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Galatians 3.19-26
May 5th 2019
Milk
So we got into verse 19 but I did not cover the last line – so let’s reread it in connection with verse 20:
19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
The word “ordained” here, “diatasso” usually means to arrange; to dispose in order; and is commonly used with reference to the marshalling of an army.
The Old Testament makes no mention of the presence of angels at the giving of the law but it was a common opinion among the Jews, that the law was given by the instrumentality of angels, and therefore “arranged by them” and Paul seems to speak in accordance with this opinion.
The thought is, if the law is lived out by man then the law could certainly have been administered or arranged by angels.
In the Septuagint of Deuteronomy 33:2 there is an allusion of the same kind. The Hebrew is, “From his right hand went a fiery law for them.” And the Septuagint translates this as, “His angels with him on his right hand.”
So, the implication is that angels were present at the giving of the law and the Hebrew reading of Deuteronomy 33:2 support this too.
(Administered or ordered) “In the hand of a mediator.”
That is, “under the direction or control of,” a mediator.
In the New Testament where the words mediator occurs it always refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the word mediator properly means, “one who intervenes between two parties, either as an interpreter, an intercessor or a reconciler.
In this use however of the word, there has been some difference of opinion as to who is being referenced.
Some believe that it refers to Moses. Some others (like Calvin) think it refers to the preincarnate Christ.
In the context of the setting I agree with Paul speaking of Moses who was truly a mediator between the Nation of Israel and the living God – even though mediator is in every other case applied to Christ. (verse 20)
“Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.”
This line is difficult and commentators have wondered about its meaning for centuries.
One Bible commentator named Bloomfield (old and of the British Isles) wrote of this passage:
“There is, unquestionably, no passage in the New Testament that has so much, and to so little purpose, exercised the learning and ingenuity of commentators as the present, which seems to defy all attempts to elicit any satisfactory sense, except by methods so violent as to be almost the same thing as writing the passage afresh.”
So the Passage, which says:
“Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.”
Is not hard to decipher is it? There is always more than one party when a mediator is involved, seems to be the meaning of the first line, and then the added line, “but God is one,” to me seems to be an afterthought fact Paul decides to emphasize.
So, the words themselves are not to big of a problem. The problem is, what in the heck is the connection to what Paul has been saying?
But the best insights I’ve seen as an answer to this issue is the idea that Paul was saying:
Moses was not a mediator to just one race, (meaning the Nation of Israel, the Son’s of Abraham by blood) but to all those who came to God through Christ by faith meaning the Gentiles too.
And he reiterates this fact by then saying, in effect:
“Now a mediator (perhaps Moses) is not a mediator of one (the Nation of Israel but to all who come to God by faith in Christ, which ties us to the context), but God is one. (meaning, he is NOT just the God to those of material Abraham but to all).
I like this view and am sticking with it.
Okay . . . let’s move forward into our text for today where Paul, having asked so what was the purpose of the law last week, continues and says:
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Alright, back to verse 21 where Paul asks:
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Remember, last week Paul made it clear that an addition of the Law of Moses to the promises God had given Abraham did not thwart the promise God made.
So, he asks:
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Because the law was given after the promise made to Abraham Paul asks:
“Is the law of Moses to be regarded as opposed to the promises made to Abraham?”
The object of the apostle in asking this question is, evidently, to take an opportunity to openly deny that there can be any clash between them.
So what he does is he explains the design of the law and in so doing shows that its purpose was to further or help along the original promise made to Abraham.
In other words the Law was given as a means to help prepare the way for the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham.
So, Paul asks:
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid!
Meaning, I am not saying anything of the sort – so don’t get me wrong. And then he adds:
“for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”
The law of Moses is as good as a law can be. It was pure, and holy, and good. Paul’s design was not to insinuate anything against the law in itself, or to say that as a law it is defective.
But he now reminds them (who were embracing the Law) that this law could not give life. That was not its nature –
Quite frankly it’s nature among men was to bring shame, wrath and death.
So Paul points out, as a means to allude to the goodness of the Law but also its failure among men, and says:
“for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”
Is this possible? Of course not, is his point, and he adds the reason why in a supreme verse of scripture, saying:
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
This first line is in response to verse 21 where he states that IF there was a law where men could be made righteous it would have remained, but in the face of this statement adds:
However, in the presence of the Law of Moses (and even in the absence of the Law of Moses among the Gentiles who had God’s laws present in their consciousness) “scripture has concluded that all are under sin!”
Why?
He tells us! Ready?
“that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
Laws have been given –
To Adam – don’t eat of the tree!
To The Nation of Israel – dozens of them.
To every soul on earth – in and through the conscience given them by God.
And the result? All are found under sin – every last one of us. Because from Adam and Eve to you and I we all choose to go our own way.
And in the face of the Laws God gives us , we are all – to some extent or another – found sinners.
Paul in Romans chapter three explains this principle further and it is worth our reading it as he says (at verse 9)
Romans 3:9 . . . for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Why all this work done by God through Jesus of Nazareth? Go back to Galatians 3:22
“that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them . . . that believe.”
All have been concluded under sin by every law ever assigned to Man.
God has “shut up” (concluded/declared) all – no matter the rank and external character – to be sinners.
He has done this by and through the presence of the law to the human race – beginning with the Garden, then through the Nation of Israel, and then through the conscience or light of Christ given to every human being.
He has accomplished this also in the face of many evidences He has provided of himself – in the kosmos and creation, in blessings and benevolence, in the witnesses of others and in the end, we are all left without excuse.
Condemned for the choices in light of these evidences and laws. And God did all of this (ARE YOU READY)
“That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ,
might be given to them . . . that believe.”
That the PROMISE (given to Abraham which was the fact that Abraham believed and it was counted to him as righteousness) so that the promise by faith (given to Abraham) (BY JESUS CHRIST NOW . . .)
“Might be given to them that believe.”
There it is. In a nutshell. Why the law, what it was all leading to, and how it all pointed to the coming of God’s only begotten Son – so that the promise made to Abraham due to His faith – would now transfer to faith in Jesus Christ – and would be given to those who believe (on him).
At this point Paul steps back a bit and says:
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
So, before the system of salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus arrived, Paul says:
“We were kept under the law.”
Now, we might be tempted to believe that Paul was talking about the Jews here – as he himself was a Jew – and they were certainly under the law.
But he is writing to Gentiles and I can’t help but believe the “we” who were sinners – as in, we all who have violated the law – in whatever manner it came.
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
This passage is cumbersome in the King James as “shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed” is odd.
In English it seems to mean that under the law they were confined to receiving the faith once it arrived – and the passage is translated this way by a few scholars.
Because of the way this reads many think Paul is speaking of the Jews (with reference to the “we” as in we were shut up unto the faith”). But I tend to think that Paul was speaking to any and all who would come to faith in Jesus Christ as being under “whatever law” until the faith in Christ was revealed to them.
In this way, we have application to all readers. But admittedly, I am probably wrong in this, and instead of my take, Paul seems to better be saying:
“Why do you Galatians want to go back to the Law? Let me tell you, when we (the Jews were kept under the law, and we were shut up under it until the system of faith was revealed.”
This was because the law condemned every other mode possible in attempting to justified human beings before God.
Man, therefore, was shut up to that as his last hope and could look forward to no other means of salvation.
The word translated, “were kept,” typically means under guard or a watch, as if in a prison or castle, without the possibility of escape therefore in this case, without any hope in anything else, they knew that they would not, could not, receive God’s pardon by or through any other means.
And then he says:
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Admittedly, we are getting some mixed metaphors of prisons and being shut up and now we are presented with school-teachers, but let’s see if we take a minute and make it all dovetail together nicely.
Sitting under the Law, as if in a prison under guard, and being found guilty by the presence of the law, the Jew and or anyone who examined their heart before God, knew there was no escape from its clutches.
Under all the signs and laws, they were held captive, guilty and failing.
Let’s add one more metaphor – suppose that you are in a school and your parents say that no grade below an A is acceptable.
The weight of this demand is enormous and try as you might you are trapped under the oppression of this task.
Mom and Dad are not giving an inch, and you find yourself rotely responding to the demands of school as a means to survive, and doing tons of memorization of things but never really learning anything at all.
Neither your parents or the school courses are going to change and so you realize that the system you are under will ultimately cause you to fail.
The demands and expectations are just too much. In this manner you find yourself kept under and shut up under these laws and circumstances.
For the Jews they were under endless commands and countless obligations on their daily lives.
They were literally in prison to the Law.
But guess what this law was actually doing for them? It was preparing them to readily receive the Good News offered by the promised Messiah who came along and simply said:
Look on me and live!
This would be akin to your parents and school coming together and one day sitting you down and saying:
You can continue under the laws we have given you but there is another approach we want you to consider – that is, we don’t care about grades, or attendance, or any of that anymore. What we care about is that you really, truly learn all the concepts taught. Not the tests. Not even the homework. Just that you choose to really learn the subjects offered to you by your instructors.
Most would choose the new-fangled system offered over absolute dedication to mandated laws. And this is what Paul is saying:
The LAW was a schoolmaster that served to BRING US (introduce us to, entice us with) to Jesus Christ.
But better put, the word rendered
“PAW HE DAH GO-GOS” and it means far more than a school teacher like I have intimated.
What they were anciently was often a slave who as assigned to take care of boys and accompanied them to the public school.
And he helped prepare lessons for them.
But his main duty was not instruction but to watch over the boys and to restrain them from bad conduct and to take them to and from school.
So, in the most literal sense of the word, the PAW HE DAH GO GOS (the Law) would bring us to Christ Jesus who was the true instructor.
So the law performs the office of the ancient pedagogue, to lead us to the teacher or the instructor with that teacher or instructor is Christ.
And we might see that Law does this by:
1.) Restraining and rebuking and keeping us in line as the ancient pedagogue did with his students.
(2.) Under the Paw he dah go-gos the child would grow weary of his relentless taskmaster demands on him. And when the child is finally introduced to another approach – the Grace of God through faith – he or she is ready to embrace it, sending the taskmaster home once and for all and then joyfully, willingly following Christ.
There is a question remains however, how does all of this apply to gentiles who were never under the law.
Some Christian pastors believe that that is irrelevant – and they preach the Law to the gentile masses as if they were as a means to bring condemnation in their hearts and therefore causing them to break before God and His solution, Jesus Christ.
This is the method of the Way of the Master system we see online. I am sure God can use anything on the seeking soul, and I cannot say that the method is not effective as the guy will ask people on the street:
Have you ever told a lie?
THE ANSWER: Yes.
And what do you call people who tell lies?
THE ANSWER: Liars
So you’re a liar. Do you think God will accept a liar after this life?
And then he will explain how Jesus came and paid for the sins of the world – so in this we see how the Law leads people to Jesus.
The whole economy of the Jews was designed to do this same thing and when Jesus came to them this is the basis for His teachings in the Gospels – especially the synoptic Gospels.
So when we read those Gospels it is very hard to understand His commands to them/then and when we misappropriate His teachings to them/then it is natural to believe that he is speaking to us.
Not so.
This leaves us wondering can the teaching in the Gospels benefit the Gentile reader?
Certainly, because we too are under laws written in our consciences, and the net result is the same. SO when we read the Law given to the Jews it seems to have the same net effect for those who openly admit to their failures before God.
Central to conversion is the Holy Spirit showing all of us the need of Savior, and so the Law is used to convict – that is the simplest way to explain its existence – the Law – all laws – are there to convict all people of their absolute need . . . of Jesus.
Paul brings us to the point he wanted the Galatians to know and its important to all who have come to faith – it’s a mantra I repeat often:
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Listen – the goal, as it was with Adam and God, and then Abraham and God, and then the Nation of Israel and God – is for human beings to come to faith in God.
The direct route didn’t always work – He tried that with Adam and Eve and it failed with them but with Abraham it was a success – which is why he is heralded as the Father of Faith to the Jews, Muslims and Christians alike.
My point is If or since Abraham was justified before God by faith, this shows that justification before God was possible prior to Jesus – and yet Abraham still went to sheol at death?
What gives? Either we are justified before God or we are not, right?
It appears that Abrahams faith justified him enough to go to paradise (called Abrahams bosom) after life but the penalty for His Sin was still required, hence the continued alienation before God Almighty.
So while men and woman can and do please God by their faith and trust in His promises, there had to be a expiation and propitiation for sin before those justified could enter into His presence.
Kinda wild, huh? Abraham who trusted God was seen as righteous! This we cannot get around. But that faith was NOT enough to wipe away His Sin before the father.
So in the case of Adam who was faithless but without sin there was a fail, and in the case of Abraham who had faith but sin, there was a fail.
So God, who so loved the world, fixed all of that. In Abraham we have a human being who pleased God by faith proving we can choose to believe. But Abraham could not remove the penalty for his Sin.
So, God loved the world so much he gave us His only begotten Son who stepped in and took care of both problems.
First, he took care of sin all together – it no longer alienates us from God.
And then he made the focal point of faith to be upon His Son – who paid the penalty of sin and the demands of the law through His life, thereby making Him the entire focus of those who are justified and sanctified before Him.
The Law is gone.
Sin is gone.
Wrath is gone.
Death is gone.
The only thing that remains . . . is faith – on and in His Son (which if true will always lead to selfless love for God and others).
(LONG BEAT)
Paul summarized this all for us when he says:
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
And he adds:
26 For ye are all the children of God . . . by faith . . . in Christ Jesus.
And this ties the whole thing together with Abraham and the promise that He would have children as vast as the sands of the sea and stars of the sky.
The fact that we are not God’s children by birth (which is a really heinous doctrine) is made plain in passages like
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons and daughters of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood (like the Nation of Israel), nor of the will of the flesh (like obedience to Laws), nor of the will of man (like complicity to religion), but of God.
How? By faith!
Reread our last passages for today!
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God . . . by faith . . . in Christ Jesus.
That is the justification that comes by faith in and on Jesus Christ – it (and it alone) takes creatures alienated from God and makes us His Children- the Children of Abraham, the father of FAITH.
Now, let me end our time together after having tried to explain the importance of faith in the justification of human beings before God and not the Law.
There is more. And it is to this MORE that I believe I am personally called to speak to and reach to.
The OX is the faith, the justification.
And it has nothing to do with the elements of the Law. I hope to God that this is clear.
But men were no more made to just believe than an Ox was made to roam about, drinking coffee and eating in cafes.
There is great purpose to the life of faith in the Son of God and His finished work – and it is to produce, by the Spirit, fruits of love.
When a child of God by faith, is readied by the Holy Spirit (and not by and through elements of the Law) to love, they move from being JUST A CHILD, to becoming a son or daughter of God.
In scripture there is a difference between children of God and Sons and daughters.
The children are justified, and sons and daughters produce fruits of love – simple as that.
In the passages from John we read:
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons and daughters of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood (like the Nation of Israel), nor of the will of the flesh (like obedience to Laws), nor of the will of man (like complicity to religion), but of God.
And in this light, we read in Romans 8:14:
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
In this light it appears to me – appears – that justification before God makes us His children. But there comes a time when he will adopt some of those children to be Sons and Daughters.
In otherwords, a couple can have two dozen children, but only some of them are admitted as true sons and daughter despite the fact that they are biologically theirs.
This concept caused Paul to write in
Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
This elevated title caused John to write in 1st John 3:1-2:
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
This is my heart and goal – to reach out and teach and touch the true Sons and Daughters of God.
Those who are of faith and those who are of selfless love – by the Spirit.
Questions and Comments
Prayer
