Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20080706.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Galatians: Defending The Truthfulness Of Paul's Teaching On God's Grace
Part VIII: Understanding How Scripture's God Always Intended To Justify Man By Faith
(Galatians 3:15-29)
  1. Introduction
    1. Biblical Christianity is unique in the world of religious thought, for it holds that justification by God exists apart from any human merit or work in dramatic opposition to the view of a vast majority of world beliefs.
    2. Thus, we Biblical Christians are pressed to explain the validity of our stance to the world, and one way to do so is to show how our Creator always intended to justify us by faith alone as Galatians 3:15-29 reveals:
  2. Understanding How Scripture's God Always Intended To Justify Man By Faith, Galatians 3:15-29.
    1. Paul claimed God always intended to justify man by faith alone since He established the Abrahamic Covenant with that aim, and it could not be later changed by arrival of the Mosaic Law, Galatians 3:15-18:
      1. In stating his case that one was justified by faith like Abraham (Gal. 3:6-9), Paul realized his Judaizer foes might argue that the Mosaic Law that came after the Abrahamic Covenant "changed the basis for achieving salvation" to make i t come by faith plus works like circumcision, B. K. Com., N. T., p. 598.
      2. However, Paul countered that even among covenants made by man, once they were confirmed, they could not later be changed or annulled by subsequent efforts or arrangements, Galatians 3:15.
      3. Then, he noted the Abrahamic Covenant referred to a singular "seed" of Abraham, emphasizing the fact that all Jews knew that the Messiah embodied the fullest fulfillment of that covenant, Gal. 3:16; Ibid.
      4. The Mosaic Law arrived four hundred and thirty years after the Abrahamic Covenant, so its promise to the "seed", to Christ, could not be disannulled or altered so to make it of no effect, Galatians 3:17.
      5. Besides, the inheritance of blessing was by the Abrahamic Covenant, not by the Law, Gal. 3:18, Ibid.
    2. Paul then revealed that the purpose of the Mosaic Law that came after the Abrahamic Covenant was never that of altering God's initial will to justify man by faith through the promise of that covenant, but that the Law served only to define and thus restrain sin until the Savior in the Messiah, arrived, Galatians 3:19a,b:
      1. Paul then anticipated the objection by his Judaizer opponents that charged his arguments against salvation by the works of the Mosaic Law left that Law without purpose in God's plan, Ibid., p. 599.
      2. Paul replied that the Law had been given to define and so to restrain the expression of sin until the seed of Abraham might arrive to bless man with salvation from sin, Galatians 3:19a,b.
    3. Paul revealed that the Abrahamic Covenant and the Mosaic Law then did not conflict with one another, for the Law was given only to pave the way for the Abrahamic Covenant to be fulfilled, Gal. 3:20-25:
      1. Since the Law was mediated through Moses and angels who represented both God and man opposite how Christ as God Himself came to present salvation, the Law was inferior to the ministry of Christ, and served only to point to it, Gal. 3:19c-20; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Gal. 3:19-20.
      2. Paul then anticipated another objection by his Judaizer foes who might ask, "Are you saying that the Law and promises to Abraham conflict, that God thus erred?" (Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T. , p. 599)
      3. His response was a strong negative, Gal. 3:21a. Paul revealed that God's purpose in giving the Law had not been to impart eternal life by it, but rather, in contrast to the promise to Abraham, the Law was given to convict of sin as a needed precedent to the offer of salvation in Christ, Galatians 3:21b-25.
      4. The "schoolmaster" of Galatians 3:24-25 KJV was "usually a slave whose job it was to insure the safe arrival of the child at school" as opposed to being his actual teacher, Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Gal. 3:24. Thus, the Law only served as a means to the end of leading one to see his need to trust in Christ.
    4. Accordingly, Paul summarized that in accord with what God always intended, the believer is positionally spiritually completely justified in Christ by faith alone in Him, Galatians 3:26-29: by faith alone in Christ, (1) believers are all sons of God (Galatians 3:26-27), (2) they are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28) and (3) they are all Abraham's seed in line with God's promise of the Abrahamic Covenant, Gal. 3:29.
Lesson: The Creator God ALWAYS INTENDED to justify man by faith alone apart from human merit or work, for His unconditional promise to Abraham to bless all families of the world through Christ was unalterable by the Law that came much later, and the Law was given only to point men to Christ.

Application: May we REST in the fact that our Creator ALWAYS aimed to justify by FAITH ALONE.