Under the Law or in Christ?

Galatians 3:23-29

The whole of chapters 3-4 of Galatians, as we have repeatedly reminded you, are dedicated to Paul's presentation of salvation, his presentation of righteousness.  The issue is simply this: how does a man get right with God?  How does a sinful man make himself right with a holy God?  There are only two possible ways; either by his own good deeds, he merits, or earns, righteousness, or God freely gives it to him.  Those are the only two possibilities.  Either God gives righteousness as a gracious gift, or man earns it by his own merit.

One is the view of works; the other is the view of faith.  The works view says that a man must contribute something toward his own salvation.  In other words, by certain good works, God looks at him and says, "You have merited forgiveness; you have merited righteousness, I grant you salvation."  Most people who believe that you're saved by works would include faith, but would add works to faith.  But the view that we believe is Biblical, and the view of faith, says that God has done everything.  You don't need to do anything; in fact, you couldn't do anything.  All that is required is that you receive all that God has done and offered to you freely.  One view says, "Good works bring salvation."  The other view says, "Salvation results in good works." 

This is exactly the controversy that existed in Galatian churches.  Paul had originally taught them, "You're saved by faith plus nothing, simply believing what God has done and accepting it."  But some false teachers, who represented themselves as sent from Jerusalem (and probably represented themselves as having the apostolic faith), came along and said, "No, you must believe and be circumcised and keep all the laws."  So they offered a faith plus works salvation.  That's the controversy to which Paul writes in the book of Galatians.

The Galatians were confused.  In Galatians 3:1, Paul uses the word 'bewitched.'  They were troubled.  So Paul writes this letter, to be circulated among the several churches of the area known as Galatia, to straighten out the issue.  His thesis is pretty clear.  His thesis is that salvation is a matter of God's grace, and all men need to do is accept by faith what God has done; no works are required, no good deeds, nothing can merit salvation.  It is offered as a free gift; you can only take it, you can't earn it. 

In chapters 3-4, Paul supports this doctrine.  You'll remember, in chapters 1-2, he supported his apostolic authority because if he didn't have any authority, he didn't have anyone who would listen to him.  So he established that he was rightfully an apostle, and now he gives to them his doctrine in chapters 3-4.  His doctrine is that a man is made right with God, he is justified, that is, set in right standing before God, only by believing and receiving the gift that God provides, not by his own works. 

He uses two things to support that.  The first is experience.  In 3:1-5, he says to the Galatians, "Your own experience should show you that you were saved by faith."  Because they had already believed, they had already been redeemed, and some of these Johnny-come-latelies had come in with this doctrine of salvation by works, so he says, in effect, "How could you possibly believe that when you've already received everything by faith?"  I mean, if they'd never heard anything but the works salvation, it would have been understandable, right?  But when they had already known all that salvation could give by faith, why would they want to superimpose a works system?  So he says in 3:3, "Are you so stupid?  You're going to begin in the Spirit and be made perfect by the flesh?"

The second area of reasoning, or support, for his thesis is Scripture.  Incidentally, Biblically, these two are often used.  There will be support for a certain doctrinal statement from experience and immediately following it, a stronger support will come from Scripture.  Paul supports his view of salvation by faith alone from Old Testament Scripture.  That's very important, because the Judaizers (the false teachers) were using the Old Testament to support their own view of salvation by works.  Of course, they had twisted the Old Testament. 

So from 3:6-4:7, Paul marshals all kinds of Old Testament texts to argue against salvation by works, and to argue for salvation by faith.  The key one that he uses is in verse 11.  "But that no man is justified by the law or by works in the sight of God it is evident."  Why?  Because the Old Testament says, Habakkuk 2:4, "The just shall live by faith."  So he says, "Your own Old Testament says that salvation, right living, righteousness, justification is by faith."  Incidentally, that's only one of six different Old Testament texts that he uses in verses 6-13 or so.  He has marshaled many Old Testament texts and that would be the key one.

Now, follow my reasoning so that we can move right into the narrative beginning in verse 23.  All through this discussion, Paul's example is Abraham.  He is continually saying, "Abraham, your father, to whom you trace everything, the one who really began the whole of the Judaistic line, he was justified by faith."  That is made clear in verse 6.  "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness."  He came by faith.  "Now God," Paul is saying, "Hasn't changed anything.  God is still redeeming men by faith, just as He did Abraham."  This is a potent argument, because the Judaizers would probably use Abraham as their argument.  At least they could say, "You see, Abraham had to be circumcised.  That proves that you have to be circumcised." 

You'll remember that I told you last time that Abraham wasn't circumcised until 14 years after God had already said he was righteous, so that's not a problem.  But Paul shows that Abraham was justified by faith.  Circumcision was a physical identification; faith was that which justified him before God.  So he has used Abraham to show that way back at the very start of Judaism, God justified by faith.

What's the obvious argument that's going to come from the Jew?  This is what he's going to say, "Alright.  I'll buy that.  Let's say you're right, that, starting with Abraham, they were justified by faith.  That was good.  But, when the law came in with Moses, many years after Abraham, everything changed and from then on, men are justified by keeping the law."  See, that would be the Jewish argument.  "OK, so Abraham was by faith.  When the law came, it changed all that, and God changed His approach to salvation."  Well, Paul wants to answer that question, which surely will arise in the mind of the Jew.  He tackles the issue in verses 15-22.  We studied that three weeks ago. 

In verses 15-22, he shows that the coming of the law never changed God's pattern.  The coming of the law never nullified faith.  No.  In fact, in verse 15, he uses a simple human illustration.  He says, "If it be a man's covenant, even a human covenant, if it be confirmed, no man can annul it or add to it.  If that's true of men's covenants, that they cannot be annulled or added to, then much more God's covenant.  Even though the law came, it did not annul the covenant of faith, or the promise of faith, and it didn't add works to the promise of faith."  He goes on to defend this through verse 22. 

He says in verse 17, for example, "This I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, the law, which was 430 after that covenant, cannot annul."  In other words, the law, which came later, cannot change the promise of salvation by faith.  Well, that's an interesting statement.  Because if you follow that closely, then your next question will be this.  "OK, if the law didn't change the promise of salvation by faith, then what good was the law?"  That's the next, most obvious question.  Did the law have any purpose at all? 

Verse 19.  Yes!  "It was added because of transgressions."  In other words, the law was given that men might see their sinfulness.  The law is like a mirror: it doesn't make you ugly, it just shows you that you are.  God's law was a mirror dropped down in front of humanity to reveal to them what they were.  That's all.  But it had a great purpose.  Because it isn't really until a man faces the fact of what he is, and the inadequacies of his life, that he will come to Christ, right?  It's not until the law bruised us, it's not until the law crushed us, that we began to say, "We hurt," and allow Christ to bind up our wounds.  It wasn't until the law arrested us, and imprisoned us, that we longed for Jesus to set us free.  It wasn't until the law condemned us and killed us that we were able to look to Jesus for life.  The law had a purpose, and it still does. 

Believe me, people, today, there is the same reality.  Men do not come to a savior until they feel the need.  That's what Jesus meant when He responded to the people who criticized Him for hanging around with drunks and prostitutes and all of that.  He said, "Well, I have come to take care of those who have need.  I have come to heal the sick."  He was very sarcastic.  "You that are well, you have no need of a physician."  Remember that statement?  That's sarcasm.  "You people that have no need, that feel no pain, that have no anxiety, that feel no guilt or inadequacy, that have no terrible fear of your own sin, you don't need Me.  I've come to those who have seen what they are, and are in despair, to those who want an escape."  So the law did have a purpose: it was added because of transgression.  It was given to reveal sin.

In our text, in verses 23-29, Paul carries his argument further.  He continues to contrast the works of the law and the promise of faith.  When I mention the promise of faith, just keep this in mind.  The promise of faith was this: it was simply the promise given to Abraham that, "Abraham, I'm going to send a Redeemer.  I'm going to send the Seed.  Do you believe that?"  Did he?  Yes.  God gave a promise, Abraham believed it, and God said, "That's all I ask.  You're righteous." 

You say, "It's too simple."  No, that's the way God made it.  Later on, everyone wanted to complicate it by making up all kinds of rules.  So we have the contrast between simply believing the word of God.  From that standpoint, on that side of the Cross, they were believing that God was going to send a Redeemer.  From this side of the Cross, we're believing that God already sent the Redeemer.  It's the same thing; it's faith.  It's believing.  It's not by the deeds that we have done.

In our text, Paul carries his argument a step further.  He's been talking about history, he's been saying, "The law came 430 years after the last restatement of the Abrahamic Promise.  The law didn't annul it."  In other words, he's talking in historical terms.  There was a period from Abraham on, then there was the law.  It's all kind of a history lesson.  But in verse 23, he stops talking about history and makes a personal application.  You'll notice in verse 23, there is an immediate introduction of the personal pronoun 'we'.  "But before faith came, we were kept under the law."  Here, you see, he gets out of that third person and into the first person.  Here is the personal application of the history that he's been talking about.  This brings it right down to the experience of man.

If you wanted to give a good title to this passage, you could call it "The Before and After of the Christian."  You all know what we mean by that.  You see it on commercials all the time, the before and after.  There's a before and after here.  Verse 23.  "But before faith came."  Verse 25.  "But after faith has come."  That's the before and after.  It's really what we're going to talk about, the before and after of the Christian life.  You'll notice that it says, in verse 23, and we need to define the terms a little, "Before faith came, we were kept under the law." 

Now, the 'we' here is, first of all, and most specifically, a Jewish 'we'.  He is saying, "We Jews, for centuries, were under the law, until Christ was finally revealed."  It's a historical setting.  Beyond that, I think, in a very real and general sense, it has to be broadened to be a plain, old Christian 'we'.  Not just Jewish history, but a Christian we.  Look.  "Before faith came, we were kept under the law."  You know, that's true of me.  Before I put my faith in Jesus Christ, I was a slave to God's law.  Watch.  Even if I didn't obey God's law, I was condemned by God's law, right?  So I was in bondage to God's law whether I knew His law or didn't, whether I obeyed it or didn't.  Every man in the world, beloved, is either a slave to God's immutable law, which ultimately will condemn and damn him, or he is a free man, set free by Christ.  Every man.  Isn't that true?  Every man. 

     So it's not just a Jewish we, it's a universal we, in terms of every Christian.  Before I put my faith in Jesus Christ, I was under the law of God.  I was living in violation of it, and the law itself would be that which condemned me.  So what we have here, really, is not just a history lesson for the Jew, not just a general lesson for the Galatian Christians, but I think we have here the biography of every Christian in the broadest sense.

Notice verse 23.  Let me just read you this passage, then we'll go back and look at it.  It's just a tremendous portion.  See if this doesn't identify your own life.

"Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith which should afterwards be revealed.  Wherefore the law was our paidagogos to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after faith has come, we are no longer under paidagogos [we'll define that later] for you are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.  For as many 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 you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you be Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise."  By the time we get done with that passage, you're going to have some fantastic insights, because this is one of the greatest portions of Scripture there is in this book, and for that matter, in the Bible.

In the language of Paul, he says this.  "Once, we were under the law," verse 23, "Now we are in Christ."  That's where he begins to really go in verse 26.  That is the contrast.  Now watch.  Just as, historically, the law prepared the way for Christ's arrival by showing the Jews and the rest of the world their need for a savior, so in my life, and in your life, the law of God, broken and violated, shows us our need for a savior. 

It isn't just Jewish people who feel a need for a savior.  I'm not Jewish.  I never have been and never will be Jewish, but I've felt the need for a savior.  You know something?  There are some people who have never seen a Bible, who have never read one law of God, but are convicted by their sinfulness.  They know they need a savior.  That is the law of God, but that's not the law of God written on tables of stone or on the pages of Scripture.  It's Romans 2, the law of God written in their hearts.  There is no man in the world that exists apart from the law of God.  Do you believe that?  There is no man.  Because in Romans 1, it says, "The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness."  Why?  "Because that which may be known of God is in them, but they reject it."  They reject it.

So the law of God, for some, is on paper or written in stone.  The law of God, for others, is written in the conscience.  But every man is subject to that law.  When a man comes to that place in his life where he knows he is in violation of that, when the despair is great and he finds no escape, it is at that point that he is ready to be introduced to the answer.

A young man came here a few Sundays ago and came up afterwards, wanting to talk to me.  I presented to him the Gospel because he wasn't a Christian.  I had the wonderful privilege of just talking to him, and he said, "Well, I'm not ready for that.  I don't know that I can believe that.  I don't feel the need for that.  I feel fine just like I am."  I said, "Well that's good, we can't help you.  We can't do a thing for you until you're wretched, miserable, blind, naked, destitute and in despair."  He didn't really know how to take that.  But that's true. 

God's plan for man, just as God's plan for the history of Israel, was that Israel would live under law.  A man would pass under the law to be condemned and to be sentenced, and then that man would be offered a pardon in Jesus Christ.  Can you imagine something of what those early Jewish Christians must have experienced when they came to Jesus Christ and were out from under the law?  Can you imagine the liberty?  It must have been just unbelievable. 

Let's look at the two parts of the text: under law and in Christ.  We could call them 'bondage', we could call them 'bondage and freedom', we could call them 'before and after.'  Let's call them all three.  Point one is under the law, in bondage.  This is the before, in verses 23-24.  Look at verse 23.  "Before faith came," this is the first part of this biography, "We were kept under the law."  That's point one, under the law.  "Shut up under the faith which should afterwards be revealed." 

Now, looking back from the vantage point of faith in Christ, as a Christian looking backwards, both Jews and Gentiles, everybody had to admit that bondage to law had had a good effect on them.  The law had a tremendous effect on every Christian, because it showed you needed a savior.  Aren't you glad for it?  I am.  I'm glad God made some rules that I could understand, and I'm glad God made me a conscience that reacted when I violated those rules, or I would have gone to Hell and never known it. 

I can remember, and I share this because it's so vivid in my experience, many years ago when I was playing football in college.  On one occasion, during a Thursday in practice, I had hurt my knee.  Someone hit me after the whistle in a drill, which was irritating a little bit, so I knew I was going to be held out of the game.  It was a non-conference game, but I wanted to play.  It was important to me to play, and I wanted to play, so I went to the doctor.  I got some cortisone shots in my knee and some bottles of ethyl chloride, which is that 'don't hurt no more' stuff that you've heard about.  You squirt it on an area and it freezes the area, it takes away the pain.  I got a couple of bottles of that with the little metal things on top that squirted, and I took care of all the little things I could.  I went to the game, and I'll never forget it, I played the entire game and never felt a thing.  I just kept squirting the ethyl, and had the injection, and never felt a thing.  It's typical of college football standards.  So when the game was over, I felt great.  In fact, I played the whole game, and even did some punting with the right leg that was injured.  I never felt anything.  Only I had torn the whole inside of my knee out.  I still haven't recovered; I still have to favor that knee.  You see, I rejected the system that God had built into me, to warn me about that.

In a sense, that's what God has given us in a conscience and in revelation.  I'm glad for it, because it's a preventative.  Looking back as a Christian, backwards from the point of view of faith, I have to admit that bondage to God's law served to prepare me for faith in Christ.  So Paul said, when he looked back at the law, "The law was a wonderful thing.  I love the law.  You know what it did to me?  It killed me.  It's the best thing that ever happened to me.  It slew me."  Romans 7.  We were all in bondage to God's law.  We broke it, were condemned by it, sentenced to die.  Every man is under the dominion of God's law.

Paul uses two similes here, and I want you to notice them.  First of all, he says the law is like a prison  Verse 23.  He says, "We were kept under the law."  The Greek is simply this: we were in the custody of the law.  We were in protective custody.  It has the idea of guarding.  It was used in terms of cities.  They would say a city was in custody, and it was applied when a city was sealed off to keep the enemy out and the inhabitants in.  It was in custody.  So the law captured us; there was no escape.  There was no way to get out from under the law, there was no way to bust out.  We were sentenced, we were locked up. 

The next word expresses it in a more intense way, it says we were 'shut up,' literally, to be hemmed in or cooped up.  Both verbs emphasize that God's law and commandments held men in prison with no escape.  We were kept under restraint, on death row, friends.  We were just waiting to die, "For the wages of sin is death."  If the law has dominion over us, what does the law want to do?  Kill us.  So we were sentenced to death, just waiting for God to offer us a pardon.

The pardon is described in these words, "We waited unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed."  Now, historically, that was true of the Jew who waited under the law for the revelation that would come.  It's true in my life; shut up under the law, doomed, confined, sentenced and condemned until faith was revealed to me.  That's the biography of every Christian.  The Jews were locked up under the law until Messiah came.  Paul and all Jewish believers were locked up under the law until personal faith was revealed to them.  All the Gentile Christians in Galatia were locked up under the law until they believed, and every man in the world is a prisoner of God's law, waiting on death row for execution as a law-breaker until the pardon is offered by faith in Jesus Christ.  The pardon is offered when the Father offers it, when the Spirit offers it, when the Spirit convicts of sin and offers the pardon.  At that point, the man can choose to accept the pardon and receive freedom. 

Let me broaden the significance of the verse just a minute by giving you a little more background.  Before Christ appeared in history, for all those years, God's moral law dominated the Jews.  You know what tremendous thing it did for the Jews?  It overwhelmed them with a sense of guilt and a sense of inadequacy.  They were called on to obey the law, but couldn't do it.  Even then, God provided a way of escape.  Remember?  All the way through, all they had to do was believe in God's future Seed, all they had to do was believe that God had promised a salvation that was free, that it was going to be free, that God was going to offer it graciously.  If they believed that, if they believed that you could come with no money and buy, that's all God required, was to believe in a coming, gracious salvation. 

But you know what happened?  Most of the Jews failed to believe in that.  If they failed to believe that they could be saved by grace, the only thing they were left with was law.  Now watch.  The only problem was, they knew they couldn't keep the law.  So what they really did, in effect, was play psychological games and convince themselves they were righteous.  They turned out to be called Pharisees.  In other words, they just began to convince themselves that they were absolutely righteous.  Instead of accepting a grace salvation, they just figured, "We're good enough." 

You know, in effect, that's what people do today.  Unwilling to bow before the Cross and accept a gracious salvation, they go about to establish their own righteousness.  It's just like Romans 10, it's the same thing.  So they refused grace, and by the time Christ arrived on the scene, He offered them a gracious salvation, but what did they do?  They killed Him.

When He first spoke to them in the Sermon on the Mount, the one thing He did was try to destroy their security.  He tried to shatter their hope, because they believed that they were great, righteous people because they kept the law.  Jesus just destroyed that.  He said, "Oh, you think you keep the law?  You don't commit adultery?  If