Law: What Is It Good For?

Transcription

1 IX. Law: What Is It Good For? February 15/16, 2012 Galatians 3:19-29 Aim: To recognize that the Mosaic Law cannot save us; rather it reveals our sin and drives us to the Savior, Jesus Christ. A. The Purpose of the Law (Gal. 3:19-25) After showing the superiority of the covenant of promise, Paul shows the inferiority of the covenant of law first in regard to its purpose, then in regard to its mediator, and finally in regard to its accomplishment. The law is God s law (Rom. 7:22, 25l 8:7; 1 Cor. 7:19). As such, it is spiritual (Rom. 7:14), holy, righteous, and good (Ro. 7:12). We must not allow this positive aspect to be overshadowed and forgotten. If the law can play no part in our justification other than to condemn, that does not mean that it has no other function to play in other aspects of our life and standing before God. The fact is that holiness is unattainable apart from obedience to the law of God. It is vital we keep this in mind as we explore what Paul has to say here in terms of the law s relationship to us in justification. 1. Why Law? (3:19-20) If redemption is not by the law, what exactly is its significance? a) Sin and Seed (3:19a) What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; If the Mosaic covenant is not another way of salvation, what is its purpose? Paul says its purpose was to convince of sin and point to the promised Messiah. God s people under the Mosaic covenant needed a regular reminder that without grace they were under God s judgment; they needed to be kept under restraint; and they had to be taught to anticipate the coming of the Messiah. Paul answers his question, Why Law? by showing that the law was subservient to promise; God gave it because of sin. The Greek word for transgressions (parabasis) means stepping over the boundary. The law exposes sin for what it really is, namely, a violation of God s holy standard. That is what transgression means: the crossing of a legal boundary or the breaking of a specific law. The law has a way of making people want to break it. One purpose of the law, then, is not preventive but provocative. Rather than prevent transgression, the law actually provokes people to sin. God did not give the law to reveal the way to be justified; He gave it to disclose the evil power of sin. Calvin called the law s ability to reveal sin the first use of the law. Its second use is to restrain sin. There is also a third use of the law. Paul will introduce this use in chapter 5, where the law shows Christians how to live for Christ. But first the law has to reveal our sin. The first use of the law is temporary. The law reveals sin for only a certain period of time. In one sense God s law is eternal. God has a perfect, permanent moral standard for His people. It will last for all eternity because it is based on the very character of God. There is another sense, however, in which God s law is temporary. The specific administration of the law given to Moses with all its ceremonies, curses, and sacrifices had its limits. As far as the history of Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

2 salvation is concerned, its usefulness as a preparation for the gospel was only temporary. When the Son came, the work of the law was finished. The law was thus limited in its duration. The time for it to reveal sin and increase transgression lasted only from Mount Sinai to Mount Calvary. The purpose of the law was to demonstrate to man his total sinfulness, his inability to please God by his own works, and his need for mercy and grace. The law was added to show the depth of man s transgressions against God. It was given to drive him to desperate guilt and the awareness of his need for the Deliverer. The impossible demands of the law were meant to compel men to recognize their violation of God s standards and to seek His grace through faith in His Son. Because of transgressions signifies several things. Firstly, it indicates that God gave the law to restrain transgression among His people, the Jews. It was vital for the outworking of God s purpose that Israel should preserve the knowledge of the true God, and transmit that knowledge to future generations, until Christ came. The law undoubtedly prevented this heritage of revelation from being lost. At times, of course, it was all but buried from sight, but there always remained a remnant in Israel who were faithful to the Lord. Secondly, as a corollary of this, the law preserved the knowledge of the character of God. Thirdly, the law convicts mankind of sin. In this sense, because of transgressions signifies that the law served to bring human sin into focus and to unmask it for what it is. It caused man s sin to be expressed in the form of transgression, since technically speaking, transgression can only occur where there is some rule or standard to be broken. Fourthly, the law also showed that God has made gracious provision for the sinner to be forgiven, through substitutionary atonement and priestly mediation. All of this prefigured the work of Christ. What the law does at Sinai is show sin as sin (cp. Rom. 5:20). The purpose of the law was to expose the sinful condition of mankind. However, the law does more than show up sin; it makes us sin more! Without the law, sin may lie hidden (cp. Rom. 7:8). It has nothing to expose it. But the very presence of law for fallen men and women becomes the occasion for more sin (cp. Rom. 7:9). The law also pronounces God s condemnation and curse (cp. 2 Cor. 3:9). It is a point which Paul has been at pains to underline for the past dozen or so verse (cp. 3:10, 13). And the law finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The law shows up our sinfulness, but it does so in order to lead us to the only way of salvation: faith in Jesus Christ (cp. Rom. 10:4). If we render offspring as Seed, we immediately get the point. The law served as a pointer to the coming of Christ. Paul describes here the pedagogic use of the law. This theological term is meant to define that aspect of the law that initially condemns and shuts us up with no alternative but to trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation. John Calvin emphasized two further uses of the law: as a rule for the ordering of society (the civil use), and as a rule for Christians to grow in holiness (the so-called third use of the law). The message is clear: the purpose of the law is unveiled. By preserving the Old Testament revelation of the true God and Messiah, the law pointed the Jews to Christ. By delineating the character of God, His holiness and hatred of sin, the law demonstrated the necessity of forgiveness and reconciliation. By stating unambiguously what God requires of man, the law revealed man s desperate plight under the wrath of a holy God. By prefiguring Christ, in the tabernacle, the priesthood and the sacrifices, the law unveiled God s answer to the problem of sin. As Thomas Boston puts it, The law lays open the wound, but it is the gospel that heals. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

3 Preaching the moral, ethical standards of the law today is still imperative in driving men to Christ. Unless men realize they are living in violation of god s law and therefore stand under His divine judgment, they will see no reason to be saved. Grace is meaningless to a person who feels no inadequacy or need of help. He sees no need of forgiveness by God if he does not know he has offended God. He sees no need to seek God s mercy if he is unaware he is under God s wrath. The purpose of the law was, and is, to drive men to despair over their sins and to a desire to receive the salvation that God s sovereign grace offers to those who believe. The purpose of the law was therefore not wrong, but it was inferior. The law merely points to what only grace can produce. b) Angels and Mediators (3:19b-20) and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. The law had another limitation, too, and this had to do with the way it was given. This statement is not as obscure as it first seems. It is simply a restatement of the distinction between the two covenants. God gave the promise to Abraham directly, but He gave the law indirectly through the mediation of angels and Moses. The intermediary or mediator here is Moses. When God gave Moses the law, he was accompanied by countless hosts of angels. This is confirmed elsewhere in Scripture (cp. Dt. 33:2; Ps. 68:17; Acts 7:53; Heb. 2:2). The law was given ( appointed or ordained, diatassō, a technical word for carrying out laws) through the mediation of Moses, and Paul is pointing out that where there is a mediator, there also must be two parties. Thus the law given at Sinai bore the marks of a contract (covenant of the second kind), which placed obligations on both God and man. By contrast, God is one signifies that God acted alone in giving the covenant of promise, this being a covenant of the first kind (a testament). The promise had no such mediator. God gave it immediately to Abraham on the basis of His own eternal, immutable will. But the law came to God s people indirectly, through angels and by a mediator, meaning Moses. Having a mediator distinguishes the law from the promise and shows how sin put human beings at a disadvantage. The promise came unmediated, straight from God to Abraham. However, the law required a mediator because sinners cannot come directly into God s presence; we stand at a distance. Exodus 19 makes no reference to angels at all. Why then does Paul mention them? Partly, because it was common in Paul s day to interpret chariots of fire in Psalm 68:17 (a reference to Sinai) as referring to angels, and partly, also, because angels are present at all the significant moments of redemptive history. The reference to angels was a reminder of the overwhelming holiness of God revealed at Sinai (see Dt. 33:2). The angelic mediation demonstrated the holiness of God and exposed the sin of the people. The divine, angelic terror at Sinai filled the people with terror. Therefore, they desired that God not speak to them directly, but that He would speak through Moses (cp. Ex. 20:1, 19). So God spoke directly to Abraham with promise and oath, but indirectly to the people in the Mosaic covenant. The term mediator implies sin. The people, not God, needed the mediator, because of their sin. God does not change; He is one, therefore, He could have come to them just as He did to Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

4 Abraham. He chose to come in a mediator in the Mosaic covenant to show them their sin and their need of the Savior to come. 2. Law vs. Promise (3:21-22) a) Law Does Not Contradict Promise (3:21) 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. If the law does have a purpose, isn t that purpose somehow at odds with God s promise? The preposition kata ( contrary to ) seems better rendered against or opposed to. As with other such questions (cp. 2:17; Rom. 6:1-2; 7:13), Paul immediately gives the strong negative answer himself. Paul takes what seems to be the logical conclusion of his argument and utterly rejects it. The idea was unthinkable. God gave both the promise and the law, and He does not work against Himself. God forbid that the law should stand against the promise! The reason that the law was not at odds with the promise is that it had a totally different purpose. Unlike the promise, it could not give life. If it were possible to get life by the works of the law, then there would have been a conflict between Abraham and Moses. But law does not impart life; law does not save; it cannot give a new heart. The law was inferior because it could not save or impart life. If it could have done so, it would have been contrary to the promises of God, because it would have provided an alternate and conflicting way of salvation. It would have made the death of Christ tragically unnecessary (2:21). God s grace, Christ s sacrifice, and man s faith would be superfluous, or at best, an optional means of salvation. God is the author of both law and promise, so there can be no antagonism between the two. The problem lies in the nature of the law, namely that being a covenant of the second kind, it requires human obedience if it is to work. God is well able to keep His side of the agreement, but man in his sin is incapable of keeping his. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the idea of salvation by obedience to law. After all, it is Christ s perfect obedience to the law, as a man, that constitutes our righteousness before God (Christ s obedience being imputed to the believer). But Jesus Christ is the only man who never sinned, and sinners, by definition, cannot render to God s law the perfect conformity required for salvation. Thus the law of Moses, which in principle could lead to life, in practice only condemns the sons of Adam. The law offers God s blessing only to those who are able to keep it. And the problem, of course is, that no one (except Jesus Christ) is able to keep it. The problem with the law is not the law, but the fact that we break it every day. The law can prove that we are sinners, but it cannot make us right with God. It is not life-giving; it is transgression-increasing, and therefore deathproducting. b) Law Complements Promise (3:22) But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Therefore, Paul reiterates the purpose of the law (cp. Rom. 3:19-20). The phrase shut up ( confined ) translates sunkleiō, a strong term meaning to lock up securely, to enclose on all sides with no way of escape. There is no conflict between Abraham and Moses. The law points to the promise that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ. The promise given in the Abrahamic covenant is not in conflict with the Mosaic covenant, but they work in tandem to promote the Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

5 promise. Scripture bears testimony to the fact that the law serves only to establish man s sinful state and guilt before a holy God. Yet even in its apparent failure, the law was doing God s work. It was not merely temporary; it was also preparatory. It was leading the way for something else. The law itself cannot justify, but what it can do is drive us to faith, which does justify. By making a declaration of depravity, the law performs a valuable service and proves that it still has a valuable place in the plan of salvation. The law is powerless to make anyone right with God. It cannot justify; it can only condemn. It cannot make us righteous; it can only lock us up in the prison of sin. But by showing that it cannot save, the law helps us to look for a Savior. This is how the law leads to Christ. It cannot save, in and of itself, but it leads us to Christ, and He can save. When the law is used properly, therefore, it is not opposed to the promise. Rather than contradicting the promise, it is actually complementary to it. The law points to the promise by showing that only faith can justify. In summary, we learn that the Mosaic covenant was part of the covenant of grace. Its legal element pointed men to the Savior to come. The demands of the covenant of works, originally made with Adam in Eden, were repeated in the Mosaic covenant; to be right with God one must obey the law perfectly and those who did not would die. The reiteration of these demands in the Mosaic covenant accomplished two things. First, it convinced men and women that they needed a Savior, because none could obey the law perfectly. Second, it provided the framework under which Christ obeyed the law perfectly throughout His life (His active obedience) and satisfied the judgment of God against sin on the cross (His passive obedience). 3. Law vs. Faith (3:23-25) The Mosaic covenant was a legal administration of the covenant of grace, which in no way abrogated or nullified the Abrahamic covenant. In these verses, the apostle expands on the role of the Mosaic economy in relationship to the unfolding of the covenant of grace, by spelling out the purpose of the Mosaic covenant in the history of redemption. In this exposition, Paul uses two different concepts to describe the working of the Mosaic economy. a) Prisoner (3:23) But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. First, Paul uses legal terms kept in custody and shut up. Keep in custody means to guard (cp. 2 Cor. 11:32). Shut up denotes confinement under restraint. These terms depict the bondage of the old covenant. In this analogy, the law is a prison warden to keep us locked up in sin s penitentiary. We are the inmates, and the law is our jail-keeper, or perhaps our prison cell. The law, with its penalties, restrains or punishes us. Prior to God s revealing salvation in Christ, men were in a spiritual prison. Paul defines the Mosaic covenant as something by which God corralled His people. It was as if they were under house arrest. The law was a restraint that God placed on them, because of their waywardness of heart, their propensity to fall into idolatry and covetousness. Paul envisions the Jews (especially at the time of their reception of the law at Sinai) as prisoners! The very ones now calling upon Gentile Christians to obey the law in order to prove their justification were in fact demanding that they join them in prison! Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

6 It should be noted that although nobody likes to be a prisoner, it is not always a bad thing to be in prison. The law kept the Jews under its protective custody. It watched over them, keeping them safe until it could lead them to Christ. The law is a guardian, refusing to let go until it hands us directly over to Christ. This imprisonment would last until Christ came. What is the faith that came? This phrase refers to the full revelation of the new covenant; name, the object of faith, Jesus Christ. So the bondage was temporary. God kept the people in bondage until the full mystery of the gospel would be revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. b) Pedagogue (3:24-25) (1) Minority (3:24) Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. The second illustration makes the same point, only this time it comes from the nursery. In Greek culture the pedagogue (paidagōgos) was not a teacher or schoolmaster proper but rather a slave employed by wealthy Greek or Roman families, who was placed in charge of the heirs while they were in their minority. He would take them to and from school, made sure they studied their lessons, and trained the in obedience. They were strict disciplinarians, scolding and whipping as they felt necessary. They acted as a child-minder, disciplinarian, or even bodyguard, rather than a teacher. They were part babysitter and part chaperone. Since he was in charge of discipline, the pedagogue was also part probation officer. Ancient drawings usually depict him holding a rod or a cane to administer corporal punishment. Under this arrangement, although they were heirs, they were treated almost as if they were slaves. The custodianship of the law functioned like a pedagogue. Generally speaking, pedagogues were slaves, taken captive during a war, and sold to well-to-do heads of households who were eager to acquire their aid in the moral upbringing of the master s children (especially his male heirs). They were not, as a rule, teachers. The pedagogue did have to make sure his pupil made it to and from school. He helped to feed and dress the child, and also to carry the child s education tools. Once at school, there was a special room where pedagogues waited for their young students until their lessons were finished. But the pedagogues were not the educators; they were, rather, disciplinarians, and usually older men, perhaps of an age when strenuous physical activity was no longer possible. A child would come under the supervision of a pedagogue at about the age of six and would continue so until the late teens. A pedagogue served the best interests of the child in many ways, and a close bond of affection often developed. Discipline was not necessarily severe, and the pedagogue provided protection as well as punishment. He also served as a moral tutor, shaping the child s ethics. It was not the function of the pedagogue to pour our affection, but to chastise and rebuke. If sons grew up to be ill-mannered and disrespectful, it was the pedagogue who was blamed! The law, just like the pedagogue, is always pointing out our failures! (2) Majority (3:25) But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. The role of the paidagōgos was never permanent, and it was a great day of deliverance when a boy finally gained freedom from his pedagogue. His purpose was to take care of the child until Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

7 he grew into adulthood. At that time the relationship was changed. Though the two of them might remain close and friendly, the paidagōgos, having completed his assignment, had no more authority or control over the child, now a young man, and the young man had no more responsibility to be directly under the pedagogue. In the plan of salvation, the law is the pedagogue that raised the Jews from childhood through adolescence. It was not a schoolmaster to teach them how to get better and better until God finally accepted them. On the contrary, the law was for discipline. It told God s people what to do, and then it punished them for failing to do it. There were times when the Jews chafed under this discipline (chaperones never have been very popular!). But all the while, the law was preparing God s children to enter their majority. This is what Paul means when he speaks of the coming of faith. The true object of faith is Jesus Christ, and when He came on the scene, the time for the law was over and the era of faith had begun. The concept of being trained as children explains the Mosaic covenant s emphasis on temporal blessings. God used the physical blessings of the Mosaic covenant to reward His people in their minority in order to train them by teaching them to take small steps to please Him. Because they were as children, they needed the ceremonies, the washings, and the sacrifices. These things, however, were an enormous bondage. Even with these restraints, they kept falling into immorality and idolatry. Implied in this assessment of that temporary arrangement is the concept of the foolishness of a Christian (Jew or Gentile) ever returning to those laws. He would be placing himself under the minority system after he has tasted the full liberty of the gospel. The Judaizers refused to relinquish the ceremonial law even after making a profession of belief in Christ. Because they insisted on remaining under the tutor, they never advanced to the care of the Savior. Christ has freed the new covenant church from the bondage of the Mosaic covenant. In what way does Christ freed His people from the old covenant restrictions? By His meeting all the demands and fulfilling all the types of the law. Because Christ has come, we have been delivered from the law. The tutor has been dismissed. What Paul means is that we are no longer under the law in its temporary capacity as a legal administration of the covenant of grace. The demand of the law to earn life through obedience to it has been fulfilled in Christ. Jesus fulfilled all the moral demands of the Mosaic covenant and so He has fulfilled the covenant of works, obeying it perfectly in order to earn life for His people and submitting to the curse of law by His crucifixion in order to satisfy the justice of God as their propitiatory sacrifice. Moreover, Christ fulfilled all the ceremonies, both those that were figurative, pointing to Him, and those that were necessary to govern Israel in her minority. We have been delivered from all of the minute particulars of the Mosaic ceremonies. He has done away with all of the childish rules that were necessary in the past and has brought us into a maturity in which He governs us by His Spirit. Because Christians live in the maturity of the gospel, James calls the moral law the law of liberty (James 2:12). We are no longer in the servile bondage of the old covenant people. We serve God as freeborn sons, empowered by the Holy Spirit. And so for us the moral law is royal law. These two illustrations the prison and the pedagogue show that the law had the legitimate purpose of keeping us safe until Christ came to save us. This is why people need to know God s law. This is why the church must call a sin a sin, whatever the sin may be. People do not want Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

8 to hear this, of course. Sinners do not want to be judged for their sins. Yet if Paul was right about the purpose of the law, then people must hear its judgments in order to be saved. We need the law to lead us to Christ. For only when the law reveals our sin will we ever start to look for the free grace that God has for us in the gospel. B. The Family of Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:26-29) Paul now introduces an important concept, one that so far he has not mentioned; that as believers we are the children of God. There is a basic unity between the Old and New Testaments. There is one way of salvation, one faith, operating throughout the Bible. But there is also a dramatic change a development that takes place in stepping from the Old Testament into the pages of the New Testament. Having used two vivid metaphors to show the role of the law as far as its ability to justify is concerned, a prison and a pedagogue, Paul now introduces a contrasting metaphor with breathtaking implications. New Testament believers have left the prison for the family estate. They have left the discipline of the pedagogue for the embrace of a welcoming Father! This is the first mention in Galatians of the father-child relationship that exists between God and the believer, but it is by no means the last. This relationship lies at the heart of Paul s teaching in the concluding chapters of the epistle. Paul uses the figure of family in these verses to teach us about who we are in Christ Jesus. In these verses he establishes that we become the sons of God by faith. Paul lays out three things: first, by union with Christ we are brought into God s family; second, by union with Christ we are related together in God s family; and third, by union with Christ we receive the full inheritance God has for His family. 1. Entrance into the Family (3:26-27) For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. a) Sons (3:26) Paul begins by affirming that by union with Christ God brings sinners into His family. Paul refers to the Jews in verse 25, but in verse 26 includes the Gentile Christians ( You are all ). The all refers to believers of every race. Along with the Jews, who have been delivered from their minority status, Gentile Christians enter into the privilege of mature sons, having obtained the inheritance through faith. Paul s aim is not only to bring to the surface the glories of adoption; it is to make the point that the Gentiles are also considered as full members of this family. Nothing needs to be added to their faith in Jesus Christ to make them more acceptable as members of the family of God than they already are. Nothing! Not circumcision. Not obedience to food laws. Nothing! Back in verse 7 Paul said that every believer is a child of Abraham. Now he takes it one step further: every believer is a son or daughter of the Most High God. This is the climax of Paul s argument. He has just finished explaining how the law is a pedagogue for underage children. But eventually children outgrow their need for a guardian, so the law lasts only until the coming of Christ. Now we have the full rights of sons and daughters. This was a message that the Galatians especially needed to hear. Remember what the Judaizers were saying. Since they were Jews, they had always thought of themselves as God s only children, so they treated Gentile Christians like second-rate members of the family. Until they got circumcised, Gentiles Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

9 could not be siblings; at most, they were only cousins. Paul responded by welcoming the Gentiles within the full embrace of God s family. His emphasis falls on what is the first word of the verse in Greek: all, meaning both Jews and Gentiles. The gospel is for Gentiles as much as for Jews, and therefore the privilege of sonship is for all God s children. According to the Judaizers, these Gentile believers could not even be sons of Abraham unless they submitted to circumcision and the law of Moses. Paul has already put them right on this matter in 3:7. Their trust in Christ, without the law, qualifies them for that privilege, since they are true heirs of Abraham by virtue of their faith, regardless of their Gentile birth. But now Paul unveils a far greater truth, a peerless privilege: they are not only sons of Abraham, but sons of God Himself! Sonship is the culmination of the covenant of promise. In 3:14 we saw that the promise to Abraham was nothing less than the gift of God s Holy Spirit to indwell the believing soul. To be indwelt by the Spirit of God is to be a child of God. Whereas the Mosaic covenant emphasized man as a creature, owing an obedience to his Maker that he cannot perform, the covenant of promise bestowed on the believer the incomparable status of sonship. The way anyone becomes a member of God s family is by legal adoption. Legally speaking, an adopted child is a true son or daughter. He or she has the same rights and privileges as a naturalborn child. There is no higher status a human being can ever achieve than to be called a son or daughter of the Most High God. The way to gain this high status is simply through faith in Jesus Christ. Throughout this letter Paul has argued that God s blessings come only by faith: justification is by faith (2:16; 3:6); union with Christ is by faith (2:20); the blessings of Abraham come by faith (3:9); and the promise of the Holy Spirit is received by faith (3:14). Everything God has to offer comes by faith, and adoption is no exception. This blessing, too, comes through faith in Christ (cp. Jn. 1:12). Adoption shows the contrast between faith and works in the most vivid way, for no one ever works his way into a family. The highest position one can achieve simply by working in a household is servant. A servant may live with a family and do all the family chores. But the servant could do these things day after day for decades without ever becoming a member of the family. In such a case, the only way to become a son or daughter is by adoption. This can be granted only by the will of the father; it can never be gained by the works of the servant. b) Union (3:26-27) The phrase in Christ is Paul s favorite way of describing the reality of Christian experience. It permeates his writings and is used more than 160 times in the New Testament. The structure of the sentence in verse 26 places emphasis on in Christ Jesus. Paul points out that faith is the link that brings us into union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Union with Christ is the basis of our acceptance with God in justification. Furthermore, it is the basis of our adoption. Because we are in union with Jesus, the first born and the elder brother, we are accepted not as servants and slaves, but as sons and daughters of God. Paul uses the term sons to include women as well as men. In the Greek and Roman culture the son was the heir, so Paul uses the word son to emphasize the inheritance that belongs to all who are in Christ. Moreover, our sanctification flows out of our union with Christ. Indeed, all the benefits of redemption belong to us, because we are in union with Christ. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

10 The word translated put on means clothe. It is also the Greek word from which derives the English endue. Thus to put on Christ is to clothe oneself in Christ, or to endue oneself with Christ. c) Baptism (3:27) Paul writes that baptism testifies to this union. He points out that the most significant meaning of baptism is union; baptism is a sign and seal of our union with Christ (cp. 1 Cor. 10:2). Paul also makes clear he is referring to union when he uses the illustration of clothing. It is sometimes said that the clothes make the man. This is especially true in baptism, where Jesus Christ becomes the garment of our righteousness. Just as you put on your clothing, your baptism reminds you that you have been clothed with Christ. Now all who are baptized are in a covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptized children are legally in covenant with Christ. Baptized adults making a profession of faith are in covenant with Christ. Paul is not claiming that every baptized person is regenerated. An important function of baptism is to serve as a sign or picture of union with Christ. To those who possess the reality by faith baptism also functions at the level of a confirming sign. Paul is here referring to the inward reality of spiritual cleansing by faith, and not simply to the outward sign of water baptism. Baptism is a sign in which the washing with water signifies cleansing from sin. It is also a seal, like the official mark on a public document, visibly confirming that we belong to God by faith. But this does not mean that believers are saved merely by the act of water baptism. This is precisely the kind of thinking that Paul was warning against. The Judaizers were treating circumcision as a method for gaining salvation. What good would it do simply to replace one method (circumcision) with another (baptism)? The truth is that neither circumcision nor baptism effects salvation, but both signify the salvation that comes by grace through faith. In effect, baptism grants the Christian his or her adoption papers. What baptism especially symbolizes is the believer s union with Christ. Baptism, theologically considered, represents the language of union and participation. When Paul wished to convey the willingness of the Israelites to identify with Moses as their leader before the opened Red Sea, he used the language of baptism (1 Cor. 10:2). The point is their identification with Moses and his headship over them. Similarly, believers identify with Jesus Lordship in the baptism of the Spirit. The language of baptism is therefore expressive of our union with Christ by faith. What is ours becomes His; what is His becomes ours. Of course, Paul is not identifying water baptism as the means by which our faith union is achieved. That would contradict everything for which he has been arguing in this letter. Water baptism functioned then, as now, as a visible sign of what Christ offers through faith. It symbolizes the removal of sin from us and the placing of it upon Christ. Note that the two occasions in the New Testament where an Old Testament event is called a baptism (the crossing of the Red Sea in 1 Cor. 10:2 and the Noahic Flood in 1 Pe. 3:18-21) are both occasions where blessing is brought to one party at the expense of a curse on another. Water baptism is a sign, not only of forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ, but also of the judgment ordeal that Christ suffered in order to procure for us the blessings we enjoy in union with Him. Water baptism is not only a sign; it is also a seal. It conveys to us in visible form the promise that attaches to the sign. It says in unmistakable terms that there is forgiveness for whoever believes in Jesus Christ. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

11 2. Equality within the Family (3:28) 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. Much of what we call history is the story of three conflicts. The greatest barriers to the harmony of humanity are ethnic, economic, and gender distinctions. The multiculturalists will base everything on racial conflict. The Marxist will view history as a perpetual class struggle. The feminists will look at human relationships through the lens of gender. Of these three distinctions race, rank, and gender ethnicity was the most divisive. As far as the Jews were concerned, the whole world was divided into two parts. The distinction between Jews and Gentiles governed worship, marriage, commerce, even table fellowship. This gulf is precisely what the Judaizers wanted to maintain. They were dividing the Galatian church along racial lines, forcing Gentile Christians to choose sides. Would they remain Greek or did they have to become culturally Jewish? The second matter that Paul teaches here is that in Christ we are joined together in the family of God in spiritual equality. He establishes that baptism, not circumcision, is the sign of membership of His family. Baptism is the great badge of unity. Paul does not mean, of course, that the categories he uses here that normal divide mankind are abolished. However, those who are united spiritually with Christ are also thereby united with one another. They now have far more in common than in contrast. The divisions within society, which so often seem insuperable, fade into the background as believers are united in Christ. Being in Christ transcends and transforms our social categories. To put it another way, union with Christ establishes our communion as saints. Here Paul mentions the very things that divide us most: race, rank, and gender. These three divisions polarized the ancient world. Consider the prayer, sometimes attributed to Socrates, in which a Greek man gave thanks to God that I was not born a human being and not a beast, next a man and not a woman, thirdly, a Greek and not a barbarian. A similar prejudice often prevailed in Israel. Listen to these Jewish benedictions from the first century: Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who hast not made me a foreigner. Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who hast not made me a slave. Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who hast not made me a woman. Because of union with Christ, we are one body, one family, and there are no second class citizens in the family of God. That is what the apostle is driving at with these three pairs of distinctions. He begins with the racial distinction that has created the problem in Galatia, Jew and Gentile. Because Christ has abolished this division (cp. Eph. 2:11-22), with respect to standing in the church there are no racial or ethnic divisions. The same is true economically. Paul says there is neither slave nor free. In the church we are not to relate to people on the basis of their social or economic standing (cp. James 2:1-4). The same holds true for gender relations. Circumcision created a distinction between male and female, but this sacramental distinction no longer remains. Women as well as men are baptized to testify to their equal standing within the church of Christ. The Bible teaches that divisions of race, rank, and gender can be overcome only in Christ. Here again the emphasis falls on the all we are all God s children. The church of Jesus Christ is our first family, and in that family there are no second-class children. What God has established in Christ is nothing less than a new humanity. When it comes the salvation, there are no Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

12 differences among us. We are equal under the law and equal in the gospel. We are all equally in need of salvation and equally unable to save ourselves because of our sin. In a word, we all need the same Christ. This is one reason why Paul opposed the Judaizers so strenuously. They were drawing boundaries inside the church Jews on one side, Gentile on the other. By imposing circumcision, which was only for men, they were also excluding the women. Indeed, part of the wisdom of baptism is that it is a sacrament for everyone. All God s children are baptized into Christ. Regardless of race, rank, or gender, we are all united in Christ. There are obvious racial, social, and sexual differences among people. Paul, however, was speaking of spiritual differences differences in standing before the Lord, spiritual value, privilege, and worthiness. All spiritual blessings, resources, and promises are equally given to all who believe unto salvation. The kind of equality Paul has in mind is not the kind that obliterates every racial, social, or sexual distinction. Galatians 3:28 is sometimes misused so as to contradict what the New Testament says elsewhere about Jews and Gentiles, slaves and masters, or men and women. The church is not a raceless, classless, androgynous society. With regard to our physical and social identity, we continue to be what we have always been, only now we are what we are in Christ. Being in Christ establishes a fundamental unity within which our diversity can be cherished. Ethnic distinctions remain. Paul did not cease to be a Jew when he became a Christian, but continued to value his ethnic heritage. Economic differences remain too. The important thing was for Christian slaves and Christian masters to treat one another as brothers and sisters in Christ (cp. Col. 3:22-4:1). Gender differences remain as well. Here Paul s grammar is significant, for Galatians 3:28 reads literally, There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male and female. This may be a deliberate echo of Genesis 1:27. It reminds us that the difference between the male and the female goes back to the creation itself. Our God-given gender has implications for our unique spiritual responsibilities in the home and in the church, without threatening our fundamental equality in Christ. We note that this abolition of distinction of standing is not an abolition of distinction of function or authority. God has appointed authority structures between master and servant, employer and employee. In the family God has commanded children to obey their parents and wives to be in submission to their husbands. In the church, God teaches that office bearers are to be men and that women are not to teach or exercise authority over men (cp. 2 Tim. 2:11-15). Therefore, within the equality that belongs to all in the body of Christ, there remains a diversity of authority and rule. Moreover, in the church, we may rightly glory in our heritage and culture. There is nothing wrong with cultural distinctive, as long as we do not make them marks of superiority in the Church. The church is not the great melting pot in which we must lose all cultural distinctions, but rather a place where they come together under the headship of Christ and actually are part of the beauty of the church. Heaven will be like a great bazaar, an international market, in which all the cultures of the earth will be represented. Of course, all that is unbiblical will have been removed and all that is biblical will be brought to perfection. So we may rejoice in our culture, not arrogantly, but with humility, recognizing that there are good things in various cultures. To summarize: our ethnic, social, and sexual distinctions continue to exist. But since we are in Christ, these distinctions do not divide us. They do not determine our standing in God s family. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12

13 We have the best and truest fellowship when we recognize our diversity, but see it as less important than our unity in Christ. 3. Eternity with the Family (3:29) And if you are Christ s, then you are Abraham s seed, and heirs according to the promise. The third matter Paul states here is, because of this union, we have entered into the fullness of our inheritance. Because of faith in Christ, we are reckoned as descendants of Abraham. In other words, the Gentile Christian is as much a descendant of Abraham as the Jewish Christian. God s new humanity in Christ is not just for the here and now, it is for all eternity. Having begun with Abraham (3:6) Paul now returns to Abraham (3:29). His aim is to underline the unity of God s administration of grace. Jewish believers in trusting the promise made to Abraham had, in effect, been trusting in Jesus Christ; this is what the promise to Abraham signaled. And just like them, Gentile Christians are also children of Abraham. The words heirs according to the promise signify firstly that the inheritance is secure, being promised by a changeless God. Nothing can annul the promise, nothing can dilute or alter it. Unlike the law, it depends in no way upon man s obedience. It is only God s free grace that guarantees the inheritance. Secondly, according to the promise means that the inheritance is exactly what was promised. The things promised to Abraham, and through him to Christ, who receives them on our behalf, are the things actually given. To say that we are all sons of God has nothing to do with being masculine. Sonship means that we will inherit everything God has every promised to give His children forgiveness of sin, heaven, eternal life, and all the rest of it. The inheritance then belongs to us on the basis of promise believed and not by works performed. Our inheritance is not something that is postponed until heaven; it begins now. There are at least three things involved in this inheritance. First, there are the spiritual benefits that are ours in Christ: regeneration, faith, justification, adoption, sanctification, union, redemption, assurance, boldness in prayer, and so on. All these things are ours right now as part of our inheritance. Second, there is eternal life itself. We have begun to participate in eternal life, but at our death we will enter into the personal glorification that will be perfected at the second coming of Christ. Third, the inheritance includes the earth itself. The earth does not belong to the wicked; the earth belongs to the family of God. Part of our inheritance, if we are in Christ, is that we may enjoy the beauty of this world that Christ has made. We can enjoy food, music, gardens and trees, history, geography, and geology; all of these things are ours in Christ. For next time: Read Galatians 4:1-11. Galatians Notes.doc p Jan-12