You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you... Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:1,3).

Paul rebukes the Galatian believers, who were entertaining the notion that their salvation needed to be "perfected" (i.e. completed) by keeping the stipulations of the Law. What they failed to understand was that righteousness could not be gotten through the Law either at the beginning or in the middle or at the end. Righteousness from beginning to end could only come through faith in the death of Christ:

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last (Romans 1:17).

In fact, Paul goes so far as to say that if it was even possible for anyone to be righteous by means of the Law, then Christ died needlessly (cf. Galatians 2:21). 

Friends, let us understand Paul's meaning here. Paul is saying that neither before nor after conversion is anyone able to be righteous by means of the Law. Why? Neither before nor after conversion can anyone keep the Law perfectly. What can we logically infer from this? Christian perfectionism is a myth. Just because you are a believer does not mean that you now have the power to be perfect. Believers have the Spirit's leading and are motivated by Christ's love; however, this is far different from saying that believers now have the power to perfectly obey God's Law. No one does and no one can. To the end of our lives, we will always be absolutely dependant on the cross of Christ for our salvation, our sanctification, and our glorification. 

The present experience of the believer until we are glorified is captured in these passages:

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me (Romans 7:22-23).

For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want (Galatians 5:17).

We are still partially in bondage to sin until our bodies are redeemed in glory (cf. Romans 8:23), but we have the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing the glory that is surely to come (cf. Ephesians 1:13-14).

Therefore, friends, let no one tell you that you now have the power to obey God whereas you did not have this before. You have the motivation, you may have the knowledge, but nowhere in Scripture does God promise that you will perfectly obey Him now that you are saved. Surely, if we really had God's power to obey, wouldn't we always obey Him? Or do we sell short God's power? Do we limit His power to the strength of our will? If this is the case, is it really God's power or our will power that achieves righteousness? No, dear friends, from first to last, our righteousness rests purely and completely on the cross of Christ. Soli deo gloria!

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:12-25).

The Law, called here "a tutor", only had sway over believers until "faith," that is, the promise of righteousness we have in Christ Jesus, came. Just as a tutor is only temporary, so the Law was only meant to be temporary. Paul clearly declares that "we are (now) no longer under a tutor," which is to say, we are now no longer under the Law. Just as the tutor instructs, so the Law also provided instruction. But the instructive value of the Law is no longer necessary, for we have the fullness of knowledge revealed in Christ. This is what was meant by the apostle John, when he wrote, 

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

The Law only revealed the need of mankind, namely, the need for a Savior. The Law showed people that they were sinful, that they came short of God's holy standard:

I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law... in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. (Romans 7:7,13).

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin (Romans 3:20).

In other words, the Law was incapable of saving anyone. It only revealed their need.

Now, the proper response to this revelation was not to redesign it so that what is impossible could be possible. The proper response was not to reinterpret it so that the perfect standard is lowered such that it could be attained by some honest effort. The proper response was a faith that recognizes absolute helplessness to achieve God's standard by any amount of human effort. The proper response was a faith that recognizes one's only hope is through God's free, unmerited, and all-sufficient gift through Jesus Christ. 

Many Jews failed to perceive this way of salvation. That is why Paul wrote, 

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes (Romans 10:1-4).

Therefore, friends, let us not try to revive what Paul clearly says that we have died to (Galatians 2:19). Let us stop trying to put the yoke of the Law on fellow believers by coaxing and threatening with obsolete Old Covenant blessings and curses.

Let us also be careful not to partially resurrect the very thing the Law was given to destroy, namely, the belief that we have any power to attain God's standard of righteousness. When people defend the necessity of "free will" in salvation, they are trying to retain some measure of power, if not credit, in salvation for themselves. They are going beyond the place that Scripture gives to the act of believing. When a child is born, do we say that the child was born of their own free will? Clearly not! So, why do we insist that when we are "born again" by the Spirit that we were reborn of our own free will? Yes, the child participated in the act of birth, but it was clearly not their will that enabled it. They could not have made it happen nor prevented it from happening. Likewise, in the new birth, Christians can neither take credit for it nor block it from happening. All is of God's sovereign grace. For even as a child starts from a point of death and helpless abandon, so we also start from a point of spiritual death and utter depravity. 

When are we truly saved? Is it not at the point when we completely abandon all hope in ourselves and trust totally in God? The Jews fell short because, while they believed in God and were even zealous for His Name, they thought they could achieve His perfect standard by their own effort. This is why Paul wrote,

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone (Romans 9:30-32).

Friends, I'm afraid that those that cling to their doctrine of "free will" in salvation will suffer the same fate as the Jews. Just as the Jews stumbled over the stumbling block of the Law, thinking they could keep it by the power of their own free will, some today stumble over the stumbling block of faith, thinking that they could believe of their own free will. Just as the Law demanded perfect obedience, God demands no less of those who believe. They must believe perfectly who believe in Christ for their salvation. This is why the writer of Hebrews declared,

But my righteous one will live by faith.
    And I take no pleasure
    in the one who shrinks back" (Hebrews 10:38).

If anyone is insistent that they believed by their own free will, then they better be sure that their free will never "shrink back," even just a little. If we are being honest with ourselves, we will admit our frailty, and we will cease from this folly of believing that our faith comes from us and not from God. When we do, then we can confidently declare with the writer of Hebrews,

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved (Hebrews 10:39).

If you believe you received your faith from God, then you have no reason to fear losing it or shrinking back from it. If you believe that God sustains your faith, then you don't have to worry about wavering. You can claim the promise, which says,

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).

Praise God that we are saved not by our own good works, but by the perfect works of Christ. Praise God that we are not saved by our own faith but by the perfect faith of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul ends the chapter by declaring three times, "God chose...," "God chose...," "God chose..." (1 Corintians 1:27-29) to show us

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

soli Deo gloria!

Paul reconciles the Mosaic Law, the Abrahamic covenant and the covenant of grace through Christ.

(Gal 3:16-20, 23-25)

16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.

23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

This is quite a remarkable reconciliation of the complexities of 3 of God covenants with man. Paul starts with the promise made to Abraham indicating that it’s an unconditional covenant or 'promise'. A key component of the Abrahams covenant was all people on earth would be blessed (receive their inheritance) through him. This was filled through Abrahams descendants - the inheritance is Christ.

The Mosaic covenant (which came 430 years later) was a conditional covenant made to Israel, requiring their obedience to the laws. Paul writes that 'if' the Israelites inheritance depended on obedience to the law than it would "...do away with the promise". The failure of Isael laws did not invalidate Abrahams covenant - Gods promise to bless the world through Abrahams descendants.

So what was the law for then? Paul writes that it (the law) was our guardian - the Greek translation of the word implies a care-taker or 'sitter' like relationship (in other words the law watched over Israel). A sitters primary responsibility is to watch over the children to keep them from harm. This was also the laws purpose - until the 'promise' was fulfilled through Christ. A new covenant of grace.

Friends, we read in Galatians 1:15-16 something about the nature of Paul's conversion:

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles...

Paul testifies that God's calling upon him happened prior to his birth. And in the course of time, when he did come to faith, Paul writes that God by grace simply revealed Jesus "in him." The sense is that the substance of salvation was already in Paul and God simply had to make him aware of it. Now, Paul is certainly a unique case, because he had a special role as an apostle to the Gentiles (Galatians 1:7-9); however, for those that argue against the fairness of God in sovereign election, they would have to explain how God was fair in choosing Paul, who became a persecutor of Christians, rather than choosing many other "worthy" people. The fact of the matter is there is no such thing as a "worthy" person; therefore, God's sovereign election is both fair to the many and exceedingly generous to a few. Paul would certainly testify that the grace shown to him, a persecutor of Christans, was exceedingly generous.

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In Galatians 2:10, Paul writes, "They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I was eager to do." Later on Paul would lead the collection effort to gather money from Gentile churches for poor believers in Jerusalem. This is sort of ironic, because while the Jewish believers were trying to put a spiritual burden, the Mosaic Law, on Gentile believers, the Gentile believers were seeking to remove the burden of poverty from their Jewish brothers (Acts 11:27-30; cf. Romans 15:26; 1 Corinthians 8:1-15; 9:12; 16:1-4) by even sacrificially raising money for them. 

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There is what was once a difficult passage for me in Galatians 2:17-21,

“But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

What I used to think was that this passage taught that Christians should not live a lifestyle of sin once they were saved; otherwise, they would be "building again those things which they destroyed." What is worse is that certain pastors in their preaching confirmed this view. But that is not the point at all, as even a cursory look at the context would reveal.

Paul has just got done explaining how Christians are justified by faith and not by keeping the Law. He even rebuked Peter because of his hypocrisy in this regard. The "we" in "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ..." is referring to the same Jewish believers Paul referenced in 2 Corinthians 2:15 ("We who are Jews by nature"). Specifically, he is addressing something he found Peter, Barnabas, and the Jews on a certain occasion doing. Look at his rebuke of Peter:

If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? (Galatians 2:14)

This is virtually parallel to the Galatians 2:17, "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners..." In 2:14 Paul points out the hypocrisy of Peter as a Jew. In 2:17 Paul points out the hypocrisy of the Jews as Jewish believers. If I might interpret a bit here, he is saying,

"But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners by the Law, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!"

Paul is exposing the inconsistency among the Jewish believers. How can they claim to seek justification by Christ if they are still relying on the Law? If they are still under the Law, then they are still "sinners" and not justified, and their claim upon Christ would simply make Him, God forbid, a "minister of sin."  The presumption here is that whether Jew or Gentile, they are all sinners, "for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." At the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, which some historians have placed this reference in Galatians, Peter acknowledges that what Paul is arguing is true:

[Peter speaking] He did not discriminate between us and them [Gentiles], for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are (Acts 15:9-11).

So Peter acknowledged that neither Jews nor Gentiles could keep the Law and that both groups were saved by God's grace. Now, Paul's earlier expression, "We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles" is some of that same sarcasm that we should be used by now to from Paul. Paul is revealing the previous and wrongful ethnocentricism of the Jews, namely, that Jews were righteous by virtue of their Jewishness and Gentiles were "sinners" by virtue of their not being Jews. 

Friends, if some of you by now have not accepted the fact of Paul's ironic and saracastic nature, passages like this will be utterly confusing for you.

Now, to return to the point of Galatians 2:18, "For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor." Paul is saying that knowing what he knows, that all are justified by faith in Jesus Christ, if he were to restore a previous wrongful idea that people are justified by the Law, he would make himself a "transgressor," because, as he has previously ascertained, "by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified" (Galatians 2:16). Therefore, if by the law I'm justified, then I'm still a sinner. Put simply, Paul is arguing is, "Make a clean break from the law. You cannot hold to both Christ and the Mosaic Law." Therefore, he also writes,

For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:19-20).

Paul is saying that his old life under the Law is dead and gone. The new life he lives is really not his own so much as it is Christ living in him. Now, some may say, "When I look at you, I see Paul and not Christ." Paul responds,

And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20b). 

Yes, Paul is Paul, but Christ lives inside Paul by faith. And this was accomplished by Christ dying on Paul's behalf. 

Finally, Paul writes, 

I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain (Galatians 2:21).

If righteousness could come by the Law, why would Christ have to die? There would be at least some people, who obeyed the Law, and they would be saved by virtue of their obedience to it. They would then be "righteous" because they kept the Law. However, this is not the case. Christ had to die. People could only be righteous by God's grace. Otherwise, Christ would have "died in vain." Paul would spend the better part of his letter to the Galatians arguing this one point. 

Friends, most evangelicals believe that Christians are justified by faith in Christ alone. This is well and good, but there are many, while holding to this, still teach that Christians must follow the Ten Commandments, which is the epitome of the Mosaic Law. What part of "I died to the law" (Galatians 2:19) do they not understand? On this basis preachers have insisted that Christians should keep the Sabbath, even the "Christian Sabbath" of Sunday worship, which is nowhere commanded in the New Testament. On this basis many insist that Christians should pay their "tithes and offerings" to the church. On this basis popular preachers have counseled against eating certain non-kosher foods. On this basis many speakers have tried to claim the Old Testment blessings as promises for Christians, even though they were specifically given to the Jews for obedience to the tenets of the Mosaic Law. 

One person has argued that Christ died to keep me from the curses associated with the Law but not from my following the Law. But if you read Paul carefully, he makes no such distinction. If his intent was merely that the Law was now emptied of judgment, why not say as much: "Follow the Law for the blessings, since you know that there are no more curses associated with it." Yet, nowhere does he say this. Instead, all the NT writers, including Jesus, seem to indicate that being a Christian would entail suffering and persecution. This is hardly "blessing from following the law."

No, my friends, when Paul says we are under grace and not law, it means that no part of the Mosaic Law has any bearing upon our lives. As he writes in Romans 7:6,

But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Again in a long discourse in Hebrews about how the New Covenant in Christ is better than the Old Covenant under Moses, we read:

By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear (Hebrews 8:13).

So, I write to you members and pastors and leaders, stop mishandling the Bible. When you quote popular passages like 2 Chronicles 7:14,

...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land,

and claim its promises for Christians today and America, you are mishandling the Scriptures. In the very least teach the context of the verse. It is to my great chagrin that our Christian leaders are so poorly versed in the Scriptures that they make such blatant mistakes. And what is worse, today, unlike in days of old, the average Christian sitting in church does not know any better. So, like the blind leading the blind, everyone falls into the pit of confusion and misplaced faith.

Let us wake up and get into the Word for ourselves! When a pastor asked me recently where I find the kind of time that I do to study the Bible, I was speechless for a moment. Here I was embarrassed before God because I felt inadequate in my devotion to Him, and yet one, whose full time employment is the communication of God's Word, is somehow amazed because I spent two or three hours a day on reading and studying the Bible? Sigh!

Wow, I was wondering how Paul learned of Jesus, what it all meant, how it ties together... Etc. I figured he went and learned from the other Apostles, but Not So! Through Jesus alone, then later he goes out preaching THEN later meets with cephas for only 15 days then he goes out again. Fantastic!

Friends,

Galatians 2:16 teaches us that "by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified." This is referring to the Mosaic Law with respect to salvation. Paul here teaches that no one can be saved through the Mosaic Law. One reason is that no one can keep the Mosaic Law, and unlike faith, the principle governing the Mosaic Law is perfect obedience to it. This is what is meant by the strange saying, "He who practices them [the commandments of the Law] shall live by them" (Galatians 2:12; cf. James 2:10; Galatians 5:3). And anyone who fails in this regard is under a curse, and that curse is eternal separation from God. This is what Christ took from us. He took upon Himself the curse of the Law (cf. Galatians 2:13). This is even more fully explained in Romans 8:1-4,

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful humanity to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in human flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law for us by taking upon Himself the curse of the Law and paying the price for us as a fully righteous and acceptable sin offering to God. And according to the Book of Hebrews, the benefits of this offering is once for all (cf. Hebrews 9:12, 26; Hebrews 10:2, 10), so that our sins past, present and future are completely covered under the one sacrifice of Christ.

Since in Christ the righteous requirements of the Law are fulfilled, we in Christ have also died to the Law (cf. Romans 7:4); therefore, we no longer follow the Law ("the old way of the written code") but live by faith ("the new way of the Spirit") (cf. Romans 7:6). The Mosaic Law is now "obsolete" to us (cf. Hebrews 8:13). Its mandates and curse have been "canceled" and "nailed to the cross" (cf. Colossians 2:14; Ephesians 2:13-15). The Mosaic Law has been replaced by "the Law of Christ" for Christians (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:21). It is not that the Law was destroyed, but it has been fulfilled in Christ (Matthew 5:17; cf. Romans 10:4) and now made to no effect (cf. Ephesians 2:15). But, in keeping with the rebuke to the Galatians, if we still continue to rely on it, we put ourselves under a curse (cf. Galatians 3:10). Now, Paul's main point here is that people must not rely on the Mosaic Law for salvation, but many other Scriptures seem to suggest that Paul's point is also that the Mosaic Law has been replaced by a kind "law of faith" such that he even writes in Galatians 5:18, "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." And again in Galatians 2:19-20,

“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Why is this important? If we understand that the Old Covenant, represented in the Mosaic Law, is now obsolete as a rule for life for Christians, we will stop trying to push its tenets on one another. This includes matters like tithing (i.e. properly understood), keeping the Sabbath (whether you speak of it as Saturday or Sunday), and any number of Old Testament commands that pertain to the Mosaic Law. These commands have been eclipsed by the commands in the New Testament epistles. Now, there are carry-over principles or repeated principles in both covenants; however, care must be taken to understand that just because principles in the new are the same as those in the old does not mean that the Old Covenant is still in effect.

Furthermore, this should be a sharp rebuke to prosperity theologians, who frequently turn to Old Testament Covenant promises of prosperity for obedience. These are all connected with the Old Covenant Mosaic Law. It is true that many passages in the OT promise health, wealth and prosperity for obeying the Law of Moses. But it would be vain to try to claim the same promises for Christians today. We are no longer under the Law of Moses. Therefore, just as we are no longer obligated to follow the commands, we cannot claim the blessings for obeying those commands. And thankfully, we also do not need to fret over the curses that accompany disobedience to those commands. It is interesting to me that prosperity theologians make much a do about the blessings but hardly a mention is given to the larger list of curses for disobedience, namely, the death by sword, famine, plague and exile, even that they would be punished seven times as much as they sinned. Israel was constantly disobedient, and Israel was constantly cursed, except for a remnant, who was preserved not because of the Law of Moses but because of the promise to Abraham, which would culminate into the New Covenant promise fulfilled in Christ.

Many ministers of the Gospel fail to understand the distinction between the covenants, the movement from the Old to the New, and they teach the Bible as if the Old Covenant was still in effect. While I pray that God will give the much needed clarity to these leaders, you must not use this as an excuse for ignorance. You must read and understand this for yourselves, so that you can judge properly and not put undo burdens on your brothers and sisters in Christ. In the transitional book of Acts, the disciples debated this matter and resolved it (cf. Acts 15:5-11). They resolved not to put the burden of the Law on Gentiles but only requested that they do a few things in the Law to maintain the peace with the Jews. Therefore, they picked out four from some 615 laws. And even these four would be no more in effect with the passage of the apostolic time. As Hebrews 8:13 teaches, "What is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear." Therefore, let us not try to restore what God has removed and replaced.