Christianity: The opposite of all other faiths (and keeping it that way)

Like in the Church of Galatia, there are those who's goal it is to discredit and detract from the gospel aiming to replace it with laws - not Biblical laws - but human ones. The Gospel is offensive to prideful human beings and so morality and authority are being systematically redefined through powerful media and we, and particularly our children, being conditioned to accept it. We must cling to the Gospel which is precious because it is a personal and permanent gift from God.We can only appreciate this gift with the help of the law of God which will never pass away until all is accomplished.

Scripture

Galatians 3:19-20 - ESV Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

Bible Study Questions

The promise came first and is greater than the law

Looking at Abraham, we can see that God promised to bless him and his descendants unconditionally before the law was given later through Moses., and that Abraham was declared right with God by believing God. Galatians 3 shows that this is the permanent model for being made right with God. How does this relate to us who live thousands of years later?

Galatians 3:6-9 - ESV just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Romans 4:20-25 ESV No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Why the law then?

The logical retort to the evidence that the promise of righteousness by faith is greater than and recedes the law, would be the challenge, “well then why did God give the law?” What are three reasons that God gave the law?

Galatians 3:19 - ESV Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions...

Romans 7:7 - ESV What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

Habakkuk 1:13 - ESV You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

Romans 7:22-24 ESV For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

The law is temporary, the promise is permanent

The law was temporary until the life and mission of Jesus was accomplished. Thereafter it ceased to play the same roles as before. But does that mean that we can forget about it now and ignore it?

Galatians 3:19 - ESV ...until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made...

Matthew 5:17-18 ESV “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

The law is official, but the promise is personal

The law was given by God to Moses through angels. The promise made to Abraham, and by extension to us was not just unconditional but made in person by God to Abraham. What does that say about the value of the covenant of grace compared to the covenant of the law which was conditional and delivered by an intermediary?

Galatians 3:19 - ESV ...and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

Genesis 15:17-18 ESV When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

Genesis 12:2-3 ESV And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

John 11:25-26 ESV Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

God is One

God’s ways are perfect and perfectly consistent. There was no need for a mediator as God delivered His promise directly to Abraham. How is the delivery of the Gospel the same?

Galatians 3:20 - ESV Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

Galatians 3:20 - NASB Now a mediator is not for one [party only]; whereas God is [only] one.

Hebrews 1:1-3 ESV Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

1 Timothy 2:5 ESV For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

The Obedience of Faith of Abraham

God makes an unconditional promise to Abraham, who believes Him and is counted righteous. Then when He obeys God, God confirms His promise saying that the reason for His confirmation is Abraham’s obedience. Was it Abraham’s obedience or his faith that made Him right with God?

Genesis 15:4-6 ESV And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 22:16-18 ESV and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Hebrews 11:17-19 ESV By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Protecting the precious and permanent promise

The law demands obedience, Christ fulfilled that obedience, when we trust that He has done this we have faith in His grace and mercy. Receiving His forgiveness enables our obedience. This leaves us with two imperatives, holding onto the truth of the Gospel, fighting for it in a world that rejects it, and walking in grateful obedience by the power of the gift of His Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:3-5 ESV For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

Philippians 2:12-16 ESV Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.