Being Deceived About the Sabbath

I am a Today’s reader and I and my whole family keep the Sabbath.

Oh, and I second Drew’s request for more information about the Sabbath. That would be really helpful for those of us (okay, for me) who is still at the elemental building blocks stage. 🙂

Nice article, Barry!

Someone replied to me via email, and when it came into my Mail Washer, I deleted it by mistake. If the one who sent it to me will resend it, I will be most grateful. I apologize for being so careless!!

Helen

Hello, Betty,

You said: “* Is it really possible to communicate the gospel that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, was buried and was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures (1 Cor 15: 3-4) without using words?” I say No, it is not.

Ro 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
1Co 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

1Co 9:14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the gospel.

If we attempt to live the Gospel before friends and neighbors, without “preaching” the Gospel message to them,
of what value is it to them? Ro. 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Helen

Hello to everyone on the thread. I would love to share somethings on Galatians [ chapter 3 and more ]. I find it very difficult if the entirety and full breadth of Sha’ul’s writings are not taken into account to receive and accurate transmission [ message ]. We must remind ourselves …that ” Paul’s ” letters were composed and structured differently than what we see today as ” chapters and verses” . I contend a great deal of mis-interpretation has spun from the later [ verses alone ].

Galatians chapter three, if taken out of context of chapters one and two, would certainly appear that Paul is pitting the Spirit against the Law. If his letter to Galatia had begun in chapter three verse one, we would certainly be justified in believing that Paul was no longer Torah observant, and no longer saw any benefit to keeping the law. In fact, some would argue that Paul is here arguing that if you follow the law, then Christ is of no benefit to you. Remember, that this is exactly what Paul was falsely accused of by his Jewish contemporaries:
When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove. Paul argued in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense” (Acts 25:7-8; emphasis mine).
“But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man. Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings. While I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple, without any crowd or tumult (Acts 24:14-18, emphasis mine).
Just as they had against Stephen, the enemies of the gospel wanted to paint believers in the Messiah, and specifically Paul, as against the Torah and the Temple:
And they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law” (Acts 6:13, emphasis mine).
Now, if Paul had been speaking against the Torah, and had been attacking the Galatians for their desire to keep Torah, then Paul would be guilty of the charge, and Luke would have no justifiable grounds for saying that these were false witnesses, or that their accusations were without any proof. On the contrary, Luke is very clear to come to Paul’s defense, showing that not only is he not speaking against the Torah, but he is also participating in the ritual offerings and sacrifices in the Temple. Paul had a vow upon his head, and was going to the Temple to be purified of his vow. Remember, it was for this very purpose that the apostles charged Paul to go to the Temple in the first place, that is, to refute such accusations openly.
And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law (Acts 21:20-24; emphasis mine).
If Paul were speaking against the Torah and the Temple and the sacrifices, then Paul would certainly be a hypocrite to participate in such things. Paul did not observe the law and participate in the temple rituals for fear of the Jews, because he has just said that he was willing to die for gospel of Yeshua (Acts 21:13). Clearly, he is not caving to their commands, but willingly participates. The only vow that requires purification along with cutting off one’s hair (Acts 21:23) is that of a Nazarite vow, and one of the offerings given is that of a sin offering (Num 6:13-18). While this may offend our preconceived notions, not only about Paul, but about the Torah and its relevance to us generally, nevertheless, this is what Luke records. And it is important to note that Luke painstakingly shows that it was the enemies of the gospel, those in leadership in the Jewish Sanhedrin, that were acting against the Torah (Acts 23:3), not Paul. All throughout the book of Acts, Luke shows that those who are preaching the gospel message are the ones who are in harmony with the Torah, that the message of the gospel upholds the Torah, and it is the opponents of the gospel who are lawless, and act outside of the Law.
Considering the above, as we begin our discussion on Galatians 3, let’s not forget that Paul has taken two previous chapters to contrast a religion of men, coming from men, and based on man-made customs and traditions, with that which comes directly from the Word of God. Paul has shown that his previous life in Judaism was learned from men, but that the gospel that he preaches now comes directly from the Word of God. Those who elevate man-made traditions and customs above the Word of God are accused of being hypocrites and lawbreakers, whereas those who live according to the Spirit are said to be faithful.
Chapter two ended with Paul reminding us that if we could be justified through our own works, then Christ died for no purpose. Therefore, if we seek justification through our own works, we nullify the grace of God, claiming the work of Christ was not necessary (2:21). Chapter three opens on the same theme:
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Yeshua
haMashiyach was publicly portrayed as crucified (3:1).
In other words, he reminds the Galatians that they know that Christ was crucified! If he was crucified, which they know he was, and if they seek justification via their own works, they are nullifying his death!
Paul then begins to refocus the Galatians attention on what brought them into a relationship with Christ in the first place:
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith — just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? (Gal 3:2-6).
It is critical that we remember Paul’s purpose here is justification, not sanctification. Paul is not talking about how we live, but how we are saved, that is, how we come into right standing before God. To use an analogy, when the Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt, was it their faith in God’s promise of salvation or their works that saved them from the angel of death? It is true that God commanded them to put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, but did they save themselves through their own works, or through God’s promise, that when he saw the blood, he would pass over them, and they would be spared? Did their actions of killing a lamb somehow in-debt God, or was it that he was faithful to His promise and acted according to His Word? Every action that God initiates is an initiation of grace. They did not deserve it, nor did they in-debt God into an obligation. He is obligated not because of anything they initiated, but only according to his promise. Thus, when the Galatians heard the gospel message, (when Israel heard the gospel message), that the blood of the Lamb would cover their sin (that the blood of a lamb would save their firstborn), and the Galatians believed the promise (and Israel believed the promise), great miracles were performed (great miracles were performed). The message is now, and always has been the same! But what if some in Galatia did not believe (but what if some in Israel did not believe)? Then, the Galatians would remain dead in their sins (then the first born would die in that house, just as in the rest of Egypt). So, was it the obedience that saved us, or was it the faith that saved us? Had Israel put blood on their door at any other time, would the blood have caused them to be free from Egypt? If not, then it is not their works of putting blood on the door that saved them, but the promise of God coupled with their belief and resulting actions in response to the Word of God and the promise of God that resulted in saving grace. Willful disobedience to God’s offer of grace leads only to death.
Paul’s emphasis here in Galatians 3 is to keep our eyes firmly fixed on the promise of God, and not to take our eyes off his promise of grace through faith in the death of the Messiah. Paul is not saying that we are free to respond to God’s offer of grace through disobedience. That would be absurd. Thus Paul and James (James 2:18-26) are not in disharmony, but simply emphasizing two aspects of the same idea. Faith results in a response of obedience, but the response is not what saves. Salvation is by grace, through faith, and the evidence of the faith is obedience. Disobedience to God’s offer of grace can condemn, but our obedience is not what saves us; only God’s promise and his faithfulness to His promise accomplishes this!
In verse 6, Paul relates salvation by faith to Abraham, and he expands on this faith and the blessing that comes from Abraham in the following verses:
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith (7-9).
What we see here is a clear reference to the Abrahamic covenant of Genesis 15, where God promises to bless all nations through Abraham (Israel). In what sense did blessing come to the nations through Abraham? It was through his seed, ultimately through Christ and the work He accomplished! Paul is stating directly that by trusting in the blood of the Messiah, we become the sons of Abraham and receive blessing. However, if we don’t trust in Him, but rather depend on our works, we have a huge problem:
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them” (10).
Paul says that if you rely on works of the law for your justification, you are cursed. Note that Paul is now not only referencing Genesis 15 (the Abrahamic covenant), but has brought in the blessings and curses of the Torah (Deut 27-30; Lev 26). Just what are the curses of the law? Is the Torah somehow a curse? No, rather disobedience to Torah brings a curse. This would have been a very relevant message to the exiles of Israel living in Galatia that Peter referred to (1Pe 1:1). They were exiled from the land, living out the result/curse of not living according to the Torah. On the flip side, obedience to Torah brings blessing.
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known (Deut 11:26-28).
We will discuss the function of the curse of the law below in more detail. For now, let’s look at what the curse of the law is. Deuteronomy 27-28 describes these curses in detail. They ultimately end in exile and destruction, being cast out of the Promise Land, out of relationship with God. Sin has dire consequences, separating us from God. Exile is a picture of death, and we see in Revelation the ultimate exile as the final consequence of sin: the second death at the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:11-15).
Here in Galatians 3:10, Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27:26 to show that we are cursed if we do not obey EVERYTHING written in the book of the Law. The problem is, nobody obeys everything, so all people are under the curse. We all face ultimate exile in the second death. The only freedom from this curse is trusting in the Lord to save us through the blood of the Lamb.
Isn’t this the basic gospel message? What is Paul relaying here? How does this relate to the specific situation Paul is addressing in his letter to the Galatians? Because of the false teaching of justification by works, Paul has to remind the Galatians of the simplicity of the gospel to combat the teaching of the Judaizers, who required works such as circumcision as a prerequisite to salvation. Our own works, whether obedient acts to Torah or submission to man’s rules, cannot justify us. Trusting in God, and his provision of atonement and redemption, is the ONLY WAY to be declared righteous. If we do not trust Him but instead rely on our own works, as many in Galatia were doing, then we remain dead in our sins and under the curse of the Law! Furthermore, if you rely on your own works of the law, you are essentially saying you are saved by your own standard of righteousness, which negates the need for a redeemer, so you have negated the work of Christ to which the Torah points! Remember, no one perfectly obeys the Torah, so all of us are under a curse, and we NEED a redeemer. But if we negate the need for this redeemer, we remain under the curse, for we do not recognize the Savior.
In the passages that follow, Paul will deal specifically with the issue of justification and how it is achieved. Recall that justification is the declaration that we are legally righteous, achieved through the death of Christ, which is God’s promise to Abraham fulfilled. Paul refers to the prophets which also teach that we are not saved by our own works but through faith:
“Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith’” (11).
Here Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4. The Greek word for “by” is ἐκ (ek), which means “out of,” so one might say, “The righteous shall live out of faith.” Interestingly, the Hebrew word found in Habakkuk for “faith” is אמונת (emunah), which means “faithfulness.” Faithfulness generally refers to obedience to the covenant, which is the Mosaic Law. So is Habakkuk teaching that the righteous live out of obedience to the Torah and not out of faith? Is Paul changing the meaning? Yes, Habakkuk is teaching the righteous live out of obedience to the Torah. No, Paul is not changing the meaning. How can this be? Isn’t it a contradiction?
We have created a dichotomy between faithfulness and faith, yet in Hebrew, they are the same word! They are two sides of the same coin. Let’s briefly consider the context of Habakkuk. Habakkuk had questioned how a holy God could let an evil oppressor (Babylon) continue to hurt God’s people (Hab 1:12-17). God responds and says that He will take care of Babylon in His time and that the righteous shall live by his faithfulness/faith. Old Testament scholar Ralph L. Smith in his commentary on Habakkuk, says the following about chapter 2:
“Yahweh gave Habakkuk one more word of caution before he told him the answer to his question of theodicy. He said that Habakkuk needed to learn to wait. God’s time is not necessarily man’s time. Habakkuk wanted his answer immediately. He wanted God to punish the Babylonians and put an end to evil and oppression right then. God said that he had appointed a time for all that to happen but it might not happen immediately. Habakkuk, like all of us, was living “between the times,” between the promise and the fulfillment. Habakkuk was to wait in faith for God to act. He was assured that judgment on evil would surely come. It will not be late (v 3). But Habakkuk was not to wait with folded hands and bated breath for all this to happen. He was to live a life of faithfulness (v 4). The evil one is puffed up with pride and he will fall (vv 4, 5), but the righteous will live by being faithful to his covenant with God” (105, emphasis mine).
Smith confirms that Habakkuk says the righteous will live out of faithfulness to the covenant. They will live by being obedient to God’s commandments. So how does Paul in Galatians develop a doctrine of justification by faith from this passage? Because, as stated above, faith and faithfulness are two sides of the same coin. Habakkuk was worried about the situation with Babylon. He questioned what God was allowing to happen. God responded by telling Habakkuk that those who are righteous will not worry about what God is letting happen but rather will TRUST HIM to take care of the situation. They will demonstrate this trust in Him by DOING WHAT HE SAYS! Their faithfulness to the covenant demonstrates their faith! Isn’t this similar to what James says in chapter 2?
We have spent this time understanding the context of Habakkuk to show that Paul CANNOT be using Habakkuk to show that we no longer need to obey God’s commands! Obedience to God’s commands (faithfulness) was what Habakkuk was commanded to do! To say otherwise is to completely misunderstand God’s response to Habakkuk’s question. Rather, in Galatians, Paul chooses to stress the faith aspect of emunah, showing that obedience to God’s commands is not done FOR justification, but rather is done OUT OF faith. Again, obedience is a demonstration of faith. Obedience to God’s commands is good. However, if we obey as a means of justification, we are no longer placing our faith in God, and this is the problem Paul addresses.
So Paul has just stated that those who are declared legally righteous live out of faith (which demonstrates itself in faithfulness). He then says, “But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them’ (11-12).” Is Paul saying the law is bad? No, rather he is saying the law is not a means of justification. He has just established that we are justified through faith. But the law is not of faith, so it cannot justify us. So if the law is not of faith, if it cannot justify us, what does it do? It blesses when we obey and curses when we disobey. Paul’s support is Leviticus 18:5: “The one who does them shall live by them.” Let’s note a few things. First, the “by” that Paul uses here (“shall live by them”) is not the same word as he used when quoting the Habbakuk verse (“shall live by faith”). In Habakkuk, recall Paul uses ek, meaning “out of.” When quoting Leviticus 18, Paul uses the Greek word “ἐν” (en), which is “in.” So in the one, the righteous live out of faith, and in the other, they live in the commands.
What does it mean to live in commands? Does it mean that the Israelites were somehow justified and found in right standing because they followed God’s commands? No, for this would contradict God’s Word that we are declared righteous out of faith (remember the Abrahamic covenant, and that Abraham was justified by faith). Rather, the word “live” in Leviticus 18:5 is equated with blessing. You will be blessed if you obey what God says, if you walk in his commands! This is laid out in detail in Deuteronomy 28 and perfectly fits the context of blessings and curses that Paul is addressing in Galatians. Remember from above that Paul says all who rely on works of the law are under a curse, and that this curse is a direct reference to the curses that are a result from disobedience to the law. On the other hand, if you obey, you are blessed. The problem, like we said above, is that we all disobey at some level, and therefore, we all are under a curse! When Paul points out that the one who obeys the commands shall live by them, the unspoken opposite is also clear: the one who disobeys the commands shall be cursed by them! So, again, we are presented with a problem. The Torah is intended to bring blessing when we obey, but because we disobey, we are under a curse.
Many in Galatia were Israelites in exile due to disobedience. But the message is not just to exiled Israel. This is a picture of all mankind in exile due to sin. We are in spiritual exile. We see in many of Paul’s writings the extent to which sin separates all people from God. In Ephesians 2, we were dead in our trespasses and sins (2:1), sons of disobedience (2:2), and by nature children of wrath (2:3); we were “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (2:12). In Colossians, we were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds (1:21).
ALL of us find ourselves under the curse of the law—in exile, separated from relationship with God, cut off from the covenants of promise because of our sin, because we disobey Him. And ultimately, this results in the second death described in Revelation 20, an eternal separation. Yet there is hope!
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Yeshua haMashiyach the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith (13-14).1
Mankind’s problem in a nutshell: we are all under the curse. We are not receiving blessing. We are receiving curses! UNLESS, that is, we are found to be in Christ. For in Him, God took care of the curse and imparted the blessing! The ultimate blessing is in Christ, through HIS obedience to death on the cross. The blessing is the gift of the Holy Spirit, resulting in eternal life!
We have received incredible blessing and life through the work of the Messiah! Does receiving this blessing mean we are free to walk in disobedience to God’s commands? Now that we have been set free from the curse of the law, are we also free to continue in the very sins that put us under the curse in the first place? As Paul says in Romans 6:2, “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Or we might say in this context, “How can we who have been redeemed from the curse continue to walk in disobedience?”
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 (Gal 3:15-18).
Here, Paul shows that the Mosaic covenant, which came after the Abrahamic covenant, cannot annul the Abrahamic covenant, which came first. If God made a promise in the Abrahamic covenant, then that promise stands. He did indeed make a promise that blessing (salvation) would come through the Seed of Abraham, which is Christ. In fact, since God made this promise, He CANNOT make another covenant that is contrary to this promise (cf. 3:21). That is why Paul says, “if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise” (18). You see, Paul’s point is that the inheritance does NOT come by the law. That is not and never was its intention! The inheritance comes by the promise! Paul stresses this because the Galatian agitators were teaching the opposite: that the inheritance came through obedience to the law! Paul shows that cannot be the case.
Importantly, this text says that no one can annul or add to a covenant once it has been ratified, and that even a new covenant cannot annul a covenant previously ratified by God. Since this is the case, then the “new covenant” initiated by Christ cannot annul the Mosaic covenant, just as the Mosaic covenant cannot annul the Abrahamic covenant. All covenants will be consistent with previous covenants, and will not annul or change them.
So, if the law does not bring salvation, then what is the purpose of the law? Paul (logically) addresses this question next:
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one (3:19-20).
Paul says, “[The law] was added because of transgressions” (19). What is transgression? Transgression is sin that is a violation of an expressed command. Pauline scholar Frank Thielman comments on this passage, saying “Paul probably means that God gave the Law at Sinai in order to reveal clearly Israel’s sin, to transform it from something ill defined and inchoate into specific transgressions against God’s will” (538-539). In Paul’s letter to the Romans, we gain insight into the law’s purpose and how it is related to transgression. In Romans 5:13, Paul says, “For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.” In other words, without a commandment from God, sin is not transgression because there is not an expressed command to violate. Sin is still wrong, but without a given command, it is not transgression. Further, there is a different level of accountability with sin than with transgression. According to Romans 5:13, sin without the law is not counted. In light of this, consider how Pauline scholar Ronald Y.K. Fung translates Galatians 3:19: “The law was given ‘to make wrongdoing a legal offence’” (159). What is wrong has now become something that is a violation of what God has told us to do or not do, and God can hold us legally responsible. Through the law, God reveals his standard of righteousness. When we fall short of this standard (and we all do), then transgression occurs and we can be held legally responsible. Therefore, the law causes transgression to increase. Paul says in Romans 5:20-21:
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Yeshua haMashiyach our Lord.
Why would God give opportunity for trespass, or transgression, to increase? Why would he give the law for this purpose? Paul answers that above by saying that as sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Through the law, we are shown to have violated God’s commandments and are held legally responsible, and we are given the consequence of breaking his commandments (that is, death). What Christ did in becoming our sacrifice for sin is no small thing! All our transgressions are laid upon Him! Every itemized sin for which we can be accused is accounted for and paid by Him! His grace abounds in light of the depth and seriousness of our sin. His grace abounds because he provided a substitute who met this standard of righteousness in every way and paid the price for our incredible failure.
However, let us not think that it is now acceptable to break God’s commandments (His law) just because His grace abounds when trespass increases! Just because Paul says the law came in to increase the trespass, and that then grace abounded all the more, DOES NOT MEAN we should continue to break His commandments. Paul anticipates this very response in the verses that follow 5:20-21. In Romans 6:1-2, he says,
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (emphasis mine)
Here, Paul is adamantly against transgression of the law, especially in light of the sacrifice of Christ and our being united with Him. Why then would we think he is preaching freedom from this law in Galatians 3:19? Many have arrived at this conclusion based on the phrase “until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made” (19). Does this mean the law is no longer in effect now that Christ has come? No, rather it says the law was added because of transgressions until the offspring should come. The focus is on the fact that the offspring (which is Christ) has taken on our transgressions. It is the transgressions that have been dealt and “done away” with, not the law. Paul could have said here, just as he did in Romans, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in transgression now that the offspring has come? BY NO MEANS!”
Now, let’s consider this in light of the message of Galatians, that justification is not by works of the law but through faith in Christ. In Galatians 3:19, Paul is stressing that the purpose of the law is not to bring about justification. Rather, Paul gives the law’s purpose, which is:
To define God’s righteous standard (what the response of the redeemed should be toward God and our fellow man)
To define what sin is (the breaking of this standard)
To reveal how we have fallen short and transgressed God’s righteous standard
In other words, it tells us what TO do and what NOT to do, and it reveals our failure to meet this standard. Paul’s point: Its purpose is not to save. The timing of its giving demonstrates this. Israel was not saved because they received the law, they received the law because they had been saved. Circumcision’s purpose was not to be the covenant, but to be an outward sign of the inward covenant. The judaizers had it backwards, and they were destroying the saving faith of the Galatians. We discuss this inner versus outer issue extensively in our Roman’s series.
Now Paul clarifies that he is NOT speaking against the Torah. Just as Paul does so often in his letter to the Romans, here he anticipates that some might misconstrue his teaching to be against God’s law, and he quickly eliminates any such notion.
Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law (21).
Paul shows that he is not speaking against the Torah, nor saying that the law is against God’s promises given to Abraham. Rather, the Torah AGREES with God’s promise to Abraham. It is the teachings of the circumcision party that are at odds with both the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic covenant, for these false teachers say that you are justified by works of the law, which is not what either covenant teaches. Paul hypothetically says, “If a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law” (21), the point being that obeying the law CANNOT give life, so righteousness CANNOT be by the law, which is exactly what both covenants teach! God’s Word is consistent, and his covenants are consistent.
There is a weakness concerning the Mosaic Law, but it is not a weakness with the law itself, but rather with us. Paul says,
But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Yeshua haMashiyach might be given to those who believe (22).
As Romans 8:3 says, the law was weakened by the flesh. The weakness was ours! This is again related to the curse of the law. We are imprisoned because, when our unregenerate hearts encounter God’s commandments, our response is to disobey, and this puts us under the curse! For more on this, see our discussion on Romans 5-8.
Before Faith Came We Were Under the Law
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed (23).
First, we might be tempted to read into this passage that Christ ushered in the era of faith, that is, there was an era of Torah that ended when the Messiah came, and now we are in an era of faith. This would be a most egregious twisting of Paul’s message in this passage. Paul’s primary example of justification of faith has been Abraham’s trusting God’s promises in Gen 15:6 as evidence that faith prior to circumcision is counted as righteousness (Rom 4:3, 9, 22; Gal 3:6). Yeshua himself says that Abraham looked forward to His (Messiah’s) day and saw it in faith (Jn 8:56). The writer of Hebrews enumerates a list of faithful servants in Hebrews 11 who trusted God’s promise and never received the promise.
What then is Paul talking about when he writes, “before faith came?” The answer is really seen in the second part of of the verse “until the coming faith would be revealed.” In other words, the righteous patriarchs awaited, looked toward, and had faith in the coming of the Messiah, the righteous Seed promised to Abraham (Gal 3:16). Here Paul personifies faith. “Before faith came” then means “before He in whom all faith rests came…” Christ is the embodiment of the promise to which all the prior patriarchs looked. In Christ we see the revealing of Him in Whom the Patriarchs trusted and hoped. It is not that before Christ, people relied on works, and now they rely on faith. Paul (and the rest of Scripture) is clear that faith in the Messiah has always been the basis of salvation.
A second issue with this passage is the phrase “under the law.” In this verse, Paul says we were held captive under the law before Christ came. What then does “under the law” mean, and how does it enslave? Does it refer to those who desire to obey God’s commands given in the Torah?
In our Romans paper, we discuss extensively Paul’s use of the phrase “under the law.” While the English translation of Romans appears to show the phrase “under the law” starting in chapter two, the Greek is different in chapters two and three from the “under the law” passages that appear later in the book, starting in chapter six. In chapter two, “under the law” is “en nomos,” which means in/on/among the law, and refers to the Jews who physically possessed the Torah. However, starting in chapter six, the phrase is “hupo nomos,” which literally means “under the law.” As we argue in our Romans paper, when Paul uses “hupo nomos,” he is referring to the aspect of the law that increases sin or trespass among the unregenerate, resulting in the reign of sin. This is the “law of sin” (7:23), or “the law of sin and death” (8:2). Again, this law is at work in the unregenerate heart. Thus, in Romans 6:14, Paul says, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” For the believer, sin no longer reigns! You are not under the law of sin and death, but rather are under grace! In Romans 6:14, “under the law” does not refer to our obedience to the Mosaic Law; it refers to the law of sin and death from which the believer has been freed. (For a detailed understanding of our argument of “under the law” in Romans, please read our discussion of Romans chapters 5-6 and Romans chapters 7-8.)
It is helpful to understand this as it is thematically related to what Paul says in Galatians when he uses the same phrase “hupo nomos.” In Galatians 3:23, “under the law” in the Greek is “hupo nomos,” as in Romans 6 and 7. So again we ask, in Galatians, what does it mean to be “under the law?” If in Romans “under the law” refers to those who are under the reign of sin and thereby under the curse of the law, it is logical that Paul would have a similar meaning in mind in Galatians. However, before we can arrive at this conclusion, we need to consider Galatians 3:24-25, which is significantly related to 3:23 and being “under the law.”
The Disciplinarian
So then, the law was our guardian [disciplinarian] until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian [disciplinarian] (Gal 3:23-25).
These verses address “the guardian” (ESV), or “tutor” (NASB, NKJV), or as we prefer, “disciplinarian” (NRSV). To understand this idea, we must keep in mind the following ideas from chapter three up to this point:
Those who rely on works are under the curse of the law (10).
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law (13).
Before Christ, we were imprisoned by the law because when we encountered it, our natural inclination was to disobey, putting us under the curse of the law (22).
With these in mind, let’s look at the disciplinarian verses in detail and see if we can determine who or what exactly this disciplinarian is, and what it is not, based on the context of chapter three.
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian [disciplinarian] until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian [disciplinarian] (Gal 3:22-25).
As we have previously discussed, the Galatian church was likely composed of a mixture of people, including some of the exiles from the ten tribes of Israel (the northern kingdom; 1 Pe 1:1). This sheds light on Paul’s reference to the law as a disciplinarian. BDAG renders the meaning of παιδαγωγὸς (paidagogos) as “one who has responsibility for someone who needs guidance” (BDAG, 748). Because Israel had hearts of stone and were stiff-necked, they would not submit themselves to God’s law. As in verse 22, the Israelites were imprisoned under sin. This rebellion against God by refusing to obey His Law, preferring to worship idols and burn their children in the fire, caused God to bring down upon them the curses in Leviticus 26 (and Deut. 28). It is these curses that act as a disciplinarian; their purpose is to redirect Israel back to obedience. Even a cursory reading of the curses in Lev 26 (if you still will not listen to me despite all this, I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, etc) reveals that God’s intended purpose for the curses was to awaken Israel: to cause them to repent and return to God, to worship him alone, in the manner he commanded. Remember, the curse of the law is the punishment for disobedience! It is these curses that acted as a disciplinarian to correct and instruct Israel in the exile, and to ultimately bring Israel back to God. This is consistent with Galatians 3 as a whole, which has been addressing our bondage under the curse of the law and the freedom we have from it in Christ.
It makes sense for Paul to address the curse of the law to exiled Israelites who were right then experiencing the specific curses listed in Leviticus and Deuteronomy: living in exile. However, we can also be fairly certain that the Galatian church was composed not only of Israelite exiles, but also of Gentiles who had accepted Yeshuaas the Messiah. The question then is how does the “disciplinarian” section apply to these Gentile Christians? It would seem they never followed the Torah before coming to Christ and therefore were never under the supervision of the disciplinarian, or curse of the law. Paul provides an answer later when he writes his letter to the Romans. In Romans 2, Paul explains that even Gentiles who do not physically possess the law have an understanding of the law.
“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Yeshua haMashiyach” (Rom 2:14–16).
Further, in Romans 3, Paul shows that BOTH Jew and Gentile alike have broken the law and are separated from God (3:9-23). Because of what the law says, “every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God” (Rom 3:19). Recall what we said earlier in this chapter: Israel living in exile due to disobedience is a picture of all mankind in exile due to sin. We then pointed out various writings of Paul that depict all people as being separated from God (Eph 2, Col 1). Paul stresses that, ALL of us find ourselves under the curse of the law—in exile, separated from relationship with God, because of our sin, because we disobey Him, and headed towards the ultimate exile, the second death (Rev 20).
Therefore, the “disciplinarian” (curse of the law – death) applies not only to Israelites, but the whole world, Jews, exiled Israelites, and Gentiles alike. We all have sinned and fall short of His glory (Rom 3:23). We are all under the curse of the law (Gal. 3:10), and Christ has redeemed all who trust in Him from that curse by becoming that curse for us (3:13).
One of the final consequences of the disciplinarian to Israel was that they would be exiled from the land and tormented among the nations. How would this apply to Gentiles who were never in the land in the first place? Consider Adam and Eve. When they rebelled against the commandment of God, they were EXILED from the garden. When Cain sinned, he was sent out to wander like a vagabond. Continuing this pattern, Israel as a nation was physically exiled from the land as a consequence because of their disobedience. These examples exist to show the spiritual consequence of all mankind’s disobedience: exile (or separation) from our Creator. God prophesies:
“But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies — if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.” (Lev 26:40-45)
Paralleling this is Deuteronomy 30:
“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the LORD your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the LORD and keep all his commandments that I command you today. (Deut 30:1-8)
We know that the circumcision of the heart, spoken of here in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 30 is the work of the Holy Spirit given on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). The circumcision of the heart is the inner change, the removing of the heart of stone, the removing of the carnal nature that is hostile to God’s law (Rom. 8:7) and results in death. We know that this circumcision of the heart occurs as a faith response to God in understanding that we have rebelled against God and we are cut off (exiled) from God because of our sins, but that the Redeemer has taken upon Himself our curse, and has bought us back to God. And the fruit of the circumcision of the heart is that we will then “obey the voice of the LORD and keep all his commandments that [Moses] commanded [us] today” (Deut 30:8). The curses of the law, or disciplinarian, have done their job, and when we confess our sin, and turn back to God, placing our faith in the redemptive act of the Messiah, our hearts are circumcised. We are no longer under the disciplinarian, exiled and separated from God and His Word, but are free to love and serve God wholeheartedly! So, you see, it is NOT that we no longer need to obey God’s good instructions for us found in the Torah; rather, we are no longer under the disciplinarian, the curse of the law, separated from God. This is consistent with the context as Paul has already spent time above discussing our freedom from the curse of the law (3:13-14).
Again, consider parenthood as an analogy. We give our kids rules that are good for them, and we expect them to obey. If they obey, they are blessed (sometimes by nature of the rule: Don’t run out into the middle of the street results in safe, unharmed children; sometimes through positive reinforcement we give them). If they disobey, there are consequences (time out, loss of privileges, etc.). The purpose of the consequences is not to be mean, harsh parents but rather to train our children to obey because that is what is best for them. It is to help them grow up to be healthy, happy, respectful adults. Now, when they reach adulthood, they are no longer under the curses. Ideally, they have learned how to function in society, and are DOING the things we trained them to do. We no longer need to “discipline” them through the curses, for they have learned and are functioning as adults. In the same way, in Christ, the curses have been removed, and we are functioning as mature sons of God:
for in Yeshua haMashiyach you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Rom 3:26-29)
This idea that those of faith are Abraham’s offspring is not a new concept. God does not judge according to the flesh, but according to those in whom his Seed dwells. We know from the parable of the sower, that the seed is the word of God. And the word of God tells us from the beginning that God is not concerned with genetics. Cain was rejected, Able/Seth accepted (same parents). Ishmael rejected, Isaac accepted (same parents). Esau rejected, Jacob accepted (same parents). And even in those nations God had cut off, we see the inclusion of Rahab the Canaanitess, and Ruth the Moabitess. Thus, in the words of Peter:
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. (Acts 10:34-35)
A Second Look at “Under the Law”
The disciplinarian, therefore, does not refer to the Torah itself, but rather the curses that occur when we disobey Torah. We are no longer under these curses. With this in mind, we can return to the “under the law” passage in Galatians 3:23, which said,
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law (hupo nomos), imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
We already have examined Paul’s usage of hupo nomos in Romans, where Paul uses the phrase to refer to those who are under the reign of sin, and therefore under the curse of the law. We have also suggested that Paul uses the phrase similarly here in Galatians. Let’s examine how Paul uses phrases with “hupo” (under) in Galatians.
Several times in Galatians, Paul refers to those who are “under” (hupo) something:
Gal 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse.
Gal 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin.
Gal 3:23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
Gal 3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a [disciplinarian].
Gal 4:2-3 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
Gal 4:4-5 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Gal 4:21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
Now, of course, each of these passages must be understood in their context, and we have already discussed (or will discuss) each in their specific context. Comparing them side by side, however, shows a clear relationship between them. In Galatians, “under a curse,” “under sin,” “under the law,” and “under a disciplinarian” are synonymous phrases, perhaps with different emphases. Consider the synonymity of these phrases found in Galatians 3:22-25:
But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith inYeshua haMashiyacht might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a [disciplinarian], for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
Here, both sin and the law are said to imprison or hold captive, and the captives are said to be under sin, the law, and the disciplinarian. Paul is saying the same thing, three ways, each with different angles. The relationship between sin, the law, and the disciplinarian is as follows:
Man disobeys the law.
Sin is disobedience of the law (1 Jn 3:4).
When man sins, he is put under the curse of the law (the disciplinarian).
To be under sin, or under the law, or under the curse of the law, each refers to the same thing. Because of our sin, we are separated from God. This is similar to the phrase “the law of sin and death” that Paul uses in Romans (8:2; cf 7:23). Without Christ, the natural response to God’s commands is disobedience, and thus the unregenerate are subject to the law of sin and death and are subject to the curse of the law. The law of sin and death leads to the curses.
Therefore, when Paul says we were held captive under the law before faith came, he is saying that all of us, without Christ, were living in sin. We were disobeying God’s good commands and therefore were under the curse of the law. We were experiencing the penalty of breaking Torah, which is separation from our Creator. We were living under the hand of the disciplinarian.
What an ironic message this must have been for the Galatians! They had mistaken obedience to Torah for justification, and in doing so, found themselves under the curse of the law (cf. 3:10). They stressed obeying the law for the WRONG reason and so found themselves under the disciplinary hand of the very law they tried to follow. They misapplied the principles of the Torah, specifically circumcision. The Torah was given to an already redeemed people as a response to their salvation (Wright 231). Circumcision was given as an outward sign of an inward covenantal relationship. When you make circumcision a prerequisite to inclusion in the assembly, you supersede the covenantal relationship with an outward sign – something God never intended and did not do with Abraham.
Galatians three can be easily misunderstood. For this reason, we prefaced our study of this chapter by looking at Luke’s portrayal of Paul in Acts. Remember, Paul had been falsely accused by his countrymen of rejecting the Torah and preaching lawlessness. Sadly, Christians have taken over for Jews of Paul’s day with the same accusation. It was neither true then, nor true now. Luke painstakingly shows that Paul was faithful to the Torah of Moses throughout his entire life. Paul was hardly a hypocrite condemning others for hypocrisy.
Paul’s point throughout Galatians three is to show that the Galatian antagonists had missed the point and purpose of the law, and had rather begun to misuse it as a point of justification. Paul shows that justification occurs as a result of faith in the redemptive work of the Messiah, not through our own works. This redemptive work of the Messiah, however, in no way creates a permission to be lawless and disobedient to God’s commandments. Rather, once justified by faith, we walk in obedience, establishing the Torah through our walking it out daily. God does not change, and his Word does not change. We do not do this as a means to earn salvation, but rather as our response to the gift of salvation which we have received a promise of. Thus, like Abraham our Father, we walk in faith, trusting that God will perform what he has promised to Abraham, through his One Seed the Messiah, to us who have received the spirit of adoption. Therefore, because we are all one in the Messiah, there is no room for boasting based on genetics, gender, or social standing.
1 Some wrongly equate the Law with curse, making the passage read something like, Christ redeemed us from the curse which is the Law… This misinterpretation reflects a misunderstanding of the promises of blessing the Law contains, and worse, ascribes evil to God. Remember Yeshua words: if we humans who are evil do not give bad things to our children, how much more will our Father not give bad gifts to us. (Matt 7:9-11) The Torah was a gift given to us, for in it, we learn what will bring blessings and what will bring curses. Paul knows that the Torah promises life (Rom 7:10), but man’s sinful nature causes him to violate the Torah and fall under the curses specified in Torah.

shalom and blessings
Michael 🙂