I have something a little different for you today, as you probably know my wife and I have moved and so time has been harder to find in the madness of the moment. The good news is that once everything is settled my time should greatly increase, meaning I’ll be able to produce more content, not less.
This week though I‘d like to share with you a study I recorded during the first year of lockdowns as part of a series of devotions my Church at the time was producing. I was asked to speak about Galatians 3:10-22 which says:
LAW AND PROMISE
For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed. Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith. But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Brothers and sisters, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to a validated human will. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ. My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by GodW and thus cancel the promise. For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.
THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW
Why, then, was the law given? It was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator. Now a mediator is not just for one person alone, but God is one. Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe.
Christian Standard Bible, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ga 3:10–22
As we’ve just left that city and subsequently that Church, I thought it would be good to throw back to that video, I hope you enjoy it, as well as the rather sizeable beard I had at the time!
It’s also worth noting that if you haven’t already seen, last week we released an episode of Consider the Ravens with Dr Karen Swallow Prior, the author of a new reader’s version of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles. If you haven’t had a chance to check that out, or if you’ve never listened to the Consider the Ravens podcast, this is one you won’t want to miss.
The Judaizers and Their Secret Weapon