Tatham, Ernest: Studies In Galatians-03 ~ Chapter 3

In coming now to g- chapter three of our epistle, we've come to the heart of the gospel itself, the second great division of the book, namely doctrinal exposition. Verse one reads like this: O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified? This, confessedly, is stern language, but the severity of the peril to which they were exposed called for very forthright speech. The living Bible presents this verse in its paraphrase very vividly. May I share it? Oh, foolish Galatians, what magician has hypnotized you and cast an evil spell upon you? For you used to see the meaning of Jesus Christ's death as clearly as though I had waved a placard before you with a picture on it of Christ dying on the cross. Now, in the first five verses of our chapter, Paul appeals to the personal experience of these Galatians to point out to them the folly of their lapse into Judaism. He uses two arguments here. He refers, first of all, to the Spirit, and secondly, to their own suffering. Notice the prominence of the Holy Spirit in verses two ah and three and five. This only would I learn from you, he cries. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh? And then in verse five: he therefore that supplieth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. You'll notice that he bases his remonstrance with them upon the fact that they received the Holy Spirit in the first place as God's gracious gift, not on the ground of their own endeavors, but rather because of the hearing of faith. In other words, it was because of the response of their hearts' trust in the message and in the Christ of the message, and on that basis alone, they had received God's Holy Spirit. Now, in those early days of primitive Christianity, the Spirit of God was sometimes mediated through human vessels, preachers, apostles, and so on, to the converts. It's to this that he refers, uh, he refers in verse five. They had received the Holy Spirit through human mediation, and there had been those among them who had performed mighty, miraculous works of power. These miracles were God's confirmatory seal as to the divinity of the message. God was openly, manifestly putting his seal of approval upon the message of the gospel, and their eyes had witnessed these miracles, and their hearts had received the gift of God's spirit. Furthermore, in verse four, he goes back to their own sufferings. Did ye suffer so many things in vain? He asks, if indeed it be in vain. In other words, these Galatians paid a considerable price for their faith in terms of open hostility from their critics and their enemies. They received ridicule from their pa- compatriots when they embraced the faith of Christ and left the pagan temples. And then he asks, has this been all been for nothing? You see, if you now go back to works of law and, uh, magnify human merit in connection with salvation or sanctification, then you're going to cease being persecuted. Was all of your former suffering of no consequence to you? You see, in these first five verses, therefore, he appeals to their experience with the Lord as the basis of his remonstrance in their leaving this to go back to the weak and beggarly elements of Judaism. Now, in verse six, the Holy Spirit through Paul appeals to another source, another argument, namely the Holy Scriptures. Now, no doubt the Judaizers were quoting Moses, but here Paul goes back to the very fountainhead of the nation, not Moses, but Abraham, and he asks the question as to how Abraham received right standing from God. For after all, Abraham was the George Washington of that nation. He was its founder and his great and revered leader. How was he made right with God? See, in appealing to the Old Testament, not the old, not Exodus, which is so prominent with Moses' biography, but rather the book of Genesis, which features Abraham, who was Moses' predecessor, of course. How was he justified? Verse six provides the answer. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteous- righteousness. The conclusion, verse seven: Know therefore that they that are of faith, the same are the sons of Abraham. Now, verse six is a clear reference, of course, to Genesis fifteen. That story concerns the promise made by Jehovah to Abraham. One night, the Lord God took Abraham out for a walk and turned his eyes heavenward and asked him to count the stars. I'm sure that Abraham was staggered with the, with the magnitude of that assignment. He, he, he replied, Lord, this is impossible. I can't count the stars. And then came the astonishing declaration, so shall thy seed be. In other words, Abraham, I'm going to give you a family as innumerable as those stars above your head tonight. Now, at that time, Abraham, uh, and Sarah had no natural prospect for ever becoming parents. They were far too old. But what did Abraham do? How did he respond to that? Instead of staggering in unbelief, Abraham believed God. He gave God the credit of telling the truth, and therefore the Most High reckoned him as righteous on the basis of his faith. And verse seven lays down the principle that those who are of faith, that is anyone, Jew or Gentile, who believes the naked word of the living God, is really the true son of Abraham. Now, verse eight: and the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. So then, they that are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. Here is a reference that really goes back to Genesis chapter twenty two this time, and read verse sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen. I'm reading. By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. Now, this immense declaration was made to Abraham following Abraham's sacrifice of his only son, Isaac, upon Mount Moriah. The living God looked down upon that act of obedience on the part of Abraham, and he saw the reality behind the picture. He saw his own beloved Isaac, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's unique son, yielding up his life in death upon the cross. And it's upon the basis of the all-sufficiency of that sacrifice that God can make righteous the one who responds by faith, uh, in his, in his wondrous provision and grace. And not only so, but God had promised that all who believed, all who received that word, as did Abraham back in the twilight of the Old Testament, would receive the blessing of justification. Now, it's important that we understand what this term justification, or the noun justification or justified, really means. To be justified means to be declared righteous, to be given a standing of rightness in the sight of the righteous God. Only God can do this, and just as Abraham received right standing before God on the basis of his faith, so all who take the same stand, whether, whether they're the lineal or natural descendants of Abraham or not, receive the same blessing. But now we come to verse ten. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous shall live by faith. You see, in referring to Moses here and his law in verse ten, Paul here answers the objection that is bound to be raised by his critics. The objection would go something like this: that's all very well, but don't forget the law. What about that? Was the law not given to make men right with God? The answer is simply this: the law demands unswerving and unqualified obedience. It demands one hundred percent, or else the alternative, it's condemnation. God has one passing mark, and that is one hundred percent. In other words, he will not settle for a C plus or a B average. He demands straight A's, or else failure. Notice the all things of verse ten. And this is a quotation from the book of Deuteronomy. It's found in the middle of verse ten of our chapter. Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. You see, the law is an integral whole. It is one pane of glass, as it were. Now, really, what difference does it make if there is a very small hole in that pe- pane of glass, such as would be made by the piercing of a twenty two caliber bullet, or whether there's a large gaping hole in the pane of glass, such as would be made by the hurling of a brick. In either case, the pane is broken. The law is one pane of glass. And whether the hole is small or large, men are guilty of inflicting it and its penalty. This brings down their, the law's curse upon them. Furthermore, verse eleven states that now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident. And, and now follows the Holy Spirit marshals a proof text again from the Old Testament, this time from the prophet Habakkuk, or rather the book of Leviticus. Leviticus twenty eight and verse five, I should say. He that doeth them shall live by them. The law demanded unqualified obedience, or else, or else it's unqualified condemnation. So the law is not a system of faith at all. And this may brings man in hopelessly and fully guilty under the full fury of the law's condemnation. He that doeth them shall live in them, or else come under judgment. How then can we escape? We come now to the remedy, the answer in verse thirteen. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree, that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Here is the amazing remedy. God's provision for lawbreakers, wonder of wonders, the sinless Christ, the Christ in whom the i- i- in whose heart the law resided inviolable. The law, which had no claim upon Jesus Christ whatsoever, because he obeyed it in every joth and fiddle. This sinless, obedient Christ voluntarily assumed the full and furious penalty of the law of and its curse, and on the cross endured that penalty. He was made a curse for us, and this is supported again by a text from the Old Testament. Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Oh, the wonder of it. Oh, the depth of it. Oh, the mystery of it and the glory of it. No wonder we look up into the face of the one who suffered such a penalty and say with the poet, with worshiping heart, Lord of life to death once subject, blesser, yet a curse once made, of thy father's heart the object, yet in depth of anguish laid. The we gaze on, thee recall, bearing here our sorrows all. Yes, indeed, his was the curse in order that, verse fourteen, that the blessing that of Gentiles, that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. You see, you'll notice the contrast between the blessing of verse thirteen and the blessing of verse fourteen. His was the cursing, verse thirteen, that upon you and me might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus. And what blessing was that? Well, obviously it was a blessing of justification by faith, a right standing before God, absolute secure acceptance by him, and not only that, but also the gift of the Holy Spirit, the end of verse fourteen, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. And so, we receive a double blessing when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our very own dear and individual Savior. And remember then that he did the work, he glorified God, and our simple faith reaches out and lays hold upon him who did that mighty work and endured all the onslaught of the broken law on our behalf. So don't miss the twofold blessing of Abraham, justification and also the gift and power of the indwelling Spirit. Now we come to verse fifteen. Here's a new paragraph. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men. Though it be but a man's covenant, yet when it hath been confirmed, no man makes it void or addeth thereto. Now, the Holy Spirit, through Paul, is about to contrast two great covenants. The agreement made by God to Abraham on the one hand, and the legal covenant made by God through Moses to Israel quite some centuries later on. And he begins by using a simple illustration, a well-known business transaction, a legal concern. Transactions with which we're all familiar. A man's covenant, an ordinary human covenant, says he, once it has been ratified, when the terms of it are finalized, they're frozen. Let me illustrate. Some time ago, Mrs. Tatham and I decided to add a little room to our home. It was to be a radio studio for the making of tapes and radio programs and so on. Now, we contacted several contractors, got several bids, and finally settled with one contractor who added this room. We made our, our terms clear and, uh, all the particulars and signed the contract. Of course, the price was, uh, acceptable, and the, after the signing, the contractor went to work and did a fine job. But then suppose a week after we had agreed on the terms, uh, supposing I had gone to the contractor and, and said to him something like this. Now, sir, since we signed that agreement, I've decided to put, uh, an air conditioner in one of the walls here, and of course I will expect you to install that air conditioner at no extra cost. You see how this would be, uh, unacceptable, uh, would be such a, uh, unacceptable proposal? But on the other hand, supposing the contractor came to me and said, now I've been reconsidering that price and that contract, and I, I find that I've underestimated the price, and as the result, I'll not be able to install that window over there. And, uh, of course, uh, uh, I- I- I'll expect to get the same amount of money in the end. This would be rather ridiculous on the part of both of us, wouldn't it? No one changes the terms of the contract once that has been signed and finalized. What's this all about? Well, let's go on and see. Verse sixteen: Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He said not and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. In other words, the Holy Spirit here concentrates here on the singular number of the noun, seed. In other words, what God said to Abraham w- was, was in the singular number. He said seed and not seeds, and the Holy Sp- Spirit here points, points out that that was essentially Christ. Verse seventeen: now this I say, a covenant confirmed beforehand by God, the law which came four hundred and thirty years after, doth not disannul so as to make the promise of none effect. Eighteen for if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more a promise, but God hath granted it to Abraham by promise. Now, what he is saying here is this. No doubt the Judaizing objectors had been arguing that although the promises were originally made to Abraham, all right, and to his seed by faith, yet these same people of Israel were subsequently put under law, and, uh, originally saved by faith, these Galatians should now get under the Ten Commandments for sanctification. But the Holy Spirit here points out the difference, n- not only the difference between the two men, Abraham and Moses, but the timing of God's dealings with them. Originally, Abraham came into immense blessing on the ground of grace by means of faith, his heart's trust. Four hundred and thirty years later, God introduced the law. Now, these are two separate and contrastive contracts. The promise made to Abraham was unconditional. The agreement with proposed through Moses was conditional. So here are two different principles, one conditional and the other, uh, unconditional, and they both are incompatible, one with the other. This is the argument of verse eighteen. But if the inheritance is of the law, it's no more of promise, but God granted it to Abraham by promise. The inheritance, therefore, must be either by faith or by works. It cannot be by both. And so it is with salvation. Here, then, we see that the law which was given later was necessarily subordinate to the original contract. As a matter of fact, as Bartlett points out, the law was secondary, it was temporary, it was mediate, and it was a tutorial measure. The promise, on the other hand, was the original one. It was confirmed, it was immediate, and it was permanent. Now, this, of course, would raise a natural objection, and this is raised in verse nineteen. What then is the law? In other words, if the law was subordinate and temporary, why was it ever given? A very valid question indeed. The answer? Glance again at verse nineteen. It was added because of transgression. This simply means that the law was given to intensify the guilt of sin, for transgression is essentially the violation of a given commandment. It's the, it's stepping over a forbidden line. And so sin, which was certainly in the world before the law came, now became transgression. It was heightened. It, it, it, it became more offensive, more heinous. And, uh, furthermore, he tells us in verse nineteen that the law was given only until the seed should come, and that seed, of course, as we've seen already, is the Lord Jesus Christ, so that the law was temporary, and it was given to the, till the seed should come to whom the promises had been made, and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator, verse nineteen. Now, verse twenty explains that a mediator presupposes two contracting parties. A mediator is not a mediator of one, he says. A mediator is a go-between or an arbitrator between two contracting parties. Now, so far as the law of Moses was concerned, it involved two parties, namely the Lord God on the one hand and the nation of Israel on the other. And the mediator was Moses, and Moses received the law through the mediation of the angels, uh, the um, agency of angels, as a matter of fact. This demonstrates that the promises of the law, the Ten Commandments, and all the ceremonialism wrapped up in that package, uh, involved two parties, and it was conditional. The word, the key words of the law run something like this: If thou wilt obey my voice and do my commandments, then God said, I will bless you. All of these promises would remain good only on the condition of their responsive obedience. Of course, Israel broke down hopelessly, and we know how violently that nation transgressed the covenant and therefore came under its condemnation. But he goes on in verse twenty and he says, but God is one. This implies, of course, that when God dealt with Abraham, he did not impose conditions, uh, conditions that would depend upon the foibles and, and, and frailties of Abraham. It simply called for the hard trust of Abraham's response to the naked word of God. So God was the only one involved in the Abrahamic covenant. Now then, verse twenty one: Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could make alive, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the scripture shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. You see, what he's saying is this: the law was utterly impotent to give life and justification. Why was that? Simply because of the sinership of man, his inherent weakness. The law failed in its ministry so far as making men righteousness is, uh, righteous is concerned. On the other hand, all it could do was to shut up man and his dependency all under sin, verse twenty two: in order that the promise by faith in Christ Jesus might be given to them that believe. Here then are two countries. The legal system that came in through Moses' law is one religious area, but the gracious method of justification that came in through Abraham is quite another country indeed. In the United States of America, there are certain tax laws that apply to every citizen. But if we were to move over, shall we say, to the Bahama Islands, we would find ourselves under quite a different system. Their tax laws there, uh, and other laws are quite different from those in the United States, so that when I'm in the Bahamas, i- i- i- if I'm a resident in those islands, I, of course, submit to the tax laws that have prevailed there. Not only there, but I submit to all the rest of their laws, their traffic laws, for example. Everyone there drives on the left, and uh, in this country, of course, the law calls for you and me to drive on the right. I cannot, therefore, transfer Bahamian customs and regulations to this country any more than I can take American customs and regulations and apply them over there, because they're two separate and distinct governments. So it is between the unconditional covenant made by God to Abraham and the conditional revelation made by God through Moses to Israel. The legal system, therefore, as I say, is subordinate and is supplementary and is temporal. Now, verse twenty three: For before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up under the faith which should afterward be revealed. In other words, before faith came simply refers to the coming of Christianity, the pre-Christian era. In during that period, men were shut up under the law, and a- they awaited their release, as it were, that would come to them upon the dawning of Christianity and the realities that are attached thereto. And this is illustrated in what he says in verse twenty four and the ensuing verses. So that the law has become our tutor to bring us unto Christ. Now you'll notice that the words to bring us are really in italics, and therefore I think they should be dropped. Uh, they don't really belong to the original text. What the Spirit is saying is this: the law was our pedagogue or tutor until Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, verse twenty five, we are no longer under a tutor. Dr. Bartlett explains it like this. The pedagogos, or the tutor, or was a slave, usually of a superior caliber, with charge of a boy in a wealthy home from the age of six to about sixteen. He supervised the boy con- constantly in all matters concerning his physical and moral well-being. This, this restrictive situation would be quite in order for a minor, but when one reached his majority, uh, then of course he's free, and this exactly explains the situation of the children of God before the Christian era dawned. They were minors. My mother used to tell me that when I was a little lad, and I can remember the way back, in my very early years, I was, uh, restless and very active and so on, and in order to, uh, secure me against, uh, running away and getting into trouble, uh, an accident or something, she had a long rope, and she used to tie that rope around my waist, and then the other end was secured securely to the veranda, and there I played. I couldn't get beyond the length of that rope, but after a while, I matured a bit, and the rope wasn't necessary. You see, before the law came, we were under restrictions, says he, kept in ward until the coming of faith and maturity. It's the difference between the child and the son. Now, verse twenty five: but now that faith has come, we're no longer under a tutor, for you're all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as you as were baptized unto Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no fa- male or female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you're Christ, then you're Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Here, then, is the climax of all this long, well-reasoned treatise. Now that faith has come, now that the true reality has come and the full revelation of God has been made in the Lord Jesus Christ, we become sons of God, uh, through faith in Christ Jesus. You see, the revelation is much fuller. It's full and final now. Now Christ has come, and God has been brought into full revelation. The sacrifice is complete, and and God's throne has been satisfied, and we become sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Faith is the means, and Christ is the object, and the result is that we become sons of God by the new birth. And then verse twenty seven tells us that baptism is the putting on of Christ. This means in an outward professional aspect, we put him on publicly before men. We declare our faith in baptism. Now, baptism doesn't make us Christians, it's faith in Christ that does that, but baptism marks us as Christians, and there's quite a difference. Be sure you understand the difference between verse twenty six and twenty seven. and then verse twenty eight tells us that all have a common standing of acceptance in Christ. We can all enjoy a position that is unchanging in the sight of our God, Jew, Gentile, bond or free, male or female. You see, because we have trusted him who is the true seed of Abraham, we find ourselves standing before him in the risen Christ. All social and all racial and all even, um, sexual, uh, positions are, uh, made one. Male and female. All true believers have an equal standing before God. And if you're Christ, she says, you're Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. What a glorious wealth of privilege and blessing we are introduced to in Christianity.