Galatians 3
1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
2 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?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
4 Did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain?
Do you know that it is possible to suffer for Christ in vain – that is, uselessly? That is, you can suffer for Christ and still fall away and end up in hell?
Having made sufficient strong statements to get the attention of his readers Paul now takes off his ‘concerned parent’ hat and puts on his 'theology professor' hat and gives the Galatians an insightful lesson in Christian theology.
5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
God never intended for man to attain salvation by keeping the Law. We can see that from the example of how Abraham attained righteousness, something that happened even before the Law was given.
6 Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.
How did Abraham attain righteousness (or salvation) in the sight of God? By keeping the Law? No. He received it by believing God. This happened even before the Law was given. And this is the way we too attain righteousness. Those who have faith like Abraham did are the ‘spiritual’ sons of Abraham, in the sense that they have the same believing nature.
8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "" ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.'‘
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
How do we know that this method for attaining righteousness applies to us too? It is because God told Abraham that all nations will be blessed through Abraham. It is as if God said that since Abraham is able to have faith then so can everyone else and so salvation by faith is a fair way to bring salvation to all of mankind, Jew and Gentile. Further, the seed of Abraham i.e. Jesus Christ would make the payment for that salvation.
10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "" CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.'‘
The thing about trying to earn your salvation by keeping the Law is that you are successful only if you keep all of the Law, all the time. If you can’t do that then you incur the curse. The curse is condemnation to hell.
11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "" THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.'‘
12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "" HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.'‘
If you decide to practice the Law then your life, or spiritual life, or salvation, will be based on whether you keep the Law – not just some of it, but all of it, throughout your life.
That has been shown to be impossible.
That is why God states that the way to get spiritual life is via faith.
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us for it is written, ""CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE’"
14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
The curse of the Law dooms us to hell because we had to keep all of it all the time to be saved, and such a thing was impossible.
Through Christ we escape having hell. That is, if Christ didn’t come then keeping the Law would be the only way to be saved, and no one would end up getting saved.
By paying the price for our sins while He was on the cross, Christ bore the curse (of hell) incurred by trying to attain salvation by keeping the Law.
15 Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.
16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ""And to seeds,'' as referring to many, but rather to one, "" And to your seed,'' that is, Christ.
17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
God made a promise to Abraham and to his seed, Jesus. The promise was concerning how salvation from sin would be made available. To Abraham, the promise was that salvation from sin would be via the same faith that Abraham demonstrated and resulted in him being deemed righteous. To Jesus, the promise was that He would make the payment for the sins of the world.
The Law came later, as a band aid (or temporary arrangement), so to speak. Since it came after the promise it doesn’t nullify the God’s promise. If a man’s promise, once ratified, must be kept, how much more God’s promise!
18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
Attaining salvation by the Law is not compatible with attaining salvation via God’s promise of making it available through faith. You have to choose one only.
19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.
The Law was needed because people had a flesh through which they would be tempted and if they didn’t stop themselves then they would be doing all kinds of terrible things. So there had to be temporal punishment to limit the evil that came to be.
20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.
God promised that salvation would be made available through Christ, the seed of Abraham, via an inheritance. This is how all nations would be blessed in Abraham. This promise did not need a covenant (an agreement between two parties) because there were no conditions to it for Abraham. Since there was no covenant there was also no need for a mediator, as only one party – God – was making the promise.
All of the sons of Abraham (those who believed like Abraham did) could avail of the promise. And upon availing the promise, the Holy Spirit would dwell in us and make us sons of God so that we could inherit what God promised – His character.
21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.
If it were possible for man to keep the Law then God would have used the Law as a means for saving people. But keeping the Law was not possible. But that doesn’t mean that the Law was contrary to the promises of God. Rather, it was a temporary stop gap.
22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
The fact that no one was able to keep the Law meant that salvation by faith was necessary.
23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.
24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
But until salvation by faith became available we had to have the Law to ensure that mankind would not destroy itself by giving in to whatever evil they were tempted to do. Further, in trying to keep the Law mankind would realize that there was a need for a means of salvation other than keeping the Law.
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
But now that salvation by faith is available, we don’t need the Law anymore (except for those who haven’t believed Christ and are not saved).
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
The cool thing about salvation by faith is that it is given for all. The Law divided between the Jews and the Gentiles. But that division, or separation, went away when salvation by faith became available. So circumcision, which was the means by which Jews and Gentiles were divided, is no longer applicable.
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.
When you believe like Abraham did and thereby belong to Christ then you are considered to be Abraham’s descendants, and as his heir you will inherit what God promised to Abraham – the salvation that comes by faith in Christ.
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