Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the theme from Gal 3:1 and following. Indeed, Paul’s heart is upset: his zeal for the truth is coupled with all his love for his poor Galatians. What spirit of bewilderment could have bewitched them, so that they had so forgotten god’s grace? Alas, many Christians are like them! Christ crucified was depicted to them (Gal 3:1). They believed in Him and received through the Holy Spirit the assurance of salvation. But they did not trust Him to lead their Christian lives. Having begun with the Spirit, they continue with the flesh (Gal 3:3). But do you think that after justifying us, God can count on us to “complete His work”? No, and that is why the same faith that saves us is also the faith we need to live (Gal 3:11). God’s just law, on the other hand, could only make us die, curse us, for we were unable to fulfill it. Christ had to replace us under this curse. To redeem us, He paid the full price. He bore the curse of the Law when He took the place I deserved on the cross. May He be forever blessed!
The apostle explains why the Law does not change God’s promises. These are earlier to him and God does not give up. And above all they were made to the descendants of Abraham, that is, to Christ (Gal 3:16). Nothing can nullify or contradict what God guarantees to his Beloved (and those who belong to him). “Why then the Law?” (Gal 3:19). It was compared to a mirror. She shows me my moral filth, but she is as unable to remove it as a mirror to wash me. That is not its function. The Law only convinces me of sin; she is therefore my conductor until Christ (Gal 3:24). After which his role is finished as that of the instructor who prepared his student to climb to a higher class. Painful school than that of the Law. It teaches me that I am a sinner and it does not make me righteous; that I am dead and she does not have the power to make me live; that I am without strength and it does not provide me with any. But everything I miss then I find in Jesus.
For baptism is the public sign of the setting apart for Christ, by his death. You who have been baptized, are you really “sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ”? Have you really “put on Christ” (Gal 3:26:27)? Because wearing a uniform to which one is not entitled is a fraud and a breach of trust.
We see the lamentable state into which these Galatian assemblies had fallen, under the influence of false teaching. In what terms, almost violent by dint of anguish, the apostle describes this moral state! It is that the ruin was at the door! Satan managed to remove the cross from the eyes of these assemblies, the cross from which the apostle, speaking of himself, had just said, “I am crucified with Christ.” Who could have deceived them to such an extent? Who could have struck them with such madness? The term “bewitched” shows us what the satanic source of this enterprise is. Hadn’t Jesus been portrayed as crucified before their eyes? Every time we sit at the Lord’s table, do we not announce His death on the cross until He comes?
Had they therefore abandoned the cross, that very foundation of their salvation, which He had just shown them (Gal 2:20-21) that it is the end of the whole existence of man in the flesh? Even more, had their new life, characterized by the gift of the Holy Spirit, found its origin in the works of law: Do this and you will live? No, they had received the Spirit as one always receives: By faith whose preaching had reached their ears: “To whom also having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise” (Eph 1:13). Could the Spirit agree with the flesh? Impossible! The cross had completely put an end to the latter. By faith the Christian had received a new life, into which nothing of the flesh could enter. Is it the latter that they should be interested in from now on to be perfected? The body of the epistle will answer us on this crucial question. But there is more for us: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.” The only man who deserved only blessing, who could in no way be reached by the curse, this one was made what he was not, curse for us, without any motive. We know that his love made him take charge of our sins and take upon himself God’s judgment to deliver us from them, but here, to highlight the complete absence of motive for the judgment that struck him, Scripture quotes only this passage, separate from any other: “He who is hanged is God’s curse” (Dt 21:23). Then the blessed result is not long in coming: Abraham’s blessing reaches the nations in Christ Jesus and we receive by faith the promised Spirit.
We have seen that the righteousness of faith is confirmed to the Galatians by the gift of the Holy Spirit. But first of all the fact that this gift had been granted to them could not be questioned for a moment, and no one thought of contesting it to them; so this whole chapter is filled with these two great truths: faith and the Spirit.
Now Abraham’s blessings, faith, promises bring us to the covenant and covenant to Christ. What place does the law have in all of this? No. It was to Abraham that the promises were made. These promises are the fruit of God’s Covenant with Him. They are confirmed to the seed of Abraham who is Christ. The law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not change the promises made to Christ, the seed of Abraham. Thus the whole system of the law does not abolish or change anything of God’s fixed words about the system of grace. The same is true of inheritance; we speak of “the heritage of nations”; it was given to Abraham by promise and not on the principle of the law. The latter has never given anything; it has always demanded.
The purpose of the law is quite different. It was, mind you, not given, but added to a whole system existing in itself, without it. But she had a purpose: evil, sin. It was established to bring it out, because it changed sin into a positive transgression: “It was added because of transgressions,” which brought the convinced sinner to judgment. All this until the arrival of Jesus Christ, the custodian seed of the promises given by grace to sinners. The law had a character that promises never had. It was a system ordered by angels. It did not have, like grace and promise, its direct source in God. It was, so to speak, a secondary system with a special purpose that was not established for eternity.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
The madness of the Galatians
- Punishment for disobedience
Dt 11:28 the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of Jehovah your God, and turn away from the way I prescribe for you on this day, to go after other gods whom you do not know. 1 S 12:15 But if you do not obey the voice of Jehovah, and if you are rebellious to the word of Jehovah, Jehovah’s hand will be against you, as it has been against your fathers. 1 S 28:18 You have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, and you have not made Amalek feel the ardor of his wrath: that is why Jehovah treats you today in this way. 1 Kings 13:21 And he cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah: Thus, saith Jehovah: Because you have been rebellious to the command of Jehovah, and have not kept the commandment that Jehovah your God had given you; Jer 12:17 But if they do not listen to anything, I will destroy such a nation, I will destroy it, I will make it perish, says the Lord. Eph 5:6 Let no one deceive you with vain speeches; for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of rebellion. 2 Th 1:8 in the midst of a flame of fire, to punish those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 1 Tim 1:9 knowing full well that the law is not made for the just, but for the wicked and the rebels, the ungodly and the sinners, the irreligious and the profane, the parricides, the murderers; Hb 2:2-3 For if the word announced by angels has had its effect, and if every transgression and disobedience has received just retribution, 3 how shall we escape by neglecting such a great salvation, which, first announced by the Lord, has been confirmed to us by those who have heard it,
- Divine Promises to Believers
-Food Ps 37:3 Trust in the Lord, and practice good; Have the country for abode and fidelity for pasture.
-Boundless blessings Mk 9:23 Jesus said to him, “If you can!… Everything is possible to the one who believes.
Answering prayer Mk 11:24 That is why I say to you: Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and you will see it fulfilled.
-Disappearance of obstacles Lk 17:6 And the Lord said: If you had faith like a grain of seneve, you would say to this sycamore: Uproot yourself, and plant yourself in the sea; and he would obey you.
-Divine adoption Jn 1:12 But to all who have received her, to those who believe in her name, she has given the power to become children of God, who are born,
-Eternal Life Jn 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, 3 so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Spiritual fullness Jn 6:35 Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. Jn 11:26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe that?
Spiritual Light Jn 12:46 I have come as a light into the world, so that whoever believes in me will not dwell in darkness.
-Power for service Jn 14:12 Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes in me will also do the works I do, and he will do greater ones, because I go to the Father;
-Hi Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel: it is a power of God for the salvation of whoever believes, first of the Jew, then of the Greek; 1 Peter 2:6 For it is said in Scripture: Behold, I put in Zion a cornerstone, chosen, precious; And he who believes in it will not be confused.
- Man as mediator
Ex 20:19 They said to Moses, Speak to us thyself, and we will listen; but let God not speak to us, lest we die. Number 17:13 Whoever approaches the tabernacle of the Lord dies. Will we all have to expire? Dt 5:5:27 I then stood between jehovah and you to proclaim to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid of fire, and you did not ascend the mountain. He said: 27 Approach, you, and listen to all that the Lord, our God, will say; thou shady shall bring to us thyself all that the Lord our God shall say unless you may say; we will listen to it, and we will. Dt 9:18 I prostrated myself before the Lord, as before, forty days and forty nights, without eating bread and drinking water, because of all the sins you had committed in doing what is wrong in the eyes of the Lord, to irritate Him.
- One God
Dt 4:35 You have witnessed these things, that you may recognize that Jehovah is God, that there is no other. Dt 6.4 Listen, Israel! Jehovah, our God, is the only Eternal. Dt 32:39 Know, therefore, that it is I who am God, and that there is no God near me; I make live and I make die, I hurt and I heal, And no one delivers from my hand; 2 S 7:22 So how great are you, Eternal God! for no one is like you, and there is no other God but you, according to all that we have heard from our ears. 1 Ch 17.20 O Eternal! no one is like you, and there is no other God but you, from all that we have heard from our ears. Ps 83:19 Let them know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High on all the earth! Ps 86:10 For thou shat great, and thou shady wonders; You alone are God. Isaiah 43:10 You are my witnesses, says Jehovah, You, and my servant whom I have chosen, That you may know it, that you may believe me and understand that it is me: Before me there has not been formed of God, and after me there will be none. Isa 44:6 Thus speaks the Lord, king of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last, and out of me there is no God. Isa 45:18 For thus speaks jehovah, the Creator of heaven, the only God, Who formed the earth, who made it and strengthened it, Who created it so that it would not be deserted, Who formed it so that it might be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is no other. Mk 12:29 Jesus answered: Behold, behold, Behold, Israel, the Lord, our God, is the one Lord; 1 Co 8:4, therefore, as far as eating meat sacrificed to idols is concerned, we know that there is no idol in the world, and that there is only one God. Eph 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and among all, and in all. 1 Tim 2:5 For there is one God, and also one mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ man;
From all of the above, we note that now Abraham’s blessings, faith, promises bring us to the covenant and covenant to Christ. What place does the law have in all of this? No. It was to Abraham that the promises were made. These promises are the fruit of God’s Covenant with Him. They are confirmed to the seed of Abraham who is Christ. The law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not change the promises made to Christ, the seed of Abraham. Thus the whole system of the law does not abolish or change anything of God’s fixed words about the system of grace. The same is true of inheritance; we speak of “the heritage of nations”; it was given to Abraham by promise and not on the principle of the law. The latter has never given anything; it has always demanded. Is there an essential antagonism between the law and promises? In no way. Here the apostle introduces life, entirely outside the law, and he shows what purpose God had in giving the law. Not to make live, for the law did not have the power, but to show through Scripture that all things were enclosed under sin. Everything was changed. These Galatians were not baptized for Moses (1 Co 10:2), but for Jesus Christ. The scope of their baptism had Christ and not Moses as its subject; they had not been baptized “in the cloud and in the sea.” It was Christ they had put on. It was no longer a question of Jew or Greek. Any distinction: slave, free man, male, female, had disappeared; all were one in Christ Jesus. These Galatians were now of Christ and therefore the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise granted to faith. Here, any claim to bring the Galatians back to the law has entirely disappeared. Only Christ remains. Our prayers sustain you in your efforts to be all of Jesus Christ.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “man is like a slave under the law or like a child of God under grace.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.