I’m blown away and amazed at the authenticy of scripture and how the Lord uses it to speak truth into my life. Like, I’m on my knees when theirs a chair right behind me typing this because I can’t sit still. Since I am going on this journey and I want you all to be involved in this process with me, I am going to share what God is teaching me through everyday life of study and fellowship. I feel like he has just revealed so much to me that I won’t be able to share everything with you guys, plus I am not good at writing, speaking, i just dont have a fluent or elequent tounge per say. Anyways I did want to share with you all what God revealed to me the other day.
So I have been going through and studying the book of Galatians and it is just too good. How much I have learned from it is just so crazy, I am at a loss of words to describe how much God has blessed me with his word and the liberty to freely study and meditate on it. Anyways, I am in Chapter three where it talks a lot about the law and the condemnation and imprisonment it brings. Specifically I studied verse 24 the other day and dang it rocked me.
“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.” Galatians 3:24
This chapter Paul has really just hit home with faith and the law. At first he talked about being saved through faith or by works of the law and he calls out the Galatians and even says they are foolish! They had slipped away from the truth of the gospel that had saved them. They had failed to use the spiritual knowledge they possessed from Paul’s teachings at the churches in Galatia, when faced with the false teaching of the Judaizers. The Judaizers were teaching that you were saved by works of the law and not Christ redemptive work on the Cross. So they were teaching about legalism which completely goes against the gospel of grace! They had recieved the spirit and so Paul states that they were bewitched! The greek term for foolishness carried the idea of a wrong attitude of heart, a lack of faith that clouds judgement. Paul then uses Abraham as an example of attaining righteousness through Christ and faith in him. [Genesis 5:16] Paul says that cursed, condemned, are those who rely on works of the law because no matter what they break the law.
“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 Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might revive the promised Spirit through faith” Galatians 3:13-14
Paul then goes in to comparing the law and the Promise and uses the Abrahamic Covenant as an example for us. He is saying that Gods promise is superior to God’s law and he states four reasons:
Its Confirmation
Galatians 3:15
It is Christ-centered
Galatians 3:16
Its Chronology
Galatians 3:17
Its Completeness
Galatians 3:18
Paul then goes into why we even have the law then. He says it was to point out our transgressions (our sins) so we are aware of our position, our state before God, our nature we are born into. The law was not contrary to the promises of God rather it was just used to point out our faults and our opposition from God and it does not bring life or righteousness. What brings life and righteousness is faith in Christ, the blood he shed, the wrath of God that he spared from us. So instead of the law giving us life it actually imprisons us to sin. Something I find really cool is somewhere in Romans, I’m not positive of where exactly but I think Chapter 8, he states that once he knew the law and it was revealed to him it actually made him want to sin more. It is in our nature to sin and rebel against God and that is exactly what the law made Paul do and that is what it does for us too. The law brings us to knowledge of our sin and awareness of it. Grace is meaningless if you don’t feel the need for it, and that is exactly what the purpose of the law was, to point out the grace that we need. Then in Verse 24 paul points out that the law not only imprisoned us but also was our guardian. That is what I studied today and that is what the main point of this blog is about. All that above was just a brief, brief, brief summary of Chapter 3 of Galatians. I like the NKJV version of Verse 24 way better then the ESV version it says,
“Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”
Now when I first read over this verse it did not seem like much to me to be honest. Then I looked up the greek word for tutor and it is, paidagógos, a trainer of boys. Though it is so much more then just a trainer. A tutor back in the day was actually a slave for Greek or Roman families. Their duty was to supervise the younger children for the parents. So they would take them to school, make sure they studied, and trained them in obedience. The tutors were strict and would schold them and whip them if they thought necessary. In 1 Corinthians 4 Paul talks about tutors to the Corinthian believers who were acting like younger children. He contrasts the tutors with Father in 1 Corinthians 4:15:
“For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”
And then he continues the contrast in Verse 21:
“What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?”
When a young boy was delievered from their tutor, when they reached adulthood it was a great day. Since the man finally gained freedom from their tutor the relationship between them would change. The tutor had no more authority over the child and had completed what he was enslaved for! And luckily for the young man, he was not under the authority of the tutor no longer.
THE LAW IS JUST LIKE THAT!
The sole purpose of the law was to lead mean to Christ and in turn would lead them to be justified through faith in the Savior! The law is like God’s divinely appointed tutor. After a person comes and is revealed the truth of the gospel their is no longer a need for external ceremonies or rituals to act as guides and disciplinarians. Though the law in the ceremonial sense is done away with, morally it remains an intimate friend that one seeks to love and favor, so its still their the relationship just changes like the tutor and man. In Colossians 2 Paul states “Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Now as a believer we have Christ working in and through us, which will bring to us discernment on what is morally correct and some inner principles.
After all of this was revealed to me I was trying to meditate on what I just learned and what it meant to me (because you know Christianity is all about me haha –that was a joke). But in all seriousness I came to the realization that I once was imprisoned to. I was imprisoned to the law and it was a tutor over me. Through the law I came to realize my sin and also revelation from Christ of course. The law pointed out to me what was morally correct and my own sins, without it I would not know the significance of the grace needed for men imprisoned under it. Christ though has given me faith to recognize the sacrifice he made! He died on that Cross to set me free from the condemnation and curse brought upon to me from the law! He bought me life, liberty, joy, hope, peace, and so much more! The sacrifice he made on that tree, where he made himself a curse for mankind, the turning point in the history of redemption. Oh how glorious of a moment that he will never be glorified enough for! That is why he deserves all the honor and glory though! Because he fulfills his promises and prophecies, he brings us life, he took on the own wrath of his Father, and he did so in humility and he deserves all the majesty. What a glorious savior I serve! Continually I sing praise for what he has done. He could have been perfectly just and cast me into hell like I deserve and left me in a state of desperation and condemnation. The atonement was not necessary! He did not have to do what he did and forever I prayerfully hope to be eternally grateful for that. He alone is worthy of all praise, all honor, all glory!
You Set this Priosner Free! Hallelujah!
