Galatians

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Galatians Page 15

by Cardinal Albert Vanhoye


  21. Other versions render the word translated “descendant” in v. 16 as “seed” (NIV), “offspring” (RSV, NRSV), or “progeny” (NJB).

  22. For example, “Aaron and his sons” appears fourteen times in Exod 29. However, quite a few OT texts use sperma in the collective sense of offspring (e.g., Gen 19:32, 34; 24:60; Lev 21:15; Num 14:24).

  The Temporary Role of the Law, the Extraordinary Benefits of Faith

  Galatians 3:19–29

  After explaining the precedence of the promise over the †law because it came first (3:15–18), Paul now examines the function of the law and its relationship to †faith in Christ. He shows that the law had only a temporary role and now must yield its place to faith in Christ. Now that faith has come, we have become children of God in Christ Jesus, the offspring of Abraham, and heirs to the promise made to Abraham.

  The Purpose and Origin of the Law (3:19–20)

  19Why, then, the law? It was added for transgressions, until the descendant came to whom the promise had been made; it was promulgated by angels at the hand of a mediator. 20Now there is no mediator when only one party is involved, and God is one.

  OT: Exod 20:19

  NT: Acts 7:38, 53; Rom 4:15; 5:13–14, 20; Heb 2:2

  [3:19]

  In verses 15–18, Paul showed that the †law could not change what God had already promised to Abraham. God’s promises were fully valid before the promulgation of the law and remained valid after it. The question naturally arises, Why, then, the law? Paul says, It was added. In saying the law was added, he is taking a position against some Jewish traditions which held that God created the †Torah, the law, before everything else and used it as his instrument in creating the world.1 Paul follows biblical history, in which the law does not appear until after the exodus and thus occupies a secondary position in relation to the promise made to Abraham.

  BIBLICAL BACKGROUND

  Diverse Biblical Perspectives on the Law of Moses

  Not only does Paul challenge conventional Jewish understanding about the possibility of †justification through the †law of Moses; he seems to suggest that the law comes from angels rather than God (Gal 3:19–20), and he describes Israel’s subjection to the law as slavery to the †elemental powers (4:3).

  Paul is not the first biblical author to express reservations about the law, at least as it was commonly understood. Deuteronomy anticipates Israel’s failure to keep the law, implicitly pointing to its failure as an institution and announcing a future day when God will circumcise the hearts of the Israelites (Deut 30:6). The prophets and some psalms question the value of sacrifices prescribed by the law apart from an obedient heart.a At the same time they anticipate the replacement of the written law by foretelling God’s intention to inscribe his statutes on human hearts (Jer 31:33–34; see 2 Cor 3:3).

  Speaking with some Pharisees, Jesus sets aside the law’s regulation of divorce (Deut 24:1–4) by saying, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so” (Matt 19:8). In this conversation, both the Pharisees and Jesus attribute the content of the legislation about divorce to Moses, rather than directly to God. Jesus likewise calls into question the adequacy of the law as a guide for conduct with his antitheses in Matt 5:21–48, where he repeats five times, “You have heard that it was said . . . [citing the law or its common interpretation], but I say to you . . . [explaining his own teaching, addressing inner attitudes, or clarifying God’s intention].”

  Nevertheless, other biblical texts affirm the divine origin of the law of Moses and its enduring significance. The prophets constantly call Israel to keep God’s law (Mal 3:22), while the psalmist praises its excellence (Pss 19:8–12; 119). Paul says, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching” (2 Tim 3:16), undoubtedly including the law of Moses; he cites the law as a source of instruction in numerous instances (1 Cor 9:8–10; Eph 6:1–3; 1 Tim 1:8–11). In Rom 7:12 he declares that “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” Jesus insists that he has come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it, and that “until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law” (Matt 5:17–18).

  Would Paul or Jesus deny that the †Torah, the law of Moses, came from God? Never! Many biblical texts firmly teach this truth. Rather, drawing attention to the mediating role of angels (Gal 3:19), a particular angel, or Moses, instead of God himself, is a way of indicating that something other than the written law of Moses should be prioritized—namely, what God has accomplished in Christ. Paul’s teaching in Galatians that explains the function of the law to reveal sin and the law’s temporary role until the coming of Christ helps us make sense of the diverse perspectives on the law expressed in the New Testament.b

  a. Pss 40:7–8 [see Heb 10:5]; 51:16; Isa 1:11–17; Mic 6:6–8.

  b. Gal 3:19, 21–25; 4:1–7; see also Rom 3:20; 5:13–14; 7:1–25.

  The purpose that Paul ascribes to the law is surprising: it was added for transgressions. If Paul had used the word “sins,” the phrase could mean that the law had been instituted because people were sinning and they did not know the right path. However, the word “transgress” means to act contrary to a law, so transgressions cannot exist before a law has been promulgated (Rom 4:15 RSV).

  So the law was instituted “for transgressions.” On the face of it, this is a paradoxical statement. A law is established to be obeyed, not to be transgressed. What does Paul mean? He certainly does not mean that people were innocent before the law and that God imposed on them a law that was impossible to keep in order to make them fall and then condemn them. This would be sadistic and contrary to God’s love for human beings and his hatred of sin. Rather, Paul is convinced that before the law people were already in a state of sin (see Rom 5:13–14). The purpose of the law was to transform sins into transgressions. That way, the law could make sin obvious and reveal the true human condition, since sin is very capable of camouflaging itself. The law also reveals that sin deserves punishment by defining penalties for various transgressions.

  Paul at once clarifies that the negative function of the law was not intended to be permanent but applies only to a temporary stage in salvation history. The goal was the fulfillment of the promise. The law counted only until the descendant came, the privileged offspring (Gen 12:7; 15:18) to whom the promise had been made, whom Paul identifies as Christ in Gal 3:16.

  The sentence continues with two statements about how the law was instituted that have the effect of distancing the law from God. Paul makes his point so briefly that the interpretation of this verse is difficult and far from certain (one scholar, drawing on the number found in 3:17, laments that there are 430 different interpretations of this verse!). Although Exod 31:18 speaks of God himself giving the tablets of the law to Moses, Paul follows Jewish traditions, reflected elsewhere in the New Testament, in declaring that the law was promulgated by angels, meaning either that angels functioned as intermediaries to transmit the law or that they were its authors.2 The direction of Paul’s thought favors the second alternative: the law was instituted by the angels, in contrast to the promises that God made directly to Abraham (Gal 3:16–17).

  Paul adds that the law was given at the hand of a mediator. The obvious first candidate who comes to mind as the mediator is Moses. However, the Bible presents Moses as a mediator between God and the people (Exod 20:18–21; Deut 5:5, 22–31), not as a mediator between angels and the people. Here Paul seems to be speaking about a particular angel who represents the group of angels who established the law and communicates its regulations to Moses (Acts 7:38, 53).

  [3:20]

  Paul continues: Now there is no mediator when only one party is involved, and God is one. If “mediator” here means a representative of a group, a mediator of this kind cannot be directly speaking for God, because God is not a group. Although he refrains from stating it explicitly, Paul seems to be implying that God wa
s involved only indirectly in the giving of the †law (see the sidebar, “Diverse Biblical Perspectives on the Law of Moses,” pp. 120–21).3

  What Law Can and Cannot Do (3:21–22)

  21Is the law then opposed to the promises [of God]? Of course not! For if a law had been given that could bring life, then righteousness would in reality come from the law. 22But scripture confined all things under the power of sin, that through faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.

  NT: Rom 3:9–20; 11:32; Gal 2:19–20

  Catechism: the role of the law, 1963–64

  [3:21]

  Paul now returns to the relationship between †law and promise, which he began to speak about in 3:15–18, and views it from a new angle: Is the law then opposed to the promises [of God]? Of course not! Although the law is inferior to the promises, there is a unity to God’s plan that includes both the law and the promises.

  In principle there are two possible ways the law could be “opposed to the promises.” The first would be if the law could impose requirements on people as the necessary condition for the fulfillment of the promise. Paul has already presented a strong legal argument why the law cannot do that (3:15–18). The other possible way the law could be opposed to the promises would be if the law replaced the promises, making them irrelevant, by delivering the benefits promised to the patriarchs.

  Paul writes: For if a law had been given that could bring life, then righteousness would in reality come from the law. Paul clearly regards this hypothetical statement as contrary to fact. In the next verse (v. 22) Paul presents the fact that disproves the possibility that righteousness comes from the law: “But scripture confined all things under the power of sin.” Therefore no law has been given that is capable of bringing life.

  Before we examine Paul’s rebuttal, it is worth considering why he raises the question of whether the law is able to bring life. Paul assumes that to make people righteous, it is necessary to “bring life”—literally, “to make alive.” This is a verb that the New Testament often uses to refer to resurrection and salvation.4 The Apostle has reflected on how a person can become righteous before God, and his answer is radical. Because human beings are sinners and sinners must die, they stand in need of a completely new life. Even dying solves nothing for a sinner, unless his or her death somehow can lead to a new life of union with God. Righteousness is found only in receiving new life. Paul has understood that righteousness is obtained this way and only this way (2:19–20). God’s promise of blessing to Abraham (3:14) was in the end a promise of resurrection—that is, the regeneration or re-creation of human beings who are righteous and blessed.

  From this perspective Paul asks, “Is the law capable of giving new life?” The answer is of course no. The law is capable of bringing death to sinners, of punishing them, but it is not capable of bringing them life. Although the law has a positive role of revealing what pleases God (3:24; 4:2), it works on people only from the outside; it is not a principle of life. The law says what human beings should do but does not give them the power to do it. It does not change people on the inside; it leaves people where it found them, as sinners. The conclusion is clear: the law is incapable of giving life. It therefore does not convey righteousness and thus cannot take the place of the promise.5

  [3:22]

  To describe the situation under the †law, Paul declares that scripture confined all things under the power of sin.6 This refers back to what was said in verse 19 about the law being given “for transgressions”—that is, to make sin obvious as violations of God’s will revealed in the law. Later Paul will explain this more explicitly in his Letter to the Romans and cite many biblical texts, especially from the Psalms, to demonstrate that all human beings are under the dominion of sin, including those who live under the law (Rom 3:9–20).

  A law that confined human beings under the power of sin was negative, but God’s purpose was positive: to allow the promise to take effect by means of †faith in Christ. The law was incapable of resolving the problem of sin. The promised blessings of the †inheritance come not through observance of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, or “through the faithfulness of Christ” as this Greek phrase (pistis Christou) can also be translated (see the sidebar, “‘Faith in Christ’ or ‘the Faithfulness of Christ’?,” p. 86). Nevertheless, the necessity of faith in Christ is clearly affirmed, since the next phrase states that the promise is given to those who believe.

  The Two Periods of Salvation History (3:23–29)

  23Before faith came, we were held in custody under law, confined for the faith that was to be revealed. 24Consequently, the law was our disciplinarian for Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a disciplinarian. 26For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. 27For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendant, heirs according to the promise.

  NT: Rom 6:3–14; 8:14–19; 11:32; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 4:4–7; Eph 2:14–15; Col 3:11

  Catechism: the role of the law, 708, 1963–64; unity in the body of Christ, 791; baptism and justification, 1227, 1243, 1445

  Lectionary: 3:26–28: Christian Initiation; Baptism of Children

  Now Paul more explicitly takes up the distinction hinted at in verse 22 between two periods of salvation history: the time of the †law and the time of †faith. Verses 23–24 describe the situation during the time of the law, and verses 25–29 describe the situation initiated by the coming of Christ.

  [3:23]

  Paul personifies †faith here, portraying it as someone who was due to come and has finally arrived: Before faith came, we were held in custody under law, confined for the faith that was to be revealed. The Apostle is an imaginative teacher who knows how to make his instruction concrete and memorable. He often personifies abstract realities such as sin (Rom 5:12; 7:8–9), death (Rom 5:12, 14; 1 Cor 15:54–56), and the †law (Rom 5:20; 7:1; Gal 3:24). The Greek verb translated “held in custody,” meaning “guarded” or “protected,” confirms that confinement under the law had a positive rather than a negative purpose.7 Although the law was powerless to keep a person from sinning, it was a great gift to Israel to know God’s ways, and it was a protection for society, at least in principle, to be guarded by that truth (Exod 33:13; 34:1–28; Ps 147:19–20). When Paul says “we” here, he again refers to himself and his fellow Jews, who were subject to the law of Moses.

  In this verse Paul speaks of the coming of faith as a unique event. He is not referring to the faith that rises in the hearts of believers, an event that is not unique, because it happens every day. Instead, Paul has in mind a change in the spiritual situation of the human race that resulted from a particular event at the center of history—the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

  With his distinction between the two time periods and his attribution of faith only to the second, Paul could seem too negative about the first. He could even seem to contradict himself, since at the beginning of the chapter he emphasized Abraham’s faith (Gal 3:6, 9), but here he says Abraham lived in the period “before faith came.” It is clear that Paul’s distinction between two periods is not intended in an absolute sense. The time preceding Christ was not a time in which faith was completely absent. Rather, faith was a flower that had not yet blossomed. More precisely, faith had not yet been “revealed” because its foundation had not yet been laid. That happened at Calvary. Through his cross and the resurrection, Jesus became the foundation of faith (1 Cor 3:11; see 1 Pet 2:4–6). By virtue of his victory over sin and death—a victory obtained by his accepting death for the sake of love (see Gal 1:4; 2:20)—Christ was manifested as entirely worthy of our faith and was presented by God for all to believe in (Acts 2:36; 17:31; Rom 1:4; Heb 3:1–6). This is how faith was fully rev
ealed.

  There exists a notable difference between the faith of Abraham and the faith of Christians. For Abraham the perspective was one of waiting. Abraham’s faith was faith in a promise about the future: “I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” (Gen 12:2). But for Christians, faith rests on a foundation that has already been laid. Our faith entails entrusting ourselves to Christ, who has now been revealed, and accepting his redemptive work that is already accomplished. The blessing is now in effect for us. †Justification has been fully realized, thanks to the gift of the Holy Spirit. A great change has taken place, and Paul is conscious of living in a privileged era.

  Figure 13. Pedagogue and child (Greek terracotta, third or second century BC). [Walters Art Museum, CC0]

  [3:24]

  The idea of being guarded or protected by the †law leads Paul to introduce a different but related metaphor: the law was our disciplinarian. This translation is perhaps overly negative; other translations include “guardian” (ESV) and “custodian” (RSV). The Greek word paidagōgos refers to a slave charged with supervising children and escorting them to meet the teacher from whom they would receive instruction. This meaning fits Paul’s purpose, since his next words are for (literally, “unto”) Christ. The NJB says it well: “The Law was serving as a slave to look after us, to lead us to Christ.” This metaphor for the law bears connotations of supervision and restriction that are potentially unpleasant, as well as the positive idea of movement toward the Master. The law, Paul says, existed solely for the purpose of escorting Jews like himself to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith.

  [3:25–26]

  Now that faith has come, believers no longer depend on the †law to lead them to their Teacher: we are no longer under a disciplinarian. In fact, through faith our spiritual condition has changed completely. Here Paul passes immediately to the highest dignity conferred on those who believe in Christ—namely, the dignity of being children of God (literally, “sons of God” [see the sidebar, “Understanding ‘Children of God,’” p. 128]). This dignity is not restricted to those of Jewish descent; †Gentile Christians enjoy this privilege as well. Paul is eager to affirm this, so he jumps from the first-person plural in verse 25—“we [Jews] are no longer under a disciplinarian”—to the second-person plural in verse 26: you [Gentiles] are all children of God. This transition shows the Apostle’s firm conviction that the change in the spiritual situation of Jews has brought with it the possibility of a similar change for all human beings.

 

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