Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Okay, what have we been studying? We don't have the sheets Galatians. So you can go to Galatians.
You can go to Galatians 3.
That's where we've left off and where we still are.
We're in the middle of Galatians 3.
We're doing, as many of you know, but we should help others catch up and remind ourselves we've been doing an inductive Bible study. Which means what?
Yes.
Yeah, I think that's a lot of it. But also, you know, reading and understanding the immediate part of the Bible, too. So you want to.
You're assuming that. I think, you know, obviously we want to start and try to interpret it in context, but we do want to take in the whole Bible. So we want to start near and kind of work our way outward to discover the meaning. That's right.
So we've been doing this for a few months now.
What have we covered in Galatians? What are the themes, you know, what's going on? Why is it being written?
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Legalism.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: Legalism.
Okay.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: The Galatians are being legalistic. How are they being legalistic?
Yeah, they're requiring circumcision. They were adding to the gospel, adding to salvation requirements by requiring this of people that wanted to truly be Christians, truly be in the family of God.
And Paul says what?
Well, he says, no, that's not right. But what does he say is the actual truth? What is the actual way?
Saved by faith not works.
And we use a word, justification. Right. So we are justified by faith, not works. What does justified mean?
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:23] Speaker A: Declared right in God's sight. That's right.
So this is not done by keeping commandments.
Why isn't it done that way?
Seems like a fine way. Maybe why nobody can keep the law. That's right. So it's not a fine way. Does not work.
And God, knowing that it does not work, sent his Son that we can be justified by faith in His Son. By faith in His Son, who accomplished the law and fulfilled it perfectly.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: Right.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: So we can't do it, but he did. And so through faith, we can receive the justification that Jesus deserves.
Because we are another theme. We are united to Christ through faith. So you're made one with Him. You're considered his brother. His righteousness belongs to you. In God's eyes, you are God's Son, as Jesus himself is God's son or daughter, you are his children.
These are some of the wonderful truths that kind of surround this.
And so now in chapter three, we've been talking about Abraham A little bit. So Paul starts talking about Abraham as he's explaining this doctrine to them. Why does he bring up Abraham?
Yeah, God made a promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 and 17.
And importantly, what's important about this promise?
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the promise. That's true.
And something that's important about that promise is that it was given to Abraham before the law. And that's kind of what he continues to get into in this next section. So we're going to start in verse 15, just going to read a few verses. We'll just try to go over these. So we're Starting in Galatians 3:15 today.
And it says Paul continues to give a human example. Brothers, even with a man made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.
It does not say and to offsprings referring to many, but referring to one and to your offspring, who is Christ.
This is what I mean. The law which came 430 years afterward does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
Okay, so let's unpack this, you know, kind of brief verse by verse or phrase by phrase.
First he says to give a human example. Brothers, what does Paul mean by a human example?
Worldly. In what way?
Yeah, exactly. So he's been talking about spiritual things above, if you read. He's given some biblical theology. He's talking about God in heaven and his plan of salvation. But he wants to bring it down so that they can understand.
And so he gives a human just a normal everyday example. It's like an analogy. Or when preachers preach, they often use illustrations to kind of help take a big idea and make it, you know, tangible, something you can understand, something that you've seen.
And so here is his human example. He says even a man made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it's been ratified.
Let's unpack some of that. What is a covenant?
Do we make covenants? I'm sorry, you were going to answer?
Yeah, it's basically like a promise might say it's a solemn agreement.
It's a very serious deal. Do people still make covenants?
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: What's an example?
Sure. But I mean, I think a contract might even be a little different than a covenant in just a few ways. But they're really. They overlap a lot.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: Pinky promise that, that. Okay, that actually is the same thing. That is a covenant.
Okay, we'll take these as examples or at least really close examples of the other covenants that people make.
Marriage is probably the most common one. We do call that a covenant.
And it is a covenant. Biblically speaking. It is a covenant between two people and with God involved too.
Actually, a lot of churches covenant together. We actually do have a covenant. It's been lost in history, but is being refound by our pastors and kind of edited to be made better. Understandable.
And so I think that is coming along with our new constitution. So not to bore you with constitutional talk, but you should read the covenant. It's what every single person who joins the church promises solemnly to uphold for one another.
It binds us together.
So that is. Those are some covenants. Okay. And those are man made covenants.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Especially those between people in a church.
Now what does annul mean? He says no one annuls it.
Make invalid, make invalid, nullify, throw away, do away with.
Why don't people annul or add to covenants once they're established?
Why can't you edit it?
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: That is the whole point.
To change it is just undoing what was set originally. So maybe with some pinky promises, maybe with a contract, there could be a situation where, you know, we're going to both agree to edit the contract. But covenants are something more solemn and significant that last for a long time.
Like the covenant God makes with people, they last forever.
So God made a covenant to Abraham, which he passed also to Isaac and Jacob. He made a covenant with David. We also see covenants with Adam and with Noah, but Abraham and then to David is kind of what we're thinking about mostly here. So how is this not so? Let me just be clear. Those are two wordy.
God made a covenant with Abraham, but then he makes a covenant later with David.
Is God adding to or changing the covenant in doing that?
Why or why not?
No, because why a new covenant?
Okay, maybe.
I think that's a decent guess. I'm not exactly sure it's wholly new.
Does anyone else have a guess?
Establishing his covenant with just a different person?
I think, I think we see that with Isaac and Jacob, but there are some maybe new elements when he talks to David.
I think this is kind of something you want to think over, but I think what's happening when we see covenants in the Bible is that God, his covenant with mankind is kept.
But what these covenants are doing are progressively revealing more clearly his unfolding plan.
So the, the new covenant is new, but it's also in continuation of the covenant God has had with his people through all of time. So that's how he can give covenants. Give make a covenant with Abraham about specifically land and a people and blessing of the nations. And he can clarify even further that this promise to Abraham is going to come through a kingly son of David in that covenant. So he's revealing more and more until the new covenant is established through Christ, which is the fulfillment and most clear covenant representing God's plan for salvation and for his people.
So what this means is that God's covenant will be kept, his promises will be kept no matter what.
Even a man made covenant does not become annulled or added to.
So God all the more keeps his covenant.
How is the reality that God keeps his covenants encouraging to us?
It covenant. I think that'd be a really bad thing.
Why would it be bad?
You could just pull the rug out.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: From underneath our feet.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: Pull the rug out. I think that's a good metaphor.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: He doesn't go back on the promise of salvation.
[00:14:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: What were you saying?
Yeah, there's not hope.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: Right.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: There's this moving goalpost that you can't catch. You don't know if it'll change or if you enter into this new covenant through faith in Christ. If what Paul is writing is true then is it still true now? Has it changed?
Are we even able to know always if it changes?
Well, I don't know if we would be, but we can know that it doesn't change.
How can we know that it doesn't change? What about God helps us to be confident that his covenants and his promises don't change?
You might have to remember our studying of systematic theology.
Some of those corporations core truths we were talking about months ago.
I'll give big bonus points if anyone can remember this word.
I'm sorry, how did I ask the question I was asking? What about God? His character gives us confidence and even assurance that he won't change his promises.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: He is immutable. It means he does not change.
God does not change. His plan doesn't change. His promises don't change. They're kept by very nature of who he is. That's why we can have assurance of these things. And that's an encouragement to fallen sinners who we can't be justified by the law.
So if that were. If his plan were to change back, not back. If his plan were to change to justification by the law, we'd be hopeless, but we know it won't, so that's encouraging to us.
Now look at verse 16.
Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say and to offsprings referring to many, but referring to one and to your offspring who is Christ.
Okay, so we just talked. These are what promises were made. We just mentioned this.
Are you counting?
Do you know the answer?
What were the promises made?
I'll give you a hint. They were made to Abraham.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Yeah. He would be made into a great nation, had as many people, and he would be given a land to possess for God's people.
So this is what he's talking about. So those are the promises made to Abraham.
So the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.
Now does anybody think that this argument that Paul makes in verse 16 is a little weird?
You can admit it.
No. You guys think it's fine?
Is it weird? Is it confusing?
I think it's confusing. So now do you guys know why I think it's confusing even if you don't? Is there something I might.
You might be a little confused about?
[00:17:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Didn't hear the last part of what you said.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:11] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right.
It's called a collective singular.
So it's a singular word, but it's referring to a group of people, offspring.
You know, we have other words like that one, like deer.
You get to refer to Minnie.
So, sorry, what are you saying? Class.
Class? Yeah, like class.
[00:18:37] Speaker B: All right. Class. Yeah.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah, you're right. Sorry, I was.
Took me a second to understand.
Very good, Levi. Okay, yeah. So let's address this. What is Paul doing? How does this make sense?
So we need to clarify a few things first.
First, Paul's not. He's not misinterpreting the Old Testament. I don't think he's doing that. Some people would argue for that, but I don't think he is. I also don't think he's being allegorical.
Paul's not afraid to be allegorical.
He does use allegory at times, but I don't think that's what he's doing here either. That's probably the most common way that people try to solve this apparent issue.
He's also not making up his own meaning for the covenant with Abraham in Genesis. So what is he doing?
Well, he's speaking, I believe, typologically.
That's a big word. Type O, logically.
Does anybody know what typology means?
I won't wait very long because that's not used very Often that's okay.
Basically, it's the study and interpretation of types and symbols.
This is how we do biblical theology in the Bible a lot we see types and symbols that are fulfilled later by what we call antitypes. So as an example, David is called a type of Christ, as in he is a king and triumphant.
And you know, there are other ways that David can typify. We say Christ, but he is not Christ.
And he in fact sins and fails.
But in some ways, he foreshadows some of Christ's features. And Christ would be called the antitype of David. He is the fulfillment.
And so I think this is what Paul is doing. He's looking at the Old Testament. He's seeing something that has an immediate context and a real meaning, but he's also seeing how it points to a greater fulfillment.
So he's not necessarily saying that the word offspring is all offspring is always singular.
That's not what he's saying. But in fact, in this same book, he uses that word to refer to a group of people.
He's using linguistic tools, strategies of argumentation, to point out the typological fulfillment of the promise of Abraham. He's saying, yeah, Abraham was promised offsprings, many people, a great nation. You saw his descendants, Isaac, Jacob, and then Israel expand.
And even now, as true Israel as the church, we see the people of God. Abraham's children, right, Father Abraham had many sons, right? That is true.
But in a christological typological way, this is singular to also remind us that, yeah, he's going to get all these offspring. He's going to have all these children.
But really the reason that's possible is because of the one offspring that actually fulfills everything. Abraham could not do the same singular seed that is promised of the woman, right? She's promised a seed that would crush the serpent. And she has many children. All people descend from Adam and Eve, but there is one in particular that fulfills that promise.
Similarly, one in particular man, fulfills these promises to Abraham so that the blessing is communicated to his many children.
So that, I think, is what's happening. The offsprings are saved by the offspring.
So both realities are present. And Paul is kind of playing on words to help us see that reality.
Also he explains in verse 17, this is what I mean. So he's explaining his meaning. That's so nice when he does that. He says the law, which came 430 years afterward. Law came 430 years after what?
[00:23:08] Speaker B: Yeah, the.
[00:23:08] Speaker A: The covenant, the promises.
It came 430 years after that.
That law he continues, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void.
Okay, so the law given 430 years later was given to whom?
Israel. The Jews. Through Moses.
Was Abraham a Jew?
That's actually kind of a hard question.
[00:23:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: I think maybe I could be getting my meaning wrong. So I'm not trying to play this up too much. We know he was a Hebrew.
He was from the Heber. We see that in Genesis 11. Heber.
He's the father of the Hebrews, where Abraham comes from.
But usually we think of the Jews as those of Israel. And technically, Israel came later. So once we get to Israel, these promises are given to all of the children of Israel. And even today, if we understand the church as Israel, all the promises are given to Israel, the church.
But Abraham came before Israel.
And the seed of the promise that I mentioned about from Genesis 3 did not pass to all of his descendants.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: Right?
[00:24:40] Speaker A: He had Isaac.
But the promise did not go to Ishmael.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Right?
[00:24:45] Speaker A: It went to Isaac, not Ishmael. And then Isaac's. The promise of Isaac went to. Not Esau, but to Jacob.
And Jacob, what happens to Jacob?
What's his name get changed to Israel. And he has the sons that represent the 12 tribes of Israel.
So even before.
Before Israel as a nation is established, before the law is given to them, he called Abram out of the land of Ur and made him a promise, a covenant that was for his people.
If we say that the law of Moses was required for justification, which the Galatians were saying and which many people functionally teach, then we would have to say that Abram wasn't justified. He did not have the law of Moses.
He was not in this nation of Israel. He was the father of them, but he did not have the law.
So the law of Moses, given 430 years after the promise made to Abraham, it did not annul or nullify the promises God made to Abram. It merely helped Abram's descendants obey God and stay near to him.
That was the point of it.
And that is good news.
I hope you understand that. This is incredible news.
It's so easy to kind of get confused. Well, you know, he gave the law, and so for a while they were justified by the law. No, that's not what is being taught.
Justification was given to Abraham well before the law was given to Israel.
And that's good news, because the promise of justification by faith alone cannot be annulled. It cannot be added to. It is guaranteed via covenant. And not just a covenant, but A covenant from God who does not change.
That is great news. So you don't have to accomplish the law. You can't.
You don't earn worthiness by how you look physically or how impressive you are mentally or how many things you do with the church. You don't earn this justification. You can't.
Israel couldn't. Abraham didn't even.
Instead it was given by a promise.
And then verse 18.
For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise. So that's what he's saying. But God gave it to Abraham by a promise. So he's kind of summarizing that argument there at the end.
Now let me ask, in your world, how was this news comforting it?
I don't really get what verse 18 is saying.
Okay, so what is the inheritance? What do we think that means?
Yeah, I think we could say salvation. It's the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David through Christ. Then it's the promise of dwelling with God in his land, with his people for eternity.
And if that inheritance, which we need justification to receive, if it comes by the law, then it's not by a promise.
If we receive this inheritance of salvation by keeping the law, it's not a promise. In fact, it's being earned.
Because a promise does not need to be earned.
But God gave it by a promise, this promise that he will keep. Does that make sense?
Is there more that's confusing?
Okay, so basically, maybe I can ask this. Why? What are some ways that you are tempted to earn justification?
You may not think of it that way, but what are ways that maybe you do that.
[00:29:52] Speaker C: Maybe feeling like our relationship with God is based on how much we study or how we feel what we do instead of it already, instead of just if we put our faith in him that you we are indwelled by him.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a great point.
Have you ever thought I'm just not very near to God right now? Or I feel further from God, I just need to maybe stop this sin? Or I need to be reading my Bible more, pray more.
Well, the reality is if you're justified through faith, you're not like on a string that he's, you know, just giving more slack to when you aren't obeying. Right. You're justified. If you're justified.
Your closeness and how much God loves you does not change by what you do.
We might believe this, but how often do we think the opposite? Think exactly what Katie was saying.
I hear people say that frequently.
And you might feel further.
And that's a Legitimate feeling.
But God is not looking upon you differently.
Maybe just to help. I think another way we do this is by thinking before we can do something. Maybe before I share the gospel, or if you're thinking of baptism before I'm baptized, or if you're thinking of coming to faith before I do that, I need to take care of this.
I need to take care of these affairs. I need to take care of these sins. I need to take care of these things in my life. I just need to clean it up a little bit.
You'll hear this a lot with older people that maybe don't come to church for a long time. I just. I don't know. I just need to get my life together first.
Well, this is putting the law in a higher place than it should be.
It's putting perfect obedience as a standard for entering.
The good news is, no matter what you've done, no matter what you will do next week, you are not kicked to the curb merely for that.
If you have believed on Christ, that is key. If you've believed on Christ through faith, you're justified.
The throne of God is open. You can walk to it boldly and you can repent and you can worship.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: Him.
[00:32:26] Speaker A: And you're just as worthy as you were before.
But you must turn from your sin and believe in Christ.
If you are outside of the family of God, then there is no way to the throne. You must turn from your sin, repent, and believe in the gospel. But when you do, that is free. It is completely free. You don't have to earn anything. You can rest from your labors as Jesus has done them for you.
And then you have the freedom to obey him with joy.
Okay, let's pray and we'll pick up from there next week.
Father, thank you for your word and for your son, Jesus Christ, and for the promises you've given to your people through Abraham.
Lord, we just want to reflect on those today. God, we pray that your son would come soon, that we can see the consummation and final fulfillment of all of these things. God, thank you for not changing, but keeping your promises, that we can have assurance and confidence as we approach you through faith.
And, Lord, we pray that we would dwell on these things even as we worship with the church here in a bit. We pray this in Christ's name, Amen.
