And The Promise

Back from being sick - here is more from Galatians!

Galatians 3:15-25


I had to read this section a few times to grasp the beauty of the wording. Here is my best understanding of what I read.

Long before God’s law was written down, God made a covenant with Abraham. This covenant was God’s plan to reconnect with mankind. This covenant was a promise that could not be added to or pushed aside. God’s word is God’s word. He doesn’t change things on us on a whim – He sticks to His word. He doesn’t remove a covenant when we cease being a part of it; He makes it clearer!

In order to help man understand the promises given to Abraham, God also promised the fulfillment of the covenant in the “seed” of Abraham. One seed pointing to one person – Jesus Christ.

Just as there were 430 years between the covenant and the giving of the law, there was also a time between the giving of the law and the coming of Christ. The law does not replace or become a substitute for the promise. The law is a vehicle to show us how much we need the promise. The law shows us we are all prisoners of sin and needing help. The law magnified sin and its destructive power.

“…the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.” Galatains 3:22 (NIV)

God’s promise does not depend on the law. The law should hasten our desire for the promise. To be right with God, we need redemption from breaking the law. The law demands death. The promise gives life.

The law helps keep us from total destruction. It gives us an aiming point for living. It does not guarantee life. The promise is the only source from which life emerges. Being a prisoner of sin makes us a prisoner to the law. Sin punishes and destroys, and the law justifies the consequences.

Jesus came, however, to justify our life and help us be free from that constant flow into punishment, regret, and despair. He came to break sin’s power and the law’s hold on us. The law meant to lead us to Christ could now have purpose when by faith we believe in God’s grace through Christ. This belief becomes our justification. This belief allows us to receive the promise. The beauty here is that the promise becomes our guide – releasing the law from its task!

• What does knowing God’s doesn’t change the rules mean to you?
• How are people prisoners to the law?
• Living in the United States, we claim to live in a nation of laws. Is it realistic to believe we can make righteous people through the power of the law?
• Why should the church be more active in telling people about the freedom presented by Christ from the law?