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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday December 1, 2019
THE
LAW AND GOD’S PROMISES
Galatians
3:15-29
JESUS
CHRIST is the one person in whom GOD’s Covenant with Abraham was consummated.
GOD told Abraham (Genesis 17:7-8) that
“HE would establish HIS covenant between HIMSELF, Abraham, and his SEED” (seed
being singular, not plural). Therefore, this “Abrahamic Covenant” is not
consummated in a group of people (the Jews), who were descendants of Abraham,
but rather, it was promised to CHRIST, WHO was GOD’s OWN SEED, through the
genealogical line of Abraham.
In Galatians 3, taking up at verse 15, the
Apostle Paul calls on his own Rabbinic training to get his point across to the
Christian Church at Galatia. Jewish rabbis were proud of how they could base
their arguments on the use of a single word, in this case “seed”. Part of a
Rabbis training was in how to build their theological debates around a single
word, and, here in this passage, Paul masterfully does just that.
Paul goes on to explain how the agreement
GOD made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when HE gave the
Law to Moses, because if GOD did that, HE would be breaking HIS OWN Covenant
Promise (Vs.17-18). The Law was given to us to show us how far we had strayed
from the glorious standards that GOD instilled within us when HE shared HIS
nature with us, creating us in HIS OWN spiritual image, way back in the
beginning (Gen. 1:27). However, this divine system of law was to last only
until the first advent of CHRIST JESUS, the SEED to whom the promise was made
(Gal. 3:19).
There is no conflict between GOD’s Law and
HIS promise. If the Law could have brought us new life, we could have been
saved simply by just obeying it. However, since we are all prisoners of sin,
the only way that we can receive GOD’s promise, is by believing in what CHRIST
has done for us (Vs. 21-22).
And so, actually, the Law was used by GOD
to keep us in a sort of “protective custody” until the day when JESUS completed
HIS unique earthly assignment, by way of HIS vicarious sacrifice on the cross
(v. 23). And when that mission was completed, all who have sinned, and thereby,
been cursed by the Law of GOD (Deuteronomy 27:26), can be removed from that
curse, simply by believing in CHRIST JESUS.
All throughout Paul’s ministry he returned
again and again to the same point; The solutions to the enigmas of human life
has always been in having and maintaining an experiential relationship of
friendship with GOD, and, in continued faith in GOD. GOD’s covenant with
Abraham was made possible because of Abraham’s faith in GOD, as the Law, at
that time, did not yet exist.
The Law served only as our guardian and
teacher, guiding us until CHRIST came, and now that HE has come, our salvation
lies in our faith in HIM. We no longer need the Law as our guardian, now the
HOLY SPIRIT guides those who believe in Christ JESUS (Vs. 24-25).
We are children of GOD, only through our
faith in CHRIST. When we become one with CHRIST in baptism, we are made like
HIM, and are expected to emulate HIM, through our behavior, at all times. And so,
weather we are Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, male or female, becomes
irrelevant. Also, when we belong to CHRIST, we become the true children of
Abraham, and the heirs to all of the promises that GOD gave to him (Vs. 26-29).
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
larrydalexanderbiblestudies.blogspot.com
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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