When Paul established the churches in Galatia, the sole foundation was Jesus Christ. He never taught them about Jewish Law; they didn't need any part of it. Surely, the Law of Moses had its place in redemptive history, but that place had nothing to do with spiritual rebirth. Paul takes great pains to show the place of the Law of Moses by drawing an image of its limits.
You can almost hear Paul's anguish as he cries out in sorrow at the folly of the Galatians. The very foundation is Christ crucified. Paul's message was to draw clearly the picture of Jesus on the Cross. They heard the message. In hearing, the Spirit of God awakened their dead souls, and they received new spirits. Having crossed over from the death of the flesh, into the life of the Spirit, were they going to desert Heaven? Having nailed their old lives to the Cross, having left behind all their worldly desires and plans, and suffering the pain of that transition, how could anyone want to go back to death?
The Jews made much of being "Children of Abraham." It was a lie they told themselves, since Abraham was saved by faith, several centuries before Moses was even born. The only way to be a child of Abraham was to adopt his faith. The Covenant of Abraham was about promises which no man could see, but could only be embraced and claimed by faith, by trust in the God who promised. God had promised this covenant would be extended to all the world, not just Jews. Being born of Abraham's DNA was no basis for any claim to his covenant. That covenant was available only by faith, not as a physical birthright. Did we not see where Isaac was required to have faith, and could not pass it on to his firstborn in the flesh? It could only be claimed by the son who had faith. Thus, all Jews must also come by faith, or they are excluded from covenant kinship with Abraham.
Indeed, clinging to the Law guarantees only one thing: You stand before God accursed. First, the Law requires you obey every single requirement with perfection. No man can do it. Even if he could, it would not save his soul, for that is only by faith. The only blessing the Law could bring is in this life. It is wholly rooted in this world, and to pass into the Spirit Realm is possible only by spiritual powers, the powers of faith. Jesus Christ absorbed into His Person the full curse of the Law, breaking its power, which action renewed the old Covenant of Abraham, the old original covenant of faith. For Gentiles, the only path has always been the path of Abrahamic faith, since the Law applied only to Jews in Canaan during that limited time period.
We know in this world, even when a covenant is between mere men, no one on earth has authority to set it aside. The Covenant of Abraham was a single covenant, and could only be passed down a single line of descent. That line terminated in Christ. In times past, only those looking forward to Christ in faith could be included; its provisions were spiritual, not worldly. Now, we here on the other side of Christ must join directly to Him to be included in these spiritual provisions. The Law of Moses, coming much later, did not abrogate the Covenant of Abraham, since that earlier covenant was terminated in Christ, the One who fulfilled Moses. This spiritual inheritance cannot possibly be connected to a law of human performance. The spiritual provisions of Abraham's Covenant were based on a promise of something which could never be touched by human hands, versus that of Moses, which was entirely a matter of human performance.
So if the Law was so powerless, just why did God command these laws for Israel? The world is fallen, and that includes Israel. Had there been no law requiring a human performance, no one would have realized they were powerless to please God. The Law provided an example of what faith in God would bring under that situation, in that nation. It was given by a God too holy to even tell the Law to humans, but had to be passed via angels. From there, it had to come through a human mediator. It was not a law from Moses, but he was merely the mediator between a holy God and sinful men. The Law restrained Israel's sinful nature, made her tolerable long enough for the promise given Abraham to be fulfilled in Christ. The Law was a mere makeshift, a temporary fix.
The Jews never seemed to understand the Law was a passing phase. They were unable to see they had to leave the Law behind to embrace Christ. Did the Law hinder Israel embracing the Messiah? Hardly. Nothing in the Law promised eternal life. It did not create righteousness, merely exemplified it within limited circumstances. The Law and the Prophets were written to ensure a revelation of God's holiness and His demands for all humanity. Without a consciousness of sin, no one can receive the forgiveness in Christ promised to Abraham, which he could embrace only by faith. He was about the only one ready for such faith. To make it available to the rest of the world required a more universal revelation, the gospel of Christ. Spreading His message made faith open to all. The path to Him lead through Israel and the Law of Moses. Jesus was the Teacher of Truth; the Law was like the school bus, or the escort who made sure the students got to school. Once under the School Master's care, the escort and the bus were dismissed. His one lesson was faith as the one approach to God.
The only way to be a child of God is through the One Son of God, by means of the spiritual embrace of faith. If you have immersed yourself in Christ, you bear His identity before God. In His presence, that is the only identity which matters. No other variation which marks human existence matters. You are in Christ, or you are lost. Only in Christ can anyone claim to be Children of Abraham, to inherit the spiritual blessings of a spiritual promise.
Thus, Paul paints a stark contrast between spirit and flesh. The Law was all about the flesh, and about the things of this world. It was but a shadow of the higher reality of God's holiness. Abraham never gained anything he was promised, if we measure by worldly standards. Yet Abraham was the wealthiest of all humans in his time, for his possession was spiritual, a promissory note written on his soul. It's value was measured entirely by spiritual means, and could only be passed by faith to another soul. It's meaning was discernible only in the spirit, for it promised a final redemption of souls by faith in Christ.
Return to Index
[<-- Previous Lesson]
[Next Lesson -->]
Ed Hurst
01 January 2008
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior -- "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23)