Weekly message: Christ the seed of Abraham by God’s promise not by Moses’ law
By
Rev. Katherine Liu Bruce
Christian
Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music; Pastoral ministry & Counseling
Date:
12/62023
Apostle Paul’s letter
to the Galatians reveals that Christ is versus religion with its law. God make Paul an apostle not by the law according to his
natural man in the old creation but through the resurrection of Christ
according to his regenerated man in the new creation. Therefore Apostle
Paul didn’t say “God the Father, who gave the law through Moses,” but “God the
Father, who raised Him (Christ) from the dead.” God’s New Testament economy is
not with men in the old creation but with men in the new creation through the
resurrection of Christ. Paul came to his subject because the churches in Galatia were deserting the grace of Christ and
backsliding to the observance of the law, Paul was burdened to write
this Epistle. And emphasized that the purpose of Christ’s giving Himself for
our sins was to rescue us, to pluck us, out of the Jewish religion, the present
evil age. This is to release God’s chosen people from the custody of the law to
bring them out of the sheepfold (John10:1; 3) according to the will of God.
Apostle Paul wanted to
rescue the churches, which were distracted by Judaism with its law, and bring
them back to the grace of the gospel. The grace of
Christ is the Triune God- the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This grace is
versus the law of Moses (John1:17). The observance of the law could never be a
gospel that could set sinners free from the bondage of the law and bring them
into the enjoyment of God; it could only keep them as slaves under the
bondage of the law, entangling them with the yoke of slavery of the law
(Gal.5:1). The Judaizers troubled the churches by perverting distorting, the
gospel of Christ, thus misleading the believers into going back to the law of
Moses.
Judaism was built upon
the God-given law with its three pillars: circumcision, the Sabbath, and the
holy dietary regulations. All three were ordained by God (Gen.17:9-14; Exo.20:8-11;Lev.11)
as shadows of things to come (Col.2:16-17). Circumcision was a shadow of the
crucifixion of Christ in its putting off of the flesh, as signified in baptism
(Col.2:11-12). The Sabbath was a type of Christ as the
rest for His people (Matt.11:28-30). The holy diet symbolized persons
who are clean and persons who are unclean, those whom God’s holy people should
contact and those they should not contact (Acts 10:11-16,34-35). Once Christ had come, all these shadows should have been
terminated. Hence, the observance of the Sabbath was abolished by the Lord
Jesus in His ministry (Matt.12:1-12), the holy dietary regulations were
annulled by the Spirit in Peter’s ministry (Acts10:9-20), and circumcision was
counted as nothing in the revelation received by Paul in his ministry (Gal.5:6;
6:15). Furthermore, the law, the base of Judaism, has been terminated and
replaced by Christ (Rom.10:4; Gal.2:16).
When Christ
took away our sin on the cross, He redeemed us out of the curse of the law.
Christ not only bore the curse for us but also became a curse for us.
The curse of the law issued from the sin of man.(Gen.3:17). In drifting back to
the law, the bewitched Galatians clung to Moses, through whom the law was
given; but Paul referred them to Abraham, who was the father of faith. Faith
was of God’s original economy; the law was added later because of the transgressions.
After Christ fulfilled the law through His death, God wanted His people to
return to His original economy. With Abraham it was not
a matter of keeping the law but of believing God. Works of law make
people disciples of Moses (John9:28), a relationship that has nothing whatever
to do with life. Faith in Christ makes the New Testament believers sons of God,
a relationship altogether of life. We the New Testament believers, were born
sons of the fallen Adam, and in Adam, because of transgressions, we were under
the law of Moses. But we have been reborn sons of
Abraham and have been freed from the law of Moses by faith in Christ.
The promise God gave to Abraham, “In you shall all
the nations be blessed,” was the gospel. It was preached to Abraham
not only before the accomplishing of redemption by Christ but also before the
giving of the law through Moses. What God promised to Abraham corresponds with
what God accomplished through Christ, which is the fulfillment of His promise
to Abraham. The New Testament economy is a continuation of God’s dealing with
Abraham, having nothing to do with the law of Moses. “In order
that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that
we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal.3:14). The
blessing promised by God to Abraham (Gen.12:3) for all the nations of the
earth. The promise was fulfilled, and the blessing has come to the nations in
Christ through His redemption by the cross. In the gospel we have received not
only the blessing of forgiveness, washing, and cleansing; even more, we have
received the greatest blessing which is the Triune God –the Father, Son, and
Spirit –as the processed all inclusive life-giving Spirit dwelling in us in a
most subjective way for our enjoyment.
“But to Abraham were the
promises spoken and to his seed. He does not say, and to the seeds, as
concerning many, but as concerning one:
And to your seed, who is Christ. And I say this : A covenant previously ratified
by God, the law, having come four hundred and thirty years after, does not
annul so as to make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance is of
law, it is no longer of promise; but to Abraham God has graciously given it
through promise.” (Galatians 3:16-18)
Christ is seed and the seed
is the heir who inherits the promises. Actually is God Himself processed in His
Trinity through incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and dissension
that we may receive Him as our life and our everything! God’s promise to Abraham was given first. The
law came 430 years later. The promise was permanent, but the law was temporary.
The law, which came later and was temporary, cannot annul the promise, which
was given first and was permanent.
The Galatians left the first and permanent promise and went back to the later
and temporary law. Counted from
the time God gave Abraham the promise in Gen.12 to the time He gave the law
through Moses in Exo.20. This period was considered by God as the time of the
children of Israel’s dwelling in Egypt (Exo.12:40-41). The four hundred years mentioned in Gen. 15:13
and Acts 7:6 is counted from the time Ishmael mocked Isaac in Gen.21 to the
time the children of Israel came out of the Egyptian tyranny in Exo.12 This is
the period during which Abraham’s descendants suffered persecution from the Gentiles.
Inheritance is not of law but
promise. Hence, the inheritance was graciously
given to Abraham through promise. The law was able only to demand and condemn;
it could not give life (Rom.7:10). There
is no life in the law; there are only commandments. Life is in Christ
(John1:4). He is the life-giving Spirit
(1Cor.15:45), the only One who is able to give life. The giving of life is
the focal point of the apostle’s revelation. We should take only the One who
gives life. With the law there is a mediator between two
parties, God and the children of Israel. With the promise there is only God, who is directly related to the one who
receives the promise, without a go-between. The responsibility with respect to
the law depends not on one party but on two, whereas the responsibility with
regard to the promise depends only on the giver, God. Hence, the law is inferior
to the promise. The Galatians gave up the superior and went back to the
inferior.
There must be righteousness in order for life to be given. (Gal.3:21) Righteousness,
however, is not of law but in Christ (Rom.5:17-18). Hence, the law is not able to give life. Furthermore, since the law cannot give life, it has no
power to fulfill its requirements so that righteousness may be produced. Therefore,
in this sense also, righteousness is not of law. “But the Scripture has shut up
all under sin in order that the promise out of faith in Jesus Christ might be
given to those who believe. But before faith came we were guarded under law,
being shut up unto the faith which was to be revealed. So then the law has
become our child-conductor unto Christ that we might be justified out of faith.
But since faith has come, we are no longer under a child-conductor. For you are all sons of
God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into
Christ have put on Christ. There cannot be Jew nor Greek, there cannot
be salve nor free man, there cannot be male and female; for you are all one in
Christ Jesus. And if you are of Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according
to promise.” (Gal.3:22-29)
The believers are one in Christ
by His resurrection life, and His divine nature to be the one new man, as
mentioned in Eph.2:15. This one new man is absolutely in Christ. There is no
room for our natural being, our natural disposition, and our natural character;
in this one new man Christ is all and in all (Col.3:10-11). This oneness in
Christ is achieved through baptism, which terminates all the divisive
distinctions and ushers the believers into the divine organic union with the
processed Triune God, resulting in the believers’ subjective assurance that
they are one with one another.
Abraham has only one seed,
Christ (Gal.3:16). Hence, to be Abraham’s seed we must be
of Christ, be a part of Christ, we too are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to
promise, inheriting God’s promised blessing, which is the all-inclusive Spirit
as the ultimate consummation of the processed God, who is our portion. Under the New Testament, the
believers as God’s chosen people, being sons of full age, are such heirs, not
under law but in Christ.
Like Ishmael
(4:23), the Judaizers, who remained under law and kept themselves apart from
Christ, were Abraham’s descendants according to the flesh; they were not like
Isaac (Gal.4:28), who was Abraham’s heir according to promise. But the
believers in Christ are such heirs, inheriting the promised blessing.
Therefore, we should remain in Christ and not turn to the law. Since the law is unable to give us life (Gal.
3:21), it cannot produce the sons of God; but the Spirit, who is received out
of faith (Gal.3:2) and who gives us life (2Cor.3:6), can. The law kept God’s chosen people under its
custody until faith came (Gal.3:23). Faith in Christ, who is the all-inclusive
life-giving Spirit, makes God’s chosen people Abraham’s seed as “the stars of
the heavens” (Gen.22:17) according to God’s promise.
Ø Grace came with Christ
and with the fulfillment of the promise.
God gave the promise to Abraham according to His eternal purpose. Before
this promise was fulfilled, the law was given to serve as the custodian of God’s
chosen people. Then, at the appointed time Christ, the promised seed, came to fulfill the
promise and brought in the promised blessing. This is grace. Therefore, grace came with Christ and with the fulfillment of the
promise. All this is on God’s
side. On our side, we need a way to apprehend, realize, and enjoy all that
Christ, the seed, is and has accomplished. Therefore, there is grace on God’s
side, and there is faith on our side. Now, since we have grace, faith, and the
seed that has fulfilled the promise, we no longer need the law to serve as our
custodian. Hence, we must set aside the law and turn from the custodian to stay
with Christ that we may enjoy the promised blessing by remaining in grace and
faith. This blessing is nothing less than the processed Triune God as the all
inclusive life-giving Spirit.
“But when time had fully come, God sent His
Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might
receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of
His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba," Father.
So, you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made
you also an heir. (Galatians 4: 4-7)
Christ’s redemption brings s us into the sonship of God that we may
enjoy the divine life. God’s economy is not to make us keepers of the law,
obeying the commandments and ordinances of the law, which was given only for a
temporary purpose. God’s economy is to make us sons of God, who inherit the
blessing of God’s promise, which was given for His eternal purpose. God’s eternal
purpose is to have many sons for His corporate expression (Heb.2:10; Rom.8:29).
Therefore, He predestinated us unto sonship (Eph.1:5) and regenerated us
to be His sons (John1:12-13). God’s Son is the embodiment of the divine life
(1John5:12). The Spirit of God’s Son is the Spirit of life (Rom.8:2). God gives
us His Spirit of life not because we are law keepers but because we are His
sons.
Abba is an Aramaic word, and
Father is the translation of the Greek word Pater. Such a term was used first
by the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane while He was praying to the Father (Mark
14:36). The combining of the Aramaic title with the Greek title expresses a
stronger affection in crying to the Father. Such an affectionate cry implies an
intimate relationship in life between a genuine son and a begetting father.
The New Testament believers become heirs of
God not through the law nor through their fleshly father but through God, even
the Triune God- the Father, who sent forth the Son and the Spirit; (Gal.4:4,6);
the Son, who accomplished redemption for sonship (Gal.4:5); and the Spirit, who
carries out the sonship with us (Gal.4:6). You are all sons of God
through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ,
have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor
free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to
Christ then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.
(Galatians 3:26-29).
Therefore, Apostle Paul emphasized that “Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is
written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He
redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the
Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of
the Spirit. (Galatians 3:13-14) But
when time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to
redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because
you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who
calls out, "Abba," Father. So, you are no longer a slave, but a son;
and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4: 4-7). The
one who sows to please the Spirit from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
(Galatians 6:7-8).
Bibliography,
Bauer, Walter. A Greek-English Lexicon of
the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd
Chicago: The University of Chicago press, 2000.
Brown,
Robert, Philip W. Comfort and J.D. Douglas, ed. The New Greek English
Interlinear New Testament. Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers,
Inc.1990.
Friberg, Timothy, Barbara Friberg, and
Neva F. Miller et al., eds. Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament.1st
ed. Victoria BC: Trafford Publishing, 2005.
Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV). Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.
Strong, James. Strong’s: the expanded
exhaustive concordance of the Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 2010.
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