Paul has been making the point that those who are of faith in Christ are sons of God and therefore heirs of God’s promises also (Gal. 3:26-29). In 4:1-11, Paul shows us that every single one of us, no matter our background, was in slavery prior to meeting Christ. We were all held in slavery to something. Jews were enslaved to God’s law. Gentiles didn’t have God’s law, but were enslaved nevertheless to cultural, national, and tribal ideas, values, philosophies, prejudices, power imbalances, etc. And yes, even we enlightened North American, western thinkers were and are enslaved too! Behind the scenes, evil spiritual beings are manipulating and twisting things to such an extent that we are enslaved under them. How do we come out from under this slavery? Most of us don’t even know we are slaves. We think we are free human beings determining our own fate. 

We have a God who is always pursuing us to release us from our slavery and make us his sons and heirs! If he hadn’t moved through his Son and in his Spirit we would still be slaves. Let’s worship him for who he is and for all he has and is still doing to rescue us!

The letter to the Galatian churches is Paul’s attempt to address the division caused by Jewish believers not accepting the Gentile believers without their conforming to Jewish practices.  The root cause of this was that Jewish people felt they were superior to non-Jews. This led them to practice separation and avoiding fellowship with non-Jewish believers. In this final portion of chapter 3, Paul clearly concludes that since all believers are accepted by God based on their response to the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, then there should be no separation among people with different backgrounds.  

Paul’s understanding went beyond Jew versus Greek. He extended this principle and theology to include slaves and free as well as male and female. He clearly states that all, regardless of their differences, are one in Christ, because all have been baptized into Christ. Furthermore, since they are all in Christ, they are also heirs of the promises. There is no difference in worth between the various different people.

Most of the world’s population identify with an Abrahamic religion. So, who are Abraham’s true descendants? Jews? Muslims? Christians? Galatia’s churches faced the same issue; agitators pressured Gentile-believers to adopt Jewish rites to become Abraham’s bone fide Paul reacts with an audacious claim: Abraham’s singular ‘seed’ is Jesus Christ alone, not OT Israel. Plus everyone belonging to Christ—the church–is also Abraham’s seed. Critics find such claims ‘grotesque,’ ‘anti- Semitic,’ & a ‘violent & unfaithful reading’ of Genesis. Yet, Paul isn’t twisting history; he reinterprets Israel’s founding story in the light of the Christ event. The trajectory of the divine promise diverges from Israel’s history, bypassing the Law. God’s sovereign action—the coming of faith, of Christ, of the Spirit–are not dependent on human cooperation; no person or people (Israel, church, etc.) is indispensable to God’s plan. So, let’s trust & wait for God to do what only God can do, believing we will see surprising things!

When you think of yourself, would you say you are a child of Abraham? On the surface you may say, NO! But if you dig deeper you may see some striking similarities in your temperament and psychology to his, and if you are a follower of Jesus by faith, then Paul says you definitely are one of his descendants (Gal. 3:7, 9). God called him, and God called you to follow him. If you are his child then you are blessed (Gal. 3:9)! 

Some Jewish Christians in Galatia wanted the new non-Jewish (Gentile) followers of Jesus to keep the Old Testament law. But Paul says that places them under a curse (Gal. 3:10) just like Israel has been. Israel was cursed because they couldn’t keep the law. God was so concerned about this that Christ came to redeem (deliver or liberate) those who were under that curse (Gal. 3:13). Why? So that everyone could enjoy his blessing!

Paul uses the example of Abraham to illustrate that being considered righteous before God is based on faith and not keeping the Torah. Most likely his opposers used Abraham’s circumcision to insist that the Gentiles should become circumcised to become accepted as part of the people of God. Paul never mentions circumcision but quotes Gen. 15:6 to prove that righteousness comes through faith. Implicit in his argument is that it is either faith or keeping the Torah that makes us righteous. It cannot be both. And he argues it is faith and only faith.  

Paul’s use of Abraham also could be understood that Abraham is a type of Christ. As the father of faith, he has many “sons.” They are his descendants because of their faith. We are sons of God by faith. Abraham’s faithfulness (even if it was sometimes questionable) is also a type of the faithfulness of Christ. The fact that the nations are blessed with Abraham is also a type of Christ becoming a blessing to the whole world. 

Abraham had many failures, yet he is still considered the father of faith. God did not discard him because of his failures. This should be a great encouragement to us. Remember, we live by the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us, not by our own merit.

Paul proclaimed Christ crucified & observed the Galatians’ life-changing reception of the Holy Spirit. Now Paul unleashes a barrage of questions—on what basis did they get the Spirit—by adopting Jewish rites, or via faith? That’s a ‘no-brainer;’ as ex-pagans the Jewish option was a non-starter. Today’s Protestants & Evangelicals know the kneejerk answer–‘Saved by faith, not works.’ But maybe we’re missing something crucial—God’s initiative precedes ours. ‘Faith’ here isn’t our fragile human faith, it’s the ‘faith of Jesus Christ’—his faithfulness in fulfilling God’s mission even to the cross. His faithfulness trumps our wavering faith. Christians may suffer ‘salvation anxiety;’ they can question or even ‘lose their faith.’ Nevertheless our salvation & the Spirit’s reception are secured by Christ’s own faith. Our believing simply ‘echoes’ the Son of God’s faith.

Galatians 2:19-21 are some of the most important verses in the New Testament. Paul describes his identity and his living in Christ. Paul’s relationship with the law (Torah) was ended because he was crucified with Christ. Even though he felt that he was able to keep the law, he realized that his acceptance by God was not based on keeping the law but on faith in Christ. He no longer lived a ego-centric life, but now Christ lived in him. This did not mean he was replaced or annihilated. But now the source of his life and living was guided by the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for Paul. Paul considered his identity in Christ and his living in this new identity and relationship was what should be everyone’s experience. He did not consider himself special, he considered himself simply to be an example.

In Scripture God made it clear that the old covenant he made with the Jews would one day be over and a new covenant would replace it (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:26-27; Gal. 3:24a, 25). Instead of people maintaining their relationship to God through a variety of practices (circumcision, law, diet), they would do that through Christ alone! This new covenant was enacted through his death and resurrection, which brought an end to all these practices. And while that seems so obvious to you and I, leaving those old practices behind for Jewish Christians was not easy at all. In Gal. 2:15-21, Paul reminds Peter what happens when anyone believes into Jesus: they are accepted or approved (justified) by God; they enter into a new relationship with God! What, then, are we to do to maintain this relationship? Simply keep a daily walk in Christ, even if it means that some think that we are “sinning.” But what we shouldn’t do is rebuild the very things that God tore down through Christ’s death and resurrection, that separate people from one another.

This week we address the topic of justification. However, we need to keep in mind that in Galatians, justification is in the context of Jewish believers and Gentile believers living in community together. The Jewish believers needed to realize that their believing in Jesus implied that keeping the Mosaic law did not make them accepted and approved by God otherwise there was no need to put their trust and faith in Jesus. The Mosaic law refers to practices such as special diet, circumcision, not associating with non-Jews (Gentiles), hence separation, keeping the Sabbath and many other regulations.  

Our acceptance (justification) is based on our faith in Jesus the Christ. This faith is not merely mental agreement, it is a trust relationship. Faith is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8). Faith is a trust and personal dependence on what God has done in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Our initial trust justified us (approved us) however we continue to have a trust relationship with the crucified and resurrected Jesus, continuing our acceptance and approval. We continue to endeavor to be justified (Gal. 2:17) based on this relationship of trust and faith. May we continue to have this personal dependence of trust on the crucified and resurrected Jesus and enjoy the table fellowship will all of those who have believed.