June 20, 2014 Galatians Chapter 3

Galatians Chapter 3

Originally posted Friday August 15, 2008

General Comment: In chapters 1-2 Paul identifies the problem. The Galatians are being influenced to accept a Gospel of Christ which is contrary to what Paul had preached among them. Such a Gospel is a perversion of how one is justified (forgiven) and thereby considered righteous by God's grace. Paul has preached that the entry point is the faith of the believer. Through faith in Christ comes forgiveness and righteousness. In the perverted Gospel which has caused so much confusion among the Galatians justification is not a matter of faith but is received through obedience to the tradition of Moses. While faith in Christ is useful in so far as it is a witness to one's commitment, it is but an entry point to a life in which obedience is the gate to the Kingdom. Paul goes on to establish his own credentials as one chosen to bring Christ to the Gentiles and the absolute truth and authority of the Gospel he has received in Christ and not from human sources. He relates the trip to Jerusalem where his mission to the Gentiles and the content of his preaching were accepted by the leadership. When that approval was challenged in Antioch by Pharisaic Christians - the same  ones who were confusing the Galatians, Paul stood his ground and vehemently rejected any attempt to compel the Gentiles to "live like Jews," - to accept the traditions of Moses as the path to forgiveness apart from faith in Christ. To do so, he wrote, was to remain in the state of sin as if Christ had died for nothing.

Galatians Chapter 3:1-14 Law or Faith

Now to the heart of the matter, Paul begins an extended essay on the law and its inadequacy - utter worthlessness, as regards one's justification in contrast to faith in Christ. First he explores the Galatians understanding of what they have heard from him which comes from the Holy Spirit as the indwelling witness to truth and which they received at baptism. They have heard of Jesus' public crucifixion which serves as the effecting foundation of their justification. What they heard, and at first accepted was of the Spirit not of the flesh - meaning that while Paul was in the flesh as a human being, what he preached was in and of the Spirit (given as visionary revelation "in Christ"). We might think of this as prophetic speech where the prophet is "in the Spirit" while addressing the community. "Modern speak" might say he was "in the zone." So, Paul can be very direct in asking the simple question: "Did you receive the Spirit through 'works of the law' or by believing what I preached?" Assuming they answer yes to the latter choice, he asks how it is that they can so easily abandon the Spirit and revert to the flesh - relying on works of the law. He asks a follow-up question: "Did God supply the Spirit and work miracles in the community because the Galatians did works of the law or by your believing in what you heard?" The unspoken choice being made in answering these questions is whether the Galatians are depending on works of the law, thus being in the flesh, or on faith in Christ, thus being of the Spirit. For Paul this is the choice of eternal life versus eternal death.

Paul summarizes his favorite story to establish that faith is the only approach to God and one's justification. Based on Abraham's faith in the absurd possibility that what God told him about his future heir and the land his descendents would receive through his offspring was "reckoned to him as righteousness." Abraham's faith brought him into a right relationship with God. Therefore, Paul concludes, anyone who has faith is a spiritual ancestor of Abraham, including the Gentiles (Gen 12:3) who through their faith also have received the blessing God gave to Abraham. As we will read later, this blessing can be understood in several ways. One of them which is important in Paul's issue with the Galatians is the promise of the sending of the Holy Spirit to those who have faith in Christ. 

Now Paul gives his understanding of how Christ can be the source of the Galatians' justification through their faith; what does Christ have to do with their justification (redemption) and why is faith in Christ necessary?

(1) Against the ability of the law to bring justification,  Paul cites the command in Deut. 27:26 which in effect says that unless one "observes and obeys" all the commands in the law one is under a curse.

(2) Since, according to Paul's thinking, it is absolutely impossible to "observe and obey" all the commandments everyone who relies on the law is under the same curse.

(3) Works of the law cannot justify because no one can possibly obey them all.

(4) Citing a later text from Hab. 2:4 he adds to the scriptural precedent that it will be those who live by faith who are considered righteous.

(5) In typical first century language relating to Christ's saving work on the cross, Paul makes the necessary connection:

(a) First, the Old Testament declares that "everyone who hangs on a tree" (is crucified) is cursed (Deut. 21:23).

(b) Second, "everyone who relies on works of the law is under a curse."

(c) So, Christ is under a curse and those who rely on works of the law are cursed.

(6) The resolution of these assertions is found in Christ's death on the cross. In the crucifixion, Paul contends, Christ has become cursed. It is only because he has become a curse that he is "qualified" to redeem those who are "under the curse of the law" and to send the Spirit. What is necessary will not be found in the personal effort of works. It is found in the faith of Abraham, that the rationally absurd is somehow true. In human experience it is often the person who suffers that is best qualified to support those who suffer (e.g. Divorce Recovery, Alcoholics Anonymous, etc.).

Galatians Chapter 3:15-18 The Promise of Abraham

Paul adds one more example from Abraham to illustrate the ancestral effect of his act of faith. Using the common idea of one's will (last covenant), he points to its finality. Once ratified it is not changed or annulled, not even by the law which came centuries later. The covenant made between God and Abraham included God's promise that Abraham would be a blessing to the "nations" which would include the Gentiles as well as the Jews as his descendents. Although it would not be a good grammatical choice for us, Paul uses the term "offspring" to refer to a single descendent, not plural. By doing so Paul can point to Jesus as the one offspring of Abraham who is the recipient of the covenant blessing which Abraham received from God by virtue of his faith. Abraham not only passes down God's covenant blessing to Christ, he passes down the means of access for others to that blessing. Christ is the offspring who has received the covenant blessing. God makes that blessing (redemption) available to everyone who has faith in Christ as the bearer of the blessing which includes the sending of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians Chapter 3:19-29 The purpose of the Law

Having ruled out any benefit of the law in one's justification leading to redemption or receiving the Holy Spirit, Paul writes to rehabilitate its relevance. Simply put, the law was given "because of transgressions." The law is a "disciplinarian" that defined the transgressions humanity was already committing but was not aware that it was before the law came. However, that purpose has now been put aside with the arrival of Abraham's offspring, Jesus, the recipient of the covenant promise.

Paul's writing at this point becomes rather dense and almost circular. Perhaps we can condense his thinking. 

(1) The law consigns ("imprisons and guards") all humanity (creation itself) to sin.

(2) Since no one is capable of perfect obedience everyone is a sinner.

(3) This consignment to sin remains in force until faith arrives in the person of Christ.

(4) Now that the possibility of faith has come in Christ humanity is no longer subject to the law.

(5) Because faith has come we can all become children of God through faith in Christ.

(6) Through baptism in Christ we are clothed with Christ (we are a new creation through faith - see 2 Cor. 5:17).

(7) To belong to Christ through our faith is to become - with Christ, Abraham's offspring.

Paul collects these claims into one of his many profound insights. Beyond individuality which he sees more of a separating than a unifying influence, Paul sees the ideal image of the Christian Church. Among the collective people of faith barriers disappear. Each person plays an equally important role in the ministry of the community. As Paul envisions the Church he sees that all are clothed with Christ and "there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male of female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." When the barriers disappear the Church prevails.