As we are studying through Genesis, seeing the history of redemption, one of my hopes is that we would see the unity of Scripture. The reason that I think it is so important for us to see this is that it magnifies the greatness and glory of our God. It is one thing to think that a number of men, writing a collection of documents put together in one book could keep from contradicting each other and, somehow, put forth the same truths. And the reason it can do so is that behind the men writing the words is a Divine Author who is inspiring that which is written. Therefore, this reality magnifies God. But how much more magnifying is it to show that not only to they not contradict, not only do they put forth the same truth, but there is one message, one story weaving its way through all sixty-six books? This truly exalts the Author of Scripture in the manner that is worthy.
However, with that said, I know that many of us have been trained our whole lives to see that there are stark differences between the two testaments. There is a reason that there is a “new” covenant. But, at the same time, there are things that have always been true that we think were simply brought along as God’s intent when Jesus Christ came into the world. Therefore, tonight I hope to shed light on some aspects of the one plan of God for redemption that has always been, reveal how his intent is shown in the Old and the New Testaments, and, hopefully, clear up some skewed views we have had on God’s plan in salvation history.
In order to do that, we turn to the third chapter of Galatians.
Galatians is a fitting book in which we may see this because Paul is indirectly arguing against a misunderstood view of God’s intent for salvation from some Jewish teachers. I say “indirectly” because the epistle to the Galatians is not written to these false Jewish teachers but to the (majority) Gentile believers who made up the church in the Galatian province.
Apparently, these Jewish teachers had come in after Paul and Barnabas evangelized and had told them that the gospel they had heard from Paul and Barnabas was wrong. Rather than trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation, they must become Jewish and follow the Law in order to merit a righteous standing before God.
This sparks Paul’s (at times, almost angry) response. He is amazed that the Galatian believers might be so quickly taken by this false teaching (e.g. Galatians 3:1). And his response, dealing indirectly with people who are trying to hold to the Law (i.e. that which is contained in the Old Testament) allows us to see how God’s plan is to be understood, stretching from the Old Testament to the New. Thus, it is the points that he makes in his argument in this third chapter that I want us to see and understand tonight.
Paul begins with somewhat of an outrage in the first verse of the chapter, surprised by the quickness with which they bought into the false teaching. But from there he points their thoughts to one question: “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith?” (3:2).
And they all know the answer: they received the Spirit by faith. Therefore, he asks them, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (3:3). He is saying, “If it is only by faith and by no works of the Law that you could do to merit the Spirit that you received him, what makes you think that you can become perfected by earning it through the works of the Law?” In other words, “If the works of the Law couldn’t merit you receiving the Spirit, then where do you get off thinking they will merit your perfection?”
This is a great problem today isn’t it? The Galatian believers weren’t the only ones confused about thinking there is a system to merit salvation. Many people today believe that there are certain works that merit salvation. And many others would say that we attain salvation by faith but that God is now depending on us to perfect ourselves by our works of the Law. In other words, they believe that I cannot merit receiving salvation but I can merit keeping and completing my salvation.
But this has never been God’s plan. God’s people have always been justified before him by faith.
And if anyone wants to point to the Old Testament to say that one was justified differently then, Paul points us to Abraham, writing, “Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (3:6). Therefore, clearly one has always been justified before God by faith.
I think that we often think that the Gentiles were just an afterthought for God, that his intent was to do one thing, but, when it went wrong, he turned elsewhere. And, yes, in some sense, the Jews were hardened so that the gospel might be offered to the Gentiles (Romans 11), but God’s plan was always to include Gentiles among his people.
Thus, we need not wait until the New Testament to see that this was God’s intent. Therefore, the verse we looked at briefly on Sunday (Genesis 12:3), shows God’s intent from the beginning to save Gentiles. That is why Paul writes in verses 7-9, “Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations shall be blessed in you.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”
So, it should confirm our thoughts when we read Genesis 12:1-3 and think that this is telling of the gospel. And it also confirms that God had one plan, even from Abraham, to call a people for himself from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation.
Along the lines of salvation by faith alone, it also needs to be brought to our attention that it has always been by grace alone. It was never the case that God saved people because they did anything in and of themselves. It was never the case that man did things to earn salvation at one point in history and now it is of grace. The Scripture never says that. Rather, salvation always has been (and always will be) by the grace of God alone.
“But what about the Law?” you may ask, “Didn’t it come before God ever started saving people based on his promise of grace alone?”
In general, this is how many people read the Bible. They think of God responding to man’s keeping of the Law in the Old Testament and then graciously saving us as we fall way short of it in the New. But for all time God has saved by grace through faith alone. And in fact, he justified in this way before the Law ever came about so the Law did not precede justification by grace alone through faith alone.
Paul makes this point in verses 15-18, writing, “Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to man, but rather to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.”
Because God gave righteousness by faith and established a covenant therein four hundred and thirty years before the Law was given, the Law cannot invalidate the covenant God made before. Therefore, we must not force someone to adhere to the Law to take hold of the promise, for such is not the nature of the covenant made with Abraham. Nor should we limit this promise to Jews, for the promise is to Abraham’s seed, speaking of Christ. Therefore, it is not simply for the Jews (physical descendants of Abraham), but of all those who are in Christ (refer to verse 14 here as well).
However, the need for the whole above discussion is based on a faulty assumption: that the Law was intended to bring righteousness – as these Jews were (apparently) advocating to the Galatian believers.
The argument that God justified people by grace through faith before the Law leaves one last question: “But he did give righteousness through the Law for a period of time didn’t he? Otherwise why was it given?” But Paul clears up this risk of misconception immediately (and in fact, left no room for it, for he wrote about it in the preceding verses – different from the way I have ordered them).
Paul shows rather that the Law was never intended, even in the time of the giving of the Torah, to bring righteousness to man. That was never its intent. Rather, its intent was to show man how cursed he was.
The Law was meant to show us that we fall way short of perfect righteousness, which is needed to stand righteous and justified before God. Before the Law, man might think he is deserving, but after the Law, man sees that he is helpless and hopeless. Thus, the person who tried to put himself under the Law to attain righteousness is cursed, for he is bound to what he can never attain (3:10, 12).
So what did the Law do? It showed us our sins. “The Law was added for transgressions” (3:19). The Law was given to bind us up in sin that we might have to look to God’s promise of provision alone (3:22). If it had been able to impart life (i.e. righteousness), it would have competed against the promise made to Abraham in the covenant, but that was never its intent (3:21). Rather, by showing us our sins and making us to look to the provision of God, it acted as a tutor to lead us to Christ (3:23-24). Thus, Paul writes, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith” and “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us … in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (3:24, 14-15).
Therefore, the Law was meant to show us the exact opposite of thinking we could merit righteousness before God. It was meant to show us that God demanded a perfect righteousness that we could never attain on our own but that must be given from God himself. Thus, God allows us to be unified with Christ by faith and his righteousness is transferred to our account while the penalty of our sin is dealt with by him on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Therefore, God’s intent has always been to justify people by faith and not by works of the Law, his intent was never that man might merit salvation but that it might come through grace, and his intent was never to exclude the Gentiles but to bless all (from every people) who are unified with Christ by faith and are therefore in the line of Abraham.
Now, going back to the work of Christ that we saw on Sunday …
God first dealt with the Jews, now more Gentiles are being saved than Jews, and one day many more Israelites will be saved at, around, or near the return of Christ; but those who are God’s sons are those who are justified by faith in Christ – Jew and Gentile alike.
God is calling one people for himself, united in Jesus Christ. Thus, Paul writes of the wonderful blessing of the gospel, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise” (3:26-29).
What a wonderful salvation! Amen.