Yardstick....
Galatians 3:15-25 Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no-one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. [16] The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds", meaning many people, but "and to your seed", meaning one person, who is Christ. [17] What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. [18] For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
[19] What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. [20] A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.
[21] Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. [22] But 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.
[23] Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. [24] So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. [25] Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Oh boy, is this a confusing passage…..
God made a covenant with Abraham that he entered into by faith, then later he gave the law. Does this mean that the Law nullified this earlier covenant of faith? Paul doesn’t think so. In his time, covenants between people were sacred, so he points out that God’s agreement with Abraham was eternal, and made perfect in Jesus. Faith in God is the only way to him – it was the only way for Abraham; it is the only way for us.
So why were we given the Law? The Law can be summarised in the Ten Commandments, but what it proves above all is actually our inability to keep it. We stumble on the keeping the Law, probably several times a day – remember failing at one point actually means failing at it all….Measuring ourselves against it shows just how far away from keeping it we actually are. The Law shows our sin. And it was temporary – it was brought to us by a mediator, Paul means Moses, who was not the fulfilment of God’s promise. What it shows us is that we need a Saviour. We need to Jesus to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.
It’s so easy isn’t it – we just need to believe in what Jesus has done for us and accept his gift of grace. But maybe this is the problem that so many people have with the Gospel. It’s so easy. We look for it to be more complicated, we look for the things that we need to do, but there are none. And maybe this offends some of us, that it is ‘charity’ and we are too proud to accept it. Or maybe it is it’s universality that upsets us – that if a nurse and an axe murderer both accept the gift of the Gospel then they both have things put right between them and God – and we feel this is unfair. Surely the axe murder must do more, after all he is a worse person.
But then he isn’t – because all of us have fallen away from God, all of us need to be brought back to him. In the end we find that God is just – but above all he wants to be merciful.
[19] What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. [20] A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.
[21] Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. [22] But 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.
[23] Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. [24] So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. [25] Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Oh boy, is this a confusing passage…..
God made a covenant with Abraham that he entered into by faith, then later he gave the law. Does this mean that the Law nullified this earlier covenant of faith? Paul doesn’t think so. In his time, covenants between people were sacred, so he points out that God’s agreement with Abraham was eternal, and made perfect in Jesus. Faith in God is the only way to him – it was the only way for Abraham; it is the only way for us.
So why were we given the Law? The Law can be summarised in the Ten Commandments, but what it proves above all is actually our inability to keep it. We stumble on the keeping the Law, probably several times a day – remember failing at one point actually means failing at it all….Measuring ourselves against it shows just how far away from keeping it we actually are. The Law shows our sin. And it was temporary – it was brought to us by a mediator, Paul means Moses, who was not the fulfilment of God’s promise. What it shows us is that we need a Saviour. We need to Jesus to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.
It’s so easy isn’t it – we just need to believe in what Jesus has done for us and accept his gift of grace. But maybe this is the problem that so many people have with the Gospel. It’s so easy. We look for it to be more complicated, we look for the things that we need to do, but there are none. And maybe this offends some of us, that it is ‘charity’ and we are too proud to accept it. Or maybe it is it’s universality that upsets us – that if a nurse and an axe murderer both accept the gift of the Gospel then they both have things put right between them and God – and we feel this is unfair. Surely the axe murder must do more, after all he is a worse person.
But then he isn’t – because all of us have fallen away from God, all of us need to be brought back to him. In the end we find that God is just – but above all he wants to be merciful.
‘Mercy has triumphed over judgement’. Will this thought change the way you act and feel and behave? Is the universality of the Gospel message fair?
posted by Gordon at
8:33 am
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