Free in Christ

Bunyan illustrates the kind of faith God gives us. It's the kind of faith that comes through His grace, and it leads to radical obedience. The rest of Galatians is going to show us this truth, particularly chapters 5 and 6. We need God to show us how to put grace, faith, and obedience together so that we don't waste our lives on the things of this world, all the while thinking and claiming to believe in grace.

So far we've looked at the first mountain peak in this passage: God's covenant with Abraham. Now Paul moves on in Old Testament history to Moses. It's important to remember that God's covenant with Moses does not contradict His covenant with Abraham; instead, God's covenant with Moses complements His covenant with Abraham. Paul says in Galatians 3:15-16 that the law God gave through Moses didn't nullify or replace what He had promised to and through Abraham. It complemented it by serving that promise. The Judaizers recognized the importance of the Abrahamic covenant, but they gave priority to the Mosaic covenant. Instead of looking at the Mosaic covenant through the lens of the Abrahamic covenant, they reversed that order and viewed the Abrahamic covenant through the lens of the Mosaic covenant. This led them to emphasize Moses' obedience to the law as primary. So now, they reasoned, in order to be right with God, we've got to do certain things.

In contrast to the Judaizers, Paul tells us that while God's covenant with Moses was important, it didn't nullify what had been promised 61through Abraham. In fact, what God did with Moses helps us understand what God did with Abraham. The necessity of faith is still there in both covenants. God saves His people by grace through faith, even under the law in the Old Testament. That aspect of God's salvation never changed. So why did God give the law? That's what Paul addresses in Galatians 3:10-25.

God's Covenant with Moses

Key to understanding God's covenant with Moses is a proper understanding of the purpose of the law in the first place. One aspect of this is that God's law shows us the futility of the flesh. To clarify, most of Paul's references to the law, including here in Galatians 3, deal with the commandments and requirements God gave to His people through Moses. There were moral laws, such as the Ten Commandments; there were ceremonial laws specifying how you were to worship, what sacrifices to make, what foods to eat or not eat, and what festivals to celebrate; further, there were civil laws outlining procedures and punishments for crimes like murder and adultery. These moral, ceremonial, and civil laws came together to form the law. This is important for understanding Galatians 3, because when the law is mentioned, Paul is specifically talking about the Old Testament law revealed to Moses. He's not talking about all of Scripture, which now includes the New Testament, though there's a sense in which the truths he establishes can apply to our understanding of the Bible as the law of God and of the purpose of God's Word in our lives. But in this passage we first need to think about the law in terms of the Old Testament law given through Moses.

Paul starts talking about the law in verse 10, and he begins by talking about what the law can't do. It can't bring life. It can't bring salvation. It can't bring righteousness before God. So then in verse 19 he gets to the obvious question: "Why then was the law given?" In other words, if it can't do those things, then what's the point? Paul answers that question by telling us that the law was given to show us the futility, weakness, and inability of the flesh. When Paul refers to the flesh here and elsewhere in Galatians, he usually refers to the sinful nature in us. This is our nature apart from Christ. The flesh says, "I'm the authority in my life. I call the shots, I know what's best, I do what I want to do, and don't tell me any different." This is the mind-set that Adam and Eve took in the garden of Eden in the very beginning: "I can eat this fruit if I want to." What Paul62 is saying is that the law was given to clarify that the flesh is sinful to the core and in need of salvation.

In our flesh, we all disobey the law of God. This is what Paul is saying here:

He is quoting from Deuteronomy 27:26 to show that the law demands obedience, perfect obedience. Similarly, when Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount, recounting various aspects of the Old Testament law, he says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48). The law shows us that we can't be perfect, because the law exposes our sin. To be clear, the law doesn't make us sinners but rather reveals the fact that we are already sinners. It uncovers the sinful heart that is in each of us. In Calvin's words, "The law was given in order to make known transgressions obvious" (Calvin, Epistles of Paul, 61).

Giving instructions to children is a good analogy to the law's purpose. My son has a sinful heart, but that heart isn't obvious until I give him a command. Until I say, "Son, do this," and he looks at me and says, "No," his sin isn't put on display. The command brings his disobedient heart to the surface. Similarly, the law of God exposes the sinful heart in each of us.

Not only does the law expose our sin, but also the law intensifies our sin. In Galatians 3:19 the apostle says that the law was added "because of transgressions." Although commentators take different views on this verse, a better translation here probably carries the idea that the law was added to produce transgressions (Schreiner, Galatians, 239-40). It's the same thing Paul says in Romans 5:20, "The law came along to multiply the trespass." The law isn't sinful; it's good. Paul says that it is "holy and just and good" (Rom 7:12). Under the law, the reign of sin expands, thus making its presence felt even more keenly. In this way, the law doesn't make us better; it makes us worse. Our hearts, which resist the law, grow harder and harder apart from the grace of God. This is Paul's point: 63the law confronts man with his disobedience, his continual disobedience, and exposes his sin, even intensifying it.

The result of our sin and our disobedience is that we all deserve the wrath of God. It's not good to be confronted by sin in the presence of a holy God, a God who has no sin and is wholly dead set against sin. The law causes us to tremble before the wrath of God. Luther summed this up when he said,

We need grace, Paul says, because we stand cursed beneath the law. Verse 10 makes this exact point concerning those who rely on the works of the law. The magnitude of this statement should come across to us as if an announcement had just been made that 100 nuclear warheads were headed right for this country (Piper, Christ Redeemed Us). Each of us stands under the curse of the law, the law given by the sovereign judge of the universe.

Again, it's important that we understand God's covenant with Moses. The prior covenant made with Abraham was focused on blessing: "I will bless you ... I will bless those who bless you ... and all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you" (Gen 12:2-3). But the setting is different when we get to the covenant God gave through Moses. In Deuteronomy 27, which is what Paul references in Galatians 3:10, Moses tells the people of God to divide up between two mountains. They are to face each other and shout pronouncements to each other. One group is supposed to pronounce blessings upon the people of God, while the other group is supposed to pronounce curses. The curses fell on those who dishonored their father and mother, those who led the blind astray, and on those who committed a number of other sins (Deut 27:15-26). And after each of the curses was pronounced, all the people would shout, "Amen!" There were certainly blessings associated with the covenant, but the curses were very prominent. The last64 curse in Deuteronomy 27:26 is what Paul quotes in Galatians 3:10, the curse that lies on those who do not obey the law.

The law was given to remind us that we are cursed under the judgment of God because we fail to do everything written in the book of the law. We cannot make our own way to God. Notice that Galatians 3 is pronouncing a curse on all people, including those who are trying to obey the law of God, for none can obey it perfectly. The law shows every single one of us that we are cursed beneath it, and as a result, we stand condemned before God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks: "What does every sin deserve?" Answer: "Every sin deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come."3 That answer may not be popular, but it's true that each of us stands guilty before God's law. And the more you try to obey it—the more you go to church, the more you try to pray, the more you try to be good, the more you try to lead your family the right way—the more the law says, "Guilty."

Does that make you feel helpless—like you can't ever get it right? That's the point. That's why God gave the law: to show us we can't get it right. And that's why we need the law. It's also why we don't shrink back from talking about words like curse, condemnation, wrath, disobedience, and futility. If no one brings up these words, we think we're okay. But we're not. We're desperately in need of a Savior to deliver us from the curse and condemnation and wrath that is due our disobedience and the futility and rebellion of our flesh. Paul says in verse 22 that we're prisoners of sin because of the law, locked up with no way out, chained with no hope of breaking free in our own strength. Verses 23-24 say it this way:

God's Covenant through Christ

So far we've seen the first mountain peak in this text in God's covenant with Abraham, where God's promise shows us the necessity of faith. The second mountain peak came in the covenant with Moses, where the law shows us the futility of the flesh. The third mountain peak is more impressive than Mount Everest; it's God's covenant through Christ.

By His death on the cross, God's Son shows us the price of freedom. Everything in the Old Testament was building to this reality. When you get to the New Testament—the new covenant—you realize that Jesus fulfills the law of Moses. In verse 19 Paul said that the law was added "because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come" (emphasis added). Who's the Seed? Verse 16 tells us: "Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say 'and to seeds,' as though referring to many, but referring to one, 'and to your seed,' who is Christ" (emphasis added). Notice the temporary nature of the law; it was given until something else would come (actually, until Someone else would come). The Mosaic Law, with all its ceremonies and rituals and its priesthood and sacrifices, was given until Christ came. It was all a shadow pointing to a substance (Col 2:17). Everything in the law was shouting, "Look to Christ!" As Paul says in Romans 10:4, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness."

Jesus came to fulfill the law (Matt 5:17), and in doing so, He obeyed the law of God for us. Jesus shows us that the law is good, for He fulfilled it completely (cf. Rom 7:16; 1 Tim 1:8). Jesus alone has a righteousness that is sufficient before God. No other religious teacher, whether in the Bible or in any other religion, can claim a righteousness of his own merit before God. Only Jesus.

Obeying the law on our behalf was an utterly crucial aspect of Christ's work for our salvation, but there's more. He endured the wrath of God instead of us:

66Christ redeemed us. The word redeemed was sometimes used in Paul's day to describe the purchase of a slave in order to set him free. Slavery is a great picture of man outside of Christ. There we sit, chained by sin, cursed beneath the law, condemned before God forever. There's nothing we can do. But then we look to Jesus. Perfectly righteous. No condemnation. A lamb without blemish or defect (1 Pet 1:19). And He says, "I'll take the curse for you." That's the beauty of those words "for us" in verse 13, two of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture. Quite literally, Christ became a curse instead of us. He was hung on a tree, cursed by God, for us. He shed His blood and endured God's wrath and condemnation for us.

How do you even begin to respond to that? Augustus Toplady's hymn "Rock of Ages" is a good place to start:

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to thy cross I cling:

Naked, come to thee for dress;

Helpless, look to thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly:

Wash me, Savior, or I die!

The law drives us to our faces to say with Paul, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom 7:24-25). This is the summit to which the Mosaic covenant points—the crucifixion of Christ where He takes the curse of the law upon Himself.

Christ's work on the cross also takes us back further to God's dealings with Abraham. As one from Abraham's line, Jesus completes the promise to Abraham. Jesus is the Seed to which the promise pointed (Gal 3:16,19). Christ perfectly lived the life of faith that is described in Scripture, and He died so that the blessing of God would be made known in all nations (Gen 12:3). Through trusting in Christ, we become children of Abraham, the people of God. Abraham was pointing us to Christ. This is why Jesus said, "Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day; he saw it and rejoiced" (John 8:56). That's an astounding statement. Abraham was justified by faith in the promise of God, and that promise, ever since the beginning, was pointing to Christ.

67The only way to come to God is through Christ and Christ alone. Abraham and every other saved person in the Old Testament had faith that was pointing to Christ. Due to the progressive nature of God's revelation, these Old Testament saints may not have realized all the details about what God was going to do in Christ, but their faith was in the gospel.

By grace alone, He gives salvation to us. Paul continually points out to the Galatians that they have done nothing to merit God's salvation. They did nothing to become children of Abraham. It is the grace of God that saves us, just like it was the grace of God that saved Paul on the road to Damascus. God's grace in the gospel is stunning. It's not a moral improvement program. It's not about rule-keeping or checking off boxes. It's not about being nice to others and getting our relationships and problems fixed so that we can have a successful life. No, it is salvation by grace, full and free.

And how do we receive it today? The same way Abraham did: Through faith alone, we receive God's Spirit in us. Paul mentions the gift of the Spirit in verse 14, and it's a reminder that the blessings we receive in the new covenant in Christ are even greater than the blessings of the old covenant. Having the Holy Spirit changes everything. As believers we actually have the living presence of Christ in us. Paul opened this chapter by talking about the Spirit: "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?" (v. 2). Later Paul tells us that those who are led by the Spirit are not under the law (5:18). This theme of freedom from the law in Christ is still prominent near the close of chapter 3 in verse 25. And the remainder of Galatians will emphasize just how important the gift of the Spirit is (cf. Rom 8:9).

Reflect and Discuss