|
Galatians Chapter Three
Preface
The Apostle Paul continues in this chapter to defend the Gospel of Grace of faith alone in Christ alone against the “gospel of faith plus works,” which was the contorted doctrine of the Judaizers. Here he stresses that justification (both initial—salvation and sustaining—sanctification) is totally a matter of faith apart from works. He argues the matter from the Galatians’ own experience and from the infallible record of Abraham in the Old Testament.
Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
The Galatians were foolish indeed. The Apostle Paul did not mince his words. The word “foolish” is from the Greek word anoetoi, which connotes a person who fails to “use one’s powers of perception” or “mind.” To put it another way, the Galatians were “off their noodle.” They weren’t using their mind. They lacked understanding and reason. It was not mere ignorance (because they knew better); it was stupidity.
“Who” (Gk. tis) is in the singular, which may be Paul’s way of referring to Satan as the one who had bewitched them. This would be a safe interpretation when one considers (1) the Galatians had not obeyed the truth but did follow a lie, (2) Satan is the father of lies and there is no truth in him—John 8:44 and (3) God cannot lie—Hebrews 6:18. And how did they come to follow Satan’s lie? They believed the lie by submitting to Satan’s bewitching ability. The word for “bewitching” in the Greek is biblion, which connotes “to bring evil on a person by feigned praise, or mislead by an evil eye, and so to charm.” Satan will always appeal to one’s pride by charming advances and the use of praise to lead a person astray into false doctrine. And he will do this more enthusiastically in detouring a believer from faith into works than with any other principles of Christianity. Why? Because how a believer relates to the Principle of Faith will impact his ability to glorify God and his witness and testimony before the world!
Paul is mystified that the Galatians could so easily be led astray, since Christ Jesus and His crucifixion (its purpose) were so clearly portrayed before them. They knew the truth. It wasn’t a message of ambiguity. They experienced no vagueness upon receiving the Gospel message. Knowing of their initial understanding of the matter, it was difficult for Paul to envision how they had become so beguiled into believing a lie.
Paul emphasized the crucifixion in his argument for a reason. It was the event in the life of Jesus Christ while on earth that paid for (redeemed) the sins of the Galatian believers (as well as the sins of the world) and that established their freedom from the law. The crucifixion is the focal point of man’s (earth’s) history. It is an event that was taught and anticipated by typology from the earliest days of creation, and it is the most significant event to “look back upon” since its occurrence. Without the crucifixion there would be no hope for mankind. Its worth was once clear to the Galatians. Because of this, it was inconceivable to Paul how they could have been persuaded to now turn to legalism.
Galatians 3:2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Paul uses two arguments to turn the Galatians around from their corrupted thinking. First, he appeals to their experience with salvation and service (vss. 2-5); and, second, he refers to the experience of Abraham in the Old Testament (vss. 6-9). He introduces his initial defense with a rhetorical question, “This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” The answer should have been obvious to the Galatians.
The Scriptures are clear that upon a person’s exercise of will of faith alone in Christ alone for his personal salvation at a minimum he is (1) born of the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-8), (2) baptized by/with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; 1 Corinthians 12:13), (3) indwelt by the Holy Spirit (John 7:39; Romans 5:5; 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; Galatians 4:6; 1 John 3:24) and (4) sealed by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 4:30). These basic actions (and more) are exactly what occurred to the Galatians when they received Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior by their simple and lone act of faith totally apart from any “works of the law.”
Now we need to be very careful here. The gospel is true irrespective of experience. What experience does is corroborate the gospel. There are many people today who reason from experience to truth. I personally believe that the Word of God reasons from truth to experience. Experience is not to be discounted, but it must be tested by truth. (Thu the Bible commentary by J. Vernon McGee)
This is very important. The world and its people are filled with “experiences.” Every Christian or religious (notice the distinction) person has an experience to tell. Some are valid and some are not. In all matters the believer must, as the Bereans did with Paul, examine a person’s experience in light of the Scripture (Acts 17:11) and be so imbued with Bible doctrine that he is able always to discern what is real and what is false (Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16, 17). With the completed canonized text of God’s Word that is totally accessible today, no believer has any excuse for not knowing Bible doctrine. The study and understanding of “the mind of Christ” (God’s Word, 1 Corinthians 2:16) by every child of God, the detailed presentation of Bible doctrine from the pulpits of the land and the use of the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17) never should be treated lightly or made an object of derision…..or a joke.
It is true that the Gospel message from the pulpit should be kept simple and to the point so that the lost may clearly understand the path to salvation. It is true that there are ministers who take such delight (pride) in their understanding of Scripture and their ability to make the “uncomplicated complicated,” while they bore their listeners with their sophistication and articulations—so much so that they soon lose their congregation in a quagmire of confusion. But it is also true that the leaders of every local church must provide time, space and expertise in the feeding of the lambs and the sheep (John 21:15-17). And this objective cannot be fully achieved with a Sunday school (40 minutes a week) program. To avoid this responsibility to the flock is to stifle individual spiritual growth and to impede church expansion. In effect, it is to invite failure.
Paul’s question is as appropriate today as it was then. Did the Galatians receive the Spirit by “works of the law” or by the “hearing of faith.” The answer is understood implicitly; it was by the hearing of faith. This is a phrase which is more accurately translated as “by believing what you heard.” It may be translated also as “hearing (the message) of faith” or “by means of the message which proclaims faith.”
The words “by the hearing of faith,” are from “ex akoes pisteous.” The word “akoes” translated “hearing” refers either to the act of hearing a message, or to the message that is heard. The second meaning agrees more with the context since Paul is contrasting his message of grace with the preachments of the Judaizers. The phrase “of faith” defines or describes the message. It is a message that announces faith as the means whereby one receives salvation. The only answer the Galatians could give to this question was that they received the Spirit, not by obedience to the law, but through their faith in Paul’s message of grace. (Galatians in the Greek New Testament by Kenneth S. Wuest)
Galatians 3:3-5 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
The message here may be two-fold. Are the Galatians now looking to “works” (that which comes from the “flesh”) to make their salvation complete? And/or are they now looking to “works” for their sanctification, that is, to become spiritually perfected or matured within the Christian life? If either is the consideration of the Galatians, then they have missed the mark—they have been corrupted completely in so far as the message of grace and faith is concerned.
God (Holy Spirit), through His Word, unmistakably and specifically informs the believer that it is only by the Principle of Faith a person enters into spiritual life and is able also to live the spiritual life (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 2:6; Ephesians 2:8, 9; Habakkuk 2:4; Proverbs 3:5, 6). Paul affirms that God the Father, from whom the Holy Spirit comes, empowers every believer and works His miracles within and among His children not by man’s efforts to keep the law but through the exercise of faith, which is the heart of His message of grace.
The Judaizers in preaching a message of law obedience to the Galatian Christians, caused these latter to abandon the position of grace and put themselves in the sphere of law, both that of the Judaizers’ system of legalism, and that of the Old Testament economy. Because there was no provision in the Mosaic economy for an indwelling Spirit who would sanctify the believer as that believer trusted Him for that work, the Galatians were turning away from the teaching and the reality of the ministry of the Spirit in the life of the believer in this dispensation of grace, and were starting to depend upon self effort in an attempt to obey an outward legalistic system of works. Thus these Christians who had begun their Christian lives in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, now were depending upon self effort to continue in them the work of sanctification which the Holy Spirit had begun. The present tense of the verb here indicates that the Galatians had already begun this attempt. Paul says in effect, “How foolish to think that you can bring yourselves to a state of spiritual maturity in your Christian lives. That is the work of the Spirit. Only He can do that for you.” (Galatians in the Greek New Testament by Kenneth S. Wuest)
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit and His subsequent work in the believer are neither earned nor merited, but are given always by grace and received always by faith. Thus the Galatians should have realized from their own experiences that blessing comes by faith and not by law-keeping.
Galatians 3:6-9 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness;” therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Now Paul presents his second argument, which he takes from the Scriptures that the false teachers (Judaizers) were using to show the necessity of circumcision. He goes to the account of Abraham in the Old Testament. He had shown the Galatians that God had dealt with them entirely on the basis of faith. Now he shows them that men were saved in the same way even in Old Testament times.
The phrase, “just as Abraham ‘believed God’ and it was accounted [Gk. logizomai, a business term meaning “put to one’s account”] to him for righteousness,” references and amplifies the preceding phrase, “hearing of faith.” This righteousness, which came by faith apart from the law, was credited to or “placed to the account of” Abraham long before the requirement to be circumcised was established by God for the nation Israel.
The occasion for his argument is found in the fact that the Judaizers taught that the natural descendants of Abraham were his children, and thus accepted with God. All of which meant that only the circumcised could be saved. Thus, circumcision was a prerequisite of salvation. This teaching was based on a misapprehension of Genesis 12 and 17. They argued that no one could participate in the blessings of God’s covenant with Abraham, and so in the Messianic salvation which was inseparably connected with it, unless he was circumcised. The mistake they made was in failing to distinguish between the purely Jewish and national covenant God made with Abraham, which had to do with the earthly ministry and destiny of the Chosen People as a channel which God would use in bringing salvation to the earth, and that salvation which came through a descendant of Abraham, the Messiah. Circumcision was God’s mark of separation upon the Jew, isolating him in the midst of the Gentile nations, in order that he might use the nation Israel for His own purposes. It had nothing to do with acceptance of salvation by the Jew. Over against this contention, Paul argues that Abraham was justified by faith, not by circumcision. In Romans 4:9, 10, he proves his case conclusively when he shows that Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised, which demonstrates that his circumcision had nothing to do with his acceptance of salvation. (Galatians in the Greek New Testament by Kenneth S. Wuest)
It was Abraham’s faith—the fact that he believed God—which resulted in righteousness being credited to his account (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3). But his faith was not looked upon as a “meritorious action” deserving of reward. That would be “salvation by works.” But the fact that Abraham cast off all dependence upon himself or anything he could possibly do as a means of finding acceptance with God, and accepted by faith alone God’s way of bestowing salvation, was answered by God in giving him that salvation—a salvation from the judgment of God which is evil’s due.
In its scriptural sense, both in the Old Testament and New Testament, righteousness is the state commanded by God, and standing the test of His judgment (compare II Cor. 3:9), the character and acts of a man approved of Him, in virtue of which the man corresponds with Him and His will as his ideal and stand, compare Ephesians 4:24; or more generally it denotes the sum-total of all that God commands, of all that He appoints. (Galatians in the Greek New Testament by Kenneth S. Wuest)
Paul uses the example of Abraham in both this letter and in his letter to the Romans. His Abraham illustration refers to Abraham’s early years—his life of faith. The Judaizers could not honestly claim that Abraham was justified by keeping the Law, because the Mosaic Law was not given until 430 years after Abraham. The same could be said about circumcision, because Abraham was justified before God gave him the commandment of circumcision. Just as baptism has nothing to do with salvation today, other than an outward sign of an inward act of faith, so circumcision was simply an outward sign of a special promise made by God to a special (chosen) people.
And what did Abraham “believe” in order for him to be accounted righteous by God? It was God’s promise to him that he would not only have a son but that his heirs would number as many as the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:1-5). In addition, God promised Abraham that He would give to Abraham and his descendants the land “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites (Genesis 15:18-20).” And to legalize the arrangement,” as was the custom in of the day that was appropriate to contractual agreements, God had Abraham bring certain animals to be slain and cut in two and arranged opposite each other so that the parties making the agreement could walk together between the halves thereby “sealing the deal.” But God placed Abraham into a deep sleep while God alone walked between the animal parts. Why? God did this to show clearly that the covenant He had made with Abraham was contingent upon God’s work and faithfulness—not by any work or effort of Abraham. Abraham’s only part was his act of will, to either believe or disbelieve God’s Word. He chose to believe God and that act alone accrued for and to him God’s righteousness.
Doubtless the Jewish teachers were maintaining that in order to be real sons of Abraham, the Galatians had to be circumcised. Paul refutes this. The real sons of Abraham are not those who are born Jews, or those who become Jewish converts, but those who are saved by faith. In Romans 4:10, 11, Paul shows that Abraham was reckoned righteous before he was circumcised. In other words, he was justified while he was still on Gentile ground.
The OT is depicted as a prophet, looking down the centuries and foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles as well as Jews on the principle of faith. The blessing of the Gentiles by faith was not only foreseen by the OT, but was actually announced to Abraham in Genesis 12:3—“In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
When we first read this quotation from Genesis, we find it difficult to see how Paul found such a meaning in it. Yet the Holy Spirit, who wrote that verse in the OT, knew that it contained the gospel of salvation by faith to all nations. Since Paul was writing by inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, he was enabled to explain to us the underlying meaning: “In you”—that is, along with Abraham, in the same way as Abraham. “All the nations”—the Gentiles as well as the Jews. “Shall be blessed”—be saved. (Believer’s Bible Commentary by William MacDonald)
Paul concludes this passage with, “So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” In other words, those who by faith alone in Christ alone are saved then share in the company of the great man of faith, Abraham. They are blessed with eternal life all and one alike.
Galatians 3:10-14 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Whereas the Judaizers taught that observance of the law was an integral part of justification, the Apostle Paul shows in this passage that the law is actually a means of condemnation and that it is Jesus Christ who rescues man from this condemnation by means of His sacrifice on Calvary’s cross.
The Judaizers claimed that their knowledge of the law entitled them to the blessings that were due the sons of Abraham. Paul said that instead of being blessed by their knowledge of or their acts under the law, they put themselves under a curse. Jesus had very specific words for those who adhered to the law for the purpose of pleasing God. In John 5:39 & 40 He said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
Adhering to the law and the exercise of faith are conflicting principles. When it comes to God and spiritual matters, a person has only these two choices. Notice that it says, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” It does not say “For as many as have broken the law.” The meaning is that anyone who seeks to obtain favor with God on the basis of obeying the law is cursed. Why? Well in addition to the law being totally outside of the will and plan of God for man’s salvation (primary reason), the Scripture says, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” (secondary reason). The key here is in the phrase, “continue in all things written in the book of the law.” If a person is going to bank on keeping the law to achieve spiritual life and reward, he must keep all the law, every scrap and element of it, every second of every minute of every hour of every day while alive on earth. To Paul and to the Galatians and every sane person reading this passage this was and is an obviously hopeless and futile impossibility. It is not enough to keep just the Ten Commandments. All six hundred plus laws in the five books of Moses must be rigidly obeyed without an exception of any kind.
The false teachers are once again refuted from the OT. Paul quotes the prophet Habakkuk to show that God has always justified men by faith and not the law. The quotation in the original Greek word order reads: “The just (or righteous) by faith shall live.” In other words, those who have been reckoned righteous by faith, not by works, shall have eternal life. The justified-by-faith-ones shall live.
The law does not ask men to believe. It does not even ask men to try to keep the commandments. Its calls for strict, complete, and perfect obedience, as was so clearly taught in Leviticus. It is a contrary principle to faith. The law says: “Do and live.” Faith say: “Believe and live.” Paul’s argument then is this: The just person shall live by faith. A person under law does not live by faith. When Paul says: “the man who does them shall live by them,” he is stating a theoretical axiom or ideal but one that is impossible to attain. (Believer’s Bible Commentary by William MacDonald)
Then Paul quickly defines the solution to man’s inability in keeping the law. While the curse of the law is spiritual death, since it is impossible to flawlessly keep the law and it thereby only reveals sin in a person’s life—resulting in sure spiritual death (Romans 6:23), God has made provision for man’s redemption in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross. For it was on the cross that Jesus Christ took man’s place (a substitution-sacrifice) and became that curse that man deserved. By doing this He redeemed man from it and unto God.
The word for “redeemed” is from the Greek word exagorazo, the primary meaning being “to redeem or buy up from slavery.” It is a term used frequently in the Septuagint, with the idea that such deliverance involves cost of some kind. Man needed a ransom, for the law had left him prisoner under sentence of death.
There are three Greek words translated by the words “bought” or “redeemed.”
To redeem is to “buy back, or to deliver by paying a price.” Because Jesus Christ paid the penalty-price for all sin, man no long needs to pay this penalty required by a holy God of those who are under the law. Christ redeemed man by dying in his place, enduring the dreadful wrath of God against man’s sins. The curse of God fell on Him as man’s Substitute.”
Christ did not redeem men from the curse of the law by keeping the Ten Commandments perfectly during His lifetime. Scripture does not teach that His perfect obedience to the law is reckoned to us. Rather He delivered men from the law by bearing its dreadful curse in death. Apart from His death there could be no salvation. The law taught that when condemned criminals were hanged on a tree, it was sign of their being under the curse of God (Deut. 21:23). Here the Holy Spirit sees in that passage a prophecy of the manner in which the Savior would die to bear the curse for His creatures. He was hung between heaven and earth as though unworthy of either. In His death by crucifixion, He is said to have been hanged on a tree (Acts 5:30; 1 Pet. 2:24). (Believer’s Bible Commentary by William MacDonald)
Paul concludes this passage with the reason for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to die in man’s place on the cross of Calvary. It was so that every living person by faith alone in Christ alone may be born of the Spirit of God unto eternal life—to partake in the blessings of Abraham.
Galatians 3:15-18 Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
At this point Paul becomes somewhat more personal and warmer in his attitude toward the Galatian believers. He addresses them as “brothers.” Paul draws upon an analogy of a contractually binding agreement between men. In human affairs a covenant or will was unalterable. It was signed and sealed. No one would think of changing it. Therefore if human contracts cannot be broken, how much more secure is a contract made by God, which is solely based upon God’s Word and faithfulness. Thus was the covenant relation that God made with Abraham, in which He promises to justify him on the basis of his faith in the atonement which He Himself would some day offer.
No doubt the Judaizers, because God established the Mosaic Law 430 years after this covenant, believed it supplanted or added to God’s “deliverance” of Abraham and his seed and therefore now applied to the believers of the day, in this case the Galatians. Paul probably took the figure of 430 years from Exodus 12:40. This statement of time was meant to show that the law was something new and different, which therefore could not be part of the promise made to Abraham. Salvation by grace through faith was in force since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, some 2,500 years before the law was given. The Mosaic Law was applicable from Moses to Christ, some 1,500 years. At the Cross it was abrogated—although its spiritual purpose, to reveal to man that he is indeed a sinner, has never ended.
The promises were made to Abraham and his seed, Christ. But when Christ is seen as seed of Abraham here, all those saved by Him are included. The word “seed” when used in the singular number in the Old Testament means “progeny.” Thus to Abraham personally and to all those who by faith in Christ are brought into salvation, were the promises made. The fact that the promises were made to Abraham in his act of faith, indicates that the faith way of salvation existed before the law was given, continued through the time the law was in force, and still is in effect after the abrogation of the law at the Cross. Thus the entrance of the law did not affect the covenant at all. (Galatians in the Greek New Testament by Kenneth S. Wuest)
Paul’s argument is that if the law affects the promise at all, it renders it null and void. It cannot be added to it without completely destroying it. Salvation must rest either upon the promise or the upon the law. But since Paul explained that since a covenant once in force cannot be altered or canceled by any subsequent action, God’s covenant with Abraham cannot be changed or rendered void by the subsequent law. This was especially true of this covenant, which is wholly dependant upon the nature (character) of God. The Judaizers insisted that the inheritance was based on obedience to the law. If this was so, then it could not be on the basis of the promise of God. But, Paul adds, God gave it to Abraham on the basis of promise. In the NIV the translation reads, “But God in His grace gave to Abraham through a promise.”
The word “gave” is from the Greek word charizomai, a specialized word denoting not merely a gift, but a gift which is given out of the spontaneous generosity of the giver’s heart, with no strings attached. The Greek word for “grace” (charis) has the same root and meaning. Thus the connotation is not of an undertaking based upon terms of mutual agreement, but upon the free act of one who gives something, expecting nothing in return. This illustrates a stark difference between law and grace. If salvation was based on a “mutual agreement between God and man” (salvation by works), then this would obligate God to grant salvation to any sinner who would earn it by obedience to the law. But the very genius of the word charizomai rules this out.
Furthermore, the verb “gave” is in the perfect tense here, which tense speaks of a past completed act having present results. The past act of God giving the inheritance on the basis of a promise, has present results, present to the writer. God gave the inheritance to Abraham by promise 2000 B.C. The results of this act were still in existence in the century when Paul wrote. The law was given 1500 B.C., and the promise still held good after the law came and had been set aside. (Galatians in the Greek New Testament by Kenneth S. Wuest)
Paul’s use of this specific wording in expressing God’s grace-gift to man some 430 years prior to the law, which was still in effect after the law was abrogated, settled the matter!
Galatians 3:19-23 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
So, if the law was never given as a means whereby a sinner might be saved, why was it given—for what purpose? Paul answers this question. The law was given for the purpose of revealing man as a sinner. Sin existed before the law, but man did not recognize it as transgression, until the law came. Transgression is the violation of a known law. Because of this, the only meaningful thing that the law could do was to place man under a curse—the curse of death. The law was given to set the stamp of definite transgression upon already existing sin. It was given to show that sin was a violation of God’s commandments.
The law was “added,” Paul says. The word “added” is from “prostithemi,” the simple verb meaning “to place,” the prefixed preposition, “toward.” It marks the law as supplementary to the covenant of grace, and therefore subordinate to it. Paul in Romans 5:20 says, “The law entered,” (pareiserchomai), that is, came in alongside. It was not added to grace as an extra provision whereby a sinner might appropriate salvation, for it is diametrically opposed to grace. It was brought in alongside of grace as a measure to show sinners the real nature of their sin and thus their need of a Savior who in infinite grace offers them a salvation free in answer to faith. (Galatians in the Greek New Testament by Kenneth S. Wuest)
The Mosaic Law was given for this specific purpose, to clearly show man’s condition of sin to man, until “the Seed should come to whom the promise was made.” The Seed refers to Jesus Christ; therefore, the law was a temporary measure until the coming of Christ—through whom the promised Abrahamic blessings would come.
A covenant (contract) between two parties involves a mediator, a go-between. The law involved two parties—God and Israel. Moses was the mediator (Deuteronomy 5:5). God used angels in delivering the law to Moses (Deuteronomy 33:2; Psalm 68:17; Acts 7:53; Hebrews 2:2). The participation of Moses and the angels spoke of distance between God and His people, a people unfit for His presence. The fact that the law required a mediator implied that man must keep his part of the agreement. This was the weakness of the law; it called for obedience from those who did not have the power to give it. On the other hand, when God made His promise to Abraham, He was the sole contracting Party. Because there was only one Party, God Himself, there was neither need for a mediator nor any obligation from anyone else. This was the strength of His promise; everything depended on God and nothing on man. The object of how the law was given was to demonstrate the inferior and subordinate position of “inferior law” to “superior grace.” The law was given through intermediates (angels and Moses). The promise was given directly by God to Abraham. The law was of transitory significance, whereas the promise has eternal value and meaning. The law produced a curse; grace through faith produced only blessings.
The apostle then asks the question, “Is the law then against the promises of God?” The answer is that the law and the promises are not in conflict because each has distinct function. The law is a ministry of condemnation. The promises are a ministry of salvation. The law judges a person on the basis of obedience or disobedience. The promises judge man on a basis of faith. The law, whose ministry is one of condemnation, was not intended to express God’s attitude towards man. God’s attitude towards man is one of grace. The law is not the basis of God’s judgment of man. A sinner who rejects Christ, goes to the Lake of Fire for all eternity, not because he has broken God’s laws, for his sin is paid for. He goes to a lost eternity, because he rejects God’s grace in the Lord Jesus. The law is a revelation of the sinner’s legal standing, and as such condemns him. It cannot therefore justify him, as the Judaizers claim. (Galatians in the Greek New Testament by Kenneth S. Wuest)
Law and grace, even though they may be totally opposite in nature, are truly not in conflict. They operate in different spheres. Man has the ability to forgive someone who comes to full recognition of his transgression. How much more is God willing to do the same! God is not in conflict with Himself when He provides the law so that man may know his sinful condition, which is necessary for man to repent (turn from self and by faith alone turn to Christ alone) as he accepts God’s gift of salvation (eternal life).
Paul states that if there could have been a law that would impart eternal life, then righteousness would have come from observing the law. But this was never the case. Paul reiterates that the law confines all under sin. That alone was its purpose. The function of the law was therefore to convict of sin that men might turn to the Lord Jesus for salvation.
The correct understanding of the expression, “Before faith came” is found in the fact that the definite article is used before the word “faith,” namely, “before the faith came.” The article here identifies the faith mentioned in this verse with the faith spoken of in verse 22, personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, exercised in this Age of Grace. That faith is fundamentally alike so far as its character goes, to the faith Abraham exercised, but different in that it looks back to an accomplished salvation at the Cross, whereas the faith of Abraham looked forward to the accomplishment of that salvation at Calvary. The former is faith in an historic Christ, whereas the latter was faith in a prophetic Christ.
The word “kept” is from “phroureo,” which means “to keep inward under lock and key.” The law was the jailer who held in custody those who were subjected to sin, in order that they should not escape the consciousness of their sins and their liability to punishment. The word “unto” is from “eis, and is not temporal in its significance, having the idea of “until,” but means here “with a view to.” That is, sinners were kept guarded under the law with a view to their exercising faith in Christ. (Galatians in the Greek New Testament by Kenneth S. Wuest)
The idea is that the law keeps a person shut up to only one avenue of escape, namely, faith alone in Christ alone.
Galatians 3:24-29 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 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 neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
What an absolutely marvelous way to end this spectacular chapter on the grace of God. Paul summarizes what he has been endeavoring to prove by way of the Galatian believer’s personal experiences and then by way of the Old Testament. He essentially reiterates (1) that the law was given to bring a person to an understanding of his true condition, that he is a sinner and both corrupt before God and helpless in doing anything about it; (2) that now under grace the law has no more authority over him; (3) that a spiritual relationship is established only by faith alone in Christ alone; (4) that this relationship combines all believers into one Body (of Christ) so that there is no difference between nationality or gender; and (5) that being a member of the Body of Christ establishes a person as Abraham’s (spiritual) seed and as an heir to the promise God gave Abraham.
“Schoolmaster” is the Greek “paidagogos,” and it doesn’t mean school teacher. Schoolmaster is a good word, but it meant something quite different back in the days of Paul. It meant a servant or a slave who was part of a Roman household. . . . When a child was born into . . . a home, he was put in the custody of a servant or a slave who actually raised him. . . . When the little one grew to a certain age and was to start to school, this servant was the one who got him up . . . and took him to school. (That is where he got the name of “paidagogos.” “Paid” has to do with the feet—and we get our word “pedal” from it; “agogos” means “to lead.”) It means that he takes the little one by the hand, leads him to school, and turns him over to the school teacher. (Thru the Bible commentary by J. Vernon McGee)
In effect the law is man’s paidagogos in that it takes man by the hand, reveals to him his sorry and rotten condition and then leads him to the only solution meant to alleviate the condition, which is God’s message of grace of faith alone in Christ alone. And once a person so accepts the grace-message, he is no longer under the paidagogos. Paul emphasizes, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” It is clear. There is no ambiguity. To become a “son of God” one may only do so by faith alone in Christ alone. The relationship has nothing to do with observance of law, self-effort or personal works of good.
Then Paul shows clearly that the wall of separation between the Jew and the Gentile has been broken down—that in Christ both become children of God. But he goes even further. In Christ there is no slave or free or male or female. All have equal standing before God because of their relationship with Jesus Christ.
Having spoken of the Galatians in the previous verse as “in Christ,” referring to that mystical and vital union which exists between the Lord Jesus and the believer, Paul now reminds them of how they became united with Christ. When they put their faith in Him as Savior, the Holy Spirit baptized (introduced or placed) them into vital union with Christ (Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 12:13). The reference cannot be to water baptism, for that never put a believing sinner in Christ. The Greek word “baptizo” means “to put or place into.”
The words “put on” are from “enduno.” The latter is used in the LXX [Septuagint version of the Bible], of the act of clothing one’s self with strength, righteousness, glory, salvation. The word does not convey the idea of putting on a mask or playing the part of another. It refers to the act in which one enters into actual relationship with someone else. (Galatians in the Greek New Testament by Kenneth S. Wuest)
The Judaizers maintained that by observing the Mosaic Law, the Galatian (Gentile) believers would become the seed or progeny of Abraham. Paul said absolutely not. This can only come through faith in Christ apart from the Law. In Romans 4 Paul shows that Abraham was justified only by faith, and was thus constituted the spiritual father of all who would accept God’s mercy and grace by faith alone in Christ alone, whether they are circumcised or uncircumcised. Salvation was for both Jew and Gentile, but only by faith in Christ—nothing more. This did away with the false Jewish notion that kinship to Abraham was a legalistic process bringing one into favor with God. By belonging to Christ, believers are also Abraham’s posterity, for Christ is the Seed of Abraham. Since Gentile believers have entered into a union with Christ and are therefore “one with Him,” they then qualify as Abraham’s seed and they share in the same state and the same inheritance as any Jewish believer in Jesus Christ.
|