Dr. Rodney Plunket

Galatians 3:1-4:7

This morning’s lesson is the third in our series from the apostle Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia.  We will be focusing this morning on Galatians (Gal) 3:1-4:7, so please turn in your Bibles to that portion of this letter.

This section of Galatians is particularly difficult to interpret.  The New Testament scholar, Frank J. Matera, in an article published in July of 2000, writes, “Galatians 3:7-14 is one of the most difficult passages in Galatians, and 3:10 may be the most disputed text of the letter” (“Galatians in Perspective:  Cutting a New Path through Old Territory,” Inter­pretation 54 [July 2000]: 240).  What makes Gal 3:1ff and especially 3:7-14 so difficult is that the view of the Law which Paul conveys here is not easy to grasp.  Let’s begin our attempt at understanding this letter by focusing upon the verse that Matera says “may be the most disputed text of the letter.”  Please look with me at Gal 3:10.  “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.’”  Some believe that Paul is targeting those who are trying to be saved by keeping the Law and that he is telling them that such an effort will only curse them.  The problem with that view is that scholars can find little indication that even non-Christian Jews of Paul’s day viewed Law-keeping in that manner.  It seems clear that the agitators disturbing the Galatian churches are Jewish Christians.  Why would Jewish Christians view the Law in a more legalistic way than non-Christian Jews did?  It seems unlikely.

That is why many scholars argue that the view Paul is targeting the view that even non-Jewish Christians must adopt a Jewish way of life if they are to remain loyal to their God.  I think that is the view Paul is targeting here and throughout this letter.  It is not the kind of legalism we normally think of when we hear that term.  We normally think of legalism as an effort to save oneself by obeying law.  Now I think that legalism is anti-Christian and anti-grace, and I think that Paul’s words in Galatians can be appropriately applied to legalism, but it is much more likely that what Paul is specifically addressing is a some­what nuanced type of legalism.  According to that view, as I understand it, Law-keeping did not bring you into relationship with God.  No, these people believed that the faithfulness of Christ saved you.  But to stay within the con­fines of that salvation they believed that a saved person had to keep the Law.

How does Paul respond to this form of legalism?  I think Paul argues that the Law as an object of external doing––i.e., as an add-on to the faithful­ness of Christ––can lead only to being cursed.  I think Paul knows that for two reasons.  First, I think Paul knows that our external doing is inferior to the faithfulness of Christ.  Paul knows that our external doing of law could not contribute a thing.  He knows that Christ’s faithfulness makes all external doing “rubbish.”  He makes that clear in Philippians (Php) 3:7-11.  Once a per­son has truly apprehended what Paul in Php 3:8 calls “the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus,” then any “righteousness of my own that comes from the law” (Php 3:9) is seen as rubbish.  I think Paul’s point is that if “a right­eous­ness of my own that comes from the law” is “rubbish” with regard to saving me, then it is “rubbish” with regard to keeping me saved.  It is just “rubbish,” period.  Second, I think Paul knows that to turn to Law-keeping in order to retain one’s place among the saved is a turning away from the power of Christ.

Now, I do not think that Paul believes that the Law of Moses, in and of itself, was designed to be a curse.  I do not think that Paul believes that the Law was designed to make a person feel guilty so they would know their need for grace.  In Php 3:6 Paul is referring to his own life under the Law when he says that “as to the righteousness which is in the Law” he was “found blame­less.”  That comment does not indicate that the Law made Paul feel guilty even when he lived under it.  In addition, in Acts 23:1, Paul, in Jerusalem before the ruling council of the Jews, says, “Brothers, I have lived my life with a per­fectly good conscience before God up to this day.”  Another indication of Paul’s high view of the Law and the Old Testament (OT) as a whole is his statement in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 where he says,

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that every­one who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

We should remember that when Paul wrote those words, the only Scripture recognized by the early church as Scripture was the OT.  Many of the writings which we now call the New Testament (NT) had not yet been written, and the works that had been written had not yet come together into the collection that we now possess.  Paul’s view of the Law in Galatians must be shaped by an understanding of the Law and the OT as revealed elsewhere in his writings.

But Paul knows that Law-keeping is rubbish now because the transcen­dent faithfulness of Christ has introduced a new power into the world, a new power that transforms those who trust in Christ.  It transforms them from the inside out.  We are transformed by the living Christ who lives inside of us and recreates us by His power.  A Law-keeping approach is so paltry by compari­son.  Why, Paul wonders, would anyone choose it over the new way brought into the world by the power of Christ?

Paul, in Gal 3:1, hints at what he thinks is causing the Christians in Galatia to choose Law-keeping over the new way brought into the world by Christ.  Please look with me at that verse.  Paul says, “You foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you?  It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!”  The word translated as “bewitched” here is found nowhere else in the NT, but it was the word commonly used for “the evil eye.”  The evil eye was an eye believed to have the power to bring misfortune.  The persons who had the power of the evil eye were thought to be full of envy and greed.

So Paul is suggesting here that the Galatian Christians have fallen under a sinister spiritual power comparable to the power of the evil eye.  In addition, he is likely implying that the motives of the agitators are envy and greed (see Bruce W. Longenecker, “‘Until Christ is Formed in You’: Suprahuman Forces and Moral Character in Galatians,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 61 [January 1999]: 94-95).  Paul wants his readers to realize that by turning to Law-keep­ing they are leaving the power of the faithfulness of Christ.  They are leaving that power for the kind of spiritual power characteristic of the evil eye––a power of malevolent envy and greed.

Now please look with me at Gal 3:2-5.  I will be reading this passage from the New American Standard Bible.

This is the only thing I want to find out from you:  did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?  Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?  Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Paul wants them to remember how they began their walk with Jesus.  They began by hearing the gospel with faith, and that hearing with faith opened them up to the power of the Holy Spirit of God which works miracles among them.  It was not “works of the Law.”  It was faith and the power of the Spirit.

Now look with me at Gal 3:6-9.  This time I will read out of the New International Version:

Consider Abraham:  “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  Understand, then, that those who believe [better: those who are of faith] are children of Abraham.  The 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.”  So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

It may be that the agitators in Galatia are claiming that the non-Jewish Christians there are missing out on the promise made to Abraham because they are not keeping the Law given to the physical descendants of Abraham.  Paul responds by pointing to the biblical fact that Abraham was saved because he believed/had faith.  He was not saved because he kept the Law.  Therefore, Paul argues, “those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

Now please look with me at Gal 3:10-14.  Even though we have already read verse (v) 10, I want to read it again within its relevant context.

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”  Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”  But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, “Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.”  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written,  “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

In this section Paul uses three Old Testament passages to respond to the attrac­tion of Law-keeping.  He begins, in Gal 3:10, by quoting from a verse in the books of the Law.  He quotes Deut 27:26’s statement that “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”  Whatever the agitators are promising as the benefit of Law-keeping, Paul says the real outcome is curse.  I suspect that Paul is arguing from the awareness that, since Christ has come, true divine blessings come only through Him.  All that remains from Law-keeping is the curse of not keeping it all.

Remember, before Christ came transgressions of the Law were forgiven through repentance and sacrifice.  Now forgiveness is found only in Christ Jesus.  So there is nothing to be derived from Law-keeping but curse.

Paul quotes a second OT passage in Gal 3:11.  He quotes Habakkuk 2:4, which says, “the righteous shall live by faith.”  He uses this Old Testament prophetic passage to show that the new way of living for those welcomed by God is to “live by faith” and not by works of the Law/not by Law-keeping.

The third OT quotation is found in Gal 3:12 which says, “Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.”  This quotation comes from Leviticus 18:5.  Again Paul uses a statement from the books of the Law to show that Law-keeping is centered on doing “the works of the Law.”

I should point out that the Law of Moses is concerned about faith and trust and belief and not just external observance.  For example, in Deut 1:32 Moses rebukes the people of Israel and says, “you have no trust in the Lord your God.”  And in Deut 32:20 Moses quotes God at a time when God was angry with the Israelites.  God said, “I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness.”  In the Greek translation of the OT the word translated as “faithfulness” is the exact same Greek word that Paul uses in Galatians to mean “faith” and “faithfulness” (pistis).  So the Law originally encouraged and relied on faith.  That is why I think Paul in Galatians is expressing that a great change has taken place due to the coming of Christ.  Now Law-keeping to keep oneself saved is nothing but an empty observance that curses those who turn to it.

Paul then, in Gal 3:13, quotes from Deut 21:23 which says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”  This verse might appear to be a rather uncom­fortable verse for the early Christians.  The logic is pretty impressive:  Jesus died on a cross.  He hung on a tree.  Therefore, he cannot be the Christ/the Messiah, because he is cursed.  Paul sees that Jesus on the cross is Jesus’ way of becoming a curse for us, thereby freeing us from the curse that Law-keeping would place upon us.

And I want to read Gal 3:13-14 again.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us––for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”—in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Christ’s redemption and resulting deliverance from the curse opens the way for us to “receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”  We do not receive the Holy Spirit through “the works of the Law”; we receive the Holy Spirit through faith.

Now look with me at Gal 3:15-18.

Brothers and sisters, I give an example from daily life:  once a person’s will has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it.  Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say,  “And to offsprings,” as of many; but it says, “And to your offspring,” that is, to one person, who is Christ.  My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previ­ously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.  For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.

Paul, back in Gal 3:8, quotes God’s promise to Abraham that “all nations will be blessed through you.”  Here in vv 15-18 he again refers to that promise and declares that the Law, which came a long time after the promise, does not counter or negate that promise.  That promise is like a will/a covenant; it can­not be added to or annulled.  Paul wants his readers to know that the inheri­tance of God comes via the promise and not via the Law.

Paul in these verses is also beginning a very important argument that extends through Gal 4:7.  Paul argues that the Law of Moses only had effect from the giving of that Law on Mount Sinai to the finished work of Christ.  Once Christ’s work was completed, the force of that Law ended.  Now be reminded of something we noted in the first lesson on the Book of Galatians.  Be reminded that Paul is interested in Christians fulfilling the Law.  We saw that in Gal 5:14 and Gal 6:2.  We fulfill the Law when we love our neighbor as ourselves.  So the force of the Law ends relative to external observance.  It does not end relative to defining the goal of the internal transformation which Christ produces within us by His power.

Now I want us to read a lot of verses.  I want to do that do so you can fill the power of Paul’s argument concerning the time-limited function of the Law.  Please follow along and feel the power of this argument.  We will read Gal 3:19-4:7.

Why then the law?  It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring would come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a mediator.  Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one.

Is the law then opposed to the promises of God?  Certainly not!  For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law.  But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through [the faithfulness of Jesus Christ] might be given to those who [have faith].

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.  Therefore the law was our disci­p­linarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.  As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

My point is this:  heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father.  So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world.  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.  And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying,  “Abba!  Father!”  So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

Clearly there are more points in this passage than I can cover this morning, but I want to point out a couple of things.  First, I hope you saw the argument that runs right through this passage.  The Law’s power over people was during a particular time.  Notice that in Gal 3:24-25 Paul, in the New Revised Standard Version, refers to the Law as “a disciplinarian.”  The Greek word used here refers to a slave in the ancient world whose role was to look after school age children until they matured.  These slaves were not really teachers it seems, but they did make sure that the children they looked after were taken to schools and did their homework.  But once a child was no longer a child/once a child matured, the slave’s function ended.  They no longer had any authority over that person.  Paul says that the role of the Law was like that.  Once the new way inaugurated by Christ entered the world, then the old way of the Law was ended.  That surely puts an end to Law-keeping.

Paul’s point is clear:  To become a Law-keeper/to relate to God like that/to practice that sort of religion is to live as if Christ had not come.  It is like living as a slave when freedom has been granted.  Let me read a story from “Slaves in a Free Land” by Harry J. Robinson.

A man by the name of Victor E. Frankl recounted his experiences in a German concentration camp during WWII in his book, Man Search for Meaning.  In the book he told of finally being freed by the Allied forces.  The camp was liberated and the gates of their camp were opened.  The Nazi flag was taken down and a white flag was flown.  The German soldiers changed into civilian clothes and gave cigarettes to the former prisoners.

What surprised me in the reading of this account was the fact that after the prisoners walked around free outside the camp that day in fields of flowers, they returned to their huts in the camp that evening.  They couldn’t feel joy of believe they were free.  They returned to the con­fines of their former prison”

Why is it, when freedom is before us, we choose to stay in our individual prisons?  (<http://www.familylifefellowship.org/freedom.­Html>)

That is the same question that Paul is asking his readers.  Why, when you have received salvation through the faithfulness of Christ Jesus would you even con­sider becoming a slave to Law-keeping?  May Paul’s message penetrate our hearts, and cause us never to practice a religious faith that is characterized by keeping laws and rules that are focused on the external.  Let’s truly put our faith in Christ and what He has done.  Let’s take hold of the all-sufficiency of His faithfulness.  Then Christ will live and work within us, changing us from the inside out by His power.  Christianity does not change people by will power; it changes people by the God’s power through the Christ who lives within us.  Rely on that power.  Open yourself wide to that power; and God will use you to shine to the glory of Jesus, the faithful Son of God.

As I studied this section of Galatians, a word group jumped out at me.  That word group is comprised of the noun that comes into English as “prom­ise” and the verb that comes into English as “to promise.”  In this letter as a whole, members of that word group are employed a total of eleven times.  All but two of those occurrences are in this section.  You can find the relevant terms in Gal 3 vv 14, 16, 17, 18 (where it is used twice), 19, 21, 22, & 29.  That many occurrences of this word group all packed in here together make it fairly clear to me that in this section Paul is especially focused upon the con­cept of promise.

What is the promise as Paul describes it here?  It is the salvation that has spread beyond the people of Israel to everyone who puts their faith in the faith­fulness of Jesus.

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