Promise

 Greeting.

We will continue our examination of Paul's letter to the Galatians, today, by looking at chapter 3, verses 15-17.  Back in verse 6, Paul told his readers to consider Abraham.  That discussion of Abraham is ongoing, and now Paul going to bring in some logic to halp clarify his point.  Here is my translation: 

15 Brothers and sisters, to use an example of human thinking, once a man-made contract is agreed upon, no one can cancel it or add to it. 16 So when the promises were made to Abraham and his offspring, it didn’t say, “and to his offsprings,” meaning many, but rather, just one.  When saying, “And to your offspring,” he means, The Christ. 17 This is what I am saying, the God-given covenant, that had been confirmed 430 years earlier, was not nullified when the Law came. The Law did not cancel the promise.

Paul starts verse 15 off by addressing the Galatians as Ἀδελφοί (Adelphoi) or ‘Brothers and Sisters.”  He hasn’t addressed them in this way since early in the letter. (Gal. 1:11) This is a much kinder address than “O foolish Galatians!”  Paul may be exasperated, but he has not given up on them.  They are still his brothers and sisters in Christ.  

As Paul continues, he starts making his case for grace using a human example that they would all understand.  When making a contract or covenant, once agreed upon, the two parties are bound by it.  One party cannot suddenly change or cancel the contract.  So, when God made his covenant promise to Abraham, which was before the Law, it was not canceled out by the Law. God’s promise still stands.  Paul’s ultimate point here is that God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness all supersede the Law, and those things are prompted by our faith, just like it was in Abraham’s case. There is a subpoint to be made here:  If we all understand that a contract, or covenant, made by humans cannot be broken, how much more binding is a covenant made by God? 

In verse 17, the point is made that the Law came 430 years after the promise, and that when it was made, it did not nullify the promise.  Following Paul’s stream of logic here, if the Judaizers that were leading the Galatians astray, were actually correct, then the promise is cancelled by the Law, and we become justified through our lawkeeping.  

Thanks be to God that they are wrong, since the Law is impossible to keep in its entirety, unless you are God Himself.  

Verse 15 is linked to verse 17, and verse 16 sits between them as almost a parenthetical statement.  Paul makes the point that in the promise, the Greek word σπέρματι (spermati) (seed, descendant, offspring) is singular, not plural.  God’s promise is coming through one of Abraham;s descendants, and that one is Jesus, the Christ. 

This is an unusual way for Paul to phrase, since the word ‘offspring’ could be considered a collective singular, meaning all of his descendants. However, Paul uses this to make the case that when God made the promise to Abraham back in Genesis, that promise was referring to Jesus.  

Moving forward, we will continue to see Paul contrasting The Promise and The Law.  We will see that The Promise supersedes the Law, and, perhaps, more importantly, The Promise is better.  The Promise brings Jesus and grace.  

Freedom and Blessing

Hello everyone.

Today we will continue to go through Galatians 3, this time looking at verses 12-14:  Here is my translation: 

12 The law is not based on faith, but whoever keeps the law will live according to the Law.  13 The Christ has set us free from the curse of the law, by becoming cursed himself, on our behalf.  It is written. “Anyone who is hung on a tree is under a curse.” 14 So now, the Gentiles  can also receive the blessing of Abraham in Jesus Christ, so that we can receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

We looked in my previous at verse 11.  Let's tie verses 11 and 12 together.  Paul has established, quoting the prophet Habakkuk, that the righteous will live their faith.  Then, in verse 12 he points out that the Law is not based on faith.  We may not connect those dots right away, but what Paul is saying is actually somewhat obvious, because the Law is based on obedience, and obedience and faith are related, but on the same thing. Paul goes on to say that those who keep the Law will live according to the Law. This, too, is obvious. So, let’s follow the logic together.  Paul is presenting two ways of thinking here.  In one, our righteousness/justification is based on obedience to the Law, and the other it is based on living by faith.   Which one is God looking for?  Paul is telling the churches in Galatia, that God is looking for them to live by faith. In his commentary, Douglas Moo explains the connection like this, the righteous person finds life ‘through faith,’ but the Law is not a matter of ‘through faith.’ (Moo, 208.) 

Continuing on, in verse 13, Paul goes back to the discussion of being under a curse.  This time, however, the discussion is a little more encouraging for the Christian.  Paul states that, “Christ has freed us from the curse of the law.”  This is good news for us.  Those who live under the law are under the curse of law, but those who follow Jesus and live by faith are freed from this curse, because Jesus has taken on the curse upon himself on our behalf.  We do not have to suffer the penalty of this curse.  We, as Christians, can enjoy the benefit of Jesus’s redemptive work. This is something that we cannot earn through our obedience to the Law. 

Paul also refers to Deut. 21:22-23, when he says, “Anyone who is hung on a tree is under a curse.” He is telling us that Jesus, in going to the Cross, took on the curse of the Law for us, and now, we have the responsibility to believe.

I think that at this point, we should qualify something.  As Paul has made his arguments, one could begin to minimize obedience.  Do we still need to be obedient?  Yes, of course we do. I don’t think Paul would ever have said that our freedom in Christ allows us to behave however we want, as long as we have faith. However, our thinking becomes different.  Our obedience becomes obedience prompted by our faith, not something that results out of a sense of duty, or in order to earn the blessings of Christ.  

In verse 14 Paul sums up two ideas central to what he has been talking about here. “So now, the Gentiles can also receive the blessing of Abraham in Jesus Christ, so that we can receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

The Gentiles can now enjoy the blessings of Abraham, just like the Jews.  The Gentiles receive this association, not through their connection to Judaism and the Law, but through their faith in Jesus.  

Secondly, we can now receive God’s Spirit through faith. Paul reaches back to the beginning of the chapter (verses 1-5) where he makes the point that when they first became Christians and received the Holy Spirit, it wasn’t because of their obedience to the Law that they received the Spirit, it was because of their faith.  (Their attempts to fall in line with the Old Law actually came after they had already received the Spirit.)  

Douglas Moo makes this statement about v. 14: “Paul’s association of union with Christ and faith as the way in which all God’s blessings are enjoyed….Paul ultimately insists that both the Abrahamic blessing and the Holy Spirit are experienced both ‘in Christ’ and ‘by faith.’ (Moo, 215.) Well said.  Let us make sure that we are enjoying these blessings that come 'in Christ' and 'by faith.' 

The Righteous Will Live By Faith

Hello everyone

We will continue our look at Galatians 3 by focusing on verse 11, where Paul quotes the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk.  Here is my translation:  "It is obvious that the Law does not make anyone righteous before God, instead, “the righteous will live by faith.” 

In verse 11, Paul uses a Greek δῆλον (dēlon). This word means, “clear to the understanding, clear, plain, evident.” In my own translation, I have used the word ‘obvious.’ The point is, it should be clear, or obvious, to us that the Law does not make us righteous.  Paul then quotes from Habakkuk 2:4, “the righteous will live by faith.” 

Hab. 2:4 is obviously an important scripture reference.  Paul quotes it twice.  Here in Gal. 3:11 and Romans 1:17.  The Hebrew writer quotes it as well in Heb. 10:38.  

In his commentary on Galatians, Moo comments on Hab. 2:4 as well, “In its original context, Hab. 2:4b, appears to be an implicit call on the faithful among the people of Israel to look beyond the confusing and depressing circumstances of their historical situation and to ‘live’ on the basis of steadfast faithfulness in the Lord and His encouraging revelation.” (Moo, 206.)  

Habbakkuk's words, and Moo's reflection on them, certainly still apply to us, here and now. So, it might be good to take a moment and reflect on Hab. 2:4. 

In earlier verses in Habbakkuk's prophecy, Habakkuk has complained to God about the abundant unrighteousness that he saw around him in Israel. God responds to Habakkuk’s complaint, saying that He was preparing the Babylonians to deal with the unrighteousness in Israel. 

Habakkuk understandably complains again.  The Babylonians are even more unrighteous than the Israelites.  Why would a righteous God allow them to have the power? God’s response is basically, you let me worry about the Babylonians.  The righteous will live by faith.  (2:4)  God used the Babylonians to accomplish His purposes and then He deals with them.  God, as always, is in control. 

The whole of 2:4 reads, “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness” While God is using the Babylonians for His purposes, He does recognize their arrogance (puffed up) and their unrighteousness (not upright.)  There is a clear contrast here between the “puffed up, not upright” and the “righteous, faithful.”   We definitely, want to make sure that we are on the right side of that one.  

This principle still applies.  We may not understand how God works through unrighteous people, but He still does.  In our generation, God is at work, even when it seems that He is not. Things happen that we do not understand, and we question God.  He will listen to our complaint, but in the end, He’s got this.  Our responsibility is to trust Him.

In the end of Habbakuk, he submits to God’s sovereignty.  God has heard his complaints and responded, and not how Habakkuk would have wanted him to.  Never-the-less, in 3:17-18, he says this: 

Though the fig tree does not bud

   and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

    and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

    and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Habakkuk has learned to trust God no matter what.  He rejoices in God even though we might look at his situation  and wonder what he has to rejoice about. He is faithful and God, like He did with Abraham, will credit it to him as righteousness. May we imitate such faith.