The Promise Of God And The Law
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15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.
16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19 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.
20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
21 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.
22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 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.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,
2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.
3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Intro
Intro
Continuing the series on Galatians after a break of 3 weeks
last time, Richie spoke on justification by faith alone
how those who have faith in Jesus Christ show themselves to be sons/children (of the same lineage) as Abraham, the man of faith, whose faith was counted as righteousness
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Righteousness does not come from doing the works of the law, but by having faith in Christ jesus, who died on the cross so that those who believe in him, Jew and Gentile, gain right standing with God (justification) and access to the blessings God promised to Abraham, and therefore, to all those who follow Abraham in believing God in faith
Now Paul continues on the theme that Christians are Abraham’s children because they are found in Christ (all the way to 4:7)
this is a big passage we just read and it can fill three - four sermons because their are atleast 3 different topics that Paul covers, all connected to this one theme
but i want to focus on the key points in this passage
we will use the ABC to cover some of the more difficult verses in here
but we dont need to know everything about this passage to understand what Paul is trying to see
there is a big idea that we need to understand in context that explains the flow of this passage
Context
Context
That big idea is in Gal 4:4-5
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Focus on the element of time, or what we call salvation history; the history of salvation or of God’s dealings with people in order to reveal himself to them and bring them into relationship with him
At the right time, God sent his Son and he, though he was born under the period of the law, redeems those under the law. And he inaugurates a new period
this is a key idea in both Romans and Galatians as well as all the other epistles of Paul
the coming of Jesus Christ is a fundamental event in the history of this world in such that it divides the history of this world into two
The old and the new
and this means there are things that belong to the old age and are no longer applicable in the new age, which we are in after the coming of Christ
it also means that there are things of the old age that need to be understood in light of the new age. The new age explains things that were previously not understood or barely understood
and for Paul, this division of history literally hit him square in the head on the road to Damascus. the revelation of Christ caused him to reevaluate who he was, what he was doing and discard all of that in light of Christ’s new age
for Paul, the arrival of Christ demands that everything else preceding it be reevaluated in the light of Christ
and this argument over faith vs works is not just an argument over how to be made right with God
it is an argument over how fundamental Christ’s coming is
is it just another event in history where you have to adjust a bit but you basically live on as before, as the Judaizers wanted to do, just add Jesus to everything you were already doing
or is it so disruptive, so fundamental, that you cannot live on as before, you need to live in the light of God’s new full revelation of who he is in Christ Jesus
and Paul believes that things have changed. and that is the testimony of the NT
In the Christian theology of history, the death of Christ is the central point of history; here all the roads of the past converge; hence all the roads of the future diverge. - Stephen Neill
and of this passage as well
in light of this fundamental change in salvation history,
if you still live life under the understanding of the old age, it is illogical because you are living in a new age, the age of Christ
and that is what Paul is trying to bring out
and in this passage, he uses that idea to point out the proper understanding of the Law and how to gain access to God
The superiority of God’s promise over the law (3:15-18)
The real purpose of the law (3:19-24)
Becoming true sons of God (3:25-4:7)
The Superiority Of The Promise
The Superiority Of The Promise
the issue in Galatians is with the binding authority of the law over Christians; is following the law needed to be justified or is justification by faith alone?
when Paul takes about the law, he is specifically talking about the Mosaic covenant, the laws given at Mt Sinai and described in Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy
But Paul again reminds the Judaizers that God’s dealing with his people, specifically with regards to the history of salvation, didnt begin at Sinai
Salvation history begins right after creation with the promise of the gospel in Gen 3
but for this context, Paul says that the history of God’s dealings with people with regards to salvation should not begin with Moses but with Abraham
Already Gal 3:8
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”
and then last verse of previous passages ties that passage to this section Gal 3:14
14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
now what is the blessing?
in the OT, the blessing is most commonly tied to the possession of the land, of many descendants and this blessing of God being made available to all the earth
8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
and that is what God promised to Abraham
and the main portion of that promise, what land, descendants are pointing to, is that God will be their God
it is intimacy with God, it is to live in the presence of God and that is promise of God
Israel wanted to go into the promised land because that is where God would dwell in their midst (not in Egypt)
And Paul is telling the Judaizers that these things were not promised to Israel on Sinai but to Abraham
and he says that the promise made to Abraham is superior to the law in one aspect, the aspect of time
17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
the promise came before the law
and Paul is telling them, you are claiming that the law of Moses needs to be followed even though it came later than the promise to Abraham and did not add anything to the blessing
and he uses an example from human dealings
15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.
a man-made covenant is a will
now in today’s world, we know there are cases where you can change a will when the person who is writing the will is still alive but that is rate
and in those days, it was impossible. once the will was written, it could not be changed
and so it is with God’s promises, once it has been laid out and promised by God, it cant be changed or added to
the Mosaic law did not add anything to the promise because it was impossible for the promise to be added to or superseded
but the second reason the promise is superior is because its a promise, and specifically its the promise of God himself
the promise differs from the law, in that while both are covenants, the obligation of each covenant are on different parties
in the law, the obligations are on the people. They are to do what the law commands in order for the covenant to hold. remember that the only one of the 10 commandments with a promise is the 5th commandment to honor father and mother
in contrast, in the promise to Abraham, the obligations are not on Abraham but on God
In Gen 15, the covenant was sealed by God walking through the sacrifice that was offered. the obligations were to be completely fulfilled but God himself, independent of the actions of Abraham
then what was Abraham to do?
all Abraham had to do was to believe that God was trustworthy and that his promise could be held on to
Keller example
and Abraham believed in the promise of God, he had faith and it was counted to him as righteousness, justification before God
so Abraham is the father of all those who have faith in the gospel promise of God that has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ
and where the promise is fulfilled, there is no need for the law because the law does not bring the blessing of the promise
18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
The Purpose Of The Law
The Purpose Of The Law
the Judaizers could have asked Paul “If the law added nothing in terms of justification, and the blessing came through faith in the promise, then couldnt the whole giving of the Law on Sinai and the establishment of the Mosaic covenant been avoided?”
Paul anticipates this question
19 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.
here we see a couple of things
first the scope of the law’s relevance is timebound: it was only to be in place till the offspring who would bring the gospel promise came; that is Christ as we saw in Gal 3:16
16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
second, the purpose of the law we never to bring about justification. that is what the judaizers misunderstand
here Paul reveals the purpose of the law was to bring about transgressions
notice, it is not to bring about sins but transgressions
Transgression is a violation of a revealed law of God. so there is punishment for sins but where there is no law against it, there can be some excuse for ignorance. but the law reveals the existence of sins and the punishment for them; going against the law is transgression and brings about greater wrath from God
15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
Now if transgressions bring about wrath, then wouldnt the giving of the law be a bad thing? in that sense, did God do a bad thing when he could have completely avoided this?
Again, this qn is anticipated
21 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.
He is saying nothing God does is bad
if indeed it was possible for the law to bring about justification (life), then God would have given that law
but it is not possible but that does not mean that the law is not good
you have to understand the purpose with which God gave the law
22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
in a negative sense, Paul says God intended for the law (Scripture) to imprison men and women under the knowledge of sin.
to what end?
When we talk of prison, we think of punishment but here imprisonment means to enclose or confine
it is a structure with boundaries. its a form of discipline to lead us to a desired outcome
what is that outcome?
that those who are under the law understand that it is impossible for human beings to become righteous by trying to obey the whole of the law
because we are sinful by nature and when our nature is evaluated against the law, it is impossible not to transgress
so then, once we realize that it is impossible, we are or more specifically speaking, those in the OT were to lay hold of the promise of God by faith and follow in the footsteps of Abraham. Run to the grace of God to be justified!
in a less negative sense, Paul says the law functions as a guardian of those in the old era
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
Guardians in the Greek-Roman context were (usually) male slaves who took care of young children, seeing they did their chores, got to school and back safely and so on (Moo)
They were not teachers but they enforced (again) discipline and structure
the discipline was for children to proceed to maturity
so also, the law was a guardian guiding the people of the old era towards maturity
this maturity was the recognition that without faith, it is impossible to please God, as the Hebrew writer says
but now that the old era has ended, and Christ has come, there is no more a need for a guardian to remind people to approach God in faith
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
because now the Word of God has fully revealed the gospel promise of justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ
did those in the OT heed this discipline? Many of them did not
and certainly the Judaizers did not; they missed the true purpose of God’s good law
instead, in their misunderstanding, they sought righteousness and justification by doing the works of the law
adding rules and regulations that instead of leading people to God’s promise, divided them and prevented access to God
so they looked at themselves as righteous and the Gentiles as sinful; told the Gentiles that culturally and religiously, you had to become like those who lived under the law to be counted as righteous
as we see in v28, they assigned status before God based on the their own classification: jew vs greek, male vs female, slave vs free
and in doing all this, they still did not get the point
so therefore, the law revealed the rebellion and the sinfulness in their hearts and brought it to the surface, but instead of running to God for help, they sought help in their own self-righteousness
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Faith in Jesus Christ would be the means to cross over into the life of God, but they chose to live in the death of the Law
Becoming True Sons Of God
Becoming True Sons Of God
but we are not in the same boat as those who refuse to have faith and instead rely on works
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
by putting our faith in Jesus Christ and in his finished work on the cross, his gospel promise, by being found in him, we are now true sons of God
some versions say “children of God” and that is fine since clearly Paul intends this to cover both men and women
but really, there is a reason why he uses ‘sons’ here because sonship is conveying a status rather than gender
22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son,
it is conveying that status of being God’s chosen people
and it also neatly ties to the fact that because we are found in the Son of God, we become sons of God
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
our status before God is dependent on his status before His father, our relationship with God is dependent on his, and we gain access to that status through our faith in Him as our Lord and Saviour
and unlike the Judaizers and those who went before them who had their mindset, this status is dependent on faith, not on ethnicity, gender or economic status
28 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.
we are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus
and what does it mean to be sons? we will cover that in the weeks to come and we dont have time today to go in depth
but let me just focus on this
6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Because we are sons, we are no longer slaves,
we are no longer those under confinement and imprisonment under the law as a guardian
but we are free to follow God in faith because we are sons
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
and look at what God does for us in his grace; a reminder from Paul
he gives us the inheritance, we are the heirs of the blessing promised to Abraham
we are the sons who receive the portion from the Father’s wealth
we keep talking about what should be the balance between grace and doing good works. how does that play out in the life of a son or daughter of God?
and i wonder if we truly understand what Paul is saying here about our freedom
we are sons; he is saying we have to live like sons
we dont have to prove we are sons. thats what legalism does, thats what works-righteousness does
keep the law so that you can prove you are sons, that you are worthy to be called sons
but we ARE sons. we dont need to prove it. the proof of it is at the cross of Christ
what we have to do is live as sons, in tune with the Spirit of God that God has given us into our hearts
Parable of the prodigal son
Christians are those.... who at Christ’s cross have found their pride broken, their guilt expunged, their love kindled, their hope restored and their character transformed - John Stott
that is who we are. that is what our status is. so lets live like it
heirs of the promise to Abraham, the promise that is superior to the Law, and sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ