Under a Curse

Greetings.

Today we will continue our examination of Galatians 3, looking at one verse and commenting.  We are still in the middle of Paul's comparison of God's promise to Abraham and the Law. He wants his readers to understand that the Promise is greater than the Law.   

This is my translation of Galatians 3:10:  "For those who base their righteousness on works of the Law are under a curse.  It is written, 'Those who fail to obey all that is written in the book of the law are under a curse.'"

Here in verse 10, Paul tells us that those who base their righteousness on the works of the Law are under a curse.  He uses an Old Testament quote to furhter his argument that if you base your righteousness on the Law, then you are bound to obey all of it, and this is something that is impossible for us to do.  Paul references Deut. 27:26, “Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.” And all the people shall say, “Amen.” 

In the Old Testament, the Nation of Israel was told that failure to obey the Law would place them under a curse and even lead to them being removed from the land.  This all happened, of course.  They disobeyed the Law and were expelled from the land.  

Paul’s point here is that if our justification comes from obedience to the Law, we will always fall short and are therefore under a curse.  Faith, however, is a different matter.  In his commentary on Galatians, Doulas Moo explains it this way, “Paul here suggests that he has moved to a deeper and more universal issue: “the law provides no basis for the blessing because it involves ‘doing’; a ‘doing’ that humans find to be impossible.” (Moo, 204.)  It is a situation in which, no matter much we do, we cannot possibly hope to succeed. 

This is the thing that we have to understand here.  We cannot base our standing with God on the things that we do.  We can’t read our Bible, pray, worship, serve or share our faith enough to be considered righteous. My discipleship does not and cannot save me.  Only God’s grace can do that.  My role in this is to accept that grace through faith. Plus, I know that I am far too leaky a vessel to fully obey the Law, therefore if that is what I base my standing with God on, I will live under a curse, and I will feel guilty all the time, due to my perpetual failure to measure up.  

I chose God’s graciousness over that. 

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.