Galatians
“Living Free”
Ch 3:1-4:31 Reasoned Grace
Ch 3:1-14 Lessons learned
3:1-9 “Bewitched”
Vs. 1-5 So foolish
Vs. 6-9 Abraham
Intro.
The gospel is not good advice to men, but good news about Christ; not an invitation to us to do anything, but a declaration of what God has done; not a demand but an offer! So why were the gentile believers so ready to cash in grace for works? Back when I was kid there was a sitcom called “Bewitched” and it was about a mortal who inadvertently married a witch. Samantha was trying desperately to live as a mortal and not cast her spells on her husband Darrin. Yet in each episode she found that to make it she had to wiggle her nose and use her witchcraft to make it through. That is what Paul says the Judaizers had reverted to get these gentile believers to let go of grace and embrace legalism to be right with God. These Judaizers weren’t wiggling their noses, they were pointing their fingers to employ their witchcraft. Paul will use 6 different arguments in Galatians to prove that Jesus saves us by faith alone and not by works and here in this section we see two more.
Vs. 1-5 So foolish
Vs. 1 In this chapter Paul attempts to correct their vision of Jesus who Paul says was “clearly portrayed”. He questioned the Galatians’ on their own experience; they had experienced Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit all before they were indoctrinated into the idea that they need first to become Jews. What in their experience suggested that something was missing? What else could they add by works that they hadn’t already received by faith?
Their blurred vision had come about because the Judaizers had come in and told them falsely that they were “Made right before God based on what Jesus did for us, plus what we do for Him under the Law of Moses.” In calling the Galatians “foolish” Paul is not saying that they are morally or mentally deficient, instead he uses a word that suggests a person who has the right answer but fails to use that answer.
The word “bewitched” reflects that they were behaving as if they were under some spell that has caused them to not respond to what they knew was true. The word was used of an ancient superstition where someone would place an “evil eye” upon another. Martin Luther wrote, “Through the centuries, error after error arises, and we are well able to see some of the errors of the past, but many are blind to the errors of today.” One author put it this way: “It is wonderful to have a soft, tender heart before God. But some people have softer heads than hearts. Their minds are too accommodating to wrong, unbiblical ideas, and they don’t think things through to see if they really are true or not according to the Bible. They had become “spiritually dull” to the gospel that they had accepted from Paul which proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah who had been crucified.
Vs. 2-3 Paul makes the correlation that receiving the Holy Spirit is when the Christian life begins. The question Paul asks is “How did they receive the Holy Spirit, by human works or by faith.” Note the contrasts between the law and faith:
- The law says, “do this” and the gospel says, “Jesus has done it all”!
- The law requires human works and achievement; the gospel requires faith in Christ’s achievement.
- The law makes demands and bids us to obey; the gospel brings promises and bids us to believe.
These two are diametrically opposed to each other; to establish one you must destroy the other as they cannot coexist. It is hard for us to imagine that these Judaizers were telling already saved gentile believers that God would not bless them unless they first became circumcised and kept the law. One wonders how many of these men undertook the operation only to find out that all that they received was a little less skin, a lot more pain but no blessing. The blessing of the Holy Spirit is not earned He is received! God gave them the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit indwelling and empowering them then why would God cause growth by efforts of the flesh?
- Under law, we are blessed and grow spiritually by earning and deserving.
- Under grace, we are blessed and grow spiritually by believing and receiving.
If Satan cannot stop us from being saved by faith, then he will attempt to hinder our blessing and growth and maturity by faith. Spurgeon said, “When the works of the flesh are substituted for faith, self-confidence and pride are the inevitable result. The reason for this contention lies in the fact that man is not only poor, but proud; not only guilty, but conceited; so that he will not humble himself to those he saved upon terms of divine charity.”
Vs. 4-5 Apparently while Paul was among them these Galatian believers had suffered persecution from Jews who thought their liberty in Christ was wrong and now that they had switched sides Paul asks them about this by saying, “He who supplies the Spirit to you…” That would be a gift from God in response to our simple trust. Yet now at the words of the Judaizers these Galatians believers believed that the spiritual riches came from God based upon human effort. There is a choice to make:
- Do you believe you will be blessed by the works of the law?: Will you earn and deserve your blessing from God.
- Or by the hearing of faith?: Or will you believe and receive it?
The Holy Spirit is mentioned 18 times in this letter and is the evidence of a life that has been transformed by God. There are two persons necessary for the birth of a baby and there are two persons necessary for the New Birth in Christ: The Word of God and the Spirit of God. And just like a baby nothing more needs to be added, you don’t need to take the child to the hospital to add an arm, or grow a toe, as if they are Mr. Potato Head. “You have begun in the Spirit”, Paul says, “Nothing more needs to be added”.
Vs. 6-9 Abraham
Vs. 6 Here in these four verses Paul calls Abraham to the stand and quotes Genesis 15:6, quoted four times in the New Testament. There was not a Jew who wouldn’t claim their ancestry to one man, Abraham. He was the reason why they got circumcised so Paul will reveal to the Galatians that Abraham is not a symbol of works, he is a symbol of faith alone. No one could say that Abraham was made right by his obedience or fulfillment of the law as he was before the law. Abraham put his trust in God’s promise to give him children that would eventually bring forth the Messiah and God credited this belief to Abraham’s account as righteousness.
God spoke to Moses in Deut. 7:6-8 saying, “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Abraham didn’t “believe IN God” he “BELIEVED GOD”.
Vs. 7 Since Abraham was declared right by God solely upon his trust in God and not by his trust plus his works Abraham is the father of all who trust in God and are declared right. The Judaizers believed they were superior to Gentile Christians because they descended from Abraham but Paul says that the link to Abraham is not in the genes, it’s in the faith! Some Jewish Rabbis taught that Abraham stood at the gates of Hell, just to make sure that none of his descendants accidentally slipped by. In Matthew 3:9 John the Baptist dealt with this same thinking when he said do not think to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”
It is a sad fact that some have taken Galatians 3:7 and misapplied it to support the false teaching of “replacement theology”: The idea is that God is finished with the people of Israel as a nation or a distinct ethnic group, and that the Church spiritually inherits all the promises made to Israel. But you don’t interpret the Bible on one verse, you interpret the one verse by what the entire Bible. Romans 11:25 says that the “hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”
This means that God is not finished with Israel as a nation or a distinct ethnic group. God is not “finished” with Israel, and Israel is not “spiritualized” as the church. All who put their faith in Jesus Christ are sons of Abraham; but Abraham has his spiritual sons and his genetic sons, and God has a plan and a place for both.
Vs. 8-9 Paul has already said that his experience as well as the Galatians experience supports grace and not works but here Paul says more importantly the Bible supports this position. Paul believed that when the scriptures speak God speaks as he personifies the scriptures. Even back in Abraham’s day according to Genesis 12:3 it was clear that this blessing of righteousness by faith was intended for every nation, for Gentiles as well as Jews, because God pronounced that in you all the nations shall be blessed.
If it was essential that a Gentile must first become a Jew before they can become a Christian, God would never have said this blessing would extend to every nation, because Gentiles would have had to become part of the Israelite nation to be saved. The most important question we can ask is, “Am I of faith?” “Do I believe in God even as Abraham did?” “When God says it, do I believe it”? “Do I live as if I really believe God is true”? “Can others see that I am trusting God”?
Galatians
“Living Free”
3:1-4:31 Reasoned Grace
3:1-14 Lessons learned
3:10-14“From got to, to get to”
Vs. 10-12 All of it, all of the time
Vs. 13-14 Paid in full
Intro.
| Paul addresses why our attempts to live by the law doesn’t work; something that old Earl Henry of Lexington Kentucky would attest to. You see old Earl holds the record for most arrests (1030 and counting). He has become somewhat of an Internet star when his county jail’s web site began showing the incarceration status of past and present offenders, including their mug shots.
Earl’s notoriety led to a spot on the “Jimmy Kimmel Show,” and later spawned a rock song, a Firefox browser extension, and an oil painting, among other tributes. He even has his own website where you can contribute money, (I’m not sure if that is to pay for his legal fees or a bottle of Jack Daniels)? Currently the Stats for Henry Earl’s Alcohol-Related Offenses are: |
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| Total | |
| Number of days spent in jail: | 4618 (over 12 ½ years) |
| Overall | |
| Average # of days per year spent in jail: | 243.05 |
| Average duration of incarceration period: | 4.49 days |
| Average duration of time not spent in jail: | 2.01 days |
Dear friend the law can’t make you right or do right just ask Henry Earl, though in his case it has made him famous. The Christian experience isn’t “DO, DO, DO” —– it’s “DONE”, as in Jesus did it all! “Are you telling me pastor that I don’t have to go to Church? I don’t have to read my Bible? I didn’t have to pray? I don’t have to tithe?” That’s right you don’t HAVE to do any of those things, you GET to do those things as our Christian life isn’t about GOT to, it’s about GET to!
Vs. 10-12 All of it, all of the time
Vs.10 Paul needed to explain the fine print of attempting to live by the law as a basis of being right before God. The Judaizers had left out a few details as they didn’t merely see keeping the law as important, they saw it as essential in their relationship to God. Luther equated this with building a house starting with the roof first. The law is not a religious cafeteria where you can pick and choose what to obey. God requires doing the law not believing the law as the law says “do and live” whereas grace says, “believe and live”.
No doubt these legalistic folks would quote Psalm 119:1 “Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.” The problem was that they weren’t blameless because no matter how hard they tried they could not walk according to the law of the Lord. Paul is not saying that the Word of God is bad, what he means is that God never intended the law to be the way we gain approval or acceptance before God. If God had intended this then why did He institute the system of atoning sacrifices to go along with the law? The entire sacrificial system looked forward to Jesus who would be the Lamb of God that would take away the sin of the world.
Paul is quoting Deut 27:15-26 in which Moses outlined 12 curses (one for each tribe) that followed the 10 commandments. The 12th curse (Deut. 27:26) was against the person who does not set up ALL the words of the law and DO THEM. What is interesting to note is that only here in Paul’s quotation do you see a Jew use the word ALL as the Jews refused to translate the Hebrew text of Deut. 27:26 with the word ALL.
Apparently they realized that they could not approach God on those grounds and left the word ALL out so as to pick and choose how they were to approach God on the basis of their own works and effort. To prove his point Paul quotes Deut. 27:6 properly and the important point is summed up in two words in this quote “ALL” and “DO”. Based upon this passage: If God would approve you on the basis of the law, you first would have to do two things:
- DO IT: Not simply know it, not simply love it, not simply teach it, not simply want it, you must do it.
- ALL OF IT: Not some of it, some of the time. Not just when you are over 18 or 40. Not just more good than bad.
The Law’s requirement was to keep ALL OF IT, ALL OF THE TIME! If the basis of God’s acceptance of us is upon our effort then we have no right to choose what, how much or when and where we obey the law. Paul’s point couldn’t be more clear: “If you are using the law as the basis of approval and blessing before God and are not doing all of it all of the time then you are CURSED by the very law you are trying to use to gain acceptance and blessing.” This curse is not the curse of reaping what we have sown by our own bad choices, not a curse of the world or even Satan but a curse by God!
Vs. 11 To back up his point Paul tells us that this is exactly what God said in the old testament in Habakkuk 2:4 which he quotes here saying, “But the just shall live by his faith.” This old testament passage is so important that God has it quoted three times in the new testament.
- Gal. 3:11: The emphasis is on just
- Heb. 10:38: The emphasis is on live
- Rom. 1:17: The emphasis is on faith
Deep down every Jew knew that they couldn’t keep all of the law all of the time and that is why they placed so much upon being descendants of Abraham as they were trusting in what they perceived to be his good works and effort. But already revealed that it wasn’t Abrahams works but his faith that God looked at and declared him right by. The question isn’t whether a believer ought to keep the law morally but rather whether they can obtain right standing before God based upon their works in attempting to keep it, which Paul demonstrates is impossible.
Vs. 12 Here is yet another quote of Paul’s to further illustrate his point this time out of Leviticus 18:5 “You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.” In quoting this verse Paul is saying that using the law as the basis of acceptance and blessings before God is not like playing “horseshoes” as you are not rewarded for your effort and getting close. You can’t say “Well I’ll do my best and let faith cover the rest!” You can choose works or faith but not both! The roads of faith and works do not go in the same direction as it relates to approval and acceptance before God; they are heading in opposite directions. So if you want to live by works, by the law, you will need to do it all of the time, not just try to do it. There are so many who use their works as the basis of their acceptance and blessings before God that count their “good intentions” but such good intentions are never going to be counted only perfect performance counts.
Vs. 13-14 Paid in full
Vs. 13-14 Having given his readers the bad news Paul can now give us the good news. Because we can’t do all of it all of the time Jesus has bought us out of the curse of the law. “Redeemed” points to the payment of a price that sets us sinners free. Redemption came from the practices of ancient warfare. After a battle the victors would often capture some of the defeated. Among the defeated, the poorer ones would usually be sold as slaves, but the wealthy and important men, the men who mattered in their own country, would be held to ransom.
When the people in their homeland had raised the required price, they would pay it to the victors and the captives would be set free. The process was called redemption, and the price was called the ransom. What was the price that Jesus paid? He stood in our place and took the curse we deserved. It didn’t just cost Jesus something – it cost Jesus Himself. He made Himself the target of the curse, and set those who believe outside the target. Christ is personally innocent; He did not deserve to be hanged for any crime of His own doing. But because Christ took the place of others who were sinners, He was hanged like any other transgressor.
Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Deut. 21:23 which says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” Jesus received this curse, which we deserved and He did not, so that we could receive the blessing of Abraham, which He deserved and we did not! It would be enough if Jesus simply took away the curse we deserved. But He did far more than that; He also gave a blessing that we didn’t deserve! The central issue with all religion is: How does an adherent come into a relationship with their god? In all other religions the answer to that question is works and effort on the part of the follower. Only in Christianity is the answer different.
According to the Genesis account when Adam sinned God said, “From now on you will have to work for your bread, live by the sweat of your brow, and work through thorns and thistles.” But when Jesus (the second Adam) came in the upper room, His broken body became our bread. In the garden of Gethsemane, His sweat mingled with blood and on Calvary, the thorns of the earth were embedded in His brow. He became the curse for us!
Galatians
“Living Free”
3:1-4:31 Reasoned Grace
3:1-14 Lessons learned
3:15-21 “Law and order”
Vs. 15-18 No “If’s” in a promise
Vs. 19-21 The purpose of the law
Intro.
This article recently appeared in a Salt Lake City newspaper: Max Melitzer, a 60 year-old homeless man, was tracked down by a private investigator and was told that his recently deceased brother had left him an undisclosed sum of money in his will. Before the life-changing news, Melitzer had been pushing around a shopping cart filled with his personal belongings. Melitzer’s family reports they had written to him in September in which they gave him a phone number to reach them, but he never called. When they discovered his brother had left him money in his will they had to hire the private investigator, David Lundberg, to find him. It took two months, a few interviews and 60 or 70 phone call tips to finally find “the mellow guy in his 60s.” There are a lot of Christians like Max pushing around a cart of their belongings living on the street of self effort and works who don’t realize that they are heirs to a promise.
The word “promise” appears 8 times in verses 15-29 and each time Paul uses the word he does so in the context of God’s promises to Abraham. It was the Judaizers contention that the Law changed the original contract with Abraham but Paul argues that it didn’t. To begin with, once two parties conclude an agreement, a third party cannot come along years later and change the agreement. The only persons who could change the agreement are the two original parties. To add something to it or take something away from it would be illegal.
Since that is true with man, how much more so with God? Furthermore when the original contract was made according to Genesis 15 Abraham was asleep and as such it wasn’t Abraham making a contract with God it was God who made one with him and God chose no conditions for Abraham to meet. Thus this was a contract of grace whereby God made promises to Abraham and Abraham made no promises to God! Moses could add nothing to the contract and could take nothing away from the contract.
Vs. 15-18 No “If’s” in a promise
Vs. 15-18 In the last section Paul showed that the law didn’t work in as much as it couldn’t institute change in us. In fact the “fine print” was that we are required to do all of the law all of the time and if we fail then we are under the curse of the law. The good news is that Jesus took that curse upon Himself while giving us His blessings and that was all given us as we simply trust in Him. Here Paul moves to the unchanging nature of the covenant made with Abraham. Notice that Paul hasn’t lost perspective even though some had embraced legalism as he starts off in verse 15 calling them “Brethren” a term exclusively used for fellow believers.
The first point Paul makes is a legal one: Prior to the issuance of the law there was already a binding contract in place, it was the covenant with Abraham. And with that contract it couldn’t be annulled or added to, since that is true with men how much more so with God. In Genesis 22:18, God promised Abraham that “in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” Paul makes sure that the reader understands that the contract blessing was for Abraham and a specific descendant as the word in the contract was “SEED” singular and not “SEEDS” plural which would make the contract for all of Abraham’s descendants in general.
The contract blessings are clearly written that in this “SEED” (SINGULAR) all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. The point Paul is making is that nothing written 430 years later (the law) could overrule the contract God established with Abraham especially when God was the one writing both contracts. There was nothing in the 2nd contract (the law) that voided out the first contract, (the covenant with Abraham). Reading that contract with Abraham you find three tenets listed:
- Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 15: “UNCHANGING” and “ONE SIDED” in nature
- Genesis 17:7-8: It’s “PROMISES ARE FOREVER”
- Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 15: There are no “IF’s” thus it is “UNCONDITIONAL”
Now when you compare that to Deut. 28 and the Mosaic Covenant you see there are five times we read the word “IF” (1, 9, 13, 15, and 58) which tells us that the law is clearly conditional, a 2 sided contract where two parties were necessary to uphold it, thus its promises are not forever. What this means is that all the promises of blessings come through to Abraham and his descendants, spiritually through Jesus by faith. The final point Paul wants to make is that if the inheritance of these blessings offered to Abraham was on the basis of the law, they wouldn’t be permanent and they would have depended upon Abraham keeping the law (something he couldn’t have done especially since it was written until 430 years later). But the blessings were offered on the basis of God’s promise, thus it stands sure. The Greek word for promise is GRACE and it is in the perfect tense which means that it is a permanent FREE GIFT!
All of this demonstrates two very important points:
- The approach to God on the basis of Faith alone is 100% biblical
- The law (though it came after the contract with Abraham) does not overrule it
The Judaizers quoted the law, Paul quoted the promise, they quoted tradition Paul quoted older tradition! The 430 years mentioned by Paul in verse 17 have puzzled bible students for years. As we know that from Abraham’s call in Genesis 12 to Jacob’s arrival in Egypt in Genesis 46 is 215 years. But Moses tells us in Exodus 12:40 that Israel sojourned in Egypt for 430 years which would make the total number of years from Abraham’s call to the giving of the law 645 years, not 430 years.
Yet the 430 year number is repeated elsewhere where the number is rounded off to 400 years. The best answer to this math problem is in what Paul is counting: It seems that Paul is counting from when God appeared to Jacob in Egypt (Genesis 46:1-4) and reaffirmed the contract with Abraham until the giving of the law at Sinai.
Vs. 19-21 The purpose of the law
Vs. 19-21 Having established that the law didn’t set aside the original contract Paul anticipates a logical question: “What then is the purpose of the law”? Paul says the purpose of the law was fourfold:
- First, it clearly establish God’s standards as holy and perfect
- Second, it keeps man from destroying each other (moral law)
- Third, it reveals man’s real problem of rebellion
- Finally, it shows us are need for a savior in Jesus
The law remains in effect till Jesus came and still is in effect for those who have yet to receive Jesus by faith as Jesus came to fulfill the law, not destroy the law. But for those who have by faith received Jesus the law no longer is the basis of approaching God. Based upon Paul, the law was given to Moses at Mount Sinai by the hands of angels who were the mediator for Moses when he received the Law from God. Moses needed that “go-between” between Moses and God but we don’t need a go-between between Jesus and us because Jesus is our Mediator
. The difference is: A promise depends on one person; a mediated agreement depends on two. The weakness of the law compared to the covenant of Abraham is shown because it depends on two parties (and one of them is us and we aren’t promise keepers, we are contract breakers). Whereas a promise depends upon God alone, who is always a promise keeper. The nation received the law 3rd hand from God to angels to Moses. But when God made a covenant with Abraham He did it personally, without a mediator.
Paul is not saying that the law contradicts the promise, he is saying that the law cooperates with the promises as they complement each other.
Vs. 21 Paul asks yet another hypothetical question that he thought the readers would ask: “Is the law then against the promises of God?” And he answers “Certainly not!” The problem with the law is not to be found in the law but rather what it has to work with, us! We can’t keep the law and the law offers nothing to enable us to do so or even the desire to do so. If the law could have given us the desire and the power to enable us to keep its requirements then it could have brought about righteousness. Think of it as speed limit signs: In order for speed limit signs to truly work all of the time they would need to affect two things:
- The driver: First the sign must change the desire of the driver to always drive the speed limit because without changing the desire of the driver and only changing the car, the car will obey but the driver will always try to alter the car so he can speed.
- The car: Second it must automatically change the car in case the driver whose desire has been changed isn’t paying attention and unintentionally goes over the speed limit. Getting a sign to change every car is relatively easy to accomplish but getting a sign to change the desire of every car driver all the time is impossible!
Galatians
“Living Free”
3:1-4:31 Reasoned Grace
3:15-29 Logic liked
3:22-29 “No more red pencils”
Vs. 22-25 Lessons from the law
Vs. 26-29 Graduation
Intro.
Czar Nicholas of Russia would walk about his military camps dressed as an ordinary officer, in order that he might know what was going on without being known by others. One night, the Czar noticed a light under the paymaster’s door. He opened the door and stepped inside and noticed a young officer—son of an old friend who was seated at a table, sound asleep. He thought of waking him, but noticed a gun on the table along with some money and a sheet of paper. The paper contained a long list of gambling debts amounting to thousands of rubles.
He had realized how much he owed and how impossible it was for him to pay it. The only way out, he thought, was to end it all with the gun as he could not face the disgrace which awaited him. He had written below the terrible total:“WHO CAN PAY SO GREAT A DEBT?” The Czar’s first thought was to have him arrested. But he thought of his long friendship with the officer’s father. A feeling of compassion took possession of him and he took up the pen which the officer had dropped and wrote just one word: “NICHOLAS”
The young officer awoke after the Czar had gone and noticed the name “Nicholas” below his own question. Joy and shame filled his heart as he thought of the fact that the Czar knew all about his dishonesty and recklessness and yet was willing to pay his debt. The following morning the money arrived from the Czar enough to pay “So Great a Debt” down to the last ruble. The joy of the officer for this kindness could not be described and it changed the rest of his life.
Vs. 22-25 Lessons from the law
Vs. 22 The law does not make a person a sinner; it is like a mirror as it reveals that we are one. It enables us to see our dirty faces but once you see your dirty face you don’t take the mirror off the wall and try to scrape the dirt off. No, you simply wash the dirt off and that is what grace and the blood of Christ does. The law can’t help us because it holds us in the prison of sin. If you can’t stop sin in your life then you have proven that you are imprisoned by the law of God.
Martin Luther wrote: “When the Law drives you to the point of despair, let it drive you a little farther, let it drive you straight into the arms of Jesus who says: ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
There is a mistake often made in the presentation of the gospel. In telling folks about the “good news” most folks don’t understand why Jesus is good news. If the church only speaks about salvation people will not understand what they are in need of being saved from.
Suppose you took a flight to Hawaii and somewhere over the Pacific ocean unknown to all the passengers, the pilots realize that they have a fuel leak and they don’t have enough fuel to land the plane. So the Pilots call the two stewardesses into the cockpit and tell them of the situation: They need to get the passengers ready for the fact that the plane isn’t going to be able to land.
The good news is that in the cargo hold is enough parachutes for every passenger on board. Furthermore they have radioed ahead and there are ships in the immediate area where the plane will be going down to pull out the folks from the water. There needs to be no loss of life if the passengers will only put on the parachutes and exit the plane as instructed. The Pilots are busy keeping the plane in the air so the task of preparing the passengers falls on the two stewardesses. The first stewardess says, “Gotcha, I’ll take care of it!” So she pulls out some parachutes, gets on the PA and says, “Ladies and gentleman aboard flight 777 I have some wonderful news for you all today!” “We have a special free backpack that will make your flight more comfortable. And after you land it will come in handy every day.” “How many of you would like to have one?”
To her surprise only a few folks raise their hand and the rest of the folks aren’t interested. Of the folks that have raised their hands all but two just put the parachute under the seat and go back to watching the movie, playing with their I-pads or reading books. Of the two that try them on only one leaves it on the other one tries it on then just tosses it aside. The fellow that puts it on keeps it on for 15 minutes and until it becomes hot and uncomfortable then he also takes it off.
The first stewardess comes back and tells the 2nd stewardess what has happened and that no one has the parachute on. So the 2nd stewardess says, “I’ll take care of this!” She gets on the PA and calmly says, “Ladies and gentlemen we have an announcement that you need to pay attention to so turn off all your electronic devices and put down your books.” “The Pilots of flight 777 have discovered a fuel leak that will cause us to have to abort our landing. In their wisdom they have provided parachutes for every passenger onboard the fight today.
Furthermore they have made sure that there will be ships in the area where the plane will be going down to pick up every passenger so that no person’s life will be lost.” “We will be instructing each and every passenger on how to put on the parachute and how to leave the plane safely.” “We ask that you remain calm and follow the instructions that we give you exactly.” “Now how many of you dear folks want a parachute today, please raise your hand?”
Vs. 23-25 Before we came to faith in Christ, Paul says, the law kept guard over us in protective custody. It revealed God’s heart; showing is the right way to live, a way to govern humanity. It also provided an avenue by which we would come to Jesus as we stopped trying to justify ourselves and instead allowed Jesus to declare us right with God as we simply trusted in His finished work. The law gives a reward and a punishment to works; it remits nothing, pardons nothing, and instead calls all to reckoning. Satan would have us prove ourselves holy by the very thing God gave to prove us sinners!
Notice that the words “to bring us” in verse 24 are italicized which means that the translators inserted them to clarify the sentence. The original Greek reads, “Therefore the law was our tutor until Christ”. Once we have come to a relationship by faith in Jesus, we no longer need to live under our tutor. The tutor did not simply teach a child he was the child’s guardian, watching over the child and his behavior. The idea is more of a nanny, since the tutor could discipline the child. The word tutor literally means “child conductor” and by use of this word Paul is saying two important things:
- The Jews are not born through the law, but rather that they are brought up by the law. The tutor was a slave given the responsibility to be the child’s guardian and if needed the disciplinarian. But even with those responsibilities the tutor was not the child’s father and only the father could give life the tutor just regulated life.
- The work of the tutor was preparation for the child’s maturity and once the child became an adult, they no longer needed the tutor. The law was just preparation for Israel of the Messiah as the ultimate goal of God was the coming of the Son. In verse 26 Paul uses a word translated sons that literally means “adult sons” as God’s plan for His children is maturity.
Vs. 26-29 Graduation
Vs. 26-27 The Judaizers had taught the gentile believers that they weren’t fully followers of Jesus until they became followers of the Law but Paul says that they were full sons of God through faith. What did those adult men who had undergone circumcision at the insistence of the Judaizers think of that true statement? Paul doesn’t say that we are baptized into water but that we are “BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST”.
Water baptism is where a person is immersed into water, so we place our faith in Christ and we are immersed in Jesus. Paul uses a decidedly Roman analogy as he writes “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ”. When the Roman son became of age where he was seen as an adult he would be given a “toga virilis” which signified that he was now a grownup son enjoying full citizenship with all the rights and responsibilities of an adult and was to no longer be treated like a child in his father’s house.
Vs. 28-29 Since the Judaizers pushed class distinctions based upon obedience to the law Paul emphasizes equality through faith. At that time, the Rabbis quoted a morning prayer of the Jews where the Jewish man would thank God that he was not born a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. Here Paul makes good use of that by showing what faith has done.
- Neither Jew nor Greek: As far as spiritual position before the throne of God there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. Thus no prior religious benefit!
- Neither slave nor free: In Christ before the throne of God there is no difference between those that were free in society and those who were slaves. No prior economic benefit!
- Neither male nor female: The equality in Christ even reached through the division of the sexes and established no difference before the throne of God between male and female. No prior gender benefit!
I still remember the dreaded “red pencil” the teacher would use on my English papers as she would take my paper and mark it all with the misspelled words, poor punctuation, and bad grammar. That’s what teachers do, they point out mistakes that need correcting. Ah but now that I’m in Christ I still have as many mistakes as I once did. Recently a gracious lady came and asked if she could take all my notes and correct all my mistakes on my behalf. She isn’t circling them in red pencil, she is fixing them so that those that go online to read the notes won’t get distracted with my mistakes and instead will get blessed at the perfection of the word. That’s what Christ has done and why we no longer need the law!