I delivered this message at Spring Creek Bible Church on October 20, 2019, as part of the Galatians series.
Prefer what I actually said? Read the transcript (lightly edited for readability).
Prayer
Let’s pray together:
Father, thank you for this rich and amazing letter that you moved Paul to write nearly 2,000 years ago to protect your church from losing the gospel. Thank you for preserving it through thousands of manuscripts, so that we have in our hands an accurate translations of the original message of Paul to these early churches. Thank you that it is still relevant and applicable to us today, even though our situation is in many ways much different from Paul’s original audience.
Help us to understand it rightly in its original first-century context, and help us to have the mind of the Spirit as we seek to apply it to our church, our families, and our own hearts today.
Thank you that Paul didn’t give in to the Judaizers, so that the truth of the gospel has been preserved for us Gentiles today, who are now, by faith in your promise and union with Jesus Christ, the very children of Abraham and heirs of the promises.
Help us not merely to understand the truth of this letter rightly but to delight and live in the realities of it.
And help me as I try to explain some difficult and debated issues in our passage. Give us understanding, and guard us from error. Give us supernatural ability to hear from you tonight.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Introduction
I want to thank Pastor Steve for the opportunity to speak to you tonight and next Sunday night. I love studying the Bible to better understand and apply it—and getting the chance to share some of what I’ve learned with others. I’m firmly convinced that I’m the main beneficiary when I study and speak. But I do hope and pray that our time in these two chapters will be helpful to your theological understanding of the gospel and your practical living in the gospel.
I love all the passages and topics that I’ve had the chance to study over the years here at Spring Creek, but my study of Galatians 3–4 has been especially enjoyable. I was deeply moved on multiple occasions as I studied and meditated on these deep things of God. There’s so much meat in these chapters—far more than we can feast on and digest in two messages.
I have to forewarn you that I have 36 pages of notes and 99 slides, so we’ll be moving quickly. If we run out of time, we’ll cover it next week.
These two chapters get at the heart of the mystery of the gospel and God’s unfolding plan of redemption—how the whole Bible hangs together, progresses, and climaxes in Christ. It’s no wonder that this relatively short letter has had such a big impact on the church in its various stages, particularly during the Protestant Reformation of the early 1500s. Its message is timeless, and its applications are many.
Structure
Most students of Galatians agree that it divides into three main parts. Paul’s defense of the true gospel (1) begins with gospel authority in chapters 1 and 2, (2) moves to gospel theology in chapters 3 and 4, and (3) finishes up with gospel ethics in chapters 5 and 6.
- Gospel authority (1–2)
- Gospel theology (3–4)
- Gospel practice/ethics (5–6)
Others see Paul’s singular argument against the false gospel of the Judaizers unfolding in three sub-arguments:
- Autobiographical argument (1–2)
- Theological argument (3–4)
- Ethical argument (5–6)
Neither of these is perfect. As we’ll see shortly, the theological argument actually picks up at the end of chapter 2 and runs through the beginning of chapter 5. But they provide a helpful framework for understanding the basic shape and flow of the letter.
Brother Tony gave us a helpful overview of chapters 1–2: why Paul wrote Galatians and what he was trying to do to establish his authority and defend the truthfulness of the gospel that he was preaching against the Judaizers and their false gospel.
We’ll be focusing on chapters 3–4 tonight and next Sunday, which is the heart of the theological and hermeneutical argument.
And then next month Pastor Curtis will be concluding our study with a focus on the ethical and practical implications of this one true gospel in chapters 5–6.
Challenges
While this has been a delightful study, I need to admit upfront that some of the most difficult portions of Paul’s writings are in these chapters and I still have many unanswered questions.
I can’t help but wonder if Peter had Galatians 3 and 4 in mind in particular when he said,
His letters contain some things that are hard to understand. (2 Pet 3:16)
As I worked through various resources, I was encouraged to see that many scholars far more intelligent than I had to admit they had no clue what Paul meant in various places.
Doug Moo said,
There are some passages of Scripture that are just puzzling, and even after we do all our best work on them—we read them, we study them, we think about what other people have said—they remain puzzles to us. The end of chapter 3, verses 19–20 is a little bit like that for me.
I’ve written a commentary on Galatians. I’ve read just about everything I can get my hands on about these verses, and these verses are still very difficult to figure out. Scholars have said there might be as many as 200 different interpretations of this particular text.1
John Piper admitted,
I’m not going to talk about that verse [3:20] this morning, because I don’t know what it means. I spent hours and hours trying to find out whether I could come up with something to suggest, and I decided that we’d better not spend any time on it.
While some of the particulars are challenging, Paul’s main points are, I think, pretty clear. I hope to keep us pretty close to the big points and not get bogged down in the details of the more challenging parts.
Resources
I should mention at the outset that I was helped by many wonderful sources in my preparation and study. I listened to
- John Piper’s 23-sermon Galatians series,
- a course on Galatians by Doug Moo,
- the six messages from the Gospel Coalition National Conference in 2017
and was helped by
- several books such as Moises Silva’s Interpreting Galatians and Gentry and Wellum’s Kingdom through Covenants,
- journal articles from Walter Russell, and
- commentaries from Moo, Schreiner, Ridderbos, Longenecker, Bruce, and others.
We have access to such a rich treasure of resources on this important book. If you’d like some suggestions for further study, I’d be happy to get you pointed in the right direction.
Background
Before we dive into our text for tonight, we need to cover a handful of background issues to help us orient ourselves to the passage in light of its historical, theological, and interpretive contexts.
Situation
Tony laid out for us the backdrop of what Paul was addressing in his letter: Jews and Gentiles as one in Christ. But it bears repeating that the situation behind Galatians is the same fundamental issue that sits behind the entire New Testament to varying degrees of prominence:
the mystery of the gospel, that is, the message that the New Covenant people of God, the church, are a multiethnic, multiracial community who have equal standing before God in Christ by the Spirit and are coheirs with Christ of the promises made to Abraham.
No longer do Gentiles need to become Jews in order to enter into the people of God. Jews and Gentiles now both enter into the people of God on equal footing by faith in and in union with Christ. This was the mystery concealed in the Old Testament and revealed in the New.
This issue is addressed in various ways, especially in John’s Gospel, Acts, Romans, Ephesians, Hebrews, 1 Peter, and Revelation.
The coming of Christ was the major turning point in both human and redemptive history. The old age had passed away, and the new age had come. This move from a Jewish-centric people of God to a Christo-centric people of God was no small transition. It was met with great misunderstanding and resistance and took time to work out what it meant for the church, the New Covenant people of God.
It would be difficult to overstate the significance of this situation as we read and interpret the New Testament, and especially as we read Galatians.
As we work through Galatians 3 and 4, I hope to demonstrate the importance of this backdrop to understanding Paul’s message to the Galatian believers—and to us.
We’re all likely familiar with the similarities between Galatians and Romans—particularly as it pertains to the law, faith, and justification. But there are also some important similarities between Galatians and Hebrews.
In many ways, Galatians is to Gentile Christians what Hebrews was to (mainly) Jewish Christians. In both cases, you had believers being pulled back to the outmoded Mosaic Law and at risk of falling away.
It’s worthwhile to study these books together and see their similarities regarding the old and new covenants, the need for perseverance, the danger of turning back from the gospel, and the supremacy of Christ as the fulfillment of the now obsolete Mosaic code.
Galatians as Eschatology
It may seem odd to mention eschatology, or the doctrine of last things, in the context of Galatians.
When we think of eschatology, Galatians isn’t the first book that comes to mind. Our minds go to Revelation, Daniel, Matthew 24, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 2 Peter, etc.
That’s because we usually think of eschatology as events that are future to us. But that’s not in line with the way the NT writers talked about eschatology. Eschatology is the study of last things. While last things include future events like the second coming of Christ, in biblical terms last things are much broader than that. The NT teaches that the last days dawned with the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Perhaps the clearest text is Hebrews 1:1–2:
Hebrews 1:1–2: In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days [ἐπʼ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων] he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
The second most important is Acts 2:17, when Peter addressed the crowd at Pentecost:
Acts 2:17: “’In the last days [ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις], God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Peter was quoting Joel 2:28ff, but he combined it with the beginning of Isaiah 2:2, suggesting that Peter viewed both as referring to the same event.
Joel 2:28 says,
Joel 2:28: “And afterward [אַֽחֲרֵי־כֵ֗ן / μετὰ ταῦτα], I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Isaiah 2:2 begins this way:
Isaiah 2:2: In the last days [בְּאַחֲרִ֣ית הַיָּמִ֗ים / ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις] the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
Other passages that talk about the dawning of the last days include 2 Timothy 3:1; James 5:3; and 2 Peter 3:3 (cf. 1 Tim 4:1).
For more on this theme in the OT, see Deuteronomy 4:30; Hosea 3:5; and Micah 4:1.
So what does this have to do with Galatians?
I believe that if we’re going to interpret and understand Paul’s message in Galatians correctly, it’s essential that we see it through an eschatological lens, which is just another way of saying that we see it as part of the unfolding of God’s redemptive plan from all eternity worked out in its various stages through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David—the epochs of God’s covenants with his people all pointing to the ultimate fulfillment in the New Covenant in Christ.
This is just another angle on the mystery of the gospel, how in God’s unfolding plan Jews and Gentiles are now on equal footing in the new people of God.
Galatians 4:4–5 is probably the clearest eschatological text in the book, which we’ll come to next week. But I’ll make just a few comments on it now.
Galatians 4:4–5: But when the set time had fully come [τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου], God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
This “fullness of time” is what marks the transition to the last days (cf. Eph 1:10). Christ’s coming was the dawning of a new age, and the ways of the old age have been set aside. This pivotal moment in history is at the heart of Paul’s argument in Galatians.
In Galatians 3:23, 25 Paul refers to this as the coming of this faith.
Once you see this theme in Galatians, you’ll start to see it everywhere. I’m indebted to Moises Silva’s chapter “Eschatology in Galatians” in Interpreting Galatians. He crystallized aspects of this theme for me that I was seeing in my study.
I agree with Silva when he says,
We cannot do justice to Galatians if we exclude or even downplay the eschatological dimension. I would argue that this redemptive-historical undercurrent, which surfaces in the passages discussed here, provides the foundational framework for everything of importance found in the letter.2
Let’s be on the lookout for this theme as we work through these chapters over the next two weeks. Keep an eye out for temporal words and themes like before, when, after, until, now, etc.
Themes
Galatians is a book of contrasts. Paul contrasts
- the false gospel with the true gospel,
- the Mosaic Covenant with the Abrahamaic and New Covenants,
- the law with the promise,
- the works of the law with faith,
- the flesh with the Spirit,
- slavery with freedom,
- curse with blessing, and
- several others.
It’s within these contrasts that we find the core message of the book and of chapters 3 and 4.
Look for these repeated words and themes and pay careful attention to them as you work through the book. In them is the key to unlocking the meaning of this letter for the Galatians and for us today.
While the book does break up into roughly three sections, I’m more convinced now than ever that Paul develops a single argument from the beginning of the letter to the end. It’s easy to read chapters 5 and 6 as somewhat disconnected from the argument in chapter 3 and 4. But we’ll miss the significance of many parts of the final chapters when we see them as disconnected exhortations rather than as a continuation of Paul’s defense of the one true gospel against the false teaching of the Judaizers that had permeated the church. The repetition of key words from chapters 3 and 4 in chapters 5 and 6 reinforces this.
False Dichotomies
One final remark before we dig into our text: in my study I’ve found Galatians to be the victim of many false dichotomies. As you can imagine, a book as significant and challenging as Galatians is, fittingly, no stranger to controversy. Galatians is perhaps best known for the central role it played in the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s. Martin Luther and John Calvin both wrote important commentaries and preached influential sermons on this book. And they saw in it timely words that fanned the flames of the church’s departure from the oppression of the Roman Catholic Church.
In recent decades, some have challenged the Reformation interpretation under the label of a “new perspective” or “new perspectives” on Paul. These individuals have argued that Galatians wasn’t about works of the law as a way to merit salvation but about the aspects of the Jewish faith that marked out the people of God from others.
In these debates, many side either with the Reformers and their followers or with these new scholars. What often happens in these debates is that good points made by both sides are lost. While I’m in fundamental agreement with the Reformation perspective, I do think the new perspectives shine a helpful light on the Jew-Gentile dynamic. We don’t need to lose the Reformation gospel to acknowledge the important role that the redemptive-historical shift from the old age of the Law to the new age of the Spirit plays in the book.
Moises Silva puts it well when he says,
Scholars interested in doing justice to the Jewish-Gentile issues in early Christianity tend to minimize, ignore, or even deny outright the relevance of Galatians for the doctrine of personal justification, but by doing so they fall into dichotomies that are totally foreign to Pauline teaching.
Elsewhere he says,
A full appreciation for the redemptive-historical foundation of the message of Galatians does not entail abandonment of the traditional Protestant understanding.
I hope to demonstrate throughout our exposition that these dichotomies are false and that we can benefit from insights in both perspectives, and that by doing so we’ll actually better understand Paul’s message to the churches of Galatia and to us.
Context
As we transition, now, into our text for tonight, let’s quickly review the end of chapter 2 to set the stage.
In the immediately preceding context, Paul was recounting how he had rebuked Peter for forcing Gentiles to become Jews in order to be justified even though he himself no longer lived like a Jew but like a Gentile (2:14).
He then begins to transition into the theological message of the book at the end of chapter 2, where perhaps 2:15–16 captures the main message of the book:
We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Closely following 2:16 in importance is 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
In verse 21 he transitions and sets up what he’s about to discuss in chapters 3 and 4.
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
Hanging onto the law (the old covenant) when it’s been set aside by the coming of Christ (the new covenant) is to set aside the grace of God as offered in the gospel and conclude that Christ died for nothing. The law cannot help you gain righteousness. To the contrary, the law can only expose your unrighteousness (2:18).
The law itself teaches its own temporary nature. If you try to build it back up after it’s been set aside, you’re not only denying the gospel but you’re breaking the law itself. How ironic that the more they pursued the law to be holy, the greater they magnified their sin!
It’s with this backdrop and theological introduction that Paul fully transitions into his theological arguments for his gospel against the false gospel of the Judaizers.
Scripture Reading
Tonight we’ll be looking at 3:1–22. Next week we’ll pick up with 3:23 and work through 4:31.
Let’s read these verses together:
1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
4 Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.
17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
The title of my message tonight is “Living in the New Way of Faith.”
The big idea is that we must begin, continue, and end the Christian life in the same way: through faith in the promise of God’s blessing in Christ by the Spirit—and that a proper understanding of the biblical covenants is crucial to insulating us from the false teachings that would draw us away from the way of faith.
Tonight’s message breaks down into two parts:
- In verses 1–14, Paul tells the Galatians that they must continue in the way of faith and not turn back to the old way.
- Then in verses 15–22, he tells them they must understand God’s covenants.
The way I put these two together is that the latter is the way to the former.
You might be wondering why I titled my message “Living in the New Way of Faith.”
What is this new way of faith, and how is it new?
Faith itself wasn’t new. Abraham was justified by faith. Those who were part of the saved of Israel were saved by faith. So faith itself wasn’t new.
We’ll get into this more next week, but Paul talks about faith coming in 3:23–25. It seems to be shorthand for Christ and the New Covenant.
The new way of faith is the culmination of the previous covenants in Christ in the fullness of time, where faith moves back to the forefront as the fundamental way of relating to God in Christ and begins the age of fulfillment.
Faith was there under the Old Covenant, but law keeping was more prominently in the foreground and crowded out faith for many.
Transition: Now, with all that context established, let’s dig in to our text.
1. You must not turn back to the old way (3:1–14).
The first big point Paul makes in verses 1–14 is that the Galatians must not turn away from their faith in the gospel message that Paul preached to them.
Faith occurs in these verses 10 times (3:2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 [2x], 11, 12, 14), making it clear that this is the primary theme.
At one level, this text is just a way of stating the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, the fifth point of Calvinism—a major theme of Hebrews. But it’s more than that. There are many ways Christians fail to continue down the path they started on and try to move beyond the gospel.
In the case of the Galatians, it was adding elements of the Old Covenant to the gospel to protect the Law and perhaps to help ensure that the people of God didn’t become like the world. Some of the Judaizers may have been motivated to avoid antinomianism or licentiousness among the people of God, and they thought the Mosaic Law was the best way for the people of God to be holy and be shielded from the sinful practices of the Gentiles.
To put it another way, they thought that being a Jew was still a requirement to being part of God’s holy people. And in order to be a part of the church, you needed to become a Jew by being circumcised and following aspects of the Mosaic Law—and that by doing so the church would be protected from the sins of the Gentiles.
But these Judaizers, and the Galatians Gentile Christians who were listening to them, had a fundamental misunderstanding of this new phase of redemptive history.
Let’s walk through Paul’s argument here, and then we’ll come back to a couple of ways we might apply this today.
I see five reasons why it’s essential for us to continue in the way of faith.
1.1. Because the old way and the new way are incompatible (3:1–3, 5).
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? . . . 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?”
In verses 1–5, Paul argues for the fundamental incompatibility between these two paths. Going down a different path means leaving the path you were on.
The Galatians had started down the path of the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified, of believing what they heard, of the Spirit, and now they were heading down the path of the works of the law, of the flesh. These were two separate paths. The Judaizers had bewitched them and convinced them that it was the same path, but Paul was trying to help them see how very different these two paths were.
Paul and the Judaizers had diametrically opposed views of redemptive history.
In Paul’s mind, this mutual exclusivity was patently obvious, and to think otherwise was utter folly.
Paul had preached the gospel to the Galatians in vivid ways. Perhaps he himself was even a vivid picture of Christ crucified as he bore in his body the marks of Christ (6:17).
The Galatians responded to this message with faith by believing what they heard (3:2, 5). As a result they received the promised gift of the New Covenant, the indwelling Spirit of Christ (3:2, 3, 5).
But now the Galatians had turned aside from faith and the new way of the Spirit to the works of the law and the old way of the flesh.
Notice the contrasts in these verses:
| Action | Old Way | New Way | |
| receive the Spirit | by the works of the law | by believing what you heard | 3:2 |
| – | trying to finish by means of the flesh | beginning by the Spirit | 3:3 |
| receive the Spirit and his miraculous working | by the works of the law | by believing what you heard | 3:5 |
What did Paul mean here by the “works of the law” (ἔργων νόμου)?
He introduced this phrase in 2:16, where he used it three times:
Galatians 2:15–16: “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law [ἔργων νόμου], but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law [ἔργων νόμου], because by the works of the law [ἔργων νόμου] no one will be justified.
The phrase “works of the law” means the requirements of the Torah, the law given to Israel through Moses. The clue is at the end of 2:14, where Paul refers to Peter’s Judaizing [Ἰουδαΐζειν] the Gentiles; that is, making them become Jews by doing what the Torah required to be part of God’s covenant people.
This phrase occurs only 8 times in the NT: 2:16 (3x), here in 3:2, 5, then again in 3:10, and then twice in Romans: 3:20, 28. It’s not used anywhere else in the New Testament.
| Action | Faith | Works | Reason | Verse |
| no flesh will be justified in His sight | – | by the works of the Law | for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin | Rom 3:20 |
| a man is justified | by faith | apart from works of the Law | – | Rom 3:28 |
| a man is not justified | through faith in Christ Jesus | by the works of the Law | – | Gal 2:16a |
| we may be justified | by faith in Christ | not by the works of the Law | – | Gal 2:16b |
| no flesh will be justified | – | by the works of the Law | – | Gal 2:16c |
| did you receive the Spirit | by hearing with faith | by the works of the Law | – | Gal 3:2 |
| provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you | by hearing with faith | by the works of the Law | – | Gal 3:5 |
| under a curse | – | of the works of the Law | for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” | Gal 3:10 |
Looking at all of these together, we learn that the works of the law cannot justify a person before God (Rom 3:20, 28; Gal 2:16) or result in the gift of the Spirit (Gal 3:2, 5), because the law brings the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20).
Instead, it’s faith in Christ that justifies (Rom 3:28; Gal 2:16) and brings the gift of the Spirit (3:2, 5). Not only do the works of the law not justify, but they also bring a curse upon those who rely on them (3:10).
Why did Paul oppose the Law?
A key interpretive question arises: Was Paul opposed to the works of the law because they had been distorted into a way of meriting God’s favor? Or did Paul oppose them because they were now outmoded and deprecated as a way of relating to God now that Christ had come in the fullness of time? Most interpreters take a strong stand on either side of this debate, but this is one of those places that I mentioned earlier where many are guilty of a false dichotomy, that is, of forcing Paul into an either-or when what he intended was a both-and.
The works of the law was no longer a valid way of relating to God both (1) because Christ had come and the purpose of the law had been fulfilled and (2) because relating to God by means of the law often led sinful hearts to distort the law into a way of meriting his favor.
We needn’t, yea we mustn’t, choose between the two. If we do, we lose an essential part of the message Paul had for the Galatians, and for us today.
Moo has it right when he says,
. . . as we look at the way Paul uses this key phrase “works of the law” . . . , its focus, obviously, is on obedience to the Jewish law, but . . . it ultimately includes a broader reference to doing, in general, works of other kinds.3
It’s not either-or but both-and.
Paul’s message is much richer than most give him credit for. There are redemptive-historical overtones and sola-fide or faith-alone undertones here. One is in the foreground, the latter is in the background. We mustn’t miss one because we’re focusing on the other.
Transition: Now let’s consider the second reason Paul warns the Galatians they must not follow the old way.
1.2. Because turning aside means falling away from the gospel (3:4).
Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain?
In verse 4 Paul makes it clear what the stakes are for the Galatian believers. It could be that their good start will be in vain and that they’ll finally be lost.
Paul picks this theme back up again in 4:11, where he says,
I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you . . . .
and again in 4:19–20, where he says,
My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!
He picks up this theme of falling away again in 5:2–4, 7; 5:19–22; 6:7–9. I’ll leave those for your own study and for Pastor Curtis to cover.
Let’s not miss how serious this issue is. Paul opens the letter by making it clear how high the stakes are for distorting the gospel. If the preachers of this false gospel are under God’s curse, its believers will receive the same fate, though perhaps not as severely (cf. Jam 3:1).
All throughout the Bible, we see that good starts are not enough. There’s a deadly kind of easy believism or decisionism—a distortion of the doctrine of eternal security—that tells people that how you start is all that matters. Those people need a healthy dose of Galatians 3.
Paul emphasized this same theme in 1 Corinthians 15:2, where he says,
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
Illustration
I can’t help but think about the tragedy of Josh Harris as a vivid illustration of believing in vain. I wonder what Paul would say to him if he could speak directly to him today. Are you so foolish, Josh? Having begun by the Spirit of God, are you now being perfected by believing the spirit of this age, the spirit of tolerance and acceptance, of non-judgment and “loving” and accepting all people without the truth?
May God help us not to follow the same path.
Transition: Thirdly, Paul exhorts the Galatians not to turn aside . . .
1.3. Because God’s promised blessing begins and ends with faith (3:6–9).
So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
1.3.1. Abraham was the father of faith and believers (3:6–7, 9).
So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. . . . 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Paul turns to Abraham to drive home his point. The message of the Judaizers was based on their understanding of God’s covenants with Abraham and Moses. But they missed the forest of faith for the trees of circumcision and the Law.
Paul reminds them in verse 6 that Abraham, the father of the people of Israel, was justified by believing God. It was through his faith that righteousness was credited to him.
If you want to be children of Abraham, you do that through faith, not through circumcision, which was given after the promise, and not through the law given to Israel through Moses.
In the Old Covenant, if you wanted to be children of Abraham, part of God’s covenant people, you had to submit yourself to the Mosaic Law and become a Jew. But in the New Covenant, you can become Abraham’s children by faith alone. There’s no need to submit to circumcision. This is the fundamental redemptive historical shift that caused so much debate and division in the early church.
1.3.2. The gospel of the justification of Gentiles was preached to Abraham (3:8).
Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
Though aspects of this gospel of Jews and Gentiles as one in Christ was a mystery concealed in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament, Paul points out that aspects of it where clearly there in the Old Testament, which we can now see even more clearly with our Christian eyes.
The Scriptures foretold of this new age, when God would justify the Gentiles through faith. This gospel message was part of what God promised Abraham when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4). The only way to properly understand this promise is that people of every tongue, tribe, and nation in the church under the New Covenant would be justified by the same faith that Abraham himself was justified by. This is the way it was supposed to be all along.
Paul hadn’t gotten it wrong and departed from the true gospel. No. It was the Judaizers who had missed it and gotten it wrong and were holding on to an obsolete system and its resulting false gospel. And this was clear all the way back in the earliest parts of Genesis when God called Abraham to be the father of many nations.
Faith alone is enough to receive the blessings of Abraham.
Transition: Paul’s fourth reason for not turning back to the law is that . . .
1.4. Because the law brings a curse (3:10–12).
For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”
In verses 10–12 Paul argues that returning to the law would entail returning to God’s curse and rejecting the only escape from God’s curse.
Those who want to hang on to the works of the law are hanging on to a curse. For Deuteronomy 27:26 threatened a curse for those who were under the law but didn’t continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.
Paul concluded that no one could be justified by the law, because (1) no one could keep the law completely and (2) the righteous live not by law but by faith; that is, they’re not reliant on law as the fundamental way of relating to God but on faith.
The law and faith are at odds in this sense. For the law to justify, one would have to keep it all. But no one can do that.
Transition: Thankfully, that’s not where Paul ends. Finally, we must not turn back to the old way . . .
1.5. Because Christ took the curse to secure for us the promised blessing of the Spirit (3:13–14).
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
1.5.1. The redemption of Christ (3:13–14a).
This law which brings a curse is not the end of the story. Christ came and redeemed us from this law’s curse, and it did it by becoming a curse, by taking this curse upon himself.
As Deuteronomy 21:23 said,
Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.
The flow of Paul’s thought is easiest to see through a series of questions and answers.
Why did Jesus take the curse on himself?
He did it to redeem us from the law’s curse.
Why did he redeem us from the laws curse?
He did it in order to bring the blessing of Abraham to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus.
What is that blessing?
It’s the promise of the Spirit that comes through faith.
1.5.2. The promise of the Spirit (3:14b).
Where did God promise the Holy Spirit as part of the promised blessing to Abraham and his seed? How did we get from the promises made to Abraham to the promise of the Holy Spirit? If you go back and read all the promises made to Abraham, you won’t find any explicit mentions of the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s been talking a lot about the Spirit. It’s one of the major themes of the book, which Paul will pick up even more in chapters 5 and 6.
But how do we get from the promised blessing of Abraham to the Holy Spirit?
Which promise is Paul talking about? The same promise that Peter is talking about in Acts 2:33, 38?
Acts 2:33: Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
Or perhaps the promises of Luke 24:49; John 7:39; 14:26; 15:26; 20:22; Acts 1:4?
While these are part of the same promise, I don’t think these are the passages Paul primarily had in mind.
Here’s why: the word “promise” is another major theme of Galatians. This is the first time it’s occurred in the letter so far, but it’s about to occur eight more times in this chapter and two more times in the next.
To understand what Paul means by it, we should trace this theme through the rest of the book. Paul picks up this theme of promise in the next section, where it refers to the promises God made to Abraham and his seed.
| Verse | Text |
| 3:14 | so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit |
| 3:16 | The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. |
| 3:17 | The law . . . does not . . . do away with the promise. |
| 3:18a | For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise |
| 3:18b | God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. |
| 3:19 | [The law] was added . . . until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. |
| 3:21 | Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? |
| 3:22 | so that what was promised . . . might be given to those who believe |
| 3:29 | If you belong to Christ, then you are . . . heirs according to the promise. |
| 4:23 | his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise. |
| 4:28 | Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. |
Every occurrence refers to these promises made to Abraham, so it seems to me that we need to try to understand this promise of the Holy Spirit as somehow included in that promises made to Abraham.
I think Paul had in mind Joel 2:28–29, where the Spirit was promised as the New Covenant blessing for his people.
Joel 2:28–29: “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
. . . and Isaiah 44:3, which echoes this same promise and ties it to the blessing language in Genesis.
Isaiah 44:3: For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.
But how do we get from the promises made to Abraham to the promises of Joel 2 and Isaiah 44?
Remember how Paul found the gospel of justification of the Gentiles by faith in the promise to Abraham (3:8)? I think Paul intends for us to see the promise of the Holy Spirit wrapped up in that gospel promise.
The promised Holy Spirit was at the heart of the gospel blessing, which is made more explicit in Joel 2:28 and Isaiah 44:3 and then even clearer in the New Testament, where it wasn’t a new promise but an unfolding of an old one. It was there in seed form in the promises made to Abraham and became clearer through progressive revelation.
It was veiled in the promises made to Abraham, but we can look back and see it through Christian eyes.
As Ronald Fung says,
In the original promise to Abraham there was no mention of the Spirit but only the blessing of justification by faith, and yet here Paul conceives of the fulfillment of that promise as constituted above all in the bestowal of the Spirit upon those who have faith. It is thus manifest that in Paul’s thinking the blessing of justification is almost synonymous (it is certainly contemporaneous) with the reception of the Spirit.4
Transition: It’s to these promises and covenants that we turn next, but before we do, I’d like to make some points of application.
Illustrations
The main point of these verses is that the New Covenant is by faith and by the Spirit from start to finish. There’s not one way in and another way to progress.
The Galatians were at risk of falling away from the faith. This kind of turning away from the way of faith takes many different forms. There are many versions of this, and they’re all serious.
This is not a small matter, where there’s room for Christians to have different opinions.
I’d like to give two illustrations of this. Let me stress that I’m not equating them. But I don’t think it’s a stretch to tie them to this text.
Fundamentalist/Evangelical Good Works
I grew up in a version of independent, fundamentalist, Baptist Christianity that didn’t teach the gospel in all its fullness. The gospel was a message of how to get in, how to get saved and know you’re going to heaven, but from there the focus of the Christian life became something very different. It was about loving God, obeying God, pleasing God, staying away from sinful activities, etc. All wonderful things. But these imperatives were disconnected from the indicatives of the gospel.
Sure, the gospel was still important, but mainly as a message you should share with others and as an occasional reminder of how you got in. It wasn’t regularly the subject of sermons for Christians.
I remember in college—after I’d come to a new understanding of the gospel as a rich message at the heart of the believer’s daily experience—overhearing another student in my preaching class bemoaning those who still preach the gospel to Christians. “What they need is a message about how they should live,” he said.
I remember thinking how this was, and probably still is, the predominant understanding of most fundamentalist and evangelical Christians, though I think we’ve seen some good change in the last couple of decades, thanks to the gospel-centered ministries of John Piper, R. C. Sproul, T4G, the Gospel Coalition, and many others.
To those still under the teaching of a partial gospel that’s just for the lost, I’d appeal to them to not leave the path of the gospel for the path of moral behavior or Christian good works devoid of or disconnected from the gospel.
A Falling Friend
I’m reminded of a friend of mine who was at the brink of a disaster like this during the war in Iraq. He was stationed as a military chaplain, and the other chaplain was a Roman Catholic. This was a dark time in his life—away from his family, experiencing the horrors of war, seeing those he cared for seriously injured or killed.
This Roman Catholic chaplin was a friend to him, and his perspective of the Catholic church and the Catholic faith changed, so much so that he had decided that when he returned to the states he’d train to be a Catholic priest.
Yet in God’s providence he reached out to me and another friend to tell us about his decision. God gave me the opportunity to speak lovingly yet boldly into his life, to challenge him to see the truth that was clouded by emotion, and to continue on in the true gospel. It was one of the greatest joys of my life to be an instrument of God in his life to wake him from the spell that had been cast on him.
Application
Have you moved beyond the gospel? Or is it the center of your Christian experience? Do you need to recommit yourself afresh to meditate on this rich gospel and view all of life through it, to make it the daily food for your soul, the content of your parenting?
Maybe by God’s grace you’re still walking in the way of faith by the Spirit. But perhaps you know someone who isn’t. Who in your life is on the brink of a disaster? Who is on the verge of shipwrecking their faith, of abandoning the one true gospel for a false gospel? Who might God want you to speak to with apostolic boldness and authority, “Dear friend, are you so foolish? Have you believed in vain?”
Transition: Now let’s turn to the second big point that Paul makes to compel the Galatians to continue in the new way of faith.
2. You must understand God’s covenants (3:15–22).
Having taken the Galatians back to Abraham as the quintessential example of faith, he now turns to a full discussion of two of the main Old Testament covenants: the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic covenant.
In order to properly understand the gospel, the new way of faith, the New Covenant, we need to understand the biblical covenants and how the gospel relates to them.
Tom Schreiner puts this well when he says,
The covenants are crucial . . . because they are the backbone of the storyline of the Bible. The Bible isn’t a random collection of laws, moral principles, and stories. It is a story that goes somewhere; it is the story of redemption, the story of God’s kingdom. And the story unfolds and advances through the covenants God made with his people.
If we don’t understand the covenants, we will not and cannot understand the Bible because we won’t understand how the story fits together.5
Schreiner is right, and that’s the point Paul makes loud and clear in these verses. Misunderstanding the covenants wasn’t just about theological accuracy. It was about understanding the true gospel and being able to tell it apart from a false gospel. It was about avoiding the false teaching and falling away from the faith. These are matters of life and death.
That’s not to say that a person needs to be able to write a theological treatise on the covenants in order to be saved. Far from it. Rather, understanding God’s plan of redemption will keep you from misunderstanding or distorting the gospel and veering off into a false gospel.
Oh, how many in the church today cannot tell the true gospel from a false gospel. Doctrine is not some obscure thing for the intellectually minded to discuss and debate. It’s about understanding God’s redemptive plan and embracing the now-revealed mystery of the good news of Jesus.
There are four points Paul wanted the Galatians and us to see about the covenants.
2.1. The Mosaic Law didn’t invalidate the Abrahamic Covenant (3:15–17).
Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.
In verses 15–17, we see that the promises made to Abraham weren’t set aside when God made his covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai 430 later.
Paul gives four reasons for this, which we’ll run through quickly.
2.1.1. Because established covenants cannot be set aside (3:15).
Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case.
Paul argues from everyday life to give an illustration of how the covenant with Israel couldn’t invalidate the covenant with Abraham and his descendants.
His audience knew that even human covenants can’t be set aside after they’ve been established. How much more divine covenants.
2.1.2. Because the promises were to Abraham and Christ (3:16).
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.
The second reason the promises to Abraham were still in effect is that those promises weren’t made only to him but also to his seed.
Who was Abraham’s seed?
As Gentry and Wellum put it,
Abraham’s seed is certainly biological (e.g., Ishmael, Isaac, sons of Keturah), but it is also biological/special (e.g., Isaac, Israel), typological (e.g., Christ; Gal. 3:16), and as applied to all believers, spiritual (Gal. 3:26–29).6
So Abraham had four different kinds of descendants:
- His physical descendants:
- Ishmael and his descendants
- Isaac and his descendants
- Jacob and his descendants
- Esau and his descendants
- The six sons of Keturah and their descendents
- His special physical descendants:
- Isaac and his descendants
- Jacob and his descendants
- Isaac and his descendants
- His typological descendant: Jesus
- His spiritual descendants: the church
The one Paul was most interested in for his argument here was Christ, because the Mosaic Law came between Abraham and Christ. And Paul’s arguing that the law that came 430 years after Abraham doesn’t set aside the promises God made to Abraham and to his ultimate seed, Christ, which God is fulfilling now.
Singular vs. Plural
What did Paul mean here with his argument about the singular vs. plural of seed vs. seeds or descendant vs. descendants to prove this was about Christ?
This is one of those tricky texts here in Galatians.
The challenging thing with this argument is that seed is a collective noun, which means in its singular form it can be singular or plural.
Illustration
The word offspring illustrates the challenge. If I say that I’m leaving my estate to my offspring, you don’t know if that’s one of them or more than one of them.
So people have struggled with how to understand how Paul’s argument could be valid.
This exact Greek phrase occurs 16 times in the Greek Old Testament,7 mostly in Genesis, and usually in reference to the promise to give the land to Abraham and his seed.
Genesis 12:7: The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring [τῷ σπέρματί σου] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
Genesis 13:15: All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring [τῷ σπέρματί σου] forever.
It’s unclear which one Paul might be quoting, but it doesn’t matter since they all seem to be referring directly to the land promise.
Interpreters wrestle with how to understand what Paul is doing here. Some discount his argument as invalid, but that’s not an option for those who take the Bible’s inspiration seriously.
The plural seeds in Greek and Hebrew is never used for offspring. It’s only used for seeds of plants and trees. Furthermore, usually the singular seed refers to more than one offspring, so the singular is no guarantee that it had only a single person in view.
So what is Paul doing?
While we can’t be sure, I think Paul’s point is that looking back at the OT with Christian eyes we can see that the ultimate descendant of Abraham to whom the promises were most fully made was Christ. Paul is perhaps unveiling by divine revelation part of the mystery in the Old Testament that is now revealed in the New.
Regardless of how we understand the particulars of Paul’s argument—or don’t!—we’re obligated by our belief in inspiration to give Paul the benefit of the doubt.
But this particular interpretive conundrum aside, his main point is unmistakable. The promises that God made to Abraham—including and especially the land promise—were made to him and ultimately to Christ, and as we’ll see next week, it seems even in some sense to all those who are in Christ—to us!
Seeing Christ as the seed of Abraham and the heir of the promises is critical for understanding how the New Covenant relates to the Abrahamic Covenant.
Transition: Thirdly, the Mosaic Law didn’t invalidate the Abrahamic Covenant . . .
2.1.3. Because the Law was given 430 years after the promise (3:17).
What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.
The order in which God gave the promises, circumcision, and the Law is important in Paul’s theological reasoning about the covenants.
Transition: Finally, the Mosaic Law didn’t invalidate the Abrahamic Covenant . . .
2.1.4. Because the promised inheritance couldn’t depend on the Mosaic Law without losing the gracious character of the promise (3:18).
For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
Inheritance is another really important theme, which Paul will pick back up later. We’ll discuss it more fully next week. It’s closely related to the theme of promise. The inheritance is part of what is promised. We don’t have time to unpack everything included in the promised inheritance. But in the immediate context, Paul most likely has the land promise in view.
But Paul’s point is that the inheritance is still something to be received by faith in God’s gracious promise and not something to tie to the Mosaic Law, which would put the gracious character of the promised inheritance in jeopardy.
Transition: Paul further develops this first point in a second point:
2.2. The Mosaic Law was additive, temporary, and pointed to Christ (3:19a).
Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.
Here in verse 19, Paul helps the Galatians see why God gave the law—what his purpose was for it.
Paul chose his words very carefully.
2.2.1. It was additive.
The Law was added (προσετέθη) to the promises made to Abraham. It didn’t replace them.
2.2.2. It was temporary.
The law was temporary. It was added until (ἄχρις) the seed came, that is, Christ, at which time it would be subtracted.
2.2.3. It was preparatory.
The law pointed to and prepare the way for the promised seed (σπέρμα).
What does Paul mean here by “because of transgressions”? He hinted at this already in 2:18 and he’ll unpack this more in 3:22 and the next major section, but Romans 5:20–21 provides a clue:
The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Three other passages in Romans support this interpretation:
Romans 3:20: Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Romans 4:14–15: 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
Romans 7:7–8: What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.
I think what Paul means here is that God brought the law in to prepare the world for Christ by shining a bright light on their sin and desperate need for a savior. In that way, the law was preparatory. But we’ll come back to this next week.
Transition: The third thing Paul wants the Galatians to understand about the covenants is that the Abrahamic Covenant was superior to the Mosaic Covenant.
2.3. The Abrahamic Covenant was superior to the Mosaic Law (3:19b–20).
The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
These verses are challenging, but in the context of Paul’s argument, the main point seems to be fairly certain.
2.3.1. Because the Mosaic Covenant was mediated through angels and Moses to Israel (3:19b).
The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.
The first part is less disputed, even if a bit cryptic. God gave the law through angels to a mediator to give to Israel.
The role of angels is mentioned in Acts and Hebrews as well:
Acts 7:37–38: “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.
Acts 7:52–53: And now you have betrayed and murdered him—53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
Hebrews 2:2–3: For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.
But where do we see this in the Old Testament?
We don’t have time to look at it, but jot down Deuteronomy 33:1–4 (LXX) and Psalm 68:7–8, 17 (in the KJV).
Most agree that the mediator here is Moses, but some argue that it’s the angel of Yahweh. We won’t spend any time on that. I don’t think it changes the main point.
The point Paul is making is that the Mosaic Covenant involved four parties: God, angels, Moses, and Israel.
He seems to be implying that this somehow makes it inferior to the Abrahamic Covenant.
2.3.2. Because the Abrahamic Covenant was unmediated (3:20).
A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
This is perhaps the trickiest verse in Galatians to interpret.
Some of the best interpreters throw up their hands and say they have no idea what Paul is saying here.
Ridderbos comments,
It is said, by way of echoing verse 17, that there are four hundred and thirty interpretations of verse 20!8
I didn’t read all the interpretations, but what I found most helpful was the view that Paul here is making another argument for why the Abrahamic Covenant was wasn’t displaced by the Mosaic Law and was in some sense superior to it.
Ridderbos again says,
The intention then is to put the emphasis on the one-sided character of the promise. The law came through mediatorial channels. Two parties were involved in it. To achieve its purpose, the law is dependent upon human appropriation and agreement. God is the author of the law, but man is the subject of its fulfillment. Hence, in the execution and maintenance of the law, all sorts of intervening persons are required. In the giving of the promise, however, no mediator intervened. God was at work alone: for He is not only the author of the promise; He fulfills it also. So it is that this mode of implementation also makes manifest the unconditional character of the promise, and its superiority to the law.9
Doug Moo takes a similar interpretation when he suggests that Paul is contrasting the Mosaic Covenant with the Abrahamic Covenant by calling attention to the fact that the Abramaic covenant didn’t involve angles or a mediator like the Mosaic covenant and therefore was in some sense superior.
In the case of the promise to Abraham, we read nothing about angels being involved, nor was there a mediator. God entered, in a sense, into a face-to-face conversation with Abraham and made him promises. What Paul, then, seems to be suggesting here is the superiority of the promise to the law, in that it was God Himself, who is one, who made the promise to Abraham.10
While the details are challenging, we can safely conclude that this fits into Paul’s overall argument about the continuation and superiority of the Abrahamic Covenant vs. the obsolescence and inferiority of the Mosaic Covenant.
While the Sinaitic covenant was mediated: from God through angels via Moses to the nation of Israel, the Abrahamic covenant was unmediated: directly from God to Abraham and his seed.
I made an attempt to chart the details out.
Transition: This brings us to Paul’s fourth and final point about the covenants.
2.4. The Law didn’t take over as the way to inherit the promises (3:21–22).
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
Paul has just been contrasting the law and the promises of God. So what does he mean when he says the law isn’t opposed to the promises?
He means that the law wasn’t intended to invalidate the promises or take the place of faith in the promises as the way of inheritance.
Why?
2.4.1. Because the Law was never intended to impart life and righteousness (3:21).
For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.
The law wasn’t able to do what faith in the promises could do, that is, impart life and righteousness. Not that the law itself was the problem, but we were the problem.
Romans 8:3–4: For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
2.4.2. Because the Law was given to lead us to the fulfillment of the promises by faith (3:22).
But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
God gave the law to prepare the world for the fulfillment in Christ by showing how sinful we were and how much we needed a permanent solution to sin.
Paul echoes 3:19 by reinforcing this negative role of the law: to expose our great sinfulness and our need for a great savior, a prophet better than Moses, a priest of a better line that the Levitical priesthood who could permanently deal with sin, and a king better than David and Solomon who could command loyalty from all of his subjects and overcome all resistance from his enemies.
Romans 11:32: For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
In this sense the Jews were no better off than the Gentiles. They were both locked up under sin until the dawning of the new age of the Messiah.
Romans 3:9: What shall we conclude then? Do we [Jews] have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.
Jews and Gentiles alike in this new age come to God and receive the promised blessings and inheritance through faith in Abraham’s ultimate seed, Christ, in whom they, too, become the seed of Abraham—as we’ll see next week.
It’s in this way that the Abrahamic Covenant finds its fulfillment in Christ in the New Covenant.
Transition: Our time is up, and we need to bring this first message to a close.
Conclusion
In the fullness of time the last days dawned and the new age of faith and the Spirit is here in Christ. God calls all believers, all children of Abraham, to begin, continue, and finish down this path of faith and not to turn aside to old and obsolete ways or other ways that exalt human doing above faith in the gracious promises of God.
There are so many ways believers are tempted to move beyond the gospel or add to the gospel, and Paul gives a dire warning of what will happen to those who distort the gospel and believe a false gospel.
One of the remedies that God provides us is his covenants, his unfolding plan of redemption that helps us see how the whole Bible hangs together and culminates in Christ. The better we understand what God is up to in human history, the better we’ll be able to avoid the allure of false gospels.
May God grant us the grace to understand his redemptive plan and insulate ourselves from false teaching that would lead us astray. May he help us to persevere in the truth and not to be enticed or bewitched by the ways of the flesh with its gravitation toward human doing as a way of relating to God.
What is your fundamental orientation and posture toward God? Is it one of faith, of trusting in his promises, of living in the new way of the Spirit? Or is it one of doing, of following his rules, of living in the old way of the flesh?
Understanding the covenants, God’s promises to his people, fulfilled in Christ, his one unified plan of redemption worked out in history has massive implications for how we live—and how susceptible we are to heresy and false gospels.
Missions
But a proper understanding of his promises and his plan can also fuel our missions and evangelism. If we understand that God’s promise made to Abraham that all the nations of the world will be blessed in him and that he would be the father of many nations and that God is now fulfilling those promises to him and his seed, Christ, through the church by creating a people from every language, tribe, people, and nation should shape the way we think about and pray for and participate in evangelism and missions.
The Old Testament is replete with calls for Israel to be a light to the Gentiles. But they failed. Jesus, however, is fulfilling all that Israel failed to do. And he is doing that through us, his church and body. And in his mysterious plan, God will even use the salvation of the Gentiles to graft Jews back into his new people.
Prayer
Let’s pray.
Father, there are some deep and mysterious things here. We’re probing into the depths of your eternal plan worked out in history through your people and fulfilled in Christ and extended to us by faith in and union with him. It’s all going exactly according to plan, and you’re accomplishing it in ways no one could have seen. Even the heavenly hosts look on with amazement at what you’re doing in the church and stand in awe at the glory of your manifold wisdom. We join them tonight, and we ask that you would illumine our minds and motivate our hearts to fully embrace and live in this new way of faith and live out your purposes for your church as you build your new covenant people from every tribe, language, people, and nation. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
You are dismissed.
Notes
1. Douglas J. Moo, NT341 Book Study: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, Logos Mobile Education (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015). ↩
2. Moisés Silva, Interpreting Galatians: Explorations in Exegetical Method, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001), 186. ↩
3. Douglas J. Moo, NT341 Book Study: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, Logos Mobile Education (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015). ↩
4. Ronald Y. K. Fung, The Epistle to the Galatians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1988), 152. ↩
5. https://www.crossway.org/articles/why-we-must-understand-the-covenants-to-understand-the-bible/ ↩
6. Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-Theological Understanding of the Covenants (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 696. ↩
7. Gen 12:7; 13:15; 15:18; 17:8; 22:18; 24:7; 26:3, 2; 28:4, 13, 14; 35:12; 48:4; Num 18:19; Deut 28:46; 2 Kgdms 5:27. It’s also quoted in Acts 3:25. ↩
8. Herman N. Ridderbos, The Epistle of Paul to the Churches of Galatia, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1953), 139. ↩
9. Herman N. Ridderbos, The Epistle of Paul to the Churches of Galatia, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1953), 140. ↩
10. Douglas J. Moo, NT341 Book Study: Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, Logos Mobile Education (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015). ↩