{"id":26241,"date":"2023-05-09T22:00:39","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T05:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/galatians-3_6-14-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-04-25T17:48:03","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T00:48:03","slug":"galatians-3_15-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/galatians-3_15-22\/","title":{"rendered":"God\u2019s Law and God\u2019s Promise Are Working Together for You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Galatians\u00a0 \u00a03:15-22\u00a0 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

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Today\u2019s passage is Galatians 3:15-22.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

What’s the main message of\u00a0Galatians?\u00a0 It’s that we are justified by faith in Christ and not by trying to obey God’s laws. \u00a0(Remember that “justified” means to be declared righteous in God’s sight and worthy to be in God’s presence.) \u00a0Earlier in Galatians 3:6-14, Paul focuses on the life of Abraham as an example of “justification by faith”, how Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness.\u00a0 In other words, God justified Abraham not because he perfectly obeyed God’s laws, but because Abraham believed God’s promise.<\/p>\n

Now in\u00a0the following verses,\u00a0Galatians\u00a03:15-22, Paul answers some questions on how justification by faith works if God gave laws for His people to obey in the Old Testament.<\/p>\n

Galatians 3:15-18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 15-18:\u00a0 The first question Paul addresses is:\u00a0 Did God set aside His promise to justify people by faith when He introduced the Jewish law?\u00a0 In other words, when God used Moses to introduce the Jewish law, was God basically saying, “Forget all that justification by faith stuff I did with Abraham 430 years earlier.\u00a0 From now on, if you want to be justified, you need to earn it by obeying my law perfectly”?<\/p>\n

The answer:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0No.\u00a0 By introducing the Jewish law, God was not setting aside His earlier promise to justify people by faith.\u00a0 As verse 17 says, \u201cThe law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.\u201d)\u00a0 Rather God\u2019s promise is a lasting promise, given not just to Abraham but to Abraham’s “seed” (v16; see Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 24:7), which Paul takes to mean Jesus and, indirectly, anyone who places their faith in Jesus.\u00a0 God’s promise to justify people by faith was not set aside by the law, but continues to this day.<\/p>\n

Galatians 3:19-20 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 19-20:\u00a0 Here Paul tackles a second question:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0if we are justified by faith and not by observing the law, why did God give us the law then?<\/p>\n

The answer:\u00a0\u00a0The law was added “because of transgressions until the Seed [that is, Jesus] to whom the promise referred had come.” \u00a0In other words, God gave us the law (1) to show us how perfect His standards are and how far we fall short of them, (2) to point us to our need for Jesus to save us from our sin, and (3) to regulate people\u2019s behaviour until Jesus came.<\/p>\n

Also, in verses 19b-20, Paul adds that the way God gave people\u00a0His promise<\/em>\u00a0to justify by faith and the way He gave them\u00a0His laws<\/em>\u00a0were very different.\u00a0 The law was given through a mediator: God gave it angels, who in turn gave it to Moses, who in turn gave it to us.\u00a0 In contrast, the promise was given directly by God to Abraham.<\/p>\n

Galatians 3:21-22 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Is 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.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 21-22:\u00a0 Paul tackles a third question: \u201cis the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God\u201d (v21)?\u00a0\u00a0In other words, is there a conflict between God’s law and God’s promise to justify people by faith?<\/p>\n

The answer:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Absolutely not, Paul says.\u00a0 God’s law and God’s promise are not in conflict, but they are working together.\u00a0 The law shows us how sinful we are — that \u201cthe whole world is a prisoner of sin\u201d (v22a) — and how far we fall short of God’s standards.\u00a0 So while the law is not able to \u201cimpart life\u201d [i.e. save us] (v21), the law still plays a valuable role in showing us that we cannot earn righteousness by trying to obey it.\u00a0 The law shows us that we are sinners who need a Saviour and points us to seek a righteousness that is \u201cgiven through faith in Jesus Christ\u201d (v22), \u201cgiven to those who believe\u201d (v22) in God\u2019s promise.
\nSo the law and the promise are teammates working together.<\/p>\n

Thank You, Father, for removing from us the burden of trying to win your approval and earn righteousness by obeying Your laws perfectly.\u00a0 We couldn’t and we can’t.\u00a0 Thank You for Your laws which show us how perfect You are, how imperfect we are, and how much we need a Saviour.\u00a0 Thank You that You didn’t leave us helpless, but You sent the hero we need — Jesus Christ — to save us from our sins.\u00a0 Thank You that by believing in Jesus and the promise that we are forgiven through Him, we can receive Your righteousness and be justified.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Galatians 3:15-22.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

What’s the main message of\u00a0Galatians?\u00a0 It’s that we are justified by faith in Christ and not by trying to obey God’s laws. \u00a0(Remember that “justified” means to be declared righteous in God’s sight and worthy to be in God’s presence.) \u00a0Earlier in Galatians 3:6-14, Paul focuses on the life of Abraham as an example of “justification by faith”, how Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness.\u00a0 In other words, God justified Abraham not because he perfectly obeyed God’s laws, but because Abraham believed God’s promise.<\/p>\n

Now in\u00a0the following verses,\u00a0Galatians\u00a03:15-22, Paul answers some questions on how justification by faith works if God gave laws for His people to obey in the Old Testament. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26241"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26244,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26241\/revisions\/26244"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}