even more important here. Eternity. Does gender matter? Of course, God created gender. But what’s more important is eternity. Do our ethnic distinctions matter? Yes. But eternity matter more. And, when it comes to eternity, faith in Christ is all that matters. Not a particular position on a social justice issue, not women’s rights, not even the injustice people perpetrate against one another. It is Jesus and His redemptive work and whether you and I have placed our faith in Him.

The, nor nothing else can unite us to God or to one another. It is only faith in Christ.

Without faith in Christ, what will be dominant in our relationship to God is the law, which will never deliver the promises God made to His people. Without faith in Christ, what will dominate our relationship with each other are our differences: race, gender, and other distinctions. In a community that recognizes Jesus as the Lord and Savior that He is, the distinctions that exists among them are welcomed points of diversity. But in a community that rejects Christ, those distinctions will divide.

It cannot deliver God’s promise to His people (29)

to be a child of God and to be Abraham’s offspring are the same thing. We are a child of God by by grace through faith. People are offsprings of Abraham by having the same faith that Abraham did in God, and because Jesus is the offspring of Abraham, everyone who places faith in Christ are also Abraham’s offspring.

And notice the last part of v. 29: heirs according to to promise. To be an heir is to be the rightful inheritor of a promise. The promises made to Abraham and to His offspring are ours if we are in Christ. And this is all so because God keeps His promise.

Conclusion

The law of God clarifies both the severity of and the solution to human sinfulness.

So I go back to what we suggested a few weeks ago. Effort is for revealing not for attaining. The law is not bad or evil. It will be burdensome to those who reject the law-giver. It will be intrusive to those who live according to their own way of life. But it’s not evil. It’s from God. But supposing we become acceptable to God on the basis of our effort or that we remain acceptable to God on the basis of our effort is to be guilty of the same offense as the Galatian church. Starting by the Spirit, but continuing in the flesh. The problem isn’t the law, the problem is us… it’s people. We must embrace and yield to Jesus. His work is finished. Our work is to believe Him and do His will out of joyful, loving obedience. And the law helps us to see this.