Galatians 3: 19-29
Wherefore
then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed
should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the
hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is
the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a
law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by
the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by
faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came,
we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be
revealed .Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that
we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer
under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is
neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be
Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Law and grace are not conflicting forces but they are one
coin. This has caused confusion and strife and vexation of spirit for thousands
of years.
If we are truly weary
of trying to find our own way we must understand these two things. To the end
of understanding let me give two examples of the problems we face by comparison
to things which will go past our preconceived thoughts.
A coin has two sides without both sides it would be counterfeit.
These two together make up one because they are a three dimensional thing. If
in our mind we laid two of them on a table, one head up the other tail up, and
thought of them as two dimensional things we would see two different images with
two different scripts there would be no way for us to determine if either was counterfeit
or which one had correct image and script. So we see the side of law clearly
saying that to do the things contained therein is the way of life, and at the
same time we see that we can do nothing to have life but accept it by grace.
Most people upon reading that last sentence have a
determination of which one is correct; and that is the problem. Both are one
hundred percent true.
How can this be? Because YHWH’s word is one word; he testimony
of Messiah given by Moses and the prophets and the testimony of Yeshua and the
apostles are both needed in order that we have the two witnesses required by
scripture old and new to establish all things… in this case life in us.
In our second example let us consider the difference between
instruction and experience. Instruction is a very good thing but experience trumps
it. If you were in need of a heart transplant would you rather have it
performed by a professor who had read medical books for the last two decades
and instructed hundreds of doctors or but never used a scalpel or a doctor who
had taken this man’s courses and gone on to successfully perform the surgery
several times.
Common thinking is the law tells us something to do while
the witness of the apostles and Yeshua instruct us in how to live. This thinking
is 180 degrees opposite of reality.
The law instructs us
in what righteousness and holiness and life are, but also concludes that no man
has ever experienced these things by attempting to do the things described
therein. Instead these instructions served to teach all that the life therein
described was not found in them; showing the death that was present.
Grace is not a belief in the mind but a power source for
living what is described in the law. Yeshua lived these instructions perfectly
and then by the wisdom of YHWH provided for the same life that was in Him would
be living in us as we placed our faith in Him. In this way we see the things
described in the law being done in our body showing that life is present. It is
in this way that Messiah does not destroy the law He establishes it.
When I try to explain these things, perhaps due to my
inability, those who can see the law describing life assume I mean it doesn’t matter
what we do only what we believe and those who see that no man Has ever kept the
law in himself assume I mean we must work to have salvation.
We cannot gain salvation by our doings but when we obtain
salvation by trusting the life of YHWH to live through us we live according to
the instructions.
Paul is saying the same thing to the Galatians. They cannot
obtain by their own ability the life described in the law, but by faith as they
trust Messiah to live through them they will do what they could never do live
righteously and Holy.
“Wherefore then
serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should
come to whom the promise was made;”
Paul has before concluded that life does not come by trying
in ourselves to follow the description of life but life comes by placing our
faith in Messiah to live it through us. So why did YHWH give us the
description. 1) That we would see our need for a redeemer 2)that our sinfulness
could be caged to prevent us from going in the way of Sodom and those who lived
before the flood before we would realize number one at least in part accept the
redeemer when He came.
“And it was ordained
by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one,
but God is one”
The law was given to us by a mediator(Moses) showing clearly
it was between two parties, but the promise of Abrahams covenant was that YHWH
would give himself to Him and all nations by his seed but YHWH is one as the
seed Yeshua said by His cross we would know to be one.
“Is the law then
against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given
which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
But the scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe”
As I have discussed the law is not against the promise it is
the means by which we see our need for its righteousness, our inability to obtain
it, and it drives us to faith in Him that can give it to us.
“But before faith
came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should
afterwards be revealed .Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto
Christ, that we might be justified by faith”
Until we trust Him to live it through us the law keeps us
reminded that we are unrighteous but we must be righteous driving us to place
the fullness of faith in Him to live through us. So the law is an instructor showing
us what we must trust the Messiah to do through us, so that by faith we are
made innocent.
“But after that faith
is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
If we are an apprentice to someone learning a trade; there
will come a time when the instruction he has given becomes a part of who we
are, as the expression goes second nature. When what we have been taught
becomes part of who we are we no longer need to be instructed. YHWH is life,
the law is a description of Him(His likeness), when His image and likeness is
seen in us we are shown to be His children.
“For as many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye
are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Baptized in Messiah…when you are buried in the ground you
are hidden in it...eventually that dirt is not only around you but in you...there
comes a day when you are the dirt and the dirt is you and you are one…so His
life is our Life which means the same life is in all who believe making us one,
“ And if ye be
Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Instead of the doing of the law bringing us into the promise
of being one with YHWH it is faith in the promise that brings the law into us.
Jeremiah 31: 31-37
Behold, the days come,
saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and
with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land
of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them,
saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be
my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least
of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Thus saith the LORD, which
giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the
stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar;
The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith
the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before
me forever. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the
foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the
seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD.
