Galatians 3:22-29 - A Short Teaching

 Gal 3:22-29 (HCSB)

But the Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ like a garment. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise. 

God’s plan was for everything to be imprisoned by sin to ensure only those who believe would inherit the promise. Only the One who could defeat sin would have reason to boast; all children of promise would have their clenched fist opened up to receive His gift. The Jewish nation was imprisoned by their Mosaic Law until the promised Messiah was revealed. For freedom He came to set the prisoners free!

There are two points in verse 24 that need to be clarified. The NKJV has verse 24 saying, “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ.”  The phrase “to bring us to” is not in the Greek; it’s in italics. The Greek says that law was until Christ, the idea of bringing us to Christ is simply not there. The word pedagogue means “disciplinarian,” “custodian,” or “guide.” According to Greek/English Lexicon, “the man, usually a slave whose duty it was to conduct a boy or youth to and from school and to superintend his conduct generally; he was not a ‘teacher’ despite the present meaning of the derivative ‘pedagogue’…When the young man became of age, the guardian was no longer needed.”

The Mosaic Law was a guardian for national Israel, designed to keep that nation until the fulfillment came, until faith came. This code was never meant to provide salvation to the Jews, it was meant to keep the Jews so that from them salvation would come to the world. When Jesus came, in the fullness of time, the Law no longer served this purpose.

All who have been baptized into Christ have put Him on like a garment – clothed in divine righteousness. All fleshly identifications are gone, for Christ is our identity. This is why Paul said he no longer regarded anyone according to the flesh; skin color, ethnicity, culture; all the things men war over are of no value in God’s kingdom. And since we belong to Christ, we are Abraham’s seed and heirs to the promise! All this is from Christ and for His glory.

What the Law could not do and was never intended to do, the promised seed, the offspring of Abraham brought to completion. Christ Jesus, born under the curse of the Law, was obedient to every aspect of the Father’s will so He could bring many sons to glory. Jesus is the promise by which God would fulfill the promises made to Abraham. The covenant with Abraham is foundational to the Christian faith. It was the foundation of the Old Covenant, giving the promise of the One Who would prove Himself to be the cornerstone of the New Covenant.