This is Paul’s letter to the Christians in the region of Galatia.
This would principally be the cities of Iconium (where the Jews ran Paul out of town), Lystra (where the Jews stirred up the Gentiles – who at first thought Paul and Barnabas were Roman deities – and then stoned Paul and left him dead), and Derbe (where Paul probably recovered from being “mostly dead”).
As all Greco-Roman letters from this time do, the letter to the Galatians begins with the identity of the sender, the name of the recipient, and a blessing from the Divine.
Paul gets into the reason for the letter in verse 6. The new (Gentile) believers they left behind have been persuaded by the Judaizers that they have to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses in order to be saved. It’s the whole issue of the Jerusalem Council. And Paul does NOT mince words. He calls the men who are teaching this “accursed.”
Next Paul explains how he learned the Gospel that he had preached to them. It wasn’t anything he learned in all his years of Torah study. He received it by revelation of Jesus Christ. And what he was teaching was confirmed by the Apostles as the legit Gospel. He tells them this because after Paul left, these other guys came in and basically said, “Paul has it wrong. You have to be Jewish in order to be saved.” So Paul defends the Gospel he preached to them (which did not include Gentiles becoming Jewish).
Paul then states the key idea in the letter:
“yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
Galatians 2:16 ESV
This is the point. Everything else in this letter is either to support, explain, or apply this statement.
Paul makes the argument that if right standing with God could have come through adherence to the Law of Moses, then there was no need for Christ to die.
Let’s unpack this idea a moment.
Here’s what God said through Moses:
“You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 18:5 ESV
This seems to be saying that the way to have life is to keep God’s rules.
Ok.
So how are you doing with that?
Have you perfectly kept ALL of God’s commands?
Me either.
Is there anyone who ever kept the Law perfectly and did not violate a single command?
🤔 Well… Jesus, right?
Yes. And He’s the ONLY one. All the rest of us “have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” So we are under the curse of the Law. THIS curse:
“‘Cursed be the one who does not keep the words of this law, to observe them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ””
Deuteronomy 27:26 LEB
We just read recently where James said (2:10-11) that if you break even one law, you’re guilty of all of it.
There is life for the person who can keep ALL of the Law, but the only person who could do that, was Jesus. The rest of us are stuck under this curse because, unless you want to try to claim to be sinless like Jesus, you’ve broken the Law.
It’s not possible for a fallen human to keep the Law perfectly. That’s why Jesus HAD to come and do it for us on our behalf. He IS our righteousness. We share His perfect record when we come to Him by faith.
That’s what this verse is about:
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—”
Galatians 3:13 ESV
Jesus took our place as condemned under the curse of the Law – even though He never sinned. But He WAS hanged on a tree. And it is faith in Christ that applies His perfect record to us. That’s the only way out from under the curse of the Law: trust the One Who became a curse for us.
Paul explains that it’s NOT:
- Holy Spirit to get me out from under the curse of the Law then…
- I got it from there
If it took the miraculous work of the Spirit to get you started, your flesh is not going to be able to make you perfect.
I told ya Paul got salty in this letter. He calls them “foolish.”
The letter a in Greek is the negating prefix.
- Theist (believes in God)
- Atheist (does NOT believe in God)
- Gnostic (knowing/knowledge)
- Agnostic (doesn’t know for sure)
Paul says the Galatians are A-noetos.
They are NOT thinking, not perceiving.
☝️🤓 Not using their brains.
Precisely.
And here’s why:
“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 new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
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.”
Galatians 3:2-3, 5 NLT
The indwelling Holy Spirit who made them new in Christ did not come and fill them because they started observing Torah. The Spirit of God filled them before they had done any of those things or thought they needed to.
And if it took faith and the work of the Holy Spirit to save them initially, why would they think they could do the rest on their own?
We’re not just saved initially by faith. We are KEPT saved and made righteous and will ultimately be brought to completion by faith in Christ. It is ALL of faith and that’s why Abraham is exhibit A.
Jesus: Law & Promise
Jesus is described as “under the Law” (which relates to Moses), but also as the participant (along with Abraham) of the prior covenant that God made “to Abraham and his seed.” The “seed” is Jesus, not Isaac or Israel. And in the Abrahamic Covenant, God promised to bless all the nations (the Gentiles) through Abraham’s Seed (Jesus) and give Him (Jesus) a land as an inheritance. This promise was made long before Moses, and the Mosaic Covenant did not void it.
Jesus is the inheritor of the Land and the Blessing promised to Abraham. And if you come to Jesus and enter into Him then you get to share those promises too.
So why did God give the Law?
The Law was given because of sin. Sinful humans were not eligible to inherit the incredible promises God gave to Abraham. And humans needed something to help us know right from wrong until the Messiah could come and redeem us and change us on the inside. The Law does that.
It’s like a speed limit sign.
The sign simply tells you what the rule is. It doesn’t change your heart and make you a cautious driver.
It also reminds me of the old Disney movie Pinocchio.
Pinocchio didn’t have a conscious because he wasn’t a real boy. So the good fairy gave him Jiminy Cricket to be his conscious until he would become a real boy.
The Law was there to be Israel’s conscious; to tell them right from wrong in a sin-crazed world. But only until the Messiah came. And then those who were born again by the Spirit through faith in Jesus became “a real boy” (as it were) and had the indwelling Holy Spirit to be our conscious and our Guide.
Schoolmaster and Adoption
Paul compares the Law to a special kind of servant in Roman households: a Pedagogue. The pedagogue was hired by the father to instruct his sons until they reached adulthood. He lived in the home and taught the sons daily.
Ancient Roman culture was quite different from our own. And we need to learn something about it so that we don’t misunderstand what Paul was saying.
In the modern western world, children have rights. Not so in Ancient Rome. A child had no more rights than a slave; even if his father was a Roman senator or nobleman. He couldn’t own property. He was property. But all that changed at adulthood. The Pedagogue was laid off and the son took his place in the family as the heir.
The modern practice of adoption can be a beautiful thing, but it’s a little different than the ancient Roman practice of huiothesia [h’wee-oth-ee-seeya].
That’s the word that gets translated as “adoption” in Gal. 4:5. And that’s an accurate translation, but we tend to apply our modern meaning of adoption instead of the ancient Roman one. Here’s what it meant back then:
The Father doing the adopting would take on the “adoptee’s” debts and obligations. He also became the owner of any property belonging to the adopted son. The son became so completely a new man that any previous family ancestry was considered dissolved.
It’s the perfect illustration. Those who are baptized into Christ are new creations. The previous fallen ancestry of Adam is dissolved and we belong utterly to Christ. The Heavenly Father takes on our debt and obligation to the Law and, in Christ, He pays the debt and fulfills the obligation completely. As sons, we bear our Father’s name, authority, and inherit all that is His.
Ritualism is a tough habit to break
Before these Galatian Gentiles were Christians, they worshiped idols (Gal. 4:8). Worship of Greek and Roman gods involved specific rites and rituals that had to be done at particular times and in particular ways. There were rules.
Getting into the rituals of Jewish observance would’ve had a familiar feel with the observances of specific times and food and lists of do’s and dont’s.
“But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years!”
Galatians 4:9-10 ESV
Paul does not mince words. And he’s not talking about them going back into practicing idol worship. Here’s what he is calling “bondage” and “slavery.”
“Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”
Galatians 4:21-26 ESV
Remember how after his conversion, Paul went to Arabia; possibly to Mount Sinai itself? I think he was pondering things like this while he was there.
Paul is comparing TWO covenants. Some people today teach that the New Covenant is really only the “renewed” covenant. That’s not what scripture says. Paul says they are two separate and distinct and even opposing covenants.
- Hagar = slavery = effort of the flesh = Mount Sinai = earthly Jerusalem with the Temple and Priesthood
- Sarah = freedom = faith in the promise = Mount Zion = heavenly Jerusalem with Christ as the Temple and Priest
Sarah was barren. Her child was born by a miracle and faith. That’s how those who are in Christ are born. It’s a miracle of faith.
“But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.”
Galatians 4:29 ESV
Remember how older Ishmael mocked and harassed younger Isaac? Paul is comparing the persecution of the Judaizers toward the Christians to that. Ishmael who was born of the fleshly efforts of humans trying to get done what God said He wanted done. Isaac was born when they waited on God and trusted Him to do things His way and in His power. The fleshly persecutes the spiritual. Every time. And I think that those who are stuck in bondage to legalism resent those who enjoy freedom. As we wrap up the letter to the Galatians, Paul will compare three ideas:
- Legalism
- License
- Liberty
If you want to remember what Galatians is all about just think GaLatians. The L is for Legalism.
Now that Paul has made the theological arguments, in the final 2 chapters, he’s going to apply them to real life.
That’s very typical of Paul. The first part of his letters (usually 1/2 to 2/3) will be theological or doctrinal. Then he applies it practically.
See you over there.
