Galatians 3

Verse 10 - compared to verse 6 - Abraham believed God and this is his righteousness. Abraham wasn’t justified by works at this point. James 2:21-24 gives the time when Abraham was justified by works when he offered Isaac on the altar. Abraham offered Isaac on the altar some 15-20 years after he was justified by faith. Abraham wasn’t justified by works, except that his work in offering Isaac proved that he truly was justified by faith in Gen. 15.

1. Verse 10 is stating that people who look to the law to be justified before God will never be justified because they must continue to do all the law. If they fail in one point of the law, they have also failed all the law, proving to all that they are a failure and are not justified before God or men.

2. Paul is not saying that the law is bad, he is saying that the law cannot and will not justify anybody before God or man. Verse 21 states that there is nothing wrong with the law, the problem is that people are sinners and cannot keep the law. God gave the law, so it is perfect. God gives faith, so it is perfect. Men are still sinners, even after they are saved, and will never be perfect before God or men, except through Jesus Christ and what He has done for us.

Verse 11 - The just shall live by faith - a quote from Hab. 2:4, repeated in Romans 1:17 and Heb. 10:38.

Verse 12 -

Verse 13 - In verse 10-12 Paul wants the Galatians (and us) to get our eyes off the law and onto Christ. Christ is where our hope is, not in the law.

These verses (10-13) also refer back to the beginning of this chapter, where Paul tells the people they have taken their eyes off Christ and His crucifixion, and started looking at the deeds they do that fulfill the law.

They are like Pharisees who look to the law, claiming Moses and Abraham as their father and who they are following. They make no claim of following God. They follow men, not God. They don’t have faith - they have works. They don’t believe they are justified by faith, they believe they are justified by works.

Verse 10-12 - This is a completely different thought from serving God through what He has revealed to us - His law. Verse 10-12 speaks of people looking to the law to be justified before God. This is a completely different thought than serving God through faith by keeping His commandments - I John 5:1-5. Remember Matthew 7:12 - the “Golden Rule.” We do unto others what we would have them do unto us, this is the law and the prophets. The folks in verse 10-12 thought they were serving God by doing, doing, doing. God says we must serve Him in faith by believing, believing, believing. True believing will cause us to have true works - works that will fulfill the law while we strive to please God without trying to keep the law.

Verse 15 - I speak after the manner of men - This refers to what Paul says in this verse. There is no scripture he is referring to, but the common sense of every man. Every body knows that once a covenant is made, and agreed to by all parties, it cannot be changed, either for the good or the bad. This is common knowledge of men. Paul wants the Galatians to understand that God’s covenant with Abraham, hence with all true believers, hasn’t changed since it was made. Salvation and service is by faith, not by works. Salvation has always been by faith, never by works. It wasn’t by works in the beginning, and it won’t be by works at the end. It was by faith in the beginning, and it will be by faith in the end.

Verse 19-29

Verse 19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

1. The law added to the promises. The law didn’t take anything away from the promises, but was added to make transgressions evident to every person.

2. Added.

3. The law was added, not to salvation, or to the promises, but “because of transgressions.”

4. The fact is that sinners needed something to guide them to their sinfulness, so they would know they ought to flee to Christ.

5. Till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.

6. Many believe the seed that should come refers to Christ, and it does, but it doesn’t refer to the coming of Christ to die for the sins of the world.

7. The rest of the phrase (to whom the promise was made) indicates quite clearly to me that the entire phrase refers to the time when Christ comes to the individual believer (he to whom the promise was made)

8. This time for me was in the summer of 1955. For you, it was probably a different time.

9. Ordained by angels

10. Acts 7:53 - Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.

11. Deut. 33:2,3 - And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.

12. Psalms 68:17 - The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.

13. Heb. 2:2 - For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; This passage is clearly speaking about the law, especially when it is coupled with verse 3, which it should be tied in with. Verse 3 speaks about how shall we neglect so great a salvation, or how shall we escape is we neglect the promises of God, when the law is so adamant in condemning us for every act we do.

14. Romans 5:20 - Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

15. In the hand of a mediator.

16. I Tim. 2:5 - For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

17. Heb. 8:6 - But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

18. Heb. 9:15 - And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

19. Heb. 12:24 - And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. ¹

Verse 22 - The faith of Jesus Christ - not our faith. Often I hear people say, “Just put your faith in Christ and He will save you.” This sounds good, but the fact of the matter is, lost people don’t have any faith to put in Christ. They are completely, totally depraved. If lost people are going to be saved, they must have the gift of faith, Eph. 2:8,9, which is freely given to them by Jesus Christ. They are saved, not by their own faith, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. For a more comprehensive study of faith that saves, see the file entitled 4faiths in Hebrews folder.

Verse 25 - After salvation, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. The schoolmaster is one who teaches us some things in order that we may learn others. The law is the schoolmaster, but the law doesn’t teach us everything. The law cannot teach us spiritual values, but the law can bring us to the great teacher who can teach us spiritual values. This is the job of the law. Does this mean we don’t need the law after we are saved. No. Does this mean we forget the lessons the law taught us? No. It means the law has brought us to the place of being able to receive a new and better teacher. I John 2:27 reveals that when we are saved, we have a different schoolmaster. This is the Holy Spirit of God, which leads us into all understanding if we don’t quench the Him.

A person might graduate from kindergarten and go to grade school. Does that person forsake what he learned in kindergarten? I hope not. That same person might graduate from grade school and go on to Junior High. Does he forsake what he learned in grade school. No, he adds to that grade school knowledge. This same person might graduate from Junior High and go on to High School. Does he forsake what he learned in Junior High? No. That same person might graduate from High School and go on to College. Does he forsake what he learned in High School? No, he uses what he learned in all the previous grades in college. A person might graduate from college and go into the world. Does he forsake every7thing he learned in school? No. That knowledge aids him in the real world.

The same principle applies to us being lead by the law to the true Saviour. We don’t forsake what we learned when lost, but after we are saved, we use what we know to be the truth.

Verse 28 - This verse is not speaking about a change that takes place in the material status of a person when they are saved. There is no change like that. The subject is the law, and how a person is saved, and how a person serves God.

This verse is not saying anything about the local church, or the Bride of Christ. This verse is not saying that everybody is equal in this present earth, or throughout all eternity.

This verse is not saying that salvation changes the material status of any individual. If they were divorced when they were saved, they are still divorced. If they had children before they were saved, they still have children. If they had problems with sin (drunkenness, adultery, so forth) they will still face the repercussions of that sinfulness.

Neither Jew nor Greek - A person doesn’t lose their heritage when they are saved. As far as salvation is concerned both Jew and Greek (Gentiles) must come to Christ the same way - through the blood of Jesus Christ.

bond nor free - Salvation doesn’t change the status of a man who is saved. If he is saved and a slave, he remains a slave. If he is free and saved, he remains free.

Neither male nor female - I have heard this verse taught that it is okay for women to preach and pastor because there is neither male nor female. This is not what this verse is teaching. It is that men and women must both come to Christ alike. The grace of God is just as big in the heart of a woman as it is in the heart of the man.