Read Introduction to Galatians
“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”
The third privilege Christians have is that they are special “heirs” of God.
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed,
Christians belong to Abraham’s seed. The running battle in Galatians had to do with whether Gentiles must become Jews in order to be saved. Paul says that Christians are Abraham’s seed at the point they placed their faith in Christ. This flew in the face of the Judaizers who demanded a Christian must become a Jew as well as a Christian in order to be accepted by God.
and heirs
The Christian receives eternal life, not temporal life, at the point of salvation (John 6:47; 10:27, 28; Romans 6:23; Hebrews 5:8, 9; 9:12).
according to the promise
The words “according to the promise” are the emphatic words of this verse. Just as Abraham received eternal life by faith, so we receive eternal life by claiming God’s promise of salvation. We are one with Old Testament believers.
The promise of grace made to Abraham (3:16,17) comes alike to anyone who trusts Christ’s cross for salvation. No one can work his way to heaven. All must come the same way – by the pure, unadulterated, sovereign grace of God.
Principle:
God gives us eternal security at the point of our salvation.
Application:
God gives us eternal security because salvation depends on the power of God (John 10:29; Romans 8:31-32, 38,39) and on the promises of God (John 3:16-36; 5:24). God’s love (Romans 5:6-10) and immutability (2 Timothy 2:12,13) guarantee our eternal security. He has the power to deliver salvation for us (John 10:29; Romans 8:31-39). He preserves it for us (1 Peter 1:4,5; Jude 1, 24). He will never condemn the Christian (Romans 8:1; Ephesians 1:3; 2:6) because our Defense Attorney defends our case (Hebrews 9:24; 7:25; 1 John 2:1,2). The indwelling Holy Spirit seals our salvation (Ephesians 1:13,14; 4:30).
Our verse says that it is impossible to become unborn once we are born spiritually (Galatians 3:26). God will complete His work of salvation in us (Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 12:2). It does not depend on us but upon Him.
Read Introduction to Galatians
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus”
for you are all one in Christ Jesus
A believing slave does not rank lower than a free person does. God cuts across all cultural distinctions in saving us. All human categories lose their differences in the way God views us spiritually. Yet, God maintains distinctions in role (1 Corinthians 11:3f; 1 Timothy 2:12).
The word “all” is emphatic. There are no exceptions to this. Everyone is “one” in Christ Jesus who trusts Christ’s work on the cross.
Principle:
The only true liberty is in Christ.
Application:
God spiritually sees no distinction between people who trust in the cross for salvation. He washed all the same in the blood of Christ. All go to heaven the same way.
Read Introduction to Galatians
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus”
The second privilege that Christians have at the point of salvation is that they are one with all believers in Christ regardless of distinctions in society.There is neither Jew nor Greek,
There are no racial distinctions in Christ. God says that the very distinction the Judaizers made between Jew and Greek was not valid. Judaizers cannot compel Christians to become Jews.
there is neither slave nor free,
There are no social distinctions in Christ.
there is neither male nor female;
There are no gender distinctions in Christ. Women have full spiritual status with men.
Christian feminists make this phrase the crux of their interpretation to support their view of Christian feminism. Some claim that Paul swallowed his culture to such an extent that he even wrote Scripture based on this bias. Christian feminists claim that passages such as 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Corinthians 11 hold fallacious teaching on roles of men and women.
Christian feminists argue that this phrase means that there are no meaningful distinctions between men and women. However, Paul does not make distinction between all possible differences in culture. The context deals with justification and sanctification. A woman receives justification exactly the same way a man receives justification.
Gay activists also use this passage to argue that homosexual practice is valid because God obscured the distinction between men and women. Some Christian feminists concede this argument because it follows the logic of their interpretation.
Principle:
God does not recognize human distinctions in those who are in Christ.
Application:
Human role distinctions (1 Corinthians 14:34; 1 Timothy 2:11-15; Ephesians 5:22-24; 6:1-8) have nothing to do with our spiritual significance before God. Christian feminists completely miss the point of this passage which says the male has no spiritual privilege over the female. Every person, male or female, rich or poor, have the same spiritual status before God.
When we make distinctions in people, we form a basis for prejudice against them making some superior and other inferior. Christians should not make race, economic status, or gender a measuring stick of acceptance.
However, God maintains differences in roles within society. God designed differences in sexual role so there are functional differences between men and women. He did not create unisex; He created gender difference. If so, where is the distinction? Spiritually, men and women are the same. Physically and functionally, they are different. Spiritual blessing is one thing but human function is another thing.
Christian feminists today fail to accept that God’s truth is transcendent. They want to pour it into the mold of current philosophy and trends. They cut themselves off from unity of truth as it is found in the Bible. All that is left is plurality. That is why we have pluralism: everyone has an equal view of life, plurality is all that there is, and there is no unity of truth.
Coming to a conclusion about truth is arrogant to our society. The reason for this belief is the assumption that everyone has different reference points; there is no singular reference point. Everything is relative so there is no ultimate location of truth. We can trust nothing that fixes truth. This is where the ultimate flaw of the feminists lies. They have bought into egalitarianism, which has no biblical basis whatsoever. Egalitarianism is a form of pluralism. They use this philosophical bias to interpret Scripture. It is a greater value to them than Scripture itself for if Scripture contradicts this assumption, then Scripture itself is wrong!
Christian feminists who do not believe in biblical inerrancy, claim that Paul violated God’s principles by continuing the dissemination of sexual roles. However, they praise Paul for Galatians 3:28.
What forms the biblical basis for the rights of Christian feminism? There is none. The classical view of tolerance was that openness to different views was a virtue. However, it is one thing to open oneself to different views of the world and to claim that all views are equally valid. Pluralism says more than that all views should have equal expression, it claims that all views are equally valid!
This contradicts the very idea that the Bible claims for itself mutual exclusive truth. As Christianity and Hinduism cannot both be equally valid, neither can modern Christian feminism and biblical roles. The only groups that Christian feminists will not tolerate are those who claim that tolerance is not an ultimate virtue! They cannot tolerate those who have the temerity to teach what the Bible actually says.
Read Introduction to Galatians
“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ”
Verse 27 shows how our sonship [adult privilege] came about.
For
The word “for” explains how we received the same identity that Jesus has before God forever.
as many of you
The words “as many” are equivalent to the “all” of the previous verse. God baptizes every Christian without exception into Christ and puts “Christ” on him.
as were baptized into Christ
This phrase does not refer to water baptism but spiritual baptism at the instant we place our faith in Christ. We enter living union with Christ at salvation. The word “baptized” means to identify. God identifies us with Christ at salvation.
“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4).
“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
have put on Christ
At the moment of salvation, we enter into an eternal and actual relationship with Christ. The words “put on” allude to the act of putting on the toga of manhood, the toga virilis. Christians wear the garment of adulthood. We have freedom and privilege with God forever from the moment of salvation.
The words “put on” signify enter into or get into, as into clothes. The indwelling Holy Spirit envelops the believer at salvation. God clothes every Christian with Christ without exception. This is more than being clothed with the ethics of Christianity. This is being clothed with Christ Himself.
Principle:
God gives us the status that Christ has in God’s eyes by identifying us with Christ at salvation.
Application:
This verse does not mean God saves us by water baptism. It means God views us as having the same status Jesus has. All of our resources before God are because we are in Christ. Our status with God lasts forever because we carry the same status Jesus Christ has with the Father.
Read Introduction to Galatians
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus”
Paul now contrasts living under law and grace. The believer under grace has three benefits. We see the first benefit in this verse.
For you
Note that Paul switches back to the second person “you.” He now includes both Jewish and Gentile Christians in his statements here.
are all sons of God
The first benefit of living under grace is believers become “sons” of God. The word “sons” here mean full-grown sons. This is a much stronger term than “children” of God. When a child reached the age of adulthood, his father would give him a toga virilis [a coat of manhood]. Now his son could operate with all the privileges of adulthood. The “son” was no longer bound by the slave tutor [the law].
Note the word “all.” This means every person who becomes a child of God becomes a full-grown son (4:6).
through faith in Christ Jesus
Now that Christ has come, believers hold special privileges before God “through faith.” We receive the privilege of adult status with God by faith, not works.
This verse does not put a period after the words “sons of God”. The Bible does not say everyone in the world is a son of God. True, we are all creatures of God. That does not mean we are God’s children. No one is a child of God without placing exclusive faith in Christ Jesus. Those who do not exercise faith in Christ are mere creatures of God just like a bird or donkey. They do not have a personal relationship with God.
Principle:
The New Testament believer has adult privileges with God.
Application:
In New Testament salvation, Christians hold adult privileges. Our status with God rests on faith in Christ, not on our works. We do not gain God’s approbation by what we do. We have it by what Christ did. We have it by faith.
Read Introduction to Galatians
“But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor”
But after faith has come,
There is a definite article [the] before the word “faith” referring to the historic Christ [as in verse 22, 23]. Paul will describe the nature of this faith later in the book (4:6; 5:18; cf. Romans 8:14).
we are no longer under a tutor
Jesus fulfilled the righteousness of the law for us so we no longer need the law to govern our relationship with God. We turn from the law to Calvary for salvation and sanctification. Jesus kept the law perfectly and paid the penalty for the law by taking it upon Himself at the cross.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).
Now that the reality of faith has come, there is no need to continue under a temporary arrangement. The law no longer governs our relationship with God (Romans 6:14). Faith in Christ lifts the guilt of the law off our shoulders.
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage [the law]” (Galatians 5:1).
Principle:
The law is the servant of faith, not a substitute for it.
Application:
The flaw in the idea of salvation by works is not in the law itself but in our understanding of the purpose of the law. We cannot add the law to trust in Christ. That distorts the very nature of what Christ did to free us from the demands of the law. We need the law to understand our sinfulness and thus our inability to keep God’s standards.
God never designed the law to be anything more than a means of showing us our sins and leading us to the Saviour. Now that we have embraced Christ as Saviour, we do not need the law as our tutor.
“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
Read Introduction to Galatians
“Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith”
Therefore
Paul now brings us to another conclusion, just as he did in verse 19. He again shows the purpose of the law.
the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ,
The law as a “tutor” brings us to Christ. The word “tutor” means a guardian or guide for boys. This person was a slave whom a landlord charged with supervising his son from age six until puberty. He kept the child from the evils of society. This slave, as his custodian and disciplinarian, attended the son wherever he went. The law was our custodian to bring us to Christ.
God uses the law as a guardian to both Jews and Gentiles. It strictly disciplines those who violate its laws. The role of the “tutor” was not permanent. When a boy reached puberty, his father released him from his slave “tutor.” He was then an adult with rights and privileges of adulthood.
that we might be justified by faith
The role of the law is to lead us to the point where we recognize God justifies and sanctifies us by faith, not works.
Principle:
The law does not justify a sinner nor is it the rule of life for the believer.
Application:
The purpose of the law is to convict us of our sin (Romans 7:7-9). Why would we embrace Jesus Christ if we sensed no need for a Saviour? Why would we want forgiveness if we discern no reason for forgiveness? Grace becomes valuable to us when we realize our need.
If we refuse the finished work of Christ for our salvation then we remain forever in custody to God’s unalterable law. This irreversible law keeps every person under the burden of its custody. However, Christ redeemed us from the law by paying the price for our sins.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1).
If we reject the warnings of the law, we pay an eternal consequence – eternity in hell. The law clearly warns us against some illusion that God might accept us because of our works. By ourselves, we are utterly unable to keep the law. That is why we need the Saviour.
Read Introduction to Galatians
“But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed”
Verse 23 bears a strong semblance to verse 22. Verse 22 showed us that there are no supporting arguments to keep the law for salvation.
But before faith came,
The “faith” here is faith in Christ (3:22). The Greek says “the faith” indicating a special faith, faith in the promise of Jesus Christ (3:22). Old Testament saints did not have the opportunity to believe in the person of Jesus Christ. They believed in the coming Messiah.
“For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
we
Paul now turns to the first person “we” referring to saved Jews. The law kept Jews in the prison of legalism during God’s dealings with Israel. The idea is that when Christ came, the object of faith changed from the idea of a coming Messiah to the person of Jesus. We came to understand who the Messiah was in His person and work.
Paul uses the second person plural “you” in the preceding context until this verse. Now he switches to the first person plural through verse 25. At verse 26, he reverts to the second person “you.” The whole argument of this section revolves around the first person plural “we.” Paul very carefully switched these pronouns for a purpose. The “we” are Jewish Christians in Galatia and “you” are Christian Gentile Galatians.
were kept under guard by the law,
The word “kept” is a military term for keeping guard as with a garrison. The law guards against every way of escape from the conclusion we are sinners. The phrase in verse 22 “confined all under sin” and this phrase “kept under guard by the law” is the same thing. The law will not allow us to justify our sin. Therefore, we cannot justify ourselves by works. All the law does to us is curse us. It proves we are sinners.
kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed
The second word for “kept” in this verse means to shut together, shut in on all sides. The law kept people in a state of exclusively depending on faith in the Messiah for salvation. This does not mean that God justified people by law before Christ, because God justified Old Testament believers by faith just as He justified Abraham by faith (Genesis 15:6).
The Greek tense [perfect] indicates the law permanently shuts us up to sin until the faith “afterward” revealed. The word “revealed” means uncovered. The faith of this dispensation was unknown under the law; it was covered until Christ came. The law covered New Testament faith for 1500 years. God locked the Jews under the law until Christ came to fulfil all the requirements of the law (Romans 8:2-4). God frees both Jews and Gentiles through personal faith in Christ. The Jews anticipated the coming of the Messiah and Gentiles know the Messiah by name.
Principle:
The law is a prison to those who try to keep it.
Application:
The law can diagnose our sin but it cannot prescribe a remedy. If this is so, why would you revert to legalism to be saved or sanctified? The law precludes any attempt to secure justification before God other than by faith in the finished work of Christ. God does not want us to lose consciousness of our sin and it’s ability to punish us. If we keep the law to be saved, it will forever imprison us. However, if we trust the work of Christ, it will forever free us.
“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11).
Read Introduction to Galatians
“But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe”
But
Verse 22 is a contrast to verse 21. Salvation by faith is the polar opposite to righteousness by law.
the Scripture has confined all
The Scripture shuts everyone under the confines of sin so it is impossible to be justified by keeping the law. The word “confined” means shut in on all sides like fish in a net so that there is no way to keep the law for salvation (Luke 5:6). God shut the door so completely that there is no hope of salvation by works. Everyone is a prisoner of sin and cannot get out of that prison. Sin keeps you in prison under lock and key.
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7: 24-25).
Scripture is the court beyond which there is no appeal. It is the infallible, inspired, inerrant, eternal, unalterable Word of God. You either take it or leave it but whatever you do, you never alter it. The Bible will still be here when we are dead and gone. There will always be a Bible.
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
under sin,
Every person is under the dominion of sin. From this conclusion, there is no escape, and to this rule, there is no exception. The law is like a massive rock crushing eternal life out of us.
“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe
Since the law is insufficient to save our souls, our only hope is the finished work of Christ. The legalists admitted justification by faith but the catch was by faith alone. The legalists wanted to add works to faith. God gives salvation; we do not work for it.
Principle:
The law locks us up so securely that there is no hope of salvation by works.
Application:
Every person is bankrupt before God. The law put us into a prison from which there is no escape by self-effort. The law nails our casket shut. Our only hope is trust in the finished work of Christ. Otherwise, we do not have leg to stand on.
Law sees to it you do not lose consciousness of your sin. It allows no justification of our sin. It will keep us in the prison of conviction. Jesus opens the doors of this prison when we place our faith in His work on the cross.
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19).
Immediately upon trust in that work, God reckons the merit of Jesus to our account. He views us as having the same righteousness that Jesus has. We possess all the magnificent merit of the incomparable Son of God. He places on Jesus your demerit and reckons to us His merit. Jesus takes our hell; we receive His heaven.
“…for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10 ).
“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).
Read Introduction to Galatians
“Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law”
Paul raises yet another question about the law. If the preceding verses are true, does this imply that the law and promise are in conflict?
Is the law then against the promises of God?
Did God give the law to frustrate grace? Paul makes explicit what the Galatians were thinking. They thought that Paul disparaged the law in his previous arguments.
Certainly not!
It is inconceivable to think that the promise and the law are in conflict. God gave both the law and the promise but for different purposes. God is not at war with Himself!
For if there had been a law given which could have given life,
The purpose of the law is not to give life, but to can show the conditions for salvation. The purpose of the law is to show us our sin and the purpose of grace is to save us from sin.
No external rule can internally impart eternal life. The words “could have given life” mean to make alive, cause to live. This is a causative term. The law cannot cause life. It cannot produce eternal life.
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:2-4).
truly righteousness would have been by the law
The word “truly” expresses what is actual as opposed to apparent. Hypothetically, if law could give eternal life, then it can give us the righteousness of God. The Greek “if” in the first phrase ["if there had been a law…"] answers this hypothesis– it is not true.
The difference between grace and law is not apparent to the legalists. There is a fundamental difference between the two. The law does not pretend to give eternal life so there is no conflict between grace and law.
Grace and law are not in conflict with one another because they serve two different purposes. It is not the purpose of law to produce eternal life. Grace is no more opposed to law any more than the surgeon’s scalpel opposes healing.
Principle:
The law cannot give eternal life, only grace can do that.
Application:
The law demands perfect righteousness but it cannot give eternal life. It did not have the wherewithal to give that life. Some people look in a mirror but they do not profit by what they see because they do not wash their face! Law simply proves to us that we are sinful. It cannot make us accept the grace of God.
We obtain eternal life not by the law, but through the righteousness of Christ.
“Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe” (Romans 3:20-22).
God gives eternal life to those who trust in Christ’s death to obtain forgiveness for sin.
