STUDY OF GALATIANS (Part-3)

Study of Galatians (Part 3)

Question:
How would you define the purpose of laws?

Question:
What would society be like without laws?

Question:
How would you define faith.

GALATIANS 3
VERSE 1.
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before
your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

Paul was still upset with the actions of Christians in the
church at Galatia. Paraphrasing his questions to them:
    “You have heard the truth.
      What has gotten into you?
      Are you under some kind of spell?”

VERSE 2.
I would like to learn just one thing from you:
Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the
law, or by believing what you heard?

Paul was saying,
    “Tell me something – How did you receive the spirit?
      Was it through obedience to the Jewish law? Or, was
      it through hearing the gospel and placing your faith
      in Jesus Christ?”

    Question:
    Which way did they receive the Spirit?
        – Hearing and faith.
          Question:
          Why?
              – They were never under the Jewish law.

VERSE 3.
Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the
Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?

Paul was saying,
    “Can’t you use any reasoning? Is it not logical?
      You have received the spirit (which is from God
      and more powerful than man) and now you are
      going to add the requirements of man. How foolish!”

VERSE 4.
Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain?

Look at the G.N.B translation.
    Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you
    because you do what the Law requires or because you hear
    the gospel and believe it?

VERSE 5.
So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit
and work miracles among you by the works
of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

Paul was saying,
    “God, who gave you the Spirit, and has shown miracles
      in your midst. Did He give you the Spirit based on your
      obedience to the law? Or was it because of your faith?”

VERSE 6.
So also Abraham “believed God,
and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Paul cites an example in an effort to support the point he was
making. The Jewish people looked to Abraham as the father
of their race. The scriptures spoke highly of him.

Question:
How did he gain his relationship with God?
    – Through faith.

It could not have been through the law because
the law was not given for another four centuries.

Examples of Abraham’s faith:
1. He abandoned his home in Mesopotamia
    to go to the land God promised him.

2. Faith assured him that God would fulfill His
    promises by giving him a son as an heir (Isaac).

3. In obedience to God’s command,
    he was willing to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God.

Note:
Because of his faith, God accepted him as righteous.

Question:
How would God accept us based on the level of faith we have?

VERSE 7.
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.

Paul was saying,
    “The real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith”

Note:
    – Jews prided themselves on being descendants of Abraham.

    – They traced their lineage through Isaac & Jacob.

    – Abraham had many other descendants,
      but they were not as important to the Jews.

    – To the Jews: only the Jew who could show family roots through
      Isaac and Jacob could make any claim of being from Abraham.

    – Physically this was true, however, Paul saw it differently. He felt
      the real relationship to Abraham was spiritual and not lineage.

Note:
Look at what John the Baptist says in Matthew 3:9:
    And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have
    Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these
    stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

VERSES 8-9.
Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by
faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham:
“All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who
rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Paul was convinced that God had always planned to save
the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, based on their faith.

Note:
That’s why the good news came to Abraham so long ago.

VERSES 10-11.
For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse,
as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue
to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no
one who relies on the law is justified before God, because
“the righteous will live by faith.”

Abraham was put right with God by faith; the law put
people under a curse, because no one could fully obey it.

VERSES 12-13.
The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says,
“The person who does these things will live by them.”
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming
a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is
hung on a pole.”

The sacrifice Christ made, removed the curse from us. He
became ‘cursed’ for us, so we could become free from the
curse.

Note:
On this side of Heaven, we may never fully grasp the magnitude
of what Jesus did for us. If we understood His love for us, which
(along with His committed obedience to the Father) resulted in His
willingly going to the cross, our lives would be dramatically
changed and our focus on praising Him would be much more
important to us.

VERSES 15-18.
Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday
life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant
that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises
were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say
“and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”
meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The
law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant
previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.
For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends
on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a
promise.

God made promises to Abraham, and these promises
could not be changed by the law (which came much later).

VERSES 19-20.
Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of
transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred
had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted
to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one
party; but God is one.

Question:
What was the purpose of the law?
    – It was given to make people aware of the reality of sin.

    – It provides a standard for people to measure their actions.

    – It showed people their failures,
      but it could not make them right with God.

VERSE 21.
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not!
For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness
would certainly have come by the law.

Question:
Is the law in opposition with the promises of God?
    – Paul says “No”.

    – Both came from God, but for different purposes.

    – God did not intend for the law to bring people to Himself

    – If He had, He would have given a law for this,
      and that would have eliminated the need for faith.

VERSE 22.
But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin,
so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus
Christ, might be given to those who believe.

The scripture shows that all are guilty of sin. The law served
its purpose by effectively helping people to realize their guiltiness.

Without the law, some may claim nothing was
wrong in their lives (they may claim to be righteous).

But, with the law, no one can make these claims.

Since everyone is guilty, all need a remedy;
    – That remedy is the promise
      provided through faith in Jesus Christ.

VERSE 23.
Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under
the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be
revealed.

The law was intended to lead people to faith in Christ.
The law served a temporary role.
    – Its function was served up until to the point when Christ
      made His sacrifice on the cross (at that point, faith took over).

VERSE 24.
So the law was our guardian until Christ
came that we might be justified by faith

“guardian”:
    – A trusted slave in the household to oversee a child.

    – His task was to escort a child to school
      and deliver him or her to the teacher.

    – At the end of day, he would escort him or her home again.

    – His responsibility included administering
      any discipline that might be needed.

Paul felt the law had a similar role:
    – It would show people their faults, and escort them to Jesus Christ.

The law played an important role in the lives of people:
    – It showed them their need of a Savior.
      Question:
      Why?
          – Because it was impossible to fulfill the law in its entirety.

VERSE 25.
Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under
the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.

After the need for faith has been realized, experienced, and
implemented in the lives of people, the law is no longer needed.

Question:
What do you think – is the law still valuable today?
    Question:
    Why, or why not?

Five things we should learn from this lesson.
1. The law serves as a way to convict us of our guiltiness,
    and it shows us our need for a Savior. After we develop
    a faith in Jesus and His sacrifice, the law is not longer
    needed. Without this faith, we cannot appear righteous
    before God.

2. We cannot gain salvation through our own efforts.

3. Faith in Christ shows we are ‘spiritual’ children of Abraham.
    Our changed lives serve as a confirmation that our faith is
    genuine. The degree of changes in our lives, can be a good
    indicator of the depth of our faith, and the level of our true
    commitment to the Lord.

4. Without Christ in our lives, we are under the power of sin.
    When sin is in control, we will be less willing to replace our
    selfishness with selflessness. As a result, we will continue in
    some sins.
        No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one
        who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.
        (1 John 3:6)

5. Faith is the only way to salvation (it includes commitment of self).

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