God Planned It All Along

Today’s passage is Galatians 3:6-14.  Let’s go!

Galatians 3:6-14 (NIV)
⁶  Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
⁷  Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
⁸  The 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.”
⁹  So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
¹⁰  All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
¹¹  Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”
¹²  The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”
¹³  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
¹⁴  He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

On verses 6-14:  When I was a kid growing up in church, my teachers would get us to sing a song called “Father Abraham”.  It went like this:

Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them, and so are you
So let’s just praise the Lord

There were these funny actions that accompanied the song.

Now why would a Chinese boy growing up in Vancouver be calling an old middle eastern man from ancient Mesopotamia, whom he has never met, his father?

It’s because of Galatians 3:7 which says, “those who have faith are children of Abraham.”  In Genesis 15, God speaks a promise to Abraham about his future, and because Abraham believed God when He spoke, “it was credited to him as righteousness” (see Genesis 15:6 and Galatians 3:6).  In other words, God’s blessing came to Abraham not because Abraham tried to be a really good person or because Abraham obeyed God’s laws perfectly, but simply because Abraham believed what God said to him.  He received the blessing by faith.

In the same way, the Bible says that we, like Abraham, are justified by faith, not by our works.  What does “justified” mean? To be “justified” means for God to look at you and declare you to be blameless, righteous, holy, acceptable and pleasing in His sight, worthy of being in God’s presence and qualified to be in heaven with Him.  Just as God credited righteousness to Abraham and justified Abraham when Abraham believed, God credits righteousness to us and justifies us when we believe in Him.  That’s why the Bible calls Christians today “children of Abraham”, regardless of where you’re from or where you grew up.  It’s because believers today share the same spiritual DNA as Abraham: saving faith.

God chose Abraham to be an example for us of what it means to be justified by faith.  “So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (v9) This was God’s plan all along for all nations, Paul explains (v8): to justify people from every nation on earth by faith in Jesus, not by their good works.  God foreshadows this plan when He says repeatedly to Abraham that “All nations will be blessed through you.” (see Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18)

On the contrary, you will never be justified and earn God’s approval by your good works.  To insist on doing so is to live under a curse.  As verses 10-11 say, “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse…Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God”.

Finally, it’s not just faith in general that saves us, but faith in Jesus Christ.  Before we were under a curse (v10), hopelessly trying to get to heaven by obeying God’s laws, but never succeeding; that’s the curse of the law.  But Christ came and set us free from the curse of the law by dying on the cross for our sins.  He who had no sin became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God.  By dying on a tree at Calvary, Jesus himself became “a curse”, since Deuteronomy 21:23 says that anyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.  That’s why verse 13 says “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse of us, for it is written ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’.”

Thank You God for always having it in mind that we would be saved not by our own good works or my imperfect ability to obey Your perfect laws.  Instead, just like You justified Abraham by faith in Your promise, so You justified us by faith in Jesus Christ.  Thank You that because of Jesus I am set free from the curse of the law, and I am redeemed (rescued, bought back, and made new) through faith in Jesus Christ.  It’s the greatest blessing I could ever receive, one that I could never earn.  I thank You for that blessing today.  In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN!