Notes on Galatians 3

1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

There are churches that say that, once you're saved, you can lose your salvation by things that you do. This implies that works have something to do with salvation to begin with; else, how could works undo what Christ has done? Works come out of faith, but works don't somehow make our faith stronger, or more complete. Just as salvation is an act of grace, abiding and growing in it also a matter of faith. If we somehow reach a point in which our deeds deprive us of our salvation, any sacrifice or service we have done for God up to that point amounts to nothing.

The law was, and is, a set of standards, a code of conduct. It has no power to save, and no power to sanctify. The gifts and fruit of the Spirit do not work through the law, though through obedience, by walking in the Spirit, we can meet the law's requirements. Love for God and love for others is the sum of the commandments, Jesus said, but God's love can work in and through us only by the Holy Spirit. If love is the fuel of the Christian life, faith is the engine, and without it we can't go anywhere in God's kingdom.

6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

God works through individuals; many prophecies do concern nations, but every promise he has made has been fulfilled through individuals. This goes all the way from his promise to give Adam dominion over the earth, through the promise of salvation fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In the same way, Abraham, through whom both we and Israel have inheritance, represented God's promise of justification by faith, of bridging the gap created by Adam's sin. To the degree that we are children of faith as Christians, Paul says, we are all children of Abraham, whether or not we are of Israel's bloodline.

Blessing and curse, the consequences of God's favor or disfavor, are threads that stretch throughout scripture, like the idea of God's promises. Much of Moses' farewell speech to the children of Israel, from Deuteronomy 27 to 30, is a list of blessings that come with obedience to God, and curses that come with rebellion. The ultimate curse of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and it is that curse that Christ took upon himself for us all. The law has no room for confession and restoration; if only one title of the law, no matter how small, is broken, then the whole law is broken (James 2:10). Anyone, then, who seeks salvation through the law must be perfect in obedience.

A covenant is a binding contract, often in the nature of a will, or testament. Like a will, a covenant may have conditions, but its terms are dependent on the position, or relationship, of the beneficiary, not usually on his or her behavior. Through Christ, in fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham, we are God's adopted children, his heirs, and once we accept that position, or relationship, the covenant remains even in effect regardless of our behavior, or works. That doesn't mean that everyone who claims to be a Christian, then continues to live in sin, is a beneficiary of the covenant, or who has been saved. We're still known by our fruits (Matthew 6:17-20), and, as James says, if our faith does not result in good works, it is dead (James 2:17-26). Nonetheless, we also have the promise of 1 John 1:9, that if we confess the sins we inevitably commit, he is faithful and just to forgive them, and cleanse us of their effects. The law has no such promise, beyond the system of sacrifices that had to be offered year after year.

Another variation on the idea that we can lose our salvation by the sins we commit is one that, if we fail to confess one of our sins, then die, we are condemned to Hell just like any lost sinner. This idea borders on the ludicrous, especially since we don't even know every sin we commit. This is just an extension of the same idea, that although getting our salvation is not based on our works, keeping it somehow is.

19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

I have sometimes wondered why, if the law could not bring salvation, why God just didn't make the provision of grace right away, instead of waiting so many hundreds of years after the law was given. Why would he provide a plan that was seemingly imperfect, insofar as providing for salvation for sin, rather than giving men the whole solution right away? The easy answer is that God is sovereign, and has no need to explain or justify his will to anybody. That is true, of course, but with any part of God's plan, whether for individuals, nations, or all of mankind, it takes time for all the pieces to fall into place. God works through people and human institutions, and the Roman Empire was the perfect medium for the Gospel to be spread and the church to be formed. When history ran its proper course, and the time was right, Christ came as God had always planned, not a minute too late or too soon. We are bound by the limits of time; God is night.

However imperfect, the sacrificial system provided a means to attain to forgiveness of sin, and it was through the law that consciousness of sin became part of the human experience. There's an old saying in evangelical circles that "you have to get someone lost before you can get him saved." Without the realization of sin, or recognition of the need of salvation, people would never get saved. That is one of the great problems in our world today. We are taught by the educational system and popular media that there are no moral absolutes, and thus that nothing is inherently wrong. If that is the case, there is no such thing as sin, and no need to be saved from it. To the extent that Christian churches buy into that philosophy, as many do, then the church has lost its mission, purpose, and power. Without the awareness of sin, Christ died in vain, grace is cheap, and mercy has no place.

Since, however, sin does exist, popular denials notwithstanding, we do need redemption, purchase from sin's slavery. We are made right in God's sight, not guilty as it were, by faith in Jesus Christ, and in that sense we are the children of faith. Since the promise of justification by faith came through Abraham, we are his children and the children of the promise given him. Our nationality, sex, or social status have nothing to do with it, and neither does practice of a set of rituals. Being a Jew and observing orthodox rites does not make anyone a Christian, or a better Christian, and neither assures or maintains salvation. That was a lesson the Galatians had yet to learn. We "put on" Christ when we were saved, like a garment covering the nakedness of our sin, and what we were, or are, otherwise matters not at all.

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