Promise or Law
Notes
Transcript
Prayer
Prayer
Pray that all of us leave this morning seeing Jesus as more glorious than we did when we arrived. Pray that this text this morning leads us to love our neighbor more. Not that we feel the need to do something, or not do something but that we should all leave this morning seeing Jesus as all glorious. That we would desire to glorify Jesus more, because of what he has already accomplished.
Wednesday Night
Wednesday Night
While I was preparing and researching this week I came across a commentary that made the observation that Paul seldom speaks of the second coming of Christ in Galatians.
Often times, we put too much focus on the LAST THINGS that we ignore the first things. We are quick to jump to - what does the Bible tell us about the return of Christ- but if we don’t grasp the First coming of Christ - then it doesn’t matter what we believe about the 2nd coming of Christ.
Let me explain a little bit more of what i mean by that…
This week my mom gave me a call and asked me about a comment that coworker made to her. She has spoken to me about this coworker before and the coworker made this comment to her “Sometimes I think the rapture already happened and we’re all in hell.” Which there are many things wrong with that statement but this woman isn’t a Christian so it makes sense. However, she has found herself more concerning with the end than she is with the first things. She’s okay with believing that she is currently in hell but has no concern for whether or not she can be spared from the wrath that is to come. And yet in many cases even in the church we are the same way. We can be so caught up with what’s next that we miss that the gospel is of most importance. Your perspective on when the millenium will come doesn’t impact when Jesus returns - though it does impact how you evangelize - but your understanding of the doctrine that Paul has been dealing with in chapter 3, justification by faith bears an impact on where you spend eternity.
If you don’t understand that we are all guilty of sin, and the only way we can be forgiven is through faith in Jesus - then the date and details of Jesus’ second coming won’t do you much good.
Much like the law and the promise… if you keep the law hoping to be saved you’ll be condemned - but rather you should be obedient to God’s commands because you have been saved.
Real quick before we move on…
Let me define terms again:
Justification - your legal standing of innocence before God. Those who reject Jesus Christ as savior stand guilty before God. Those who have placed their faith in Christ Jesus as the perfect substitute - who took our sins upon himself and placed his righteousness on us are justified.
Montia Setzler - just as if I never sinned.
Paul’s main argument in this section of the book is focused on justification by faith - your sins are forgiven by having faith in Jesus, not by keeping the law.
The Recipient of the Promise
The Recipient of the Promise
Verse 15:
Brothers… well that ought to be refreshing for a moment. This is Paul's rebuke yet in this section he calls them brothers. He hasn't done that since 1:11. Remember before I said that Paul was angry. But he still considers these churches brothers.
But what does Paul say following this term of endearment. He gives them an illustration. “To use a human example” and then he makes a comparison using legal terms. But not the law in terms of biblical law, but in terms of social law.
The word for man-made covenant here can refer to a testament or last will.
If you make a legal agreement with someone and it has been ratified, it has been accepted, you don’t get to modify that law after it passes. You cannot sign a pre-nuptial agreement after the wedding. So what Paul is arguing here is that the relationship between the promise given to Abraham and the law - IS NOT - a modification of the original promise. God didn’t add extra steps to the promise of Abraham 430 years alter.
However, he then goes on to answer a few logical questions following this.
To whom was the promise given? 16-18
What is the purpose of the law? 19-20
Is the law contrary to the promises of God? 21-22
To Whom was the Promise Given?
To Whom was the Promise Given?
In answering this question, Paul also demonstrates and reinforces the point in verse 15. Paul is stating that the promises were not make to Israel, nor were they made to the church - but they were made to one offspring - who is Christ. Now the natural reading of this text would anticipate that Genesis 22:18 would find it’s fulfillment in Isaac.
18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
However, as we see the grand scheme of things the promises that are made to Abraham and his offspring were always pointing to Christ Jesus. In Jesus all nations of the earth are blessed. Paul is making the same argument from verse 9. He has shown how that blessing came to be from 10-14 - and now he’s establishing that Jesus didn’t hijack that promise - but was always plan A. The garden wasn’t plan A and Adam and Eve failed and then God turned to Israel as plan B and they failed and then Jesus was plan C. But rather from the beginning, even before the beginning - it was planned that Christ Jesus would be glorified by becoming a curse for us that he might redeem us from the curse of the law.
The answer to this question is that the promise was made to Abraham and his offspring. Then Paul makes an interesting point out of the word offspring here. He specifies that the word is offspring and not offsprings. Which probably sounds a little strange to us since we generally would use the word offspring to refer to plural as well as singular - and interestingly that confusing translation is a faithful representation of Paul’s language. It’s a collective singular. And yet behind Paul’s confusing language - there is a strong point that he is making. He is identifying the fulfillment and the recipient of the promise as Christ Jesus.
Thus the promise that was made to Abraham wasn’t cancelled, or removed when the Mosaic law was enacted.
The law does not conflict or annul the promise made to Abraham. The
Abraham was not justified by faith only for his descendants to be saved by works 430 years later.
Paul is intentionally emphasizing the Exodus by referencing Exodus 12:40 here.
40 The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.
Paul finally concludes this section by demonstrating that the promise of all being blessed through Jesus cannot come from obedience to the law because if it did it wouldn’t be inheritance that came from the promise. In order words - once again, they cannot earn the blessing of justification by faith through obedience to the law.
The covenant ratified by God…
Then Paul asks the next question - which is the question that we should all ask following this… if the law doesn’t modify or annul the promise, and if obedience to the law doesn’t accomplish the promise what is the purpose of the law?
What is the Purpose of the Law?
What is the Purpose of the Law?
Because of sin.
This may sound weird - but this is always the case. We make laws because of sin. I don’t have to make a rule for my kids not to drink coffee because they don’t want it (I also don’t want them to have it) but I do have to make a rule for my kids not to hit each other.
Parents make rules because their kids break them. If I could trust my kids not to do bad things I wouldn’t have to make a rule.
Consider how often you read the Old Testament and you come across and odd law and think “who did this - that God had to outlaw that?” And yet it is the case that is often the case -but in many instances the law teaches us about who God is and what God values. God values life so he tells the people not to murder. God values truth so he commands his people not to lie.
The Law gives the people the instruction on how they ought to be holy. They fail - but the theme of the whole book of Leviticus is to be holy as the Lord your God is holy.
If left to our own devices we would always choose sin. But with the law we are shown what that sin is.
And Paul makes this same argument in Romans 7:7:
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
The absence of law doesn’t make covetousness good, but it teaches Paul, and every one of us, that covetousness is bad. And we understand this well in Arizona at the moment. We pray that our legislators make the right decision to maintain the abortion ban but even if they remove the law - that doesn’t make the murder of children in the womb good or right - it’s still wrong even if they law isn’t on the books.
Coveting isn’t bad because the law said it is bad - coveting is bad because it is bad and the law teaches us that it is bad.
The law is a blessing but it cannot save. The law shows us how to be holy, and it guards us from sin, but it cannot earn us our justification.
The law was intended to curb sin, but it also revealed sin.
Romans 7:12 further teach us that the law is good.
12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
The law is good. But not good to save.
In one of the commentaries that I read this week the author pointed to a work by Charles Spurgeon called John Ploughman’s Pictures. Spurgeon has two books in the John Ploughman’s series… John Ploughman’s Talks: Plain Advice for Plain People and John Ploughman’s Pictures: More Plain Advice for Plain People. Essentially they are works of Spurgeon’s that are just giving simple wisdom in short essay form.
Since that work is in my office I went and read the essay that was being quoted, which is titled:
“A handsaw is a good thing, but not to shave.”
In this essay Spurgeon says:
“There’s sense in choosing your tools, for a pig’s tail will never make a good arrow, nor will his ear make a silk purse. A good thing is not good out of its place.”
“Then then the commentator from that concludes: And if that’s true with a handsaw or a pig’s tail, how much more God’s Law! The purpose of the Law is to restrain sin; yet in so doing it reveals sin’s subtlety and power.”
So again, the law is a good thing, but not to save.
But a further note about how we ought to view the law of God. It is a good thing. Remember that the LONGEST chapter in the entirety of the Bible is a poem that works through every letter of the Hebrew alphabet to proclaim the beauty of the law. The law was never a burden - but a blessing.
Yet, it was there until the promised offspring, Jesus, came. And this offspring is our mediator.
20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
There is one God. There are three eternal persons in one God - and there always have been - but there is only one God. And while Paul does assert a key aspect of the doctrine of the Trinity here - he is also making a statement about mediators. When there is a mediator there is generally more than one person.
Luther rightfully uses Moses as the example here. Moses was the mediator between God and Israel. Moses spoke on behalf of God to the people, and on behalf of the people to God.
There is the offending party, the offended party and the mediator. But God as the offended party is also the mediator. Christ is the mediator who stands before the Father and intercedes on our behalf. Yet there is one God.
5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Now let’s turn our attention to Paul’s final question in verse 21.
“Is the law then contrary to the promises of God?” OR
Are the Law and Promise at Odds?
Are the Law and Promise at Odds?
To which Paul repeats the phrase he used back in 2:17 - certainly not.
The promise and the law are not at odds. They serve different purposes.
Paul goes on to explain that the law cannot give life.
As he says in v21 -
Galatians 3:21 (ESV)
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
Thus for the Galatian they are seeking to make the law do something that it is unable to do. To return to the handsaw to shave illustration - you CAN use a handsaw to shave - it’s a terrible idea and you will likely end up in the hospital - but you cannot use a steering wheel to shave.
22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
In the last verse that we are going to look at this morning we see that Paul demonstrates how the promise and the law serve different purposes but serve the same goal. They work together.
The law worked as a prison holding a prisoner - so that through justification by faith in Christ, by means of his death and resurrection - could set them free.
And thus Paul again is emphasizing that our salvation can never come by means of works and keeping the law, because it was never able to do that - but rather the promise made to Abraham that through him - and his offspring (Jesus) - all nations would be blessed.
While the context of the book of Galatians is that they were seeking to earn salvation by keeping the law.
WHY DOES ALL OF THIS MATTER?
You might be thinking “Brian, you’ve been harping on justification by faith for three weeks now - when are you going to move on?” Well for one, the text has been harping on that… but also until we truly understand that we do not earn our salvation by our good deeds, but the salvation that we have been given by faith in Jesus encourages us to do good deeds - then we need to continue to rehearse this doctrine.
Martin Luther stated that the beginning of being a theologian is having an understanding of law and gospel.
R.C. Spoul appropriately asserted by way of book title that Everyone is a Theologian. Theology is not just for pastors and Ph.Ds.
As I mentioned two weeks ago this debate was at the heart of the reformation and it’s still at the heart of Christianity today.
It impacts how you seek to bear fruit. Are you doing (or not doing) good deeds for the kingdom or for the wrong reasons?
This matters because there are still people trying to earn their salvation by doing good. Maybe that’s you. repent. believe in Jesus.
But I don’t want you to hear this and marvel at a lecture about how we are saved - but rather look to the marvelous savior - and rejoice that our mediator is Christ Jesus in whom all who believe are inheritors to the promise, and are now sons of God.