The Blessing of Abraham

Greetings.

We will continue our examination of Galatians 3 today.  In verses 6-7 we looked at how Abraham beleived in God's promises and it was credited to him as righteousness.  Paul continues using Abraham to make his arguments in verses 8-9.  Here is my translation: 

8 The Scriptures foretold this, seeing beforehand that God would justify the Gentiles, by faith.  He preached this gospel ahead of time to Abraham, “Through you all nations will be blessed.” 9 So then, those who have faith are blessed right alongside Abraham, the faithful one.

God had, indeed, chosen the Israelites to be his people. However, within their role as His chosen people,  they were to be a light to the Gentile nations.  (See Isa. 42:6, 49:6)  They were supposed to show the rest of the world the way to God, but this was a role that they never really seemed to understand.  Anyway, Paul says in verse 8 that in the Scriptures, going all the way back to Abraham, this development had all been foretold.  

According to Paul. when God promised Abraham that through him all nations would be blessed, back in Genesis 12:3, God was foretelling that the time would come when God justified, even Gentiles, through their faith. The promise was not that just Abraham’s descendants (the Jews) would be blessed, but all nations would be. Paul is saying that from the beginning it had been God’s intention to bless and include the Gentiles into His kingdom. So, those who have faith, regardless of ethnicity, are children of Abraham, and are blessed right alongside him (verse 9). 

Paul’s discussion of Abraham certainly provides us with a scriptural basis for the inclusion of Gentiles into God’s kingdom, but more importantly he is using Abraham to show that the blessings of God, for Jew and Gentile alike, are accessed through our faith rather than through obedience to the Law. (Moo, 200.)  John Stott further points out that we are doubly blessed, we receive justification (verse 8), but we also have the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. (verses 2-5).  These two gifts come to us together. (Stott, 74.) 

In his commentary on Galatians, Thomas Schreiner makes a valid point. When Paul talks about Abraham’s faith, he is not talking about “an abstract belief in God, but belief in God’s promises.”  (Schreiner, 194.)  It is the same for us.  Our faith must be more than belief in God’s existence, but a genuine belief that His promises are good and they will be kept.  This is place where you have to ask yourself, "Am I really trusting in God's promises?"  Of course, this is where it gets difficult.  Those who believe God’s promises will act on that belief, but it is not the doing that God recognizes, it is the believing. 

Schreiner further points out that verse 7 and verse 9 may seem repetitive, but the message is slightly different, telling us first that faith makes us children of Abraham (v. 7), and secondly, that faith allows us to share in Abraham’s blessing (v. 9). (Schreiner, 195.)  So, in this short section going from verses 6 to 9, we can see two very important, and very cool things that come from our faith.  1) We become children of Abraham and 2) we share in his blessing.  

Credited as Righteousness

Hello everyone.

We will continue in Galatians 3 as Paul uses Abraham to make his case.  Here is my translation of Gal. 3:6-7: 

 6 Consider Abraham.  He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. 7 You should know then, that those who are of  faith are the children of Abraham. 

Paul restates what Genesis 15:6 says about Abraham.  “He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  Note that it does not say, “He obeyed the Law and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 

Abraham and Sarah are well past childbearing age when this story starts, 75 and 65 respectively.  When God promises him offspring that outnumber the stars in the heavens, Abram believes the promise, even though it seems so ridiculous that such a promise could be true. God blesses Abraham's faith. Douglas Moo explains it this way, “God graciously viewed Abraham’s faith as having in itself fulfilled all that God expected of Abraham in order for him to be in the right before God.”  (Moo, 188.) Moo’s point is that for the Galatians, it was their faith, not their adherence to the Law that led them to be in a right relationship with God. 

Paul follows in verse 7 with “You should know then, that those who have faith are the children of Abraham”. So, when we are like Abraham, and live by our faith, we become his children, whether we are Jew or Gentile.  

By using Abraham here, Paul is using one of the big heroes of the Jewish faith and of these agitators and making his arguments against their teachings. They were probably using Abraham in their arguments for circumcision, saying that the covenant established in Genesis 17 was still binding. But Paul uses Abraham's story of faith to demolish their arguments.  

Food for thought: 

• Abraham was considered righteous at 75 because he believed God’s promise.  He was 99 when he was circumcised.  It was his faith, not his circumcision that made him righteous.  He obeyed, and submitted to circumcision because of his faith.  Abraham was considered righteous for 24 years before his circumcision.
• In John 8:31 and following Jesus has a discussion with a group of Jews that involves many of the same themes that Paul is using here in Galatians 3, Abraham, slavery and freedom.  His audience claimed Abraham as their father and stated that they had never been slaves of anyone.  Jesus challenges their claims, saying that they were not really free and not really Abraham’s children. Soon they resort to insults and name-calling, and eventually pick up stones to kill him. 

Anyway, back to Paul.  He is saying in verse 7, that being a Jew doesn’t make you a child of Abraham, faith does.  Ethnicity has nothing to do with it.  Now, anyone can be a child of Abraham, if they have faith. So it is faith, not adherence to the Law that 1) justifies us and 2) makes us children of Abraham.

The phrase in Greek that Paul uses here is Οἱ Ἐκ Πίστεως (hoi ek pisteōs) A literal translation would be “those of faith.”  I translated it as “those who are of faith” to make the English a little smoother, but either way, the meaning is clear.  Moo describes like this, those “whose identity is derived from faith.” (Moo, 197.) I would say like this, “those who view life through the lenses of faith are the children of Abraham and are justified.” So, just as Abraham’s standing before God came because of his faith, so it is with us, as well.  

Consider Abraham

Hey.

As we progress through Galatians we get to Gal. 3:6.  Paul says "Consider Abraham.  He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness."  

Paul is going to use one of the great heroes of his detractors, Abraham, to show the weakness of their arguments.  So, to understand what Paul is talking about here, it is important to understand Abraham’s story.  His story is told in Genesis chapters 12-25. Today, we will look at some of the highlights of Abraham's story as they apply to Paul's argument in Galatians. 

In Gen. 12, God calls Abraham to go to a land that He would show him.  In verses 2-3, God promises to make Abraham into a great nation, and that through him all nations would be blessed. Abraham believed God and left his homeland. He was 75 years old at the time. (12:4)

A little later, in Gen. 15:2-3 Abraham reminds God that he is still childless, and that his heir was a servant in his household.  God assures Abraham that he would have a son to be his heir (verses 4-5) Gen. 15:6  says “Abraham believed in the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness.” So, even though it seems impossible for a couple the advanced age of Abraham and Sarah to have a child, Abraham believed in spite of the impossibility, and God credits Abraham faith as righteousness. Paul repeats Galatians 15:6 in Gal. 3:6 as evidence to support his argument. 

Chapter 16 deals with Sarah and Hagar and the birth of Ishamel.  Verse1 tells us that Sarah had still not borne Abraham a child.  They were getting to be very old, way beyond normal child-bearing years, so Sarah tries to force the promise by giving Abram her slave Hagar to have a child with.  At this point Abram is 85, as 16:3 says that he had been living in Canaan for 10 years. 

When Hagar conceives, things start to go awry.  Part of the problem was that this thing with Hagar was never God’s plan.  Hagar, now carrying Abraham’s child, begins to show contempt for Sarah, and so a lot tension exists between Abraham's wife, and the soon-to-be mother of his child.  Sarah blames Abraham, even though it was her idea, not his.  She sends Hagar away, but God sends her back.  She gives birth to a son, and names him Ishmael, which means, “A God who sees.” 

There is a 13 year time jump between chapter 16 and 17, and now Abraham is 99 years old.  God promises again that he will make him into a great nation, in fact, now the promise is that he will be father of many nations. It is here that God establishes the covenant of circumcision.  Abraham and every male in his household are circumcised.  Abraham was 99 and Ishmael 13 when they were circumcised. 

Abraham asks that Ishmael be the child of the promise.  (v. 18) God promises to bless Ishmael, but He tells Abraham that Ishmael is not the child of the promise, and that even in old age, Sarah would give Abraham a son. 

Finally, in chapter 21 at the age of 100, Abraham becomes the father of Isaac.  Sarah was 90 at that point. Isaac is born. He is the child of the promise.  

Abraham holds a great feast one the day that young Isaac is weaned.  Sarah notices that the teenaged Ishmael is mocking little Isaac, and gets angry.  She demands that Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away, saying in verse 10, “that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son.”  God talks to Abraham and tells him to listen to Sarah.  Isaac is to be the son of the promise, and Ishmael, the son of the slave is not.  Although it distresses Abraham, he complies, and sends them away.  This story is central to what Paul is about to talk about.  There are mothers and two sons.  Paul uses one to represent slavery and the other to represent freedom as he continues make his plea for grace and against legalism. 

Five Questions

 Hello everyone.

We will continue our examination of Galatians 3.  Paul is rebuking the Galatians for their 'foolishness' in turning to the 'other gospel,' one which is really no gospel at all.  He wonders whether someone had cast a spell on them to get them to turn away from the grace given them through the Cross.  As he continues as says that there is just one thing he wants to know, then asks a series of five questions of them.  He is trying to get them to see the foolishness of what they have been buying into. Here is my translation of these five questions from Galatians 3:2-5: 

2 There is just one thing I want to know from you.  Did you receive the Spirit from your works of the Law or from your faith gained from what you heard? 3 Can you really be that foolish?  Having started out with the Spirit, do you now think you can be made complete by human effort? 4 Have you all experienced so much for nothing? (If indeed it was for nothing.)  5 Is the One providing the Spirit to you and working powerfully among you, at work because of your efforts to obey the Law, or because of your hearing by faith?  

These questions largely deal with where the Spirit that is living within them comes from.  Was it as a result of believing the message, or was it because of their adherence to the Law? We will look at each question. 

First question: Did you receive the Spirit from your works of the Law or from your faith gained from what you heard? 

Paul's first question is not whether or not they had received the Spirit.  He does not question that.  Instead, he wants them to consider whether the Spirit came to them because of their faith, or because of their obedience. It is a rhetorical question, becasue the answer is obvious. The Spirit came to them because of their faith. Paul has recently said in 2:16, “We have faith in Christ Jesus, so that our righteousness comes from our faith in Him, and not from works of the law.” 

Second Question: Can you really be that foolish?  

Paul’s second question, “Can you really be that foolish?”  Stresses the point that Paul is making.  To choose obedience to the Law, and legalism over grace is just foolishness.  Nothing can earn our salvation, our relationship with God or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  These are gifts that come out of God's graciousness toward us, and the idea that somehow the Law can make them more worthy of them is pure foolishness. 

Third Question: Having started out with the Spirit, do you now think you can be made complete by human effort? 

This is an important question. They began with the Spirit, why would they now resort to their own efforts to be made complete. Is the Spirit somehow incomplete?  Common sense would tell us otherwise. Does allowing yourself to be circumcised make you more complete than the Spirit has already made you?  Again, apply common sense.  God's Spirit is all we need.  

Fourth Question: Have you all experienced so much for nothing? (If indeed it was for nothing.)

In the fourth question, Paul asks whether they had all of these experiences in vain.  The experiences that Paul refers to here are unclear.  Anyway, the Greek word ἐπάθετε (epathete), which is often translated here as experience, could also be translated as suffer.  Was Paul saying that their choices were now rendering their previous sufferings pointless, or was he suggesting that all of their previous experiences in the Spirit were being ignored so that they could travel down this different (and wrong) path.  The latter makes more sense to me.  

There is an add-on statement to this question, “If indeed it was for nothing.”  It seems that Paul is hopeful for his converts, that they are not really just throwing away their freedom, faith, grace and the Spirit, for a lesser gospel, one that is really no gospel at all. 

Fifth Question: Is the One providing the Spirit to you and working powerfully among you, doing those things because of your works of the Law, or because of your hearing by faith?

Paul sums up his questioning with verse 5.  It is very nearly the same question that he started with, having only minor differences.  The first question, Paul mentions only receiving the Spirit, while this one talks about where the Spirit comes from, but also how the Spirit continues to work powerfully within them.  Here is the one thing that Paul wants to know. Does that sustaining relationship with God’s Holy Spirit continue because of their obedience or because of their faith?  We all know the answer to that.  Paul’s point is that it is their faith that sustains their relationship with God, not their obedience.  

As we continue our study of Galatians, we will continue to see the Gospel of Grace and Freedom that Paul presents, compared to "gospel" of adherance to the Law that his detractors are presenting.  

Foolishness

Greetings everyone.

Today we will start our examination of Galatians chapter 3.  Paul tells them what really here, calling them fools.  Here is my translation of Gal. 3:1: "Oh, you foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Was it not before your own eyes that Jesus Christ was clearly proclaimed to be crucified?" 

So, we start chapter 3 with a rebuke.  “Oh, you foolish Galatians.” By buying into this “other gospel” the Galatians are acting foolishly.  Certainly, they are setting aside the superior Gospel for something that in Paul’s words, is actually no gospel at all.  By setting aside God's grace to obey a gospel where salvation is somehow earned is indeed foolish.  

Do you remember what Paul says to the Galatians in 1:6-7?  “I am astonished that you are so quick to depart from the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ for a different gospel, one which is really not a gospel at all.” (My translation.)  Paul expresses the same thinking here.  He is astonished by the foolishness of their thinking, and how they were able to change paths when some new thought came along. 

Then he asks, “Who has cast a spell on you?” or in the NIV “Who has bewitched you?”  Paul uses the the Greek word βασκαἱνω (baskaino) which means “to exert an evil influence through the eye.”  You might say that Paul is asking them, who gave them the evil eye that is making them think this way.

Paul follows with this question, “Was it not before your own eyes that Jesus Christ was proclaimed as crucified?”  When grace in the fullness of its awesomeness, paid for by the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, has been presented to you, why would you listen to someone who preaches a different message?  It is, indeed, foolishness. 

The crucifixion on our behalf is the central tenet of Paul’s message.  Look at what he says in 1 Corinthians.  (1:23-24 - “but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”  Then later in 2:2, 4 - For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified…my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”  Both times Paul says that the Cross is his message, and then connects it to the power of God. The Cross is powerful, and the grace that comes from it is much more powerful than I could ever be on my own.  

Jesus’ death on the Cross had been presented to them vividly as completion of everything necessary for their salvation. They had not seen the actual crucifixion. So, when Paul says "before your own eyes that Jesus Christ was clearly proclaimed to be crucified," we can understand that he undoubtedly painted the narrative of the crucifixion in vivid word pictures for them, and they received it, gaining the power of the Spirit through faith. 

Paul's point: If they have received this good news in faith, what more do they need to add to it. Douglas Moo says, “When truly appreciated, the cross of Christ, the manifestation of God’s wisdom, power, and grace, should rule out of court the kind of human-oriented law program that the agitators are perpetrating. (Moo, 182.) In other words, they should have understood enough to see through this false doctrine, why didn’t they?  

Ok, so what?  What does this all mean for us?  Are we trying to earn it somehow through our rule-keeping? I think that we, as humans, tend toward wanting to earn it somehow.  But there is no earning it.  I can't obey enough to deserve God's grace.  Rather, in faith, I accept His grace.  I still want to be obedient, but as a response to His grace, rather than as a catalyst for His grace.  Plus, I would not want to be seen as foolish. 

       Douglas Moo, Galatians, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2013. 

Only Grace

Greetings everyone.

Today, we will finish up Galatians 2 with a quick look at verse 21.  Here is my translation of the verse:  

I will not negate the grace of God. If I could somehow be made righteous through the law, Christ died for no reason. 

Paul has been making the arguments in this chapter that lead us up to this verse. Paul wants to make sure that he does not negate the work of grace in his life, because if somehow we could be righteous enough to earn, then Jesus suffered and died on Cross for no reason whatsoever.  Paul emphasizes this point: obedience to the Law will never make us righteous.  We can never be justified due to our obedience.  

Paul begins verse 21 with these Greek words.  Οὐκ ἀθετῶ  (ouk athetō).   Οὐκ means ‘not.’  So whatever ἀθετῶ means, Paul is saying he does not do it, in relationship to the grace of God.   According to The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, ἀθετῶ can mean any of these: 

1. To reject something as invalid, nullify, ignore. 
2. To reject by not recognizing something, reject, disallow.
3. To make of no account.  

In other words, Paul is saying that he will not make the grace of God to be of no account. So when we are looking for a means of justification, Paul is saying that no matter of obedience to the Law, or any kind of hybrid of grace and law, merits any kind of consideration.  Those ways of thinking negate or invalidate grace.  

He follows this by saying that if we could somehow be made righteous through obedience to the Law, then Jesus died for nothing, because grace isn’t grace any more.  It has become something else. 

So verse 21 is closely connected to the last phrase of verse 20, “the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself up for me.”  He described Jesus’s gracious action on our behalf on the Cross, and because of that, Paul will not set aside grace.  There is nothing that we could do in obedience to the Law that would possibly merit the Cross.  We cannot possibly earn it.  The conclusion: It is far better for us if we instead accept God’s gracious gift.  

Paul has been conituous driving this point home, and he will continue to do so.  I hope that the 1st Century Galatians got the message.  I hope we get it too. 

Death and New Life

Greetings.

As we move further into Paul's defense of grace and his fight against legalistic righteousness, we come to an intersting comparison, even comparing the old life and new life in Christ to life and death, or rather death and new life.  Here is my translation of verses 19-20: 

19 For through the law, I am dead to the law, so that in God, I might live. 20 I have been crucified with Christ.  I no longer live, but now Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself up for me.

Here, in verses 19-20, Paul clarifies his claim that rejecting the law and instead having faith in Jesus does not constitute sin.  As explained by Douglas Moo, Paul claims now that he has had such a reorientation of values as to compare it to “death and new life.” (Moo. 167.)  

("Death and new life"is what Paul is talking about. I believe Jesus talked about it as well, when he talked about the old and the new wineskins.  The old paradigm and the new paradigm are just not compatible. It is like a death, followed by a new life.)  

Paul says in verse 19 that he has died to the Law, and has had a radical transformation that comes through identification with Jesus’s crucifixion and death, saying that he was dead to the Law, so that in God, he might live. So, this is a metaphor of death followed by new life, with that new life being in God and for God.  He becomes the reason we are alive. His kingdom and His righteousness become the priority. (Matt. 6:33) 

Paul has been saying that we are no longer bound to the Mosaic Law, and we should not rebuild it in any form, since we cannot be justified by it. He further explains that the Law basically just shows us to be sinners.  We can never fulfill the Law, or in any way adequately keep it.  Only Jesus can do that and He did.

He carries that idea of death and new life into verse 20.  Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ.”  Now, he is obviously speaking in metaphor, he had not been literally crucified, but he is declaring an end to his old life and its way of thinking.  

He continues, “I no longer live, but now Christ lives in me.”  His death and new life comparison continues, saying that yes, his body is still alive, but it is Christ, not Paul, that lives in that body. Because, while Paul is still alive, his life is lived by faith in Jesus. 

We often talk about spiritual formation, and we talk about having Christ formed in us.  (We will get to Gal. 4:19) That is what Paul is talking about now.  Jesus is living in him, and while he is still alive, he denies himself (basic discipleship) and walks by faith in the one who is living inside him. Thomas Schreiner puts it like this, “The new age of redemptive history is also marked by the indwelling of Christ in believers.” (Schreiner, 172.) The idea of Christ in us cannot be overstated. 

In verse 20, Paul uses the Greek verb ζῶ (zō) or “live” four times.  The verse is all about this new life that he lives in Christ, after he has put his old life to death, by association with the crucifixion of Jesus (death.) As we died with Christ, we now, like him, live in resurrection (new life.) Paul’s comparison of death and new life sounds a lot like Jesus in Luke 9:23.  He tells those who would follow him that they must deny self, and take up their Cross daily.  Paul echoes Jesus in the call to deny ourselves and live for Christ. 

As Paul continues, he describes Jesus as the one “who has loved and given himself up for me.”  The love and willing sacrifice of Jesus is why Paul is so willing to make such a radical transformation, from life to death and to a new and completely different  life. 

       Douglas Moo, Galatians, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2013.

        Thomas Schriener, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Galatians, Zondervan Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2010.