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The Letter to the Galatians

Martin Taylor

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Galatians 3 1:14 Overview

Faith

Spirit
Miracles
Believing->righteousness
Blessed (via Abraham)
Redeemed from curse
Promise

Flesh
Work
-
Cursed
-
-

Paul starts Galatians 3 by re-emphasising the gospel – Christ crucified! Then he goes on to set faith in contrast to the Law.

Almost every other verse introduces a new idea whereby faith is shown as being better than the Law in every conceivable way. Paul shows how faith leads to life in the Spirit which in turn is evidenced by miracles, by righteousness, by blessing (Gen 12:3) and promise. All that those who depend on the Law can expect is – basically – nothing good. With the law, you can depend on your own efforts as much as you like, all you end up with is a curse.

Yet, Paul says, Jesus has provided a way out, even from under that very curse – provided you believe in Him – and thus leave the Law behind you

So Paul concludes this section by saying ‘that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit’. This has a back-reference to the Spirit and a forward-reference to ‘promise’ providing conclusion to one section of argument, but at the same time, continuity into the next section which is about promises

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Galatians 3:15-22

Promise => Covenant (not contract)
To Abraham

& offspring (singular)
Offspring = Jesus

The Law
Law needed mediator (=> contract)
Faith in Jesus brings life

Let me read today’s passage to you from the Message to give you an overview feel.

Gal 3:15-22 Friends, let me give you an example from everyday affairs of the free life I am talking about. Once a person's will has been ratified, no one else can annul it or add to it. ¹⁶ Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. You will observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say "to descendants," referring to everybody in general, but "to your descendant" (the noun, note, is singular), referring to Christ. ¹⁷ This is the way I interpret this: A will, earlier ratified by God, is not annulled by an addendum attached 430 years later, thereby negating the promise of the will. ¹⁸ No, this addendum, with its instructions and regulations, has nothing to do with the promised inheritance in the will. What is the point, then, of the law, the attached addendum? It was a thoughtful addition to the original covenant promises made to Abraham. ¹⁹ The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ (the descendant) came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Obviously this law was not a firsthand encounter with God. It was arranged by angelic messengers through a middleman, Moses. ²⁰ But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith. ^21-22 If such is the case, is the law, then, an anti-promise, a negation of God's will for us? Not at all. Its purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God, and therefore to show us the futility of devising some religious system for getting by our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete his promise. For if any kind of rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time.

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Promise

Covenant – one sided
NOT contract -> two sided
Promise to Abraham

Gen 12:2 (+ 12:7; 13:15; 24:7)

Promises delivered through Jesus

2 Cor 1:20

I have spoken before about covenants – because as Baptists, we covenant together to be part of ‘the church in this place’.

A covenant is a one-sided legal mechanism. Sometimes known as a ‘deed of covenant’. Probably, the most well known type of covenant is someone’s ‘Last Will and Testament’. Paul here uses the example of a Will to illustrate his point. He says, once a will has been written and gone through the standard legal process, it can’t be changed.

Now a will is, essentially, a series of statements, or promises eg I leave all my possessions to my wife. The statement is written down and cannot be changed by anyone else. The potential recipient has no say in what is written.

By contrast, a contract is two sided. It is an agreement between two (or more) parties.

A promise is usually one-sided, like a covenant. Paul has in mind God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:2 and reinforced in Gen. 12:7; 13:15 and 24:7.

Look at a five or ten pound note. It says ‘I promise to pay the bearer the sum of …’. It is the promise that enables the value of the note. Do your promises carry as much conviction? You can have ‘X’ for Christmas, I promise? Do you always follow through on your promises?

But God is steadfast, certain and reliable. He has carried through on his promise to Abraham. As it says in 2 Cor 1:20 ‘All the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ.

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Promise to Abraham

& offspring (singular)
Offspring = Jesus

Abraham was promised that he would become a great nation in Gen 12:2. This was 25 years before Isaac was born! In Gen 12:7 God makes it clear that the promise would be carried through his offspring (singular).

So the promise was made before Abraham had done much. His father Terah had taken the family from Ur in what is now Iraq – about half way between Baghdad and the Persian Gulf. They had moved to Haran in what is now Turkey. As a result of God’s promise in Gen 12:1-3, Abraham moves to Shechem in what is now Israel. However, nothing is mentioned about circumcision for another 25 years in Gen 17:10.

To someone who is Jewish, the promise of Isaac as a son to Abraham is significant, and the associated requirement of circumcision, made in Gen 17:10 is very significant. This is a key verse for them. Now, Paul was a pharisee. Would he have known about the existence of this verse? Absolutely he would. Given his level of education, he would have been able to quote the verse from memory. But in Galatians, he ignores it completely? Why – precisely because the Judaizers he was opposing would have made so much of it. Instead, Paul deliberately rewinds 25 years to the first iteration of the promise where it was made without conditions.

As an aside, Paul makes a point of declaring that offspring (sometime translated as ‘seed’) is singular. He immediately goes on to declare that the singular person is Jesus himself.

So whilst Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, Paul focuses the Galatians (and our) attention on the eventual heir to Abraham – Jesus, rather than the immediate heir. Now remember that the Galatian churches would have included a majority of Gentiles (non-Jews). So whilst Paul is preaching against the suggestion that Christians need to become Jews in order to be fully save, Paul is nevertheless ensuring that these Gentiles understand their spiritual roots. We as Christians owe everything to what is revealed in the Jewish scriptures (the Old Testament). We need to understand what is written there just as much as we need to understand what is written in the New Testament.

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The Law

came 430 years later
does not replace The Promise
makes wrongdoing clear
needed till The ‘offspring’ came

This declaration of a 430 year time span clarifies one of the ‘Golden Arches of Time’

Golden Arches of Time

Ages of Patriarchs / births of offspring 2083

Abraham left Haran until the Exodus exactly 430 years to the day.� -( Ge 12:10, Ex 12:40, Gal 3:17) 2513

Exodus to start of Temple, 479 years� -( 1 Ki 6:1, in the 480th year or after 479 years) 2992

Start of Temple to division of the Kingdom, 37� -( Solomon reigned 40 years, 1Ki 11:42, temple started in his 4th year) 3029

Division of the Kingdom to final deportation about four years after Jerusalem fell, � 390 whole years plus part of one year � (Eze 4:4–6) � Final deportation in 584 BC 3421

Paul, having used the everyday example of a ‘Will’ to clarify the importance of the ‘promise’ made to Abraham by God, now goes on to demonstrate that the Law does not replace the Promise. The promise was a covenant. God intended that it can’t be set aside or added to.

A significant period of time elapses between the Promise and the Law. Paul is saying that, as is obvious even from human custom, you can’t set aside a covenant even though time has passed. The inheritance promised to Abraham and his offspring is still legally valid even though a new contract has been brought in to play.

Paul poses a rhetorical question. So, what then was the purpose of the Law? Why was it given? The short answer is ‘because it reduced sinfulness’. It made clear what wrongdoing is. The slightly longer answer is that the tribe of Abraham was transitioning into a nation – and a nation needs clarity about acceptable behaviour in order to be able to survive as an entity. A nation without law becomes mere anarchy.

The Law was needed until the ‘offspring’, Jesus came. Paul says the ‘Promise’ was made to the ‘offspring’. This is an interesting extension of the original promise in Gen 12, but is a reasonable interpretation of the repeat of the promise in Gen 17:7 where it refers to ‘my covenant with you and your offspring (singular) after you’. Paul is clarifying that the promise was really for Jesus. (Paul further extends this to all who are in Christ in Gal 3:29).

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Law needed mediator

Mediator implies two parties

Mediator -> Moses – Ex 20:19
Which implies Law is a contract?

God is One

Shema – Deut 6:4

Gen 3:19b The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.

Whilst Genesis does not specifically mention angels taking part in the writing of the ten commandments, or the Law, or the Torah as a whole, there has long been a tradition in Jewish circles that they were around. This reference by Paul clarifies the general, but not the specifics of angelic involvement.

Because the language is not clear, there are all sorts of debates on where the mediator comes in. There are those who think the mediation was by the angels, though in reality there is not much historical support for this – the involvement of angels seems to be much more about emphasising the glory and splendour of the occasion than of one or more of them physically being involved in the writing process. That then leaves the mediator to be interpreted as Moses himself. And indeed, the people did nominate Moses for the job in Ex 20:19.

Gen 3:20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one

This is one of the several difficult passages to understand fully within Paul’s letter.

Is Paul clarifying that the Law is a two-sided legal document (ie a contract as opposed to a covenant)? That may be the case. A mediated document is inevitably softer in its declaration than a covenant – because the mediator is there to deliver a softening service. That would imply the law was a weaker legal document than the covenant in Gen 12:1-3. The original promise/covenant is the direct blessing of God, received by faith.

The context of the final clause in v20 may, or may not shed light on the interpretation of the verse as a whole. Nevertheless, the statement ‘God is One’ is unequivocal. It is a restatement of the Jewish ‘Shema’ in Deut 6:4 ‘Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one’. The Hebrew ‘Shema’ means ‘Hear O Israel’. Whilst others may not understand the Christian approach, nonetheless, Christians are very clear. Deut 6:4 applies. The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

I don’t have time today to attempt to explain the concept of the Trinity. I can merely state it is a clear Christian Doctrine and Deut 6:4 continues to hold true.

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Faith in Jesus Brings Life

Does the Law negate the Promise?

The Promise enables new Life
The Law cannot create Life

Just make it clear that we need Life

Where do you stand?

Paul ends this section with a second rhetorical question. Does the Law negate the promise? His answer is crisp and emphatic. Let it not be! Absolutely not! Paul adds an explanation that maps out his view on the purposes of each of the Promise and the Law. To elaborate, the purpose of the Promise is to enable Life through Jesus. The purpose of the Law is to make clear that we fall short of God’s standard, and thus make it obvious that we need to obtain Life some other way. There is no Law that can create Life. Faith in Jesus is the only possibility. It is as though Scripture has imprisoned us, made us (all humanity) subject to the curse in Deut 27:26. Why? Precisely so that the Promise might operate to its fullest extent, bringing Life to those who believe in Jesus Christ.

So where do stand in all this? Have you put your faith in Jesus? Or are you still trying to follow your own ideas, manmade rules and regulations, in the hope that somehow, they will get you out of the hell hole that you know you are in.

You know that it is not going to work. You know that you cannot do anything yourself to escape. So turn to Jesus today and ask Him to help you. Talk to one of the leaders after the service and they will help you.

Now, back to the Worship Leader.