Galatians 3:15-26
In his book, Up From Slavery, Booker T.
Washington tells of meeting an ex-slave from
Virginia who exemplified the kind of sacrifice that
is sometimes involved in keeping promises. This
man had entered into a contract with his master
whereby he would be allowed to purchase freedom
for himself by paying so much for so many years to
his master. And, while he was earning the money
to pay for himself, his master released him from
service on his plantation, so that he would be able
to labor wherever and for whomever he could earn
the most money.
Well, the slave went north to Ohio because the
wages were better there. But each year, he would
return to his master’s plantation to present that
year’s payment to his master. After a few years,
the Nation was embroiled in the Civil War, and
President Lincoln issued his Emancipation
Proclamation which ended slavery and brought
freedom to all the slaves, including this man. But,
he still owed his master three hundred dollars.
Now, think about this for a minute. This former
slave was free. He didn’t have to pay his former master the final
three hundred dollars to purchase his freedom—-he
had already been made free by the Emancipation
Proclamation. But he had made a promise. And he
was a man of his word. And so he walked from Ohio
back to Virginia and presented his former master
with the full amount he had promised him, down to
the last dollar.
(From a sermon by Joe La Rue, “The God Who Keeps His Promises” 1/22/2009)
Two weeks ago we looked at Galatians 3:6-14 where Paul
provided 6 OT Scriptures to support his position that
salvation is received by grace through faith. We also
looked at some of the Scriptures in Hebrews that
recognize Abraham’s faith and the fact that his faith was
credited to him as righteousness.
Today we are going to look at a few more verses in
Galatians 3 beginning with verse 15.
Let’s pray and ask God to open our eyes and hearts to
His word this morning.
Galatians 3:15-18
The Law Cannot Change God’s Promise
In verse 15 Paul starts off by stating that even a man
made covenant cannot be canceled or changed once it
has been ratified.
Ratified refers to a legal action meaning to confirm or
validate to make it legally binding.
The Bible typically describes the action of cutting a
covenant rather than making or writing it.
The two parties who are making the agreement would
take an animal and cut it in half and each person would
walk between the two pieces. The sentiment is that
nothing but death would come before keeping the
covenant.
The Judaizers have been arguing that for the Galatian
believers to receive their inheritance they would need to
become like Jews and be circumcised. They were trying
to annul or change God’s promise by arguing that the law
was given later so it must take precedence over the
promise.
But the promise Paul is referring to is not between two
men, it is between God and Abraham.
Abraham didn’t make a covenant with God,
God made the covenant with Abraham.
And this covenant isn’t dependent on Abraham meeting
any conditions. It was simply an act of grace on God’s
part.
God made the promise and God will certainly keep the
promise.
The law nor the Judaizers have any power to nullify or
change God’s original promise to Abraham.
Paul also mentions Abraham’s offspring.
The word offspring is from a Greek word meaning seed.
If we go all the way back to Genesis 3 we read that God
promises that there will be conflict between Satan’s seed
and woman’s seed.
The seed of woman refers to the coming of Christ who
will crush the head of Satan.
God promised Abraham that in him all the nations would
be blessed. That is referring to all who believe in God by
faith because of His grace.
Paul writes that the law didn’t come until 430 years after
the covenant was made with Abraham.
It has no effect on the promise.
The law has no power to change God’s promise.
Remember that God gave the promise to Abraham and
he believed God and it was counted to him as
righteousness.
The law isn’t the source of our blessing or our salvation.
Jesus is!
Galatians 3:19-20
The Law is not Greater than God’s Promise
Paul anticipates the Judaizers question to what he has
written.
Why then the law?
Paul writes that the law was a result of sin.
It was given to help people see their sin.
I saw a story in Galveston, TX, a hotel on the shore
of the Gulf of Mexico put this notice in each room –
“No Fishing From the Balcony” Yet every day, hotel
guests threw in their lines to the waters below.
Then the management decided to take down the
signs–and the fishing stopped! The Law shows sin
and stimulates sin!
The law was never intended to be the ultimate answer to
the problem of sin.
The law was given until the fullness of God’s plan to have
Jesus come to earth and take away the sins of mankind.
What we see in these verses is that:
The Law is Temporary
When God promised Abraham, He said, I will make you a
great nation. This was all God’s work.
When the law was delivered through Moses God said,
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice
and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured
possession among all peoples, for all the earth is
mine;” Exodus 19:5
This was dependent upon the people keeping their end of
the bargain. But they clearly couldn’t do it. And God
knew because He knows everything.
We also see that:
The Law Requires a Mediator
God used Moses and angels to be the mediator between
the nation of Israel and God. Remember how afraid the
people were when Moses went up on the mountain to
receive the law from God. There was thunder and smoke
and the people were terrified. But Moses stood between
the people and God.
And the people would never be able to keep the law.
The point here though is that the Law is not Greater than
the Promise.
Galatians 3:21-26
The Law does not Contradict God’s Promise
The law doesn’t give life.
If it could then Jesus wouldn’t have needed to die on the
cross.
Galatians 2:21 “I do not nullify the grace of God,
for if righteousness were through the law, then
Christ died for no purpose.”
The law was given to reveal sin.
The law sets the standard of holiness.
Just as God is holy we are to also be holy.
The law shows us our sin and how unholy and
unrighteous we are compared to God.
We ought to view our sin as Isaiah did when he was in
the temple and he saw how unclean he was in
comparison to God.
The law helps prepare the way for Christ.
Before faith the law held us captive.
Paul refers to the law as their guardian.
This word means something different than we think of it
today.
It was the word used for the person who would take
children to and from school and make sure they behaved.
They would discipline and protect the children.
Their role was to help the child mature and learn what
was necessary.
The law was put in place temporarily to help us see our
need for a savior.
The law has never saved anyone, and it never will.
God did not give it to redeem us from sin but to
show us our need of salvation… In an unforgettable
sermon, evangelist Fred Brown used three images
to describe the purpose of the law.
First, he likened it to the small mirror dentists use.
With the mirror they can detect cavities. But they
can’t drill with it or use it to pull teeth. The mirror
reveals the decayed area or other abnormality, but
it can’t fix the problem. Brown then drew another
analogy. He said that the law is also like a
flashlight. If the lights go out at night, you use it to
guide you down the darkened basement stairs to
the electrical box. When you point it toward the
fuses, it helps you see the one that is burned out.
But after you’ve removed the bad fuse, you don’t
insert the flashlight in its place. You put in a new
fuse to restore the electricity. In his third image,
Brown likened the law to a plumbline. Builders
check their work by using a weighted string. If this
plumbline reveals that the work is not true to the
vertical, the plumbline cannot correct it. The
builder must get out a hammer and saw.
Like the mirror, flashlight, and plumbline, the law
points out the problem—sin, but it doesn’t provide
a solution. The only way to salvation is through
Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the law. Only He can
save. —D. C. Egner (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI.
APPLICATION
As we consider these verses this morning there are two
points of application.
Keep the Law in Mind, but not let it rule us
We can’t throw the law out and say it has no value.
Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.
We should allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in keeping it,
but receive God’s grace when we fail.
Live in the Joy of God’s Promises
God wants us to have abundant life.
Don’t mistake that for a lack of trials, because we learn
and experience God’s grace through the trials.
Whether we experience blessing on earth or not, we are
assured to receive our inheritance in heaven because of
our faith and His grace.
Let’s live like He is coming back soon!!