Sermon Tone Analysis

Reading

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

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

That big idea is in Gal 4:4-5

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and this means there are things that belong to the old age and are no longer applicable in the new age, which we are in after the coming of Christ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 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

and then last verse of previous passages ties that passage to this section Gal 3:14

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

in a negative sense, Paul says God intended for the law (Scripture) to imprison men and women under the knowledge of sin.