Galatians 3:15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
In verse 15 God directed Paul to write about something that is strange to the present day Canada. Previously Paul wrote of the covenant God made with Abraham. That covenant cannot be broken. Not because Abraham was so faithful, but because God is so faithful. In verse 15 Paul states that a covenant, once established, cannot be broken by man. It also cannot be altered by man.
In our country, we have a constitution and we have a charter of rights and freedoms. We saw in the past few years, that both of those document are not worth the paper they were written on. We had and have Prime Ministers who claim to honour both of those documents, but they proved they disregarded both of them. They lied to us and they make no apologies for doing so.
God’s Word is not like that. Man has altered God’s Word hundreds of places. Most people like the altered versions, rather than the Truth. Most people live by the altered version. That is why the multiplicity of religions in the various churches.
God’s Word cannot be altered. Just because somebody dares to put out a corrupted copy of the Truth, does not cancel out the truth. No man has the power to change what God has decreed. Those who choose to follow the corruptions prove themselves to be fools.
In verse 16 we see that the promises were made to Abraham and his seed. It was not to seeds, but to one. That Seed ultimately is Christ. Jesus Christ is the seed of Abraham through which all nations are blessed. He is the Saviour of those who repent toward God and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He offers Himself to all, but few choose to turn to Him.
In verse 17 Paul noted that the law came four hundred years after the promise was made to Abraham. The law did not cancel out the promise made.
In verse 18 Paul stated that if the inheritance that God promised Abraham, was fulfilled by law keeping, then it is no longer a promise. God made a promise to Abraham, and He did not add any conditions to that promise. He showed Abraham the land and He told Abraham of the greatness of the nation of Israel. God promised Abraham a land and a great nation and great blessings without any conditions from Abraham. Abraham needed to leave his homeland and go to the land God promised him in order to receive the promise. God worked in Abraham’s heart and life to bring about the fulfilment of His promise. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Verse 19 answers the question of the law. What was the purpose of the law? The law was added because of sin. It was there to remind man of what God requires. It was there to show man the need to trust in God, because man cannot keep the law on his own.
We read that the law was there until the seed would come. Jesus Christ is the perfect, sinless God/Man Who fulfilled the law and made it possible for man to be forgiven and saved. He did not just atone for the sins of man. He removed the curse for those who would turn to God in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Deuteronomy 33:2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
God presented the law to Moses in the presence of the angels. They witnessed God’s work with Moses. Moses was the mediator of the law that God gave to the nation of Israel.
In verse 20, God continued His thought regarding Abraham. There was no mediator when God made His promise to Abraham. There was no need for a mediator because it was between God and Abraham. There was no nation yet at that time. The law came some four hundred and thirty years later, when the nation was more than one million in number. God made His promise of nationhood directly with Abraham.
In verse 21 Paul reminded the readers that the law was not against the promises of God. There is no conflict between the law and the promise. God again reminded the readers that if law keeping could give life, then righteousness would have been by law keeping. Paul has already proven that this was not possible.
The Pharisees had corrupted the promise of God and made law keeping the means of righteousness. The problem was that their righteousness fell short of the righteousness of God. The same is still true today. The many religions that have a form of human works as the means of life, have a corrupted form of righteousness.
When you sit and listen to the lies at a Catholic funeral or at a United church funeral or many other funerals, it is always works based. The reason the dead person is in heaven is because they did so many good things for others. Surely that is a ticket to heaven???!!!
God says, absolutely not. There is nothing any person can do in the flesh that is good. That is what the Bible declares. If a person is trusting in the salvation that God provides, there will be evidence of that salvation. The Bible shows us what the fruit of true Biblical salvation looks like.
As we noted already earlier in this epistle, true salvation is based on the faith of Christ, not the faith of man. The saved person is challenged to have the mind of Christ, not the mind of man.
Paul will continue to build this out in this book. There is so much confusion today on this matter. The Judaizers and the Pharisees are still hard at work in the majority of religions today. There are those who would accuse me of being one of those heretics. Yet, for the few who will actually read the Bible as true saints, they will see that I am not the heretic. The heretics are the ones who reject the Word of God and hold to humanistic opinions.
Be careful what you hold as truth. God’s Word is Truth. God’s salvation is a gift. It must be received by faith in Him. No works can be added to true salvation. Works are the product of true salvation. Those works are ordained of God. They are declared in the Bible and will be produced in those who are truly saved.
Pastor Bartel