Galatians 3:19-29
The Purpose of the Law
19 Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one. 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on 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. 29 If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
The epistle to the Galatians is about an age-old debate. How is a person made right with God? Paul is writing this letter to the Galatians to remind them of the gospel he preached to them; that you are made right with God, just as Abraham the father of the Jewish nation was made right-by faith, trust, belief in God.
But certain Jewish individuals had come to the Galatian churches after Paul left, and told the Gentiles that in order to be right with God, they had to become Jews. The males had to be circumcised, and they had to follow all of the laws of Moses, in the Old Testament.
This debate has been raging from ages past. Ever since Adam and Eve broke that first commandment of God, people have been searching for the answer. Adam and Eve sewed together fig leaves, which was the first human work designed to cover sin. God instead gave them coats of skins, a blood sacrifice to cover them. Religions have been developed to answer man’s questions, and to get him to the place of “rightness” before God. And it has been a frustrating search for truth, because man has a natural bent toward sin.
And so men have answered the question, how can I be made right with God, really in only two ways. Of all the religions in the world, they can all come under two classifications; religions built on human work, (rites, rituals, good deeds) and religions built on God’s work. (the cross)
The ones built on human work are innumerable. Roman Catholicism teaches that you have to take the mass, go to confession, do penance, and even after this life you will likely spend millions of years in purgatory bearing the punishment for your sins.
In Mormonism the Mormon male has 12 steps to follow to insure his entrance into the celestial kingdom, the highest of 3 “heavens” (celestial, telestial, terrestrial) in mormonism ” This comes from the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board. 1st Faith 2nd Repentance (This is defined by working hard to follow God’s commands, and if you do so, then eventually God will forgive you. 3rd Baptism by immersion in a Mormon church 4th Laying on of Hands by a Member of the Melchizedek Priesthood in Order to Receive the Holy Ghost 5th Ordination as a Melchizedek Priest (for males only) 6th Receiving the Temple Endowments-rites, rituals, and instructions 7th Celestial Marriage
8th Observing the Word of Wisdom-abstinence from alcohol and hot drinks 9th Sustain the Prophet—abide by the commands and words of the presidents/prophets of the Mormon church 10th Tithing—giving 1/10th of your income to the church 11th Sacrament Meetings—being present weekly at a Mormon meeting to receive the sacraments of bread and water 12th Obedience-- Obedience to the Church, its teachings, and the prophet is essential for the Mormon to gain exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom.—kind of a catch all.
Well what if I am content with the 2nd level of heaven, the terrestrial. Good news, you don’t have to be so entrenched in the Mormon church. The terrestrial kingdom is for those who were deceived about the true church, but were still honorable people. In short, they still attain that kingdom by works.
Ok, so maybe I’m happy with the lowest heaven—the telestial. How do I go there? Well I’ve got bad news. Those who go to the telestial, have to go to Hell first, until they are redeemed by Christ at the finishing of His Work. Under that, of course, is perdition, or Hell, where you go if you do not believe or even try to be good.
It's a works system.
But Paul has written in Galatians to get these people back to believing in God’s work alone. The work done by Jesus on the cross, and that we only make ourselves right by having faith. And he is defending that gospel against a formidable works-based group; Judaizers. Jewish people who were trying to convince the Gentiles that they need to follow all of the Old Testament law in order to be right with God.
And they are a formidable foe because the Old Testament did call on the Jews to abide by all the laws, and pronounced a curse on them if they didn’t. So remember last time how Paul, showed the Galatians that God made two covenants, or contracts in the Old Testament. The first one, between God, Abraham, and Abraham’s offspring (Christ) was a contract based entirely on faith, even with Abram, not works. And in it all the world can be blessed by putting on Christ, and inheriting the blessing.
The second covenant, the law of Moses, came 430 years later. It was made with the Jewish nation of Israel. But, Paul pointed out, the only thing you will get from it is a curse. Because you are only blessed if you keep all of it. You are cursed if you break any of it.
Paul summarizes these two contracts;
19 .… It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one.
Now the last part of verse 19, and verse 20 summarize the point Paul made in the last sermon.
It (the law) was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.
When God gave the law, the second covenant, He gave it through Moses. It was a contract between Himself and Israel. The party of Israel was represented by Moses, and God was represented by angels.
But by contrast, the first covenant, with Abraham, only had one party involved; God. Since it was not a two-sided agreement, Abram didn’t have to do anything. God made an agreement with Himself. So Paul says;
20 Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one.
So that’s where we left off last week. That leads us to the question for today. The Jews could easily be heard to say, We can imagine what the Judaizers might say; “You are saying that these two contracts contradict each other—Paul’s response in verse 21 is. “God forbid.”
“if a person, by the first contract, only makes themselves right with God, by simple faith, like the faith of Abraham, if the law, the second contract, that God gave only brings a curse on any who try to obey it, Why did God give the law in the first place?” Why have a second contract? Good question, and I’m glad you asked. And we’ll answer that after we have a word of prayer.
Let us pray, Heavenly Father…
Paul’s answer to that question; 4 steps away from self-righteous religion toward faith in Christ.
It defines sin for us. It shows us that we are sinners. It shows that we are incapable of living up to God’s standards (not sinning). It leads us to Christ.
I. It defines sin for us.
Now before we get to the first phrase of 19, I want to look at the second one.
A. It was always temporary.
19 Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions,
until the offspring (seed) should come to whom the promise has been made.
It was always temporary, only necessary to get us through the gap between the blessings of Abraham through faith to the blessings of Christ through faith.
The law was that clunky little donut spare tire, that is not intended for high speeds, or highway use. It’s just supposed to get you to the repair shop to get a standard tire.
19 Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions,
B. It was added because of transgressions-what does that mean?
1. Transgressions=sin, it was added because of sin—the law defines sin,
2. Because humanity’s nature is sinful—there has to be law.
Even Israel, God lead them out of Egyptian slavery with a mighty miraculous hand, when Moses was on the mountain receiving the 10 commandments, what were they doing? Fashioning a golden calf to worship.
We wouldn’t know what sin is, unless God defined it for us.
It’s interesting that today, some cities are trying to abolish the police. Their theory is somehow that all the violence in their cities is the result of the enforcement of inherently racist laws, by racist police. So get rid of the police, and voila, violence will end.
In New York City this week. 2019 murders, 357, already in this last week of June 2020 they are at 465.
But Paul is saying what most of us understand. Laws and law enforcers don’t create law breakers. We are all inherently law breakers. So the law was given to define that law breaking. It will not stop all sin, but it can help contain it.
II. It shows us that we are sinners. 2nd step away from self-righteous religion toward faith in Christ.
You say, okay, now that God has defined sin, then I’ll get busy obeying His commands. But that’s not how it works. Knowing the law does not make you law-abiding. Sometimes makes you worse. As Paul said on another occasion, before the law came, I may not even think about doing some particular evil, but once there’s a law that says, don’t do that, that’s what I want to do.
“Because of transgressions” can also mean that the law was given in order to raise man’s consciousness of his own sin. It shows us that we are sinful.
Man, without the law, wouldn’t know what sin was, and wouldn’t even be aware of how bad a sinner he is. So God gives the law, so we know the standard, and how far from Him we are.
III. It shows us that we are incapable of meeting God’s standard. Step 3 away from self-righteous religion toward faith in Christ.
So here we get to the third reason for the law. Not only did the law define sin, not only did it show men that they are sinful. It also showed men that they were utterly incapable of being anything but sinners, incapable of being righteous.
A. For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
B. Israel was imprisoned, bound to keep the law, but incapable of keeping it.
Reminds me of Joshua’s farewell speech to Israel. After he had led them in the conquest of Canaan, he’s an old crusty general, he will die soon. He gives a speech telling them to obey God, reminds them of all God has done for them, etc. They reply
Joshua 24: 18 Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve Yahweh; for he is our God.”
19 Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.
1. If any law could have saved you, it would have been God’s law.
2. But instead the law, (Scripture) became your jailor.
Think about what Paul is saying. Before you knew God’s standards, you were a sinner. After you knew God’s standards, you were a filthy sinner. In other words, knowledge didn’t help. Education didn’t help. It seems like today, that that is everyone’s answer to everything. “Well he does that because he doesn’t know any better.” We changed all of our prison system philosophy because of that. We are not putting in prison to punish you, no we want to reform you. But what we’ve found is that the education someone gets in prison, is how to be a better convict.
God gave the law, and all it seemed to do for the Israelites, was to make them guilty of more law violations. Not only were they guilty of sin, they were guilty of knowingly sinning.
Which brings us to the greatest purpose for the law.
IV. It brings us to Christ. The 4th step away from self-righteousness toward faith in Christ.
23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law
A. So, in a sense, the law was holding the Jews captive.
How so? Well I think it would be like living in a very strict society. Where there are rules about everything. The only thing comparable to it would be a household that was extremely strict and violent. So many rules. And if any are broken, vengeance is swift and cruel. That’s what Jewish society became. The common Jews ended up hating the Sabbath day, because they couldn’t do anything right. They were captive to the law.
So what’s this great 4th purpose for the law?
B. The law held them captive “confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed.”
1. The law held them in this limbo of wanting to please God, but being utterly incapable of it, until the covenant of faith could be revealed.
2. The 4th purpose is that the law escorted the Jews to Christ.
Look at how Paul describes it.
24 So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith
3. The word for “tutor” here is pedagogue. In Greek families the pedagogue was a slave who was given the responsibility of caring for a child from 6 years of age to later adolescence. He was the child’s overseer through childhood. He could discipline the child, and teach them moral lessons.
4. But after the child was grown, they no longer needed a pedagogue.
So Paul says that the law was Israel’s pedagogue. In some measure it taught them, it disciplined them. But once they came to Christ, they no longer needed the pedagogue.
V. We no longer need a tutor. (The law)
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Let me clarify something. When Paul says, when we say that we no longer need the law. Paul, and we are not advocating lawlessness. The law Paul is talking about is the legalistic standard the Jews placed on themselves, and the Gentiles to become right before God. Paul is not saying that the Gentiles are free to murder, or commit adultery. It was the laws that separated Jews from Gentiles he was referring to; circumcision, dietary laws, laws concerning special days, laws concerning dress.
And we’re not saying to people today that Christians don’t have to obey laws. All we’re saying is that you don’t earn your salvation by keeping, or not keeping laws or rituals. Those rituals and rites are no longer relevant to us.
Why not? Because we’re grown. And this applies to the Galatians and to us. When we come to Christ. Christ is in us. We don’t need all the little rules of separation from the world. As the Scripture says, we don’t need a elementary teacher to say, don’t eat that, put on a different shirt. Wash your hands. Don’t look at that, Don’t say that. We have the truth living in us. In our hearts. We no longer need long lists of do’s and don’ts because of what we have become. Listen to what Paul says we have become.
A. 26 For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
We are God’s children. We, the Galatians, despite what the Judaizers said, were fully adopted children of God, with all the privileges and rights that go along with that. Your not some unwanted step-child.
B. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:13, "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."
You Galatians have “put on Christ.” You are not only adopted as children, Christ is in you, He is on you, sort of like putting on one of those huge kingly robes from Bible days, that you become engulfed in. The law got you to Christ, but now you are adopted and immersed in Him, you don’t need legalism anymore
C. 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
So not only are you united with Christ, there are no distinctions between people in the Church. There is not caste, or class system in Christianity. God doesn’t view us as higher or lower based on human distinctions. Jews aren’t better than Greeks (Gentiles) Slaves have no greater prestige in God’s eyes than free men. Men are not superior to women, why? Because we are all one in Christ Jesus.
We are one in Jesus Christ. What does that mean? We all got our salvation the same way, not by our merit, but by faith in the Lord. And when we received the gift of salvation, we all received the same measure of the Spirit in us. Nobody gets more or less. And as far as living a life that is pleasing to God, none of us have the capacity in ourselves to please Him. It’s only as “Christ lives in me” that I can do anything. I can only do “all things” through Christ who strengthens me. So I’m not valued by God more than you, because anything good that I do, is Christ living through me. He gets all the glory.
Paul concludes by cinching up this argument over the contract of the law, and the contract of promise.
D. . 29 If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
All the promises of blessing through faith to Abraham, go to Abraham’s offspring. Who is his seed/offspring? It is Christ, and since you are in Christ and belong to Christ, you inherit the blessing of Abraham, and are his offspring.
So all the rules about how to get to heaven, are worthless. God’s not keeping a tally sheet. Let me tell you what He does have on file. .
He has a file of birth certificates. Tally sheets are for slaves to chronicle their obedience and disobedience. But at the end of the day, will the inheritance go to the slave? No, it goes to the sons and daughters. The question of Christianity is not, “How good have I been,” but “have I been born again” into the family of God by faith.
Let us pray.