Law is only a problem for those that transgress it by overstepping the boundary. We could also say that law is unnecessary where there is no transgression. We find in Galatians 3:19 (LEB): 19 “Why then the law? It was added on account of transgressions, until the descendant should come to whom it had been promised, having been ordered through angels by the hand of a mediator”. There was transgression not only by man, but also by the devil and his angels. Because of this, in Galatians 3:22 (LEB) “But the scripture imprisoned all under sin, in order that the promise could be given by faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe”. The law was established and all are “imprisoned” under its penalty. There is though, a promise that was given by God to Abraham and Sarah that came through Isaac and is fulfilled in Christ in Psalm 110:1 (LEB) “A declaration of Yahweh to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” which is why it says in Galatians 4:26 (LEB) “But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother”.
To His Descendant the Promises Were Spoken
That The Promise Could Be Given By Faith
Galatians 3:19–29
The Law exposes transgression “the action of going beyond or overstepping some moral boundary or limit” and makes it clear where the boundary or limit is in
Galatians 3:19 says “It (the Law) was added on account of transgressions, having been ordered through angels”.
It is clear that there are boundaries in heaven and that the devil and his angels transgressed yet God is upholding His kingdom in heaven and also on earth through Christ in
Revelation 12:10 (LEB) And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night.
This giving of the law makes it clear and all are under the same judgement, all are under the same rule as in
Galatians 3:23 (LEB) “But before faith came, we were detained under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed”
but it wasn’t God’s desire that all would be condemned under the law it was God’s desire that all could be saved so he made a way for us to be forgiven through Jesus Christ in
Galatians 3:22 (LEB) “But the scripture imprisoned all under sin, in order that the promise could be given by faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe”
When We Were Children
At That Time You Were Enslaved
Galatians 4:8–12
There was a time when people imagined God in their own way because they looked at creation and where they saw evidence of God in
Romans 1:19 (LEB) “because what can be known about God is evident among them, for God made it clear to them”
they looked instead at the forces of nature around them and created their own representations as in
Romans 1:23 (LEB) “and exchanged the glory of the immortal God with the likeness of an image of mortal human beings and birds and quadrupeds and reptiles”
and because of this, they were enslaved to these natural phenomena
Galatians 4:8 (LEB) “But at that time when you did not know God, you were enslaved to the things which by nature are not gods”
and rather than taking the dominion God had intended for them they were ruled by nature in
Galatians 4:10 (LEB) “You carefully observe days and months and seasons and years”
Until Christ Is Formed In You
Do You Not Understand The Law?
Galatians 4:21–31
Paul gives a very clear object lesson using the lives of Isaac and Ishmael, the children of Abraham to represent a spiritual truth. Hagar and the birth of Ishmael represents Abraham and Sarah taking their own action using the slave girl Hagar to try to fulfill God’s promise of children in
Galatians 4:25 (LEB) “Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is a slave with her children”
Hagar represents Jerusalem and the Jewish people under the Law. The spiritual Jerusalem though is represented by Sarah and the birth of Isaac which came through the power of God in
Galatians 4:27–28 (LEB) “For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren woman, who does not give birth to children; burst out and shout, you who do not have birth pains, because many are the children of the desolate woman, even more than those of the one who has a husband.” 28 But you, brothers, are children of the promise, just as Isaac.
The children of the flesh strive, but cannot attain the position that is only given through the promise in
Galatians 4:29 (LEB) “But just as at that time the child born according to human descent persecuted the child born according to the Spirit, so also now”
Study Verses
- Galatians 3:19–29 That The Promise Could Be Given By Faith
- Galatians 4:8–12 At That Time You Were Enslaved
- Galatians 4:21–31 Do You Not Understand The Law?
Today’s Reading
- Galatians 3:15-29
- Galatians 4:1-31
