Galatians 3 - Do You Believe in God's Promises?

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Faith or Works of the Law

As we have seen over the first two chapters of Galatians, the biggest issue Paul is addressing is are we justified, or made right with God, by faith or works. Paul is very hard on the Galatians and considers them foolish for having started with Spirit to go back to relying on sinful human nature. He refers to the God's giving them the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to us as we come to God by faith. 

Being justified by faith isn't just a New Testament concept. Paul quotes Genesis 15:6,

So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Abraham trusted in God so much that he moved his family to a land he knew nothing about. Paul says it is faith which makes Jews the same as Gentiles. Even in the promise given to Abraham back in Genesis 15 God said, 

Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you."

Though God chose Israel to reveal the promises, His plan was always to use them to reveal His love to the whole world. God brought Jesus into the world through a Jewish family, but Jesus died for all people. When we believe in Jesus and are born again, we are reborn children of God. We are born into a new family, the family of faith. This is what makes all of us "children of Abraham" in that sense. 

But faith is not merely intellectual alone. We are justified by faith but we also live by faith. 

Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.

The Law and the Promise

Paul distinguishes between the Law, as summarized by the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses, from the promises given to Abraham. It is interesting to note that Paul gives a date for the giving of the Law. He says it was written 430 years later from when God made a covenant with Abraham.  If the Ten Commandments were given roughly around the period 1450 B.C., we can roughly say the covenant God made with Abraham was around 1880 B.C. 

Paul differentiates between the promise, which is relational in nature, and the Law which is more of an obligation. We trust in God's promises. We obey God's laws. But the two are not opposed to each other. 

 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

Paul concludes with these verses which are fundamental to our understanding of the gospel. 

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and 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.

Importantly see how Jesus breaks down all of our human distinctions of race, gender, and economic status. In Christ it doesn't matter if you are a male or female. I.e. There are only two genders unlike some teach today. There is no difference in God's eyes based on race. Jews and Gentiles are both equally justified by faith in the promises of Abraham fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Finally, it doesn't matter if you are poor or rich in God's eyes. 

Bottom line: All are one in Christ Jesus. We are equally sinful. Jesus died for every one of us. And we are all justified by faith! 

Why do you think Paul spends so much time differentiating between the Law and the Gospel? Why is the Promise more important than the Law? Do you believe in the promises God has given us in Christ? Many people spend their whole lives trying to earn God's love by doing enough good things. But God was more interested in a relationship with us that is made perfect by faith! God's greatest desire is that we would trust in His promises and live by them!