Galatians 3.24-29
“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
Paul tells us that we now live in the era of the new covenant. The law has fulfilled its purpose of being our tutor and guardian, and now Christ is here, and he has brought his kingdom and a new covenant. The law was good, but it could not save us, nor could it make us children of God. Jesus has done what the law could not do: he has redeemed us, and he has made us children of God.
Paul emphasizes the extraordinary unity we have as a result of trusting in Jesus. In Christ we not only belong to God as his children, we also belong to each other as brothers and sisters. The bond between and among Christians creates true fellowship, and supersedes social status, ethnicity, and gender. In Christ there are no barriers to fellowship. There is no bias, no prejudice, or no partiality.
This was an important message to the early church, where most of the Christians were Jews … at first. As Gentiles began to trust in Christ and join the fellowship, there was ethnic/racial tension. As we see in the letter to the Galatians, there was a faction of Jews who asserted the primacy of the law of Moses and insisted on requiring Gentile believers to be circumcised, thereby claiming ethnic superiority of the Jews.
No! Paul says. In Christ, the Jew/Gentile distinction has been eradicated. Jews are not superior to Gentiles; men are not superior to women; free people are not superior to slaves. In Christ, we are one.
Paul is not saying all people are equal in kind; he is saying all people are equal in value. Scripture acknowledges the differences between Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free. The message is that we are all sinners in need of forgiveness, and that forgiveness is available in Jesus. All are invited to repent and trust in him, and all who believe are welcomed into the fellowship on the same basis: faith in Christ.
In Christ we belong to God, we belong to each other, and we also belong to Abraham. Through Christ we are made the spiritual offspring of Abraham, which makes us his heirs; and as his heirs we participate in the promise that God gave to Abraham. This was a radical message for Jewish believers, because the Jews had long lived by the narrative that because they were descendants of Abraham, and therefore they — and only they — were God’s special people.
The problem was that this is true, but not in the way they interpreted. Yes, the Jews were God’s chosen people; but chosen for what purpose? They were chosen to be a blessing for other nations. They were chosen to be the Lord’s ambassadors and emissaries to the rest of the world. They were chosen to be an example and a light in the midst of darkness. But unfortunately the Jews did two things that destroyed God’s purpose for them: 1) they disobeyed the standards of God’s law, and 2) they turned inward and arrogant.
Therefore, instead of an obedient, humble, and grateful people who considered it a privilege to share their relationship with God with the rest of the world, the Jews became a perpetually disobedient and selfish nation. This disobedience and arrogance is evident in the Judaizers. Because of their fixation on the law, they failed to see the truth that faith in Jesus makes Gentile believers descendants of Abraham and heirs of the promise.
Here is the bottom line: In Christ and as heirs of Abraham, we find our true identity and purpose, and we take our place in God’s plan.
We find our place in eternity. We are people made in the image of the living God.
We find our place in history. We are agents of the kingdom in our time.
We find our place in society. We are agents of redemption and renewal in the midst of our community through work, family, friendships, and the fellowship of the church.
In this 3rd chapter of Galatians, the apostle Paul has connected 2,000 years of biblical history. He shows the relation between Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. The Lord gave Abraham a promise to bless all the families on earth. The Lord then gave Moses the law as a guardian to provide order and standards to the life and society of the people of God until the Messiah came. And then the Lord gave Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to fulfill the Abrahamic promise and satisfy the demands of the law, thereby making us heirs of Abraham and, most importantly, the children of God.
Amen!
