The Law & The Promise

 

The Law & The Promise

Galatians 3:15-29

 

Paul has established that salvation does not come through the law. Now, he must show why the promise made by God to Abraham, which is based on grace, is greater.

 

Galatians 3:15-18: The Law Cannot Change the Promise

 

In Genesis 12:2-3 God makes a promise to Abram that He will make him a great nation, that He will bless him, that He will make his name great, that He will bless those who bless him & curse those who dishonor him, & that through him all the families of the earth will be blessed. This promise was made over four hundred years before the law was given. So, the law cannot change the covenant promise that God gave to Abraham & his offspring. In Luke 1:55 in Mary’s song of praise to God for the promise of the coming of the Messiah, it indicates that the promise is given to Abraham’s offspring. This is singular, referring to Jesus. So, the promise of blessing all people is through Jesus & it is by God’s grace through faith in Jesus as Savior & Lord that we receive salvation. If we could receive salvation through works of the law, then it is no longer through a covenant promise based in God’s grace, but through our own efforts.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting God’s grace to fulfill the covenant promise of salvation through faith, not works of the law.

 

Galatians 3:19-20: The Law Is Not Greater Than the Promise

 

The law was given to Israel by Moses, who was an intermediary, & it was given to Israel to make them aware of God’s standards & the fact that they had not lived up to God’s standards. It was also given to them with the promise of the Messiah who would deliver them from the penalty of their disobedience. That Messiah is Jesus. John 1:17 says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The law came through Moses &, as great as he was, he was not Jesus, God in the flesh who gave us grace & truth. Jesus is greater & thus the promise is greater than the law.    

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting in God’s grace which is greater than the law.

Galatians 3:21-26: The Law Is Not Contrary to The Promise

 

The law is not contrary to the promises of God. The law cannot give life & it cannot make us righteous. If the law could, then there would be no need for the promise. But the law can only make us aware of sin, it is through Jesus, His death & resurrection & our trust in Him that we are delivered from the power of sin. So, the law was like a guardian until Jesus came & justified us by grace through faith in Him. Jesus’ death & resurrection makes us children of God through faith in Him.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting Jesus’ finished work of salvation to save us, not following the law.

 

Galatians 3:27-29: The Law Cannot Do What the Promise Can Do

 

The promise that was fulfilled in Jesus’ coming, His life, His death, & His resurrection can do what the law could not do. Jesus baptizes us into His death & resurrection & establishes us in a relationship with Jesus as our Savior & Lord. Jesus does away with racial & ethnic divisions. Jesus does away with social divisions. Jesus bring equality between males & females. Jesus makes us spiritual offspring & heirs according to the promise God gave Abaraham.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting Jesus to make us one with Him & into the people that we were created to be.

 

The law was given to make us aware of sin. Jesus came to justify us & deliver us from the power of sin & give us eternal life.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

                         Joe