April 27, 2023 | Be On Mission
Faith vs. Law
Scripture: Galatians 3 (NIV)
1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? 4 Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 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.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Devotional
In the third chapter of Galatians, we continue to bore deeper into the controversy of whether Gentiles had to follow the Jewish rules and rituals in order to become Christian. Here, Paul used God’s covenant with Abraham (in Genesis) to illustrate that the Lord promised to bless the Gentiles long before the law was given (in Exodus and beyond).
He summed up this argument by stating, “For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise” (Galatians 3:18). That grace is given through Abraham’s seed, Jesus Christ. For Paul, everything from the eternal past points forward to Jesus, and everything into the eternal future points back to Jesus. Without Jesus, the law is powerless to free us from sin. Only faith in Jesus can do that!
Look at the metaphors Paul used to express what he was getting at. Speaking of the Old Testament law, he wrote:
“But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe” (v. 22).
“We were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed” (v. 23).
“So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith” (v. 24).
Locked up. Held in custody. Our guardian. This is the grip sin has on our lives. We can’t overcome sin by working hard to overcome sin. Only Jesus can do that. He alone frees us from sin. He alone unlocks sin’s prison doors. He alone makes us worthy to call God our Father. As verses 25-27 say, “Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
Jesus has unlocked the prison doors. Are there any areas of life where you are staying in the jail cell, hoping to get out on good behavior, when you can just walk free?
Poem
Faith
Only faith can move a mountain
Only faith can calm a sea
Only faith through Christ, a gracing
Only faith can set me free
Only faith, not works or goodness
Only faith, no law can bring
Only faith through Christ’s redemption
Only faith, salvation sings
For in faith, a gift from Spirit
For in faith, we meet our Lord
For in faith, we stand forgiven
For in faith, this treasure stored
So with faith, we boldly enter
So with faith, we live alive
So with faith, we face all hurdles
So with faith, with Christ abide
