Christ ChurchINTRODUCTION
I hope you’ve never had the misfortune to have one of those dreams where you feel completely paralyzed. It may not even be that the dream is particularly horrifying. But enduring a dream where your feet won’t move, where your voice can’t shout, where you can’t wake up even thought you want to is rather miserable. Waking up from such an oppressive dream is nothing if not relieving. The coming of Christ, according to Paul, was the transition from a dream to waking, from the school year to the summer holiday, from prison to freedom.
THE TEXT
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. […]
Gal 3:15ff
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
Having scolded the Galatians for trying to accomplish by the flesh what the Spirit had begun by the hearing of faith, Paul turns to more thoroughly explain Abraham’s example of faith. Making use of the illustration of a human will or testament, Paul points out the impropriety of annulling or amending such a covenant once it is established (v15). So, God’s heavenly covenant was promised to Abraham and his seed––singular not plural (v16, Cf. Gen.17:7). This covenant with Abraham and with Christ (the Seed) preceded the Law by 430 years, and therefore the latter cannot void or amend the earlier covenant (v17). Rather, the inheritance promised to Abraham was contingent on faith and not the Law (v18). And it is important to note Paul’s emphasis on the imagery of an heir receiving an inheritance.
Paul is not “anti-law”. This is evidenced in him volunteering a crucial question that was likely nagging the Galatians: what was the law for? It was put in place for much the same reason that a farmer puts up chicken wire, to keep the flock from wandering off. God did this by means of angels (Cf. 1:8) which committed the Law into the hands of a mediator; presumably this refers to Moses (v19). Verse 20 poses a challenge to expositors; I take it to mean that while the Law was established by God with His people through Moses, the promise to Abraham was directly from God to Abraham and His seed without the need for a mediator.
So then, the Law was not meant to keep us away from the promise, but to dam up the floodwaters of sin. For, God could have made a law that, if kept, would have resulted in righteousness (v21). Yet, even if such a law had been given, we still would have found out a way to screw it up; thus, God arranged this order events in order that we might receive by faith all the blessings of the promise which Christ received by His perfect faith (v22). Paul then speaks of faith in what we might call eschatological terms. Before faith came, the Law was in place like a baby gate for keeping a naughty toddler out of trouble (v23a). But this was temporary until the faith should be revealed (v23b).
The Law was the tutorial, faith in Christ was the diploma (v24). Faith has now come in Christ, and therefore, school is over (v25). Trusting Christ, including all He did on our behalf, brings us into the family of God; your baptism is a sign which signifies that new birth (vv26-27). This means that the old distinctions between Jew (clean) and Gentile (unclean), male (able to receive the sign of circumcision) and female (unable to receive that sign) have past their expiration date, for there is now a new distinction: in Christ and not in Christ (v28). It must be remarked in our gender confused day and age that this isn’t a prooftext for queerness. It is simply an insistence that the covenant sign is no longer received merely by males, but is open to male and female from every nation, tribe, and tongue.
Those in Christ, are also included in that which was promised to Abraham’s seed, namely inheriting as lawful heirs the new heaven and new earth (v29).
WHAT WAS THE LAW FOR?
When looking at Christian history, it can appear that the Church reels like someone afflicted with vertigo between the poles of legalism and licentiousness. Self-righteous scrupulousness is a real temptation that has ensnared many individual Christians and entire institutions. As I mentioned before, we love to have a righteousness we can point at. But the church has also suffered at times from an impoverished understanding of all that Paul is insisting upon when he is underscoring that we are not under the Law but under grace. Too often this is taken as an Apostolic hall pass to act like a drunken baboon let loose in a grocery store. Both misunderstandings are dangers to the spiritual health of individuals and institutions.
Paul teaches here something which the Reformers later articulated as the three uses of the Law. What we find here in our text is the Scriptural foundation for understand the first use of the Law. It’s first function is divine border patrol. This is, in part, what Paul has in view here. The Law was intended to keep mankind in general, but Israel in particular from the self-destruction of unbridled sin. Think of this threefold purpose of the Law as a nut; the hard outer shell restrains evil, the bitter inner pith brings the realization of our sinfulness, and the savory fruit in the center is Christ’s righteous fulfillment of the Law.
On this last point it is worth stating that Christ’s fulfillment of the Law enables us, by trust in Him, to norm society to the general equity contained in the Law, but not as a means of justifying us before God. This is important to emphasize because Paul is certainly not inviting us to throw off rules, authority, or the rule of law as such. Rather, he wants us to grow up. He wants us to be like Christ, by receiving from Christ all that His resurrection ushered in; namely, the new life of His Spirit. The Law has been subsumed in the glory of Christ’s New Life which has invaded the world.
HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE
Abraham had faith, trusting in God’s promise to bless all nations through the seed promised to him. Paul says that though Abraham believed this promise, and was justified by his faith, faith had not yet been revealed. There was faith all throughout the OT, but not the faith. Paul says we, the Jews, were “locked up” by the law until…until what? Until the faith would be revealed. The faith was revealed by Christ’s perfect faith.
Follow Paul’s argument closely, “We, the Jews, were locked up, for a time, that you, the Gentiles, might become true children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.” This is why the sign of circumcision (which governed who were the heirs of Abraham) is no longer needed. This glory is run-on sentence worthy. The promised Seed had come and by His faith He received the promise, and because He received the promise, He can share His inherited promise with all who come to Him by faith.
And what does this mean? It means that you, you Gentiles, regardless of your circumcision status, are, in fact, Abraham’s seed. Again, singular not plural. Why singular? Because you are baptized into Jesus, and thus we all are one in Him. He alone is the Savior. He alone brought salvation to the whole world. He alone is how you might stand before God. He alone is how salvation is brought to you, personally. By Him alone is this truth made certain to you, that if you believe in Christ then God is your Father.