Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days

The legalistic false teachers based their doctrine on Moses, saying that our conformity to the Law of Moses was the way of salvation. Paul goes back 430 years earlier to Abraham, when God revealed the true way of salvation, based on promise (grace), not on law (works). He then uses the human example of a WILL, which, once established, promises and legally guarantees the inheritance to the seed, as a free-gift. He points out that once it is confirmed, it cannot be annulled, especially after the one who made the will has died. In the same way, God made an unchangeable covenant (will) with Abraham, promising that in him and his seed all the nations will be blessed (receive the inheritance of salvation), on the basis of the death of Christ, which was an established fact in the mind of God, from the foundation of the world. Therefore, this way of salvation by grace must still be in force, and that therefore the Covenant and Law of Moses did nothing to render this promise void. Thus, the Law was never meant to be a substitute way of salvation, replacing the Abrahamic promise, for if salvation was by the law, then it would no longer be through the promise (faith), and that is impossible, because God gave Abraham an unconditional, unchangeable promise of this inheritance (the blessing of Abraham), and God is always faithful to keep His word.

Galatians 3:13-14 are foundational verses, upon which we can establish our faith that (1) Christ has delivered us from every curse, and that (2) the blessing of God is ours now in Christ. Thus, these are vital verses for our spiritual warfare, enabling us to stand against curses and deal with them effectively. They are also great verses to stand upon for healing, for they affirm that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of sickness, having become a curse (sick) for us on the Cross, that we might receive the blessing of healing through faith.

We complete our study of Galatians 3:13-14, by exploring some Types of Christ in the Old Testament, which shed extra light on these vital verses, including taking a closer look at the Type of the Bronze Serpent on the pole (Numbers 21), which provides an important Old Testament background to these verses, since it reveals Christ becoming sin and a curse for us when He was lifted up on the Cross, in order that we might receive the blessing of life through faith (John 3:14-16). Also, we see how the dramatic Ceremony of Blessings and Curses at Shechem, between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerazim (Joshua 8, Deuteronomy 11 and 27), pictures Christ (1) taking our curse through His sacrificial death, and then (2) releasing His blessing to us through His resurrection.

We also discuss the 3 dimensions of blessedness: (1) the Blessor, (2) the Blessing, and (3) Blessings (the manifestations of the Blessing).

To be in relationship with God requires us to be justified by God (declared righteous in His sight). This provides the legal basis for us to receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, who brings us into dynamic fellowship with God, through which we experience His abundant and eternal life. All of this is included in the Blessing of Abraham.

How can we come into a right relationship with God, receive His Spirit and experience His life? There are only 2 possible ways to be righteous before God:

(1) The way of WORKS, in conformity to God's law (the works of the law) - trying to establish our own righteousness by our own works, by trying to keep God's law in our own strength (man's way of pride).

(2) The way of FAITH, trusting in the work and righteousness of Christ, which He gives us in His GRACE.

These two ways lead to 2 destinies. The way of works always results in us coming under the curse of condemnation and death, because the law requires total perfection all the time, which no one can achieve (except Jesus). So, the only way to be justified before God and live under His life and blessing is to submit to God's way of grace through faith. Jesus made it possible for us to be delivered from the curse and for us to come under God's blessing, by taking our place on the Cross and bearing our sin and becoming a curse for us - taking the punishment we deserved for breaking God's laws. So, if we believe in Christ and receive Him as our Lord, we are put into Christ and receive His righteousness and the blessing of life through his Spirit within us.

We discuss the relevance of the law to the unsaved and to the saved, especially pointing out that the ministry of the law is to reveal sin, not to be a means of salvation. We also ask: What is the Blessing and what is the Curse? We also look at the typology in Deuteronomy 21 that Paul referenced in Galatians 3:13, and point out how Christ fulfilled all the requirements for removing the curse from us through His death and burial, before receiving the blessing of God for us, and releasing to us in his resurrection. We also take an initial look at the Type of the Bronze Serpent on the pole (Numbers 21).

God sets before us life and death, blessing and curse, and urges us to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19). Likewise, Paul contrasts the 2 possible ways to seek righteousness with God: (1) the way of the works of the law, and (2) the way of faith in God's grace. He shows from the law, that going the way of trying to attain righteousness by the law will inevitably end in failure - the curse of rejection and condemnation by God, resulting in eternal death (v10). Then he shows that the law itself points to the other way (justification by faith), which always results in our full acceptance by God, resulting in eternal life: "the righteous by faith shall live" (v11). Then he shows how Christ, through His death and resurrection, made it possible for us to be justified by faith and receive God's blessing of eternal life through the Holy Spirit. In His death on the Cross, He took our sin and judgement, becoming a curse for us, satisfying all the claims of justice against us, so that through our faith in Christ and His supreme act of Grace, we might receive the blessing promised to Abraham, released in and by the resurrection of Christ, namely, the promise of abundant and eternal life in the Holy Spirit, which is ours now in Christ (through our union with Christ).

After showing that salvation by works contradicts the finished work of the Cross (v1), as well as the Galatians' own experience (v2-5), Paul then also proves from the life of father Abraham that salvation must be by faith, and not works. Paul points out that God preached the Gospel to Abraham, declaring that through the coming Messiah (Abraham's seed), all the nations (gentiles) would be justified and blessed with salvation by faith (Genesis 12:3). This promise of salvation was based on God's grace through the Messiah, not on works. Moreover, Abraham himself was justified by faith in Genesis 15: “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (v6). So those who are justified by faith are the spiritual sons of Abraham. Thus salvation by works contradicts God's revelation through Abraham. However, Genesis 15 seems to imply that Abraham was justified by faith through believing that God would give him many children, but saving faith involves faith in the Messiah. We consider the amazing possibility, that God put the Gospel (the Message of the Messiah) in the stars, so that when God showed him the stars, He was preaching the Gospel to Abraham, with the conclusion: "So shall your Seed (the Messiah) be" (v5). Thus Abraham was justified through His faith in the Messiah, just as we are. We look at other Scriptures that support this idea, and point out that astrology is the devil's counterfeit of this original Divine Revelation. Once man possessed the written Word of God, the Gospel story in the Heavens was no longer necessary, and so faded out of use.

In these verses, Paul moves on from the issue of our justification (based on Christ's imputed righteousness) to our sanctification (based on Christ's imparted righteousness). We describe the nature of sanctification, and why we can only really be made perfect, through the nature of Christ being formed in us by the Holy Spirit, who is in us. Our justification is a work of grace accomplished for us and received by faith in Christ. Likewise, our sanctification is a work of grace accomplished in us through our faith in Christ, who continually supplies the Holy Spirit to us. Paul says that trying to perfect oneself by doing the works of law, is fleshly and bound to fail, for if the flesh was impotent to justify us, why do we think it can sanctify us? We can only experience God's life, blessing and be made perfect by grace through faith, for "the righteous by faith shall receive life and live by faith." Although we have to cooperate with God in our sanctification, it is not by doing the works of the law, but by working out the salvation that God has worked within us by His Spirit. The difference between sanctification by the flesh, doing works of law, and sanctification by the Spirit through the hearing of faith, is like the difference between rowing and sailing. We have to stop trying and start trusting, and then obey as the Spirit leads us. When we try to make ourselves perfect by the flesh, we are just imitating the Christian life, rather than living from the reality of Christ's life within us, who perfects us by His Spirit of grace, as we trust and obey.

Paul realised that the reason the Galatians had fallen into legalism, was that they had lost sight of the Cross, and that the antidote to legalism is to present the finished work of Christ on the Cross. We see how the Great Exchange of our sin and His righteousness, accomplished on the Cross, is the basis for us receiving the imputed righteousness of Christ, when we believe in Him, which in turn is the basis for our justification through faith alone. Moreover, we see that at the same time we are justified by faith, Christ's righteousness is imparted to our spirit, causing the New Birth. Also, we receive the indwelling Holy Spirit. We also discuss the nature of saving faith, and the importance of knowing that we are truly born again, through receiving Jesus as our Saviour and Lord.

We study what Paul says to Peter to show why he was wrong to withdraw from eating with the Gentile believers. If the Gospel of Grace is true, then God has fully accepted the Gentiles, on the basis of their faith in Christ. Therefore, Jews and Gentiles are equal in Christ, and so separation on the basis of race is a sin, and a denial of the Gospel. In these key verses, Paul summarises the truths that lie at the heart of Galatians, which he will develop in later chapters. He establishes that we are justified before God by faith in Christ and not works of law, and explains why we are no longer under the jurisdiction and condemnation of the law. He also counters the objection that justification by faith alone encourages a sinful lifestyle, by revealing the transformation that takes place in us when we are put into Christ, for now Christ lives in us! Finally he points out that if we maintain that justification is by our works, then we would be guilty of devaluing, rejecting and setting aside the grace of God, and asserting that Christ died in vain, that His death on the Cross was superfluous.

At the conclusion of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), not only did Peter, James and John confirm that Paul preached the true Gospel, but they also acknowledged him as the apostle to the Gentiles, just as Peter was the apostle to the Jews. Thus, they perceived that Paul was an apostle of the first rank, of equal status to themselves. On that basis they publicly offered him the right hand of fellowship, signifying they were partners together in the Gospel. Their only request was that he remember the poor, a reminder that the Gospel of Grace should naturally bring forth good works. However, later when Peter visited Antioch, Paul had to confront Peter publicly, because his behaviour was undermining the Gospel of Grace. By not eating with the Gentile believers, Peter was implying that there was something lacking in their justification and full acceptance by God.

We continue our study showing how Paul fought for the true Gospel at the Jerusalem Council, taking an in-depth look at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, and harmonising it with Galatians 2. We also review other challenges to the Gospel of Grace that took place later in Church history, such as the Pelagian heresy and modern liberalism. Finally, we note how Paul was no respecter of persons. Although he honoured the original apostles as true apostles of Christ, he insisted that as men, they were capable of being wrong, and so were not above judgment and accountability.