The Law and the Promise

Galatians 3:15-22 By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Paul wrote the words of our epistle lesson to the churches of Galatia to fight against a false teaching that threatened the very foundation of the Christian Church—a false teaching that continues to find a place within visible Christendom in our own day.

There were people in the church who were teaching that simple faith in Jesus Christ was not enough to have a life with God. 

They were not denying that faith in Jesus was important—they taught that!  But they were also teaching that faith was only the beginning of a life with God and what was needed after that was personal adherence to the Jewish Law if you were to be saved. 

In other words, what really mattered in your life with God—what counted in the end-- was what you did.  Paul called this another gospel which was not good news at all and he said that those who taught this ought to be condemned to the fires of hell!

Now, I don’t think that anyone in the visible church today is teaching people that they have to be circumcised to have a life with God-- but the heart of that false teaching (that faith is only the beginning and we have to add to it to be saved) is still found in the church today. 

One and a half billion of the two billion Christians who claim the name of Christ are taught by their churches that their own good works complete what Christ has begun.  Other churches teach that you must have some kind of ecstatic spiritual experience to be saved or that it is your own decision that saves you.  In other churches people are taught that besides believing in Jesus you must refrain from some activity if you truly believe or you must dress or live in a particular way to be saved.

Just like in Paul’s day these are false gospels that are not good news at all because they deny the simple promise of Holy Scripture (Old Testament and New Testament) that forgiveness of sins and our life with God comes from his gracious promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ and received by faith in him.  That is the argument that Paul is making as he combats these false teachers and that is what the Holy Spirit teaches us today.  Paul said:

To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 

            I’m not much of a professional sports fan but I know that the Cowboy’s running back was a “no-show” in training camp because he wanted to re-negotiate his contract. 

Now, he agreed to play and perform for a certain amount of money and for a certain amount of time but with two years let in his rookie contract, he wanted more.  How does that make you feel?  I think most fans are pretty much outraged by this!  Doesn’t a person’s word mean anything anymore?!  We don’t think much of that kind of person, do we?

That’s what Paul says false teachers make God out to be when they add to what is necessary to be saved.  By their false gospel (which is not good news at all) they are saying that God has changed his mind and that he has gone back on his Word. 

By their lies they are ruining his reputation and denying his faithfulness because they are saying that the solemn, covenant promise of God to graciously bless the world through Abraham’s offspring named Jesus-- is not really the way that God saves us at all--but that he really does it through the law.

Do you understand now why Paul says that those who teach that our life with God depends on what we do can right straight to hell?!  It is because this false gospel, that makes our actions the cause of our own salvation, is an attack upon the graciousness and the faithfulness of God and the sufficiency of Christ’s saving work. 

That cannot go unchallenged in the church!  Not in Paul’s day and not in ours!  And so Paul once again reminds the Galatians and us of what we ought to know about salvation from the Bible.  The Bible says that:

The promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.  This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

            There is a stark dividing line that separates God’s own truth from the devil’s lies when it comes to our life with God and it’s this:  the inheritance of God (in forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation) comes to us as a gracious promise of God, fulfilled in Christ and received in simple faith—OR--it comes to us as a result of what we do. 

One of those is true and one of those is a lie.  They cannot both be true as the false teachers of the past and present try to make them be-- for to add our works to God’s undeserved gift is to deny the gift altogether and make God’s promise a lie!

The fact of the matter is that God’s promise to bless the entire world that he made to Abraham finds its fulfillment only in the obedience of Christ unto death, NOT in our keeping the law, NOT in our experiences or decision, NOT in anything in us at all! 

And it has always been that way! 

The covenant that God made to Abraham to bless the entire world in Jesus Christ was renewed by him again and again in salvation history.  God never changed his mind about giving us forgiveness of sins, life and salvation through faith in Jesus.  God was and is and always will be faithful to his promise to give us a life with him as a gracious gift received in faith in Abraham’s Offspring named Jesus.

This has always been, and will always be, the one and only way of salvation and a life with God.  And so what about the law?  Why did God give Moses the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai?  What role does the law play in our own lives as those who are saved by grace through faith?  Paul says:

Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.  Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 

            The Bible plainly teaches, and the true Christian Church plainly confesses, that salvation is by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, apart from deeds of the law.  Apart from deeds of the law!  Whether it is our doing or our not doing, salvation apart from the deeds of the Law!  And so why then did God give the written Law to the children of Israel by the hand of Moses at Mt. Sinai?

It was added (not as an amendment to God’s gracious promise to Abraham, not as a codicil to his covenant) but rather because of transgression, because of sin, so that we could know beyond any shadow of a doubt how necessary God’s way of gracious salvation is!

            Let me give you an illustration.  At Cavender’s in Corpus Christi there is a giant plastic horse in the entrance and there is a sign on that giant plastic horse that says:  Do not touch!  Now, I might never have paid any interest at all in that giant plastic horse, much less toughed it,  but when that sign says don’t touch it:  guess what?!  I’m going to touch it!

The problem is not with the plastic horse and the problem is not with the sign—the problem is in my heart.  That’s what the law does:  it reveals and lays bare and exposes the sin that resides in our heart. It shows us why we cannot save ourselves by our obedience. 

It shows us again and again—in ways large and small—just exactly how sinful we are and it impresses upon again and again our complete inability to do what is necessary to earn our salvation and it shows us the absolute necessity of God’s gracious plan to save us through Spirit-given faith in his promise.

The Law was not given to show us how to save ourselves, the law was given to make us despair of saving ourselves. 

And to add one more point about the superiority of the Promise over the Law Paul reminds us that angels and Moses were the ways he dealt with men through the law while it was God himself who would give salvation:  by a promise our heavenly Father made to Abraham, a promise fulfilled by Jesus, and a promise given by the Spirit.

Salvation as a pure, gracious gift from the one true God who has a single-minded desire to save sinners through faith in Jesus.  The Bible says:

But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

            God made a promise to Abraham to bless the world through his Offspring named Jesus.  Abraham believed God and God counted that faith as righteousness in his sight. 

During his earthly ministry, Jesus promised that because he lived, we also would live.  Jesus promised that he is with us to the end of the age.  Jesus promised that he has prepared a place for us in heaven.  Jesus promised to give us peace and rest and forgiveness. 

Our Savior is the promise of God fulfilled and he is himself the God of kept promises who gives and will always give forgiveness of sin, life with God, and eternal salvation as free gifts of his gracious love for us.  God grant us his grace and the help of the Holy Spirit to believe this simple Gospel promise!  Amen.