Lesson 22
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ONE OTHER New Testament passage will help us in our understanding of the promise which God gave to Abraham. GALATIANS THREE, VERSES SIX TO TWENTY-NINE [Gal. 3:6-29].
Verses Six to Nine [Gal. 3:6-9]. In these verses Paul teaches that Abraham was justified1 by faith and that only those who BELIEVE, being the true sons of Abraham, share in the blessing of the promise which God made to him.
Verses Six and Seven [Gal. 3:6-7]. Here it is definitely stated that those who are the children of Abraham are not those who are circumcised, not those who are Jews physically, but those who BELIEVE, whether they be Jew or Gentile by nature. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, then you are a child of Abraham, and the blessing of the promise which God made to him is for you, too.
Verses Eight and Nine [Gal. 3:8-9]. Paul personifies the Old Testament. The word "Scripture" means, not the whole Bible as we have it today, but merely the Old Testament. The Old Testament saw beforehand that in the time to come God would justify the Gentiles (heathen) by faith. The great theme of the Old Testament's prophecy is this present age. The burden of prophecy is Christ's atoning death and the age which it should usher in. The proof of this statement is I Peter 1:10, 11, 12. It is perhaps true that the Old Testament prophecies have some reference to a time in the future, but of this we cannot be certain. The great burden of the Old Testament prophecy is this present time. All looks forward to the glorious death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verses Ten to Fourteen [Gal. 3:10-14].
Verse Ten [Gal. 3:10]. If a man is trying to earn his salvation, i.e., if he is under the law, then he stands under a curse, for it is written that if a man does not do everything which the law demands, then a curse rests upon him. And it is evident that no man has done all that the law requires, for all have sinned.
Verse Eleven [Gal. 3:11]. The Old Testament says that the man who is declared just shall live by faith; therefore, it is evident that no man shall be declared just by anything that he himself has done, for that would contradict the Old Testament,
Verse Twelve [Gal. 3:12]. Of course, if a man does all that the law requires, then he shall live, but no man has ever kept the law.
Verses Thirteen and Fourteen [Gal. 3:13-14]. But, thank God, our salvation does not depend upon what we do; it does not depend upon our keeping the law. Rather, we are under a curse because we have not kept the law, but Christ has removed that curse from us. He removed that curse from us, by Himself becoming a curse. The curse that rightfully belonged upon us, He took upon Himself. He removed the curse from us by being crucified in our place, which made Him a curse. That means that He was our Substitute upon the Cross. By His becoming a curse for us, He removed the curse which rested upon us. He did this in order that the blessing which God promised to Abraham might crime upon us. And we receive this blessing through faith.
Verses Fifteen to Eighteen [Gal. 3:15-18].
Verse Fifteen [Gal. 3:15]. Paul brings in an illustration from every-day life. Even a man's covenant, once it has been confirmed, is absolutely immutable and irrevocable.
Verse Sixteen [Gal. 3:16]. The promise was made to Abraham and to his seed. This seed of Abraham finds its culmination in Jesus Christ.
Verse Seventeen [Gal. 3:17]. This promise was given by God through Christ to Abraham, and it was confirmed. It was a covenant. The law of Moses was given four hundred and thirty years after the Israelites entered Egypt, and the law which Moses gave at Mount Sinai does not in the least make null and void the promises which God gave to Abraham.
Verse Eighteen [Gal. 3:18]. God promised the inheritance of the world to Abraham. He did not tell Abraham that he would have to earn that inheritance. If Abraham must earn it, then he does not receive it as a promised gift.
Verses Nineteen to Twenty-two [Gal. 3:19-22].
Verse Nineteen [Gal. 3:19]. If Abraham receives the inheritance through the promise which God gave him, then why did God later give the Mosaic Law at Mount Sinai? It was added to show man that his sin was a transgression, to convict man of sin. "By the law is the knowledge of sin." It was a schoolmaster to convince a man that he could be saved only by Christ. The law, by showing a man that he is under a curse, causes that man to look to Christ for salvation. The law was ordained by angels in the hands of a mediator.
Verses Twenty-one and Twenty-two [Gal. 3:21-22]. The law of Moses does not contradict nor veto the promise which God gave to Abraham. No, for if a man could earn his salvation by keeping the law, then men would have been saved in that way. But according to the Old Testament we are all sinners and therefore utterly unable to keep the law. Because of that fact the promise was given. What we could not do, God has done for us.
Verses Twenty-three to Twenty-nine [Gal. 3:23-29].
Verse Twenty-three [Gal. 3:23]. Before the Lord Jesus Christ came, the law of Moses kept us shut up, just as though we were in a prison.
Verse Twenty-four [Gal. 3:24]. The law was like a schoolmaster that had to bring us to Christ. How did it accomplish this? Dr. Martin Luther, in his splendid commentary on "St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians," answers this question most clearly. "The principal point of the law in true Christian divinity is to make men not better, but worse; that is to say, it sheweth unto them their sin, that by the knowledge thereof, they may be humbled, terrified, bruised and broken, and by this means may be driven to seek comfort, and so come to that blessed Seed (Christ)."
Verses Twenty-five and Twenty-six [Gal. 3:25-26]. But once the Lord Jesus came, we ale no longer under the schoolmaster. Jesus has removed the terrible "handwriting of ordinances" that was against us. The law can in no wise touch us, for we have become the children of God. And we have become children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Verses Twenty-seven to Twenty-nine [Gal. 3:27-29]. Note the intimacy of our relationship to Christ; we are all one in Abraham, and then we are heirs and partakers of the blessing which God had promised to him. You and I are the children of Abraham, and all the blessings which God promised to him are ours, if so be we are in Christ.
EXERCISES
- What is the purpose of Galatians 3:6-9?
- Who are the true children of Abraham?
- What does the word "Scripture" in verse eight mean?
- What is the great theme of Old Testament prophecy?
- What happens to a man who does not do all that the law requires? Verse ten [Gal. 3:10].
- How does the Old Testament say that a man shall be justified?
- If a man does all that the law requires, will he be justified? Verse twelve [Gal. 3:12].
- Has any man ever done all that the law requires?
- Who has removed the curse of the law from us?
- How did He do that?
- Why has He done it?
- Was the promise which God gave to Abraham a covenant?
- Can it therefore be changed?
- Can the law make the promise null and void?
- Why did God give the Mosaic law at Mount Sinai?
- Was the taw given to save man?
- How does the law cause a man to look to Christ for salvation?
- How was the law ordained?
- Does the law of Moses contradict the promise given to Abraham?
- Would men have been saved by law, if it were possible?
- Why are we unable to keep the law?
- Before Christ came, how did the law of Moses affect believers? Verse twenty-three [ [Gal. 3:23].
- How was the law like a schoolmaster? The student should commit to memory Luther's statement.
- Can the law any longer accuse us?
- How have we become children of God?
- How do verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine [ [Gal. 3:28-29] express the intimacy of our relationship with Christ?
- Who are the seed of Abraham?
- Are we partakers in the benefits of the blessing which was promised to Abraham?
OPTIONAL EXERCISES
Commit to memory Galatians 3:6-29.
HYMNS FOR STUDY
No. 424: "Jesus Sinners Doth Receive."
No. 419: "O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High."
1 The mediator mentioned in verse nineteen is Moses, who stood between God and the people. A mediator is one who goes between two parties who are at variance. Cf. I Timothy 2:5. Verse twenty is exceedingly difficult, and we shall probably play the part of wisdom if we attempt no exposition of it.