Sermon for the week of Trinity 13
Galatians 3:15-22
On Sunday, you heard an expert in the Law of Moses test Jesus with a question. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus gave him the answer that corresponded to his question. “You must do what the Law says, summarized with, “Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.” But the lawyer asked the wrong question, based on a faulty premise, that a sinful human being can do what the Law requires. The right question would have been, “How can I, a poor, miserable sinner, inherit eternal life?” That was, essentially, the meaning behind the question that the jailor in the city of Philippi once asked the apostle Paul. And, you notice, Paul’s answer to that question is entirely different from Jesus’ answer to the lawyer’s question. Paul’s answer was simply, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved!” Jesus gave the lawyer a Law answer. Paul gave the jailor a Gospel answer, a Gospel “promise.”
The questions before us, then, are, what is the purpose of the Law? And, what is the purpose of the Gospel? Are they at odds with one another? St. Paul answers those questions in Sunday’s Epistle, which we reread this evening.
Remember what was going on among the Galatians Christians. They were mostly Gentiles, whom Paul had very recently visited and evangelized on his first missionary journey. The place of the Gentiles in the Christian Church was just beginning to become clear. But there were some stubborn Jews who were insisting that the Gentiles obey the Law of Moses, starting with circumcision. Yes, the Gentiles had believed the Gospel, the promise, of salvation through faith in Christ, but they were now being told by these “Judaizers” that that wasn’t enough. They were being taught by the Judaizers to ask the question, What must I do to inherit eternal life?, and they were taught the answer, “Be circumcised and keep the Law!” That’s why Paul had to write them this letter.
In chapters 1 and 2 he’s already made the case that no one can be justified before God by doing enough good things, by keeping the Law. Now, in chapter 3, he spells out the purpose of the promise and of the Law, and he starts in our text with a simple lesson from human life: No one nullifies or adds to a human testament, once it has been confirmed. If you make a last will and testament that says that your house goes to your oldest son, assuming your will was properly signed and notarized, no one can come along after you die and say to your oldest son, “If you want to inherit the house your father left to you, you have to do x, y, and z.” Well, God had made a promise directly to Abraham, To your offspring I will give this land—and it wasn’t only about the land of Israel, but about the relationship between God and Abraham’s offspring, and the eternal inheritance after this life. There were no laws attached to that covenant. It was pure promise.
And Paul points out here in Galatians 3 that the promise was made “to your Offspring,” singular, referring specifically to Christ. Christ Jesus is the singular Heir of God’s promise to Abraham. (Which is, by the way, the reason why it’s so wicked to claim that the modern Jewish people have some sort of divine right to the land of Israel because of anything God said to Abraham. What God said to Abraham was that everything was being willed to his offspring, the Christ! So it can never belong, by divine right, to those who reject the Christ.)
So if the promise, the covenant, the testament God had made directly to Abraham and to Christ was confirmed and valid—and it was! —then the Law of Moses, given 430 years after God confirmed that covenant with Abraham, never had any power to change it, or to add to it. Eternal life wasn’t sold to Abraham and his Offspring at the price of their obedience. It was promised, as a gift. But God gave it to Abraham through a promise, Paul says.
Why, then, was the Law added? Paul asks. Good question! If God had already made a deal with Abraham, a promise which would reach its fulfillment in the coming Christ, apart from any works Abraham had to do, why did the same God later give Israel the Law of Moses? Paul says, It was added for the sake of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been spoken. Let’s understand that. The Law doesn’t make anyone sinful. The Law doesn’t doom people to death. As Paul points out in Romans 5, long before the Law was given by Moses, people died. They died, because of the sinfulness, that natural hostility toward God and man, that passes down from Adam to all his descendants. It’s that corruption of our nature that causes us to die, physically, spiritually, and eternally. What the Law does is show us why we deserve it, to show us just how corrupt we are, by nature. It says, “Here’s God’s will. Here’s a line. Don’t cross it!” And every single time, we cross it, in one way or another, either in our hearts, or in our actions. That’s called a “transgression.” And so with every law in the Law of Moses, transgressions multiplied. And the people were able to see just how unclean they were by nature, just how much they needed cleansing, just how much they needed a Savior. The Law wasn’t added to give people a way to inherit eternal life. It was given to show them how impossible it was for them to work their way to eternal life, how necessary it was to cling to the promise, to the gift of eternal life through the promised Offspring of Abraham.
Paul goes on, The Law was set in place through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now, a mediator does not mediate for only one party, but God is one. Yes, there were angels there on Mt. Sinai with Moses, as several passages make clear. Either they or Moses himself were the “mediator” between God and the people of Israel. He didn’t speak directly to them as He had done with Abraham when He made the testament of the promise. Paul’s point is that the promise, made without a mediator, is superior to the Law, which needed a mediator. And, when we consider that Jesus is the Mediator of the New Testament—and that Jesus is God!—then the New Testament is also superior to the Law of Moses, because Jesus gave His Church the New Testament in His blood directly. As John says in his Gospel, For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Is the Law, then, against the promises of God? Far be it! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then truly righteousness would have come from the Law. The requirements of the Law of Moses are good, and, when it comes to the moral Law within the Law of Moses, it’s timelessly true and relevant. The Law reflects what God considers good and right, and also what He considers wrong and detestable. No, the Law isn’t contrary to the promises of God, or pitted against the promises of God. It just has a different purpose than the promise. The promise is what saves—through faith in what was promised, not through works. The Law is what shows us our need for salvation. If we hadn’t been born already lost and condemned, with a sinful nature that’s hostile to God, then it would be possible to keep the Law and receive eternal life as our wages for obedience. But, as it is, we are born already lost and condemned, and can only be given eternal life as a promised gift, through Christ.
And so, Paul concludes, The Scripture has confined everything under sin, in order that the promise, which comes by faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. The Pharisees, the experts in the Law, and the Judaizers never understood the most basic message of Scripture: that all people are transgressors of God’s Law, that no one can do enough to inherit life and to escape death, but that God has promised a way that works, to give eternal life as a gift—a gift to all who acknowledge their transgressions under the Law, and who believe in God’s promise of salvation through Christ Jesus, the Offspring of Abraham.
The Law, in its primary use, reveals the deadly disease of mankind. The Gospel-promise is God’s saving solution. And Christ, the Offspring of Abraham, is the cure. Hear the Law, and let it reveal your transgressions. But believe in Christ Jesus and in God’s promise of the free gift of salvation in Him, and let Him be your hope of eternal life. Cling to the promise! And you will receive all that has been promised, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
