Background Reading: Galatians 3:19-4:7
Lesson Context: In today’s lesson, Paul continued his efforts to instruct the Galatians about the correct relationship between law and grace. Because of some false teachers called Judaizers, the churches in the province of Galatia were adding works of the law to the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:6-10). Paul reflected on his own “exceedingly zealous” experience in Judaism (1:14) as he highlighted his inability to follow the law to the point of justification (2:15-21).
Abraham’s Seed (Galatians 3:23-29):
A. Before Faith (vv. 23-24).
23. “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.” Before faith came: Before we were saved by faith; before we lived our lives by faith, we were kept under guard by the law. Here, Paul uses a different word and a different idea than when he wrote the Scripture has confined all under sin in the guard is protective custody. There is a sense in which we were imprisoned by our own sin under the law; but there is also another sense in which it guarded us in protective custody. The whole purpose if the law is to bring us to Jesus. Therefore, if someone doesn’t present the Law in a manner that brings people to faith in Jesus, they aren’t presenting the Law properly. The way Jesus presented the Law was to show people that they could not fulfill it, and needed to look outside of their law-keeping to find a righteousness greater than the Scribes and the Pharisees.
24. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” A schoolmaster was a man put in charge of a young boy by his parents. Once we have come to a relationship of faith, we no longer have to live under our tutor, though we remember the behavior he has taught us. So we respect our tutor, the Law, but we don’t live under him. We live under Jesus by faith.
B. Faith in Christ (vv. 25-29).
25. “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
Compared to what was being taught among the Galatians, this was a revolutionary statement. In traditional Jewish thinking (carried into Christianity by Jewish Christians), your standing before God was measured by obedience to the law. To truly be close to God-considered sons of God-you had to be extremely observant of the law, just as the Scribes and Pharisees were. Here, Paul says we can be considered sons of God in a completely different way: through faith in Christ Jesus.
26. “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” To be among the sons of God means that we have a special relationship with God as a loving and caring Father. It is a place of closeness, a place of affection, a place of special care and attention. To become a son of God through faith in Christ Jesus means much more than believing that He exists or did certain things. It is to put our trust in Him, both now and eternity.
27. “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
Here, using the picture of baptism, Paul illustrates what it means to have faith in Christ Jesus. Just as in water baptism a person is immersed in water, so when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, we are immersed in Jesus.
References: International Sunday School Lessons, KJV 2023-2024, Standard Lesson Commentary, Guzik: Study Guide for Galatians