Galatians 3: 23-39

Precis:

Today, we’re going to look at three aspects of this passage from Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia; Before, Then, and Now.

Before, we were in custody under the law, locked up; the law was our guardian.

Then, we were justified by faith, no longer under a guardian so children through faith, clothed in Christ.

Now, we are one in Christ Jesus, sons and heirs of the promise.

Before: vs. 23-24a: “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”

The law as guardian, or paidagogos. Yes, a big word. In Greek ‘agogos’ means “leader"; a paidagogos was a slave who led boys to school and back, but also taught them manners and tutored them after school. In time, pedagogue came to mean simply "teacher;" and today the word has an old-fashioned ring to it, so it is used to refer to a stuffy, boring teacher, although for the students, it has come to mean a holiday, a pedagogical day.

A paidagogos was responsible for the child. The purpose of the law as our guardian was to punish misbehaviour and protect us from outside influence. It divided, set us apart defining outsiders and insiders; in it we were made holy.

Today we often misunderstand the purpose of the law. It was not given to condemn the world and save Israel, nor condemn evil and save the self-righteous, but to teach, enlighten, and point to what was to come.

Then: 24b-27: “²⁴ 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.”

We are justified by faith because Christ has come. No longer under the guardianship of the law; we are justified alone by faith in Jesus; transformed because Christ dwells in us; we are clothed with Jesus righteousness and baptized as His disciples.

Now: 28-29: “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.”

We are all one in Christ Jesus; sons and heirs to the same inheritance, and promise given to Abraham. There is no separation between Jew and Gentile, insider and outsider; the purpose of the guardian, the law, is fulfilled and is no longer needed. Paul states in Ephesians 4:5-6; “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

 

So lets begin:

Before - The Law as Guardian:

In his letter Paul has just derided the church at Galatia for retuning to legalistic traditions after having received the Gospel of Christ by faith in Jesus, even calling them foolish for this. He argues that the promise given to Abraham of a seed, singular, referring to Jesus, who would restore God’s kingdom and rule in righteousness and justice forever, is God’s sufficient provision for their, and our, salvation. Galations 3:5-9; “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? So also Abraham ‘believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham saying, ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

But someone might ask, why the law at all? So Paul wants to establish a sense of balance, describing what purpose calling out the children of Israel and the giving of the law did serve, answering the question, “Why was the law annexed, or added, if the promise to Abraham and faith is enough?”. Paul asks in Galatians 3:19; “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.”

The law was not another way of salvation; it was given because of transgression, to shed light on their need for salvation and that it can only be fulfilled through a sacrifice. The law is the knowledge of sin, as Paul said in Romans 3:20; “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” The law was given, essentially, to convince them of their sin and to restrain them from the commission of sin. In the Israelites God demonstrated inexorably that even with His extreme grace, inexhaustible patience, and divine mercy, no one could attain to a sufficient holiness.

As well, Paul notes that the law was given for this purpose till the seed should come to whom the promise refers, “until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come” that long only and no more. The law as guardian had a built-in expiry clause.

Paul also adds, “The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.” It was given to different persons, and in a different manner from the promise to Abraham, and therefore for different purposes. The promise was made to Abraham, and all his spiritual seed, including believers of all nations, even of the Gentiles as well as the Jews; but the law was given to the Israelites as a peculiar people, holy and separated from the rest of the world.

Paul was very clear, there wasn’t anything wrong with the law given to Moses. After all it came from God. However, it was given not as a part of the redemptive plan, but to point out sin so that it could be recognized as such. The law was given as a paidagogos, a guardian or a teacher. It then, was bounded in scope, application, and had a limited period of time in which to be in effect, only until the promise itself was fulfilled.

Then - Justified by Faith:

However, we are not to continue under a schoolmaster, a guardian, once we have come to be sons and heirs with Christ. We are to be freed from bondage and servitude and brought into a state of greater light and liberty. What Paul was addressing is pertinent for us today. We may ask if law was useful in its day why would it not continue to be so under the Christian state as well?

The apostle asserts in verse twenty-five that after faith has come, and the gospel dispensation has taken place, under which Christ, and the way of pardon and life through faith in him are manifest, we are no longer under a schoolmaster, no longer accounted servants, but sons; not by self-righteousness but by faith, relying on Him alone for justification. John 1:12 reiterates this also “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” We cannot be sons and heirs, yet remain under a tutor.

Then, in verse twenty-six, Paul introduces a key component saying we are baptized into Christ; an element which for Paul is rich in significance. In his letter to the church at Philippi Paul said, “For it is we who are the circumcision“(Phil 3:3). Circumcision was the sign given to Abraham of the promise. It was not part of the guardian, the law, and so does not end or disappear with the law. For us it is a circumcision of the heart, which is manifest in baptism, by which we tell the world we are disciples of Jesus, heirs of the promise given to Abraham, sons of God.

In baptism believers have borne witness to being reclothed in Christ. God himself has borne witness to their faith by sending the Holy Spirit into their hearts. Further in Galatians 4:6 Paul says “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’” We are now designated as the spiritual seed of Abraham and the heirs of God’s promises.

This goes back to our discussion a couple of weeks ago concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, dwells in us; He writes the law on our hearts; so that we are in Christ, and He is in us and so we glorify God as his spiritually circumcised people.

Now - One in Jesus:

Now, what does this bring us to? That the law, the Mosaic covenant, caused division.

The law indeed made a difference between Jew and Greek, giving the Jews on many accounts the pre-eminence, and that also made a difference between bond and free, master and servant, and between male and female, the males being circumcised. Much like the tower of Babel, where, because of pride and stubbornness, God divided the peoples by confusing their language, He made a dwelling place with the people of Israel by dividing them through the law from other peoples and dividing the Levites from the common people, and the priests from the Levites and finally the High Priest alone who could enter the holy of holies but once a year.

But it is not so now; we all stand on the same ground of justification by faith and are all one in Christ Jesus. In Galatians Paul asserts our spiritual and social relationships are transformed in Christ. Verses twenty-six and seven speak of our spiritual relationship: “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.” and verse twenty-eight of our social relationship: “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.”

We are baptized into Christ, a sign that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant, which is the fulfilment of the first covenant with Abraham. There is no longer a distinction. We are all justified in the same manner as Abraham was, through faith in Jesus, who is the ‘seed’ promised in God’s covenant with him.

We all wear the same suit of clothes, which is the righteousness of Christ, and that not of ourselves or our own good deeds or faithfulness to church or creed. God recognizes us, because we wear this robe of faith in Jesus and without it, we are still under the curse of sin and death. In verse twenty-nine Paul asserts we are all the same family, Abraham’s seed, “²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

We are not Presbyterians, or Anglicans, or Baptists or Pentecostals. We are not good people who don’t have much truck with church, nor devout followers who make church our home. We may be different in gender and nationality, language and preferred style of worship, social status and education, but we all come before God with the same and equal appeal for forgiveness and justification; that is Jesus Christ alone; clothed only in His righteousness, with none of our own for that is, as Isaiah so fitly describes, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Is 64:6).

We are all, through faith in Jesus, made children, sons and daughters in the same family, and it’s high time we learned to get along. To love one another, be caring and compassionate with each other, to concern ourselves with the interests and needs of our family. After all, we all come to God our Father dressed in the same ‘nice suit’.

Today, appropriate for this Father’s Day, let's set our hearts on giving our Father in heaven a family He’ll be pleased to call His own.

Amen