2002-01-01
Good Morning Fellow Believers,
Yesterday, the Lord directed me to begin an examination of GA 3, a chapter that while not easy reading, has many crucial lessons from Him for us. We saw how Christ was the fulfillment of the Law and how the Law was a curse (because of all the additions to it and human spin put on it by the rabbis of the Talmud) which Christ’s Atonement defeated. In other words, this was one of many ways in which the Covenant of Grace, which His blood shed sealed, is an improvement over the old covenant of the Law. Remember that the Law doesn’t bring salvation, only faith in Christ following repentance does. Be reminded that the Law does tell us what is pleasing to God and what isn’t.
Today, we will return to GA 3, this time to examine what it has to say about faith.
Both GA 3: 11 & 16 reveal what does justify us. GA 3: 11, “Now, it is clear that no one is put right with God by means of the Law, because the Scripture [HB 2: 4] says, ‘Only the person who is put right with God through faith shall live.’” GA 3: 16, “Now, God made His promises to Abraham and to His Descendant [Christ]. The Scripture [GN 12: 7] does not use the plural ‘descendants,’ meaning many people, but the singular ‘descendant,’ meaning one person only, namely, Christ.” The Law has nothing to do with faith, which is the message of GA 3: 12a. GA 3: 22, “But the Scripture [RO 3: 23] says, that the whole world is under the power of sin; and so the gift which is promised on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ is given to those who believe.” GA 3: 24-25, “And so the Law was in charge of us until Christ came, in order that we might then be put right with God through faith. Now that the time for faith his here, the Law is no longer in charge of us.” Paul’s clarifying message to the Galatians was not “over-kill” then, nor is it now. This powerful truth with huge implications in their lives and in ours had to be told. Inspiring Paul to deliver such a message was designed to not only put the Galatians right with God’s word, but also to help us to understand it. It was God’s way to convincing believing Christians that they must not fall into the legalism and emphasis on ritual over content that the traditional Jews had. It was also God’s way of warning against the grace without license approach that the Anti-Nomians were taking.
One of the things that I love the most about studying the Scriptures is the way that one Scripture will interpret another one which may not be easy to understand. Look at these cross references from RO 8 to see what I mean. God explains Himself so much better than any person can. GA 3: 26, “It is through faith that we are God’s sons in Christ Jesus.” RO 8: 14, “Those who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons.” RO 8: 16, “God’s Spirit joins Himself to our spirits to declare that we are God’s children.” What a blessing being God’s child is! Once a person’s earthly parents die or a person’s earthly parents abandon him, he never needs to feel unconnected. Young people may think that a parent or grandparent who has lost his earthly parents are so experienced that they no longer need the guidance, patience, compassion, and love that a parent gives. Not so, by any means! All of us need that. No one living on earth is yet so perfect that he is ready to go it alone. I feel that none of us were created to go it alone. That is why it is such a privilege to have our Father in heaven, His Son, and the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we will never have to do that.
Without really stating it, I have been dealing with the question: Just how important is our faith to us? Now that we’ve looked at what GA 3 has to say about it, let’s consider the application of what was said to our personal lives. Faith is defined beautifully in HE 11:1, so that’s a good place to start. HE 11: 1, “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.” We need to ask ourselves for what to do we hope? All of us want the security of a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, and food to nourish our bodies. But there is more that we hope for too. Because our very being is an integration of our physical, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional selves, all these parts of us need to be fed. If any of them are not, then problems occur in our lives. That is why we hope to be educated, given a working moral code to live by, and to have self-control. Believers in Christ refer to having fruits of the Spirit, things that are natural out-growths of obedient faith. GA 5: 22-23 even goes so far as to define them. GA 5: 22-23, “The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The is no law against such things as these.” Perhaps, the greatest hope we have is that of the resurrection. We weren’t there to see Christ resurrected, nor were we among the about 500 people to physically witness it mentioned in 1 COR 15: 3-8. However, God has given us faith that this really happened along with the promise of RO 8: 29 that “Christ was the first among many brothers,” meaning not only was He resurrected, but we will be one day as well! Through our faith, God has given us a moral code to live by, motivation to take care of ourselves and others, and hope for a better and eternal life of joy and fellowship with Him. Those, Dear Ones, are real gifts given to us by Him not through the Law but through His grace and our faith in Christ.
PRAYER: O Lord, what a profound force faith is in our lives! We stand in awe and gratitude that You love us and have given it to us. GA 3 points out to us the need to remain accurate to Your word. It shows us how human intermediaries who inflict themselves between You and a believer are a danger to us spiritually. For us to exercise our faith, we must remain dedicated to keeping our hearts open to what the Spirit teaches us, obedient to Your commands, and trusting that You never give us a command that isn’t righteous or not in our best interests. You do not want is to be legalistic in our approach to our faith. Nor should ritual ever be emphasized over the content of Your messages to us. You also want us to subscribe in thought and in practice to the principles You teach us in the Scriptures. Nothing else is acceptable to You. We are not to make our own rules. As You inspired Solomon to write in PR 3: 5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on human understanding.” Faith is sometimes difficult for us, because we may be in spiritual warfare, suffering, ill, not see something before our eyes, not see Your bigger picture, or be called upon to take action when it isn’t convenient. But, You have imbued us with the ability to have faith and to act upon it. You are a loving, kind, patient, and compassionate God, but You cannot demonstrate Your righteousness if we are allowed to live unfaithfully or in weak faith without You eventually taking action against it. Having faith in Christ is the only path to eternal life, which is why faith is so important to us. It is also our only way to real freedom and happiness. Today, we approach You in humility to offer You our worship, adoration, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, glory, honor, praise, and eternal thanksgiving. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will continue our look at GA 3, this time from the point of view of what it has to say about the Spirit. If you feel like you’re are surrounded by an aura of God’s warmth and love, then you know how I feel. This is available to anyone who repents, believes in Christ, and lives the life of a disciple. The only thing special about us is that God called us to this life of faith out of His love. He is the One Who gave us the Bible, taught us to pray, placed us in our congregations, and never gave us circumstances that we couldn’t learn from to gain strength of faith and obedience in Him. These are the blessings of our awesome Abba Who loves us more than we can comprehend. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn