“Even so Abraham believed God"

“‘Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.”  (Gal. 3:6 ESV)

Paul finished Chapter 2 by stating, " I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose."   A rather damning statement to anyone who wants to add anything to the Gospel of Grace. It’s a very simple argument; it is either by God’s grace that you have been saved, or you are saying that Christ died needlessly.

Paul continues his argument that it is only by God’s grace through faith that anyone is saved. In reality, Paul argues that salvation through faith is not a new concept. He goes back to Abraham and explains how Abraham was declared righteous. Paul says it was by faith, not by any works, especially not by keeping the Mosaic Law, which hadn’t yet been given. Remember that the Mosaic law was given to Moses after God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, which was some 430 years after the Abrahamic covenant. So, if the message that the Judaizers were preaching was true, then how could Abraham have been justified before God by keeping the Mosaic Law? It couldn’t have been by maintaining a law that hadn’t been given yet, so it had to be by faith.

Now, for most of us reading this argument today, we would say, How obvious. Of course, Abraham wasn’t justified by the Mosaic Law. But remember, the believers that Paul is addressing were primarily Gentiles, not Jews. These Gentiles have not been taught the Old Testament all of their lives like the Jews had; they did not have access to the Old Testament Scriptures like the Jews had, so it was easier for them to start believing what these Jews (who supposedly knew the Old Testament in detail) were telling them. Remember that these new Galatian believers did not have the New Testament that we now have. Besides the Book of James, Paul’s letter to them was the first New Testament letter available to any believer.

We should not be judgmental of these new believers, much of what they were following was out of ignorance. Most of these Gentiles had only heard the good news of the Gospel of Grace from Paul and Barnabas about 18 months earlier.  These believers were new to the faith, untrained, without Bibles, and being persecuted by Jews. They had a lot on their plates, but Paul was very firm with them not to abandon the truth so quickly as he had preached it.

Even though Paul is writing mainly to gentile believers, the purpose of this section was to show the logical fallacy of these Judaizers and to stop them in their tracks. To demonstrate that the “works salvation” they were teaching was incorrect. Paul says, it’s nonsense to say that Gentiles have to obey the Law of Moses to be made righteous, even Father Abraham had not obeyed the Law. But just like him, the Gentiles are justified by faith alone.

Today, in our society, we are not confronted with “Judaizers” who are proclaiming that in order to be saved, you have to accept Jesus AND obey the Old Testament Laws. No, our modern-day Judaizers are not that obvious. Today, this “keeping of the Law” preaching comes in the form of mandatory tithing, church attendance, ministry, daily Bible Study, a rigorous prayer life, and the list goes on. These things are good in and of themselves, and if the Spirit of God leads us to do them, we should, but they do not bring us closer to Jesus. He lives in each believer; how much closer can He be? We can’t earn or buy His favor. He has already proven His love for us, as Paul states. " But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  (Rom. 5:8). God already loves us; we need to stop trying to “earn” His love. We already have it. Now we should be living our lives to bring honor and glory to our Savior, not trying to get closer to Him or begging Him to forgive us yet again. We are a forgiven people, filled with God’s love (and the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit). We need to listen to the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit, accept His love, and enjoy the “Gospel of the Grace of God” that Paul speaks about in Acts 20:24.

Now, in verses 12-14, Paul argues that no one can keep the Law of Moses, no one! And in verse 14, he states, “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. ” Paul gets a bit into the weeds here, and for some of us, it isn't easy to understand. However, remember that Paul was a trained Pharisee, a lawyer of the Old Testament Law; it was in his nature to delve into the details when arguing any point of the Law. But in verse 26, he summarized his position, “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ”.  He then declares one of his most famous truths about the Gospel of Grace in verse 28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Paul uses Chapter 3 to show what the Judaizers were proclaiming, that adherence to the Law of Moses had no basis in reality. It isn’t even logical; they are attempting to use the Old Testament to prove their point, but it doesn’t. Paul will not budge from his position that he learned directly from Jesus Himself, that salvation, justification, sanctification, and being declared righteous are only through faith alone in our Lord Jesus.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"