Of Guards, Guides, and Grace - Galatians 3:23-29

 

“Guard’s, Guides, and Grace”

Galatians 3:23-29

Introduction:  The TV reality show “Biggest Loser” was pretty well known in the small town in Maine where we served. Before we got there, the former youth pastor was a contestant on that show. The contestants had a couple of things that they probably hated at times, but which were there to help them toward their goal: 1) the scale, which spoke only the hard unbiased truth; and 2) a personal trainer, to instruct, encourage, and urge them toward their goal.  Together, these guides could reveal the need, and help them toward their objective.  The Law served that way for the Jews, and does so for us. It can’t save us, but it exposes our desperate need for a Rescuer!  I am reminded of that scene in 2 Chronicles 34:18-21 when Shaphan brings to King Josiah the scroll that was found as they renovated the Temple. He came to Josiah and said… 

"Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it before the king.  ¹⁹ Thus it happened, when the king heard the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded…  ²¹ "Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book."

When we are weighed on the scale of the Law, we all fall short! Paul agrees.

Context: After setting forth his apostolic credentials and the source of his Gospel, Paul argued both from the experience of the Galatian Christians in coming to faith, and from the Scriptures, that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus and His finished work, apart from the works of the Law. We’ve seen in Galatians 3 that God never intended the Law as a means of salvation. In fact, if the Law could save the cross would not have been necessary and Jesus died for nothing. Paul now uses an illustration from everyday life to show that God has revealed clear boundaries to expose man’s sin and to guide us to faith in Christ. 

The BIG Idea: The Law serves as a disciplinarian, a personal tutor, urging us toward sonship which is through faith in Jesus. The Law exposes our need, Jesus is the answer.

I. What we were under the Law: Humans were in bondage under the Law. The Law is compared to a prison where we were kept under guard, and then to a disciplinarian, which would correct and guide (3:23-24).

²³ Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.  ²⁴ So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 

       The Law as a “Guard” (3:23) “…we were kept under guard…. And kept for faith…” The ESV says, “help captive… until the coming faith would be revealed.” Remember the context, v.22 says, “But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” The NKJV translates “everything” as “…all…” This must include Jews and Gentiles alike.  This refers to the Mosaic Law, but also includes the broader revelation of God in nature (Rom 1:18-21) and conscience (2:14,15).  One of the questions that comes up is what about those who were outside of Israel in the period before Christ, or those today who haven’t heard the Gospel?  The truth is that they will be convicted (and condemned!) on the basis of the light of general revelation which they have received, in nature and in their consciences. There is none righteous, no not one… all have sinned… and in our more thoughtful moments we know it.

       Through the years as our daughter was growing up I read to her at night. One of the books we read together was Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. There is one scene in that allegory that illustrates the idea we are addressing here,

“…as I slept I dreamed a dream.  I dreamed and behold I saw a man clothed with rags standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back.  I looked and saw him open the book and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled; and, not being able longer to contain he brake out with a lamentable cry saying “What shall I do?”

That is the desired effect of the Law… through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. Pilgrim’s burden is sin, and the book in his hand is the Bible. Our desperate need is exposed. In Bunyan’s story, a short while later the man encountered Evangelist, who asked him why he was crying. Pilgrim replied, “Sir, I perceive by the book in my hand that I am condemned to die and after that to come to judgment.” Evangelist pointed to a hill in the distance, and said that was the way to light and life. The Bible is like that, it opens our eyes to our need, our lost and desperate condition, and it also is the means that God uses to stir faith in our hearts: Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.

        Not only with respect to the history of redemption, but every human being either continuously lives as a captive slave chained under the judgment of God’s perfect and unchanging law, the demands of which he must pay by eternal death or hell; or he lives by faith in Jesus, utterly free from judgment (cf. Rom 8:1-3) as a redeemed child of God under his sovereign and eternal grace. Yet just like Cain, men continue to insist on coming to God on their own terms and choosing for themselves what they decide should be pleasing to God. God is God and we are not! He gets to make the rules!

       In Philippians 3:5-9 Paul described his conversion from Law to Grace:

“…circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ…  I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,  ⁹ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ…”

That last verse from Paul is the message of Galatians in a nutshell! I can’t keep the Law flawlessly; my only hope is being declared righteous through faith in Christ!

       The Law as a Guide (3:24). – Paul applies the idea of being “kept in custody” to another situation that would have been readily understandable in his first century context. Read again 3:23-24,

“...But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.  24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. .”

The “guardian,” [paidagogos] in the Greek world wasn’t a teacher or schoolmaster, but rather a tutor, who was usually a household servant who was an attendant to the child from about 6 to 16 years of age.  He would take him to school, make sure he studied his lessons, and even discipline him as needed.  It was never permanent; it was for that specific time period. All of it, leading, disciplining, directing, lasted only until the child reached the age of an “adult son.” Paul uses that as an illustration of the nature and function of the Law. It has a restraining and guiding function, and for the Jews before Christ it looked forward to the coming of the One who would rescue those who believe.

     The main purpose of the Law, God’s divinely appointed pedagogue, was to provide boundaries, to restrain, reining the children in, to give guidance, to show people their need, until the coming of Christ, that they might be justified through faith in Him.  After a person comes to Him there is no longer a need for external ceremonies and rituals to act as guides and disciplinarians, because the new inner principles operate through the indwelling Christ in who is “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3).  The Law in a ceremonial sense is done away with, though in the moral sense it remains, revealing the character of our Father, and His desire for us. Tim Keller said,

Law and grace work together in Christian salvation. Many people want a sense of joy and acceptance but they will not admit the seriousness of their sin. They will not listen to the law’s searching and painful analysis of their lives and hearts. But unless we see how helpless and profoundly sinful we are, the message of salvation will not be exhilarating and liberating. Unless we know how big our debt is, we cannot have any idea of how great Christ’s payment was. If we think that we are not all that bad, the idea of grace will never change us. The law shows us as we really are. And so the law points us to see Christ as He really is: our Savior, the One who obeyed the law on our behalf and then died in our place so that we might receive the promised blessing.

The law serves as a disciplinarian, a personal tutor, urging us toward sonship, which is only through faith in Christ. The Law exposes our need, Jesus is the answer.

II. What we are in Christ: In Christ, by faith, we are sons; we’ve been set free! Sonship is a gracious gift, received by faith (3:25-29). Paul now unfolds the results of being rightly related to God through faith in Jesus Christ….

²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,  ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.  ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  ²⁹ And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

       What does Paul mean: "faith has come" (25)? Clearly Paul is not saying that no one in Israel had saving faith before Christ came! Abraham surely did, Paul is using him as an example (3:6). Indeed, the NT teaching about faith is based largely on quotations from the OT. Hebrews 11 surveys Old Testament history and gives examples of faith from the past. The reformers didn’t invent the phrase, “The just shall live by faith,” it came from the OT prophet Habakkuk. So, Paul does not mean that no one had faith before Christ came, or that justification was by works before Christ came. Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. That has always been true. What does he mean then?

       Paul is using a figure of speech, a metonymy, when he says that "faith has come," He is referring to the One who is the object of our faith and the subject of the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith. By God's grace, the period in redemptive history has come in which God sent forth His Son. The Rescuer has arrived (Gal 4:4,5)! When that gospel is preached, people believe and are saved. The word of Christ is being fulfilled when He said, “I will build my church.” Do you know Jesus? You are living evidence that by the sovereign, effectual grace of the Holy Spirit "faith has come"—even to us, and taken up residence in our hearts, and made us new. “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live is the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved and gave himself for me.” That was Paul’s testimony in chapter 2, and if you know Him, in some way, it is your testimony as well.

        Now that “faith has come” (v.25), we are living in the age of grace, under the Gospel, the full and final revelation of God in Christ. So, we have moved from the position of children under the direction and discipline of a guardian, a pedagogue, to being Sons of God (vv. 25,26).   As we think about what we are in Christ, contrast that with what we were without Him. Apart from faith in Christ, all men are enemies of God (Rom 5:10) and children of wrath (Eph 2:3).  Like the self-righteous Pharisees in Jerusalem, every unbeliever, according to Jesus, is in reality a child of the devil (John 8:44). In that condition of utter darkness, a Light shone – Jesus, the Light of the World. And He is the only way (Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12). Is that an exclusive message? Yes… There is no other way to God, but through faith in Christ. Period.

        There are implications to this: Because all believers are in Christ, our unity with Him implies a positional unity with other Christians (27-28). Clearly, there is no room for pride, or prejudice, this is a call to being forgiving and gracious. Paul says they were “…baptized into Christ…” (27). “In Christ” is a favorite expression of Paul emphasizing our union with Him. He makes a similar reference in Romans 6:3-5, which primarily a refers to our spiritual identification with Christ…

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Christ is in us, and at the same time, we are in Christ. Paul already affirmed that in Gal 2:20,21 and he is assuming it here in Gal 3. If we are in Christ and He is in us, we are His, and He is ours! He also says we have been “Put on Christ,” or, we’ve been “clothed with Christ,” that is, enveloped in his presence, his righteousness. In Col 3:3 Paul says, “…you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God...”

       Another implication, spiritual equality. Read again v. 28, ^“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  That is a radical statement in the context of the first century, asserting absolute spiritual equality irrespective of social status, race, or gender! Coming from Paul, trained as a Rabbi and Pharisee, this seems to be a conscious rebuttal of a common prayer of the Pharisees at that time: “Lord, I thank you that I was not born a slave, a gentile, or a woman…” Such was the discrimination of that time!  Paul is saying, before God, all humans are equal. All spiritual blessings, resources, and promises are equally given to all who believe unto salvation (cf. Rom 10;12). Paul later writes that the dividing wall of partition between Jew and Gentile has been abolished in Christ (Eph 2:14ff). In another epistle he counsels his friend Philemon to receive back his runaway slave Onesimus, no longer as a slave, but now as a brother in Christ.  He commends women such as Phoebe and Priscilla for their service for the Lord, always respecting the complementary roles God has established in Creation and affirmed in the NT.

       Racism is an explosive issue in America today, and we see God’s answer to it here. I like the name of a ministry, led by African-American scholar, Dr. Charles Ware. It focuses on how the church should confront the issue of race relations, Dr. Ware calls it: Grace Relations. That is what Paul affirms here, God’s plan, the church unified. No division along racial, ethnic, or cultural lines, but a beautiful diversity that foreshadows Rev 7:9 when standing before the throne and the Lamb will be “a multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues.” We are one in Christ, and we should model “grace relations” that extend to people of every race and background.

       It also means that we are heirs of the promise (see v.29). “…for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  ²⁹ And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.” Since we are “in Christ,” the promised Seed, we too are joint heirs, and share in the spiritual promises given to Abraham. Through faith.

What is God saying to me in this passage? The Law served as a personal tutor, a temporary disciplinarian, urging us toward sonship through faith in Jesus.  John Stott commenting on these verses said: “We cannot come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses to be condemned.  But once we have gone to Moses, and acknowledged our sin, guilt, and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must let Moses send us to Christ.” The Gospel is clear: Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The Law exposes our need, Jesus is the answer.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? For those of us who struggle with our weight, the hard, objective truth presented by a scale can sometimes hurt, but if it’s the truth, we would do well to pay attention! Would to God that the Word drive us to repentance as it did Josiah when the Book of the Law was read to him! The Law speaks “…to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God… (Rom 3:19).

       The Bible is Truth, and it will show us our need, it will point out how far short we fall and how hopeless we are in and of ourselves. But it doesn’t leave us there. It also serves as a kind, encouraging tutor, a personal trainer, to point us to Jesus and His amazing grace. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – and he did it by taking our sins in his own body on the Cross – He drank the cup of wrath to the dregs, so that our cup, the cup of blessing, could be filled to overflowing. That is Amazing Grace!  We celebrate that grace together as we share the Lord’s Table, remembering the Cross. We share in this ordinance together, as a body, celebrating the amazing truth that by grace through faith we are in Christ, and we are one in Christ.  Let’s worship Him together! AMEN.