Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has
cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as
clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Let
me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the Law
of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the
message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be?
After starting
your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by
your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing?
Surely it was not in vain, was it? I ask you again, does God give
you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of
course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. In
the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because
of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their
faith in God. What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God
would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God
proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will
be blessed through you.” So all who put their faith in Christ share the
same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
But those who depend on the law
to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say,
“Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are
written in God’s Book of the Law.” So it is clear that no one can be made
right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is
through faith that a righteous person has life.” This way of faith is very
different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that
a person has life.” But Christ has rescued us from
the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon
himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures,
“Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Through Christ Jesus, God has
blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we
who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.
The Law and God’s Promise
Dear brothers and sisters, here’s
an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or amend an
irrevocable agreement, so it is in this case. God gave the promises to
Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say “to his
children,” as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says “to his child”—and
that, of course, means Christ. This is what I am trying to say: The
agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when
God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. For if the
inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the
result of accepting God’s promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a
promise.
Why, then, was the law given?
It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was
designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave
his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the
people. Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an
agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise
to Abraham. Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law
and God’s promises? Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we
could be made right with God by obeying it. But the Scriptures declare
that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only
by believing in Jesus Christ.
God’s Children Through Faith
Before the way of faith in
Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept
in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me
put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us
until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way
of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.
For you are all children of
God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with
Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There
is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are
all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the
true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham
belongs to you.
~ Galatians 3 (NLT)
RESOURCES
As He Is, So Are We
As He Is, So Are We
Praise God that I am not the author of my faith, nor am I the finisher of it!! I have no problem leaving my efforts out of it!!
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