What Does God Expect Of Me?

Paul in Galatians is dealing with a very common problem.  Believers struggling with the issue of grace.  Our natural tendency is to just want the necessary rules or guidelines to follow.  I remember thinking when I first got married, I wish my wife would just write down all the things she wanted me to do to make our marriage work.  Now I realize if she had done that it would only remind me of how inadequate I was as a husband.  That would lead to resentment, which then leads to unfaithfulness.  So in this section of our study, we are taking a deeper look at the proper role God’s law plays in the life of the believer.

In Galatians 3:23-26 the foundation statement of this text is, “The Law was given to prepare the way for Christ.”

Paul’s Illustration:

In many Roman and Greek households, well-educated slaves took the children to and from school and watched over them during the day. Sometimes they would teach the children, sometimes they would protect and sometimes they would even discipline them. This would be like our modern day nannies or au par. Paul uses this example to explain the role the law plays in the life of a Christian. Here are several fundamental truths about the law.

Several Truths about the Law:

1. The Jews were not born through the Law but rather were brought up by the Law.

Taking Paul’s example, the slave or guardian was not the child’s blood relative, not the child’s father; he was the child’s guardian and disciplinarian. So to expand on that analogy the Law did not give life to Israel; it regulated life.

1. The Law was put into place only for a certain period of time.

The work of the guardian was to prepare the child with a foundation that would serve them well into maturity. Once the child came of age, they no longer needed the work of a guardian. So the Law was a preparation for the nation of Israel until the coming of the promised Seed, Jesus Christ.  Paul clearly spells that out in Galatians 3:22-23,

22 Scripture has subjected the whole world to sin’s power so that the faithful obedience of Jesus the Anointed might extend God’s promises to everyone who has faith. 23 Before faith came on the scene, the law did its best to keep us in line, restraining us until the faith that was to come was fully revealed.

The ultimate goal in God’s plan of salvation was His Son, the promised seed, but “…before this faith (Christ) came…” (Gal. 3:23), the nation was “…imprisoned by the Law”.  The Judaizers taught that the Law was necessary for life and righteousness.  Paul warns the church that to elevate the law above its role as guardian gives the law too much power and takes away from Jesus’ work on the cross.  So because the law was there to prepare the nation for the coming of the Messiah, now that the promised seed Jesus Christ, has come there is no longer the same need for the law to be a guardian.  The role of the law has now been to remind people of their need for a savior.

A good example is when I was a parish pastor, I had an older member say to, “I wish you would stop reminding me that I am a saint and a sinner.  I am too old to sin now.”  I respectfully reminded her that she nor anyone was too old to sin.  She was just too old to remember that she sinned.”  That did make her chuckle.

The Law fails to do what the Promise Can Do

The Law could reveal sin.  It may even curb behavior, but the Law has its limitations.

1. The Law could never justify the guilty sinner.

2. “…I will not justify the wicked,” said the Lord (Ex. 23:7); yet Paul states that God “…justifies the ungodly…” (Rom. 4:5).

3. King Solomon, at the dedication of the temple, reminded God to condemn the wicked and justify the righteous (1 Kings 8:32); and this was a proper request in light of the holiness of God. The trouble is, nobody was righteous! It is only through faith in Jesus Christ that the sinner is justified—declared righteous—before God.

4. The Law does not make us one w/ God or others.
   

5. The Pharisee would pray each morning, “I thank Thee, God, that I am a Jew, not a Gentile; a man, not a woman; and a freeman, and not a slave.” Yet all these distinctions are removed “in Christ.”

6. Faith counters, but through faith, we are baptized us “into Christ” (Gal. 3:27).

This baptism of the Spirit unites the believer with Christ and makes him part of His body (1 Cor. 12:12–14).

12 Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many. 13 We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or free, and we all were given one Spirit to drink. 14 Certainly, the body isn’t one part but many.

This baptism of the Spirit unites the believer with Christ and makes him part of His body (1 Cor. 12:12–14).

12 Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many. 13 We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or free, and we all were given one Spirit to drink. 14 Certainly, the body isn’t one part but many.

Water baptism attached with God’s promise makes us people of the promise, a new nation. It seals our adoption as sons and daughters in the new family of faith.   Through this baptism we put “on Christ”, we change out of the dirty garments of sin and by faith receive the new white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb of righteousness.  The Law created differences, distinctions, and hostility, but through our adoption, we are now “All one in Christ Jesus”, what an empowering claim.  Jesus Christ came, not to divide, but to unite.

#Expectations #Grace