August 21, 2024
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in selections from Leviticus and Galatians? Here’s today’s reading:
Galatians 3 (NIV)
Faith or Works of the Law
1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?……Continue Reading
Galatians 3
Considering Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:17-20, it is easy to see how the Galatians might have been led astray! Jesus says that “whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (20) For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
So, what is Jesus teaching here? He came to fulfill the law, but then says that if anyone relaxes one of the least of commandments will be least in the kingdom of heaven…indeed, that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the religious teachers, we will never enter heaven!
I have been reading Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship and just finished his chapter on the Righteousness of Christ. I thought the last couple paragraphs really were helpful here for our study on Galatians as well, so I’ll just add them here, in case anyone is interested…grace and peace to you all!
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“It is not the law which distinguishes the disciples from the Jews, but the ‘better righteousness.’ The righteousness of the disciples, we are told, exceeds that of the scribes. That is because it is something extraordinary and unusual. This is the first time we meet the word (Greek spelling) [to exceed], which is so important. We must ask, how exactly does the righteousness of the Pharisees differ from that of the disciples? Certainly, the Pharisees never imagined that the law must be taught but not obeyed: they knew their Bibles better than that! No, it was rather their ambition to be doers of the law. Their idea of righteousness was a direct, literal and practical fulfilment of the commandment, their ideal was to model their behavior exactly on the demands of the law. Of course, they knew that they could never realize that ideal, there was bound to be an excess which needed forgiveness of sins to cover it. Their obedience was never more than imperfect.
With the disciple also righteousness could only take the form of obedience to the law. No one who failed to do the law could be accounted righteous. But the disciple had the advantage over the Pharisee in that his doing of the law is in fact perfect. How is such a thing possible? Because between the disciples and the law stands one who has perfectly fulfilled it, one with whom they live in communion. They are faced not with a law which has never yet been fulfilled, but with one whose demands have already been satisfied. The righteousness it demands is already there, the righteousness of Jesus which submits to the cross because that is what the law demands. This righteousness is therefore not a duty owed, but a perfect and truly personal communion with God, and Jesus not only possesses this righteousness, but is Himself the personal embodiment of it. He IS the righteousness of the disciples.
By calling them He has admitted them to partnership with Himself, and made them partakers of His righteousness in its fulness. That is what Jesus means when He prefaces His teaching on the ‘better righteousness’ with reference to His own fulfilment of the law. Of course the righteousness of the disciples can never be a personal achievement; it is ALWAYS a gift, which they received when they were called to follow Him. In fact their righteousness consists precisely in their following Him, and in the beatitudes the reward of the kingdom of heaven has been promised to it. It is a righteousness under the cross, it belongs only to the poor, the tempted, the hungry, the meek, the peacemakers, the persecuted – who endure their lot for the sake of Jesus; it is the visible righteousness of those who for the sake of Jesus are the light of the world and the city set on the hill. This is where the righteousness of the disciple exceeds that of the Pharisees; it is grounded solely upon the call to fellowship with Him who alone fulfils the law. Their righteousness is righteousness indeed, for from henceforth they do the will of God and fulfil the law themselves. Again, it is not enough to teach the law of Christ, it must be done, otherwise it is no better than the old law. In what follows the disciples are told how to practice this righteousness of Christ. In a word, it means following Him. It is the real and active faith in the righteousness of Christ. It is the new law, the law of Christ.”
Faith is too easy. We want something to do with our relationship with God. By following rules and laws. Let the Holy Spirit do its work. The law is weak. The spirit is full of power. Choose!
Galatians 3 – Steve and Camy
Thank you, Sean.
Exodus 39-40; Leviticus 1-2; Galatians 2-3
The Apostle Paul is reminding the believers of how they got saved. Don`t be confused by these false teachers that were trying to put the believers into bondage. He is reminding them that they got saved by believing what they heard about Christ and receiving the Spirit but not by the works of the law which only bring bondage. VS 2 For the law was given to reveal to us our sinful nature and because of that we are under a curse. VS 10 But Christ redeemed us from the curse by taking it upon Himself becoming our curse. VS 13a So now because of what He has done; we are justified by faith in Him. VS 24 What is amazing; not only that He took our place but we are all children of God through faith in Him. That in Him there is neither Jew nor Gentile; slave nor free; male nor female for we all one in Christ. VS 26,28 Not exact quotes but paraphrased. This is why Paul rebuked Peter for how he behaved when Jews were around and dismissed the Gentiles presence as Paul mentioned in the last chapter. We are all one in Christ. No one is better than another in Christ. God bless you all.
In the same way that we came to Christ in faith, we are to walk the same way in Him. The life Jesus calls us to is certainly not one of disobedience, but it is one marked by faith and spiritual power as opposed to just strict adherence to the law. A rule has no power in itself to help us obey it, and in fact does more to illicit sin in us to rise up. But when the standard is lived out because I believe something/someone and it is based in power coming from the Spirit and the new nature within, and I don’t seek to gain credit or accolades because of my obedience, that is an obedience based in faith. Let us know and live out the grace that teaches us to say no to ungodliness rather than trying to establish a godliness that is our own, like the Galatians became convinced was necessary. Paul shows them and us why the law has no power to do what faith in Jesus does. It was given to keep us in line until Jesus came. But now that He has come, we are made children of God and are infused with power to be and do what God want us to be and do. Yet it is based in who He is and to His glory and not our own.
Galatians 3
”Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.“
Galatians 3:7-9 NKJV
13 ¶ Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”,
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
This chapter clearly explains why and how we are saved. Our belief in Jesus makes us righteous, just like Abraham’s belief in God was credited as rightesousness. It has nothing to do with good works. So in Christ Jesus we are all children of God through faith, and we are all one in the same in Christ Jesus. Furthermore, since belong to Christ, we are adopted into Abraham’s family, and heirs according to the promise God gave to him. All reasons to have peace, hope, and joyful anticipation for what awaits us when we pass from this life.
If someone gives me a gift and I never open the gift, what good is it. If it sits on a shelf it never comes to it’s full purpose the giver intended it to have for the receiver. If we accept the gift of salvation but then do not operate in the Holy Spirit and in obedience to the commands we are like that gift that never reaches it’s purpose. Our obedience and our new life in Christ is just as much a part of the gift we received.