Chapter Three
A Reminder of Grace and Faith

Galatians 3:5
Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

Before we go on past the Blessing of Abraham, let’s remind ourselves what we are doing in the Letter to the Galatian church. The message of grace, faith, love, and hope had been corrupted by those that thought grace to be greedy and faith to be meaningless. These were after marks and practices of righteousness that they could grade and approve. Granted, they meant well and were just trying to help, but they knew nothing of the Gospel and did not understand the purpose of God in Christ at all. Because of this, instead of helping they were destroying. God does not need help. He only desires that we believe His promise. Our works of righteousness do not bring salvation, holiness, or miracles. The Law brings the curse of death. Christ gives life!

1 John 5:(6-)11-15
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of him.

To receive the life of God, which includes the gift of the Holy Spirit, answers and miracles, all we must do is believe on Christ. When we believe on Christ as our Lord and Savior, which speaks to life and that more abundant, we are believing on the power of God in this life and the life to come! This comes through faith and faith alone. There is not one work that we can do that will accomplish anything but to frustrate the Spirit of grace and as all is by grace, we stop the work of God in our lives cold!

Romans 4:(14-17) 16
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring-not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

True holiness is faith in Christ. Full surrender is faith in Christ. Eternal life is found only through faith in Christ. Full power and blessing come only through faith in Christ. Sanctification comes only through faith in Christ! All is by faith. Anything not of faith in Christ is a work to get the attention of God and to earn what He only gives! You cannot receive through payment what is only by gift.

Romans 5:17
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

But those that hate grace say that salvation is free but the life must be lived through our works of righteousness. Clearly they do not understand that salvation is more than the forgiveness of sins but the ushering into the very life of God as approved for all grace, blessing, and power! Our identification is now with Christ in all things. (Romans 6:1-4, Galatians 3:26-29, 2 Peter 2:3-4)

If it does not come by grace then it is not through Christ and therefore it is not by God! (Only the wrath of God is given because of works! See Romans 6:23) If it is not of God then it will have a good sound but it will be powerless and will bring divisions, a focus on sin and self instead of life in the Spirit, and from that will come a people that are in and out and always seeking what has been freely given.

Galatians 3:22
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.

Chapter Three
The Promise and the Law 

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.

There is only one way and one truth, and both are the same – Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God! The Jews call the Law the Way, but Jesus stated emphatically that He is the Way!

John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (In Acts we find that before this life was Christianity, it was called the Way.)

How can the Law be replaced by a life of faith? It was never replaced because faith came first! (Galatians 3:17) Abraham believed God and his faith was counted to him as righteousness or as being worthy to receive the promise of God through covenant with God! (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:3, 18, Galatians 3:6, James 2:23) The law came out of the transgressions of Israel and was only to remain until the Seed or Christ, came to claim the inheritance or blessing of Abraham. (Galatians 3:19) The Law was to keep the people that denied faith, (Exodus 20:18-19), as a people and in understanding of the righteousness of God of that man could never attain to apart from God! The Law was never meant to bring life (Galatians 3:21-22), but was to show the need of the Seed who is Christ Jesus of Nazareth!

Galatians 4:4-5
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

When Christ came what was – the Law, was in its last days for the message was that the Kingdom was coming!

Matthew 4:17
From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 

After the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ we find that the Kingdom has come!

Acts 8:12
But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

How do we enter the Kingdom of God if not through the Law? By faith in Christ, the Seed of Abraham who has inherited the promise so that we might all live in the blessing of Abraham! (Romans 413-15, 8:16-17; Galatians 3:22, Titus 3:4-7)

John 3:3, 14-15
In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

But doesn’t the Law lead us to Christ? 

Galatians 3:(23-)25
Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.

The Law was to lead those before Christ to Christ. Once Christ, who is the fullness of God (Colossians 2:9), came, there was no longer a need for the Law for faith had come! (2 Corinthians 3:7-18, Hebrews 8:13)

Romans 1:16-17
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

The Mindset of Being in Christ

Galatians 3:26-29
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

There exists within the theology of the Christian world a tension between all things Jewish and all things Gentile. Our thoughts and earthly wisdom have so interfered with the glory of the Truth of Christ that we have become a smorgasbord of religious practices, competing with one another for converts into our particular preference of belief! To those that do not see that we are complete in Christ, they turn to the Law to make people holy and worthy of blessing. To those that think that life is dependant on knowledge, they accept salvation but seek to understand life through the wisdom of man! Then everything works into the church and people are pulled one way and another to be whole and acceptable to God, but the answer is that we are neither Jewish nor Gentile, we are a completely new man formed in Christ. In Christ we are whole, complete, accepted, and heirs of the promise!

Ephesians 1:3-6
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (NKJV)

1 Corinthians 1:18-29  

Those that believe in Christ are a new creation and this is in every way! In Christ we are not brought into the Jewish family under the Law or out of the Law, but brought into the line of Abraham who is the Father of many nations, but in Christ we are all one new man!

Ephesians 2:11-18
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)- 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

The Law is not an avenue of life or blessing. (Galatians 3:21) The ways of human understanding cannot give freedom and blessing.

Ephesians 4:17-24
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. 20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

In Christ we have been brought to a new life that is dependant only on/in Him! Oh, there is so much that we miss because we look to those that do not see Christ as anything but a starting point when He is everything and we have everything in Him! This is a new work in Christ to restore man to his rightful place before there were any nations, tribes, or people! If Adam had been Hebrew, then we would all be Hebrew. Even out of Abraham and Isaac came other peoples than the Hebrew people. Was Jacob chosen? Oh yes. He was chosen to bring forth the Seed who is Christ, from all blessing could flow and all could be one with God as their Father! We are a new people, a new race, and a new generation, a royal priesthood, the sons of God!

1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Hebrews 12:22-24
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

The “Childishness” of the Law

Galatians 3:21-4:3
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. 26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. 4:1 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.

(See also Colossians 2:13-23)

Why would we prefer to be treated as children, with all of the training, discipline, servant-like conditions, and limitations when we could live as mature children – still loved and cared for by our Father, without all of the childlike restraints and shadows of the Law? Yet that is precisely what many choose! They would rather live a childish existence devoid of true freedom and blessing because they seek a way of holiness and completion that in reality cannot even come to children! No small child is even mature enough to be left alone, let alone allow them to go out and enter into the dealings of the household and its estate! Those that follow after and/or mix in the Law are saying that they desire to be children and therefore they exclude themselves from the maturity of faith!

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

The promise, and therefore the message of the promise, is by faith. The desire of God is that we be mature children that need no governance by childish rules and regulations but that live by faith in what is, (the Law looks to what will be), which includes the ability to be led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cannot lead us by the Law for He only testifies or relates to us what we have in Christ. (Which is not to be confused with the Law which prophecies of - or looks forward to Christ, through shadows of that which is to come. The Spirit makes plain the fullness of Christ, which explains the meaning of the shadow, but brings us into the light!
John 16:12-15
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.)

Galatians 4:4-5
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

While the above verse speaks to much, for now we can see plainly that those that remain under the Law are not living in the full rights of sons and therefore remain in bondage, for Christ came to redeem those under the Law so that they could have the full rights as sons. Sonship comes through faith in Christ, not the practice or observance of the Law. If the Law brought the rights of sons, then Christ would not have provided what was already there! Those still clinging to the Law in anyway shape or form are preventing the very righteousness, power, and blessing that they seek for these come by faith and faith is contrary to the Law. (See Romans 4:14-16 and Galatians 3:5) The Law is based on what we do or do not do to gain approval and blessing. This is the life of small children! (See Galatians 3:10-14) In Christ we have approval for through Christ we have already been granted full majority status as sons and heirs of the estate which has already been given to the heirs! In Christ we already have what the Law looks forward to but doers not possess!

Galatians 4:6-7
Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Romans 8:14-17
Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba,  Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

As the mature children of God through faith in the completed and finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, meaning that He finished our works, (Hebrews 4:9-10), then we now share in all that He has and He has all things, (John 16:15), so as mature children of faith we are entrusted now with all of the estate of heaven, a treasure that children under rules and regulations cannot contain or possess!