Promises, Promises! - Galatians 3:15-22

Our text for today is Galatians 3:15-22.  Please turn there with me.  Brendan read this to us earlier so I want to begin in the same way this text began.  Paul says in verse 15, To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.

Here Paul is giving an illustration from everyday life with which the Galatians would have been familiar.  He does this to illustrate what God has done in His dealings with Abraham by describing what a covenant is.

We’re familiar with the word “covenant”.  We’ve heard the term “Covenant Theology” which is used to describe a theological system which has been espoused primarily by Presbyterians.  In more recent years, the term “New Covenant Theology” has been promoted mostly by a rather small but growing number of Reformed Baptists.  When we refer to the Old and New Testaments, we could also refer to them as the Old and New Covenants.  And then there is what we sometimes speak of as the Covenant of Grace, the promise God made to Himself from eternity past to save a people for Himself.  So within Christian circles, the word “covenant” is used very often.

Paul wants to make himself clear regarding the covenants God has made with His people.  There are two covenants of which he speaks here in our text today: God’s covenant with Abraham and God’s covenant with Moses.  Two covenants made in two different ways.  But first, what is a covenant?

Covenant is a rather broad term, especially in English usage.  Sometimes it is synonymous with a person’s “Last Will and Testament” in which a person states what is to be done with his estate after his death.  If you ever download or install software on your computer, you are supposed to read all the legal terms and check the “I agree with everything you guys said in all of this mumbo jumbo legalese stuff and promise not to steal your software and re-sell it to get rich or to terrorize people.”  That is a type of covenant.

Here’s how one dictionary defined the word “covenant”:

Literally, a contract.  In the Bible, an agreement between God and his people, in which God makes promises to his people and, usually, requires certain conduct from them.  In the Old Testament, God made agreements with Noah, Abraham, and Moses.  To Noah, he promised that he would never again destroy the Earth with a flood.  He promised Abraham that he would become the ancestor of a great nation, provided Abraham went to the place God showed him and sealed the covenant by circumcision of all the males of the nation.  To Moses, God said that the Israelites would reach the Promised Land but must obey the Mosaic law.  In the New Testament, God promised salvation to those who believe in Jesus. 1

That’s from The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. And it is quite inaccurate.  So don’t go to a modern dictionary to learn about the Bible.  Yes, a covenant is often a kind of contract.  But this definition of God’s covenants with His people is not correct.  The explanation of God’s covenant with Abraham is completely false.  Listen again to what it says:

“He promised Abraham that he would become the ancestor of a great nation, provided Abraham went to the place God showed him and sealed the covenant by circumcision of all the males of the nation.”

That sounds like it was written by the Judaizers!  That seems to have been their understanding of the covenant of God with Abraham.  But according to the Bible, God’s original covenant with Abraham was an unconditional covenant.  God’s promise to Abraham was not contingent upon Abraham’s obedience or upon circumcision.

But also, the explanation of God’s covenant to Moses is inaccurate:

“To Moses, God said that the Israelites would reach the Promised Land but must obey the Mosaic law.”

If entrance into the Promised Land by Israel was dependent upon their obedience to the Mosaic Law, they would STILL be wandering in the wilderness eating manna from heaven to this day.  The children of Israel most certainly did not keep the Law of Moses and yet they did eventually enter Canaan.

And finally, the dictionary definition is wrong again concerning the New Testament promise of God;

“In the New Testament, God promised salvation to those who believe in Jesus.”

What’s wrong with that statement?  Isn’t it true that the New Testament teaches we are saved by faith in Jesus?  Isn’t that what the New Testament is?  A new covenant?  Before, men observed an old covenant with God.  But now we have a new one!

This is exactly the nature of Paul’s message here in Galatians.  This is the misunderstanding he is trying to clarify and it doesn’t help that people write dictionaries that propagate this misunderstanding rather than clarifying it.  Among Christians today, it is commonly understood that there was, prior to Christ, an old way of salvation by obedience to the old covenant, the Law given to Moses.  But now we are saved in a different way, by grace through faith in Jesus.  That is just not true and that is exactly what Paul is addressing in this letter in chapter 3.

Paul is explaining the nature of a covenant.  Here in verse 15 he says, “Even in everyday life, we make covenants amongst ourselves that cannot be changed.  That is the nature and the purpose of a covenant.”  It is usually an agreement between two or more parties to adhere to certain promises and not change from the agreed course of action.  That is the entire point.  That is the definition of a promise: I promise to do this thing!  You can trust me on this.  I give you my word.  I swear by my own name.  I give you my hand in this covenant to keep my word and do what I have said.  That is, in human terms, the nature of a covenant.

Paul has been making the point that God’s covenant promise to Abraham to save him and justify him was a covenant not based upon anything Abraham did, but simply on the basis of faith.  It was not an agreement between two parties, but an unconditional promise made by one party: God.

In verse 6, Paul reminds his readers of God’s covenant to (not with) Abraham: Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” God made promises to bless Abraham, to make him a blessing to all the nations of the earth, to give him innumerable children like the stars of heaven.  And Abraham’s role in this covenant was what?  “OK”.  It was not a conditional covenant.  It was not a contract between two parties.  God simply made a promise to Abraham and Abraham believed God was telling the truth.  There were no conditions to be met on Abraham’s part.

But someone is reading Paul’s words here and thinking, “Well, yeah.  I understand all that.  But 430 years later, God changed the rules.  He changed the covenant to Abraham by giving Moses the Law.  So now we have to be circumcised AND keep the Law of Moses AND believe in Jesus as the Messiah.”  And Paul is saying, “Don’t you understand what a covenant is?  Don’t you understand the covenants of God?  The second covenant given to Moses does not invalidate the first one to Abraham!  They are different.  But the Law does not nullify the promise.”

Here’s how John MacArthur explains this:

“To Abraham, God said, "I will.  I will.  I will."  To Moses, He said, "Thou shalt.  Thou shalt.  Thou shalt, or else."  There is quite a difference.  The promise set forth a religion for God; the law set forth a religion of man.  The promise talked about God's plan, God's grace, God's initiative, God's sovereignty, God's blessing, God's promise.  The law talked about man's duty, man's works, man's responsibility, man's behavior, man's obedience.  The promise, which stood for grace, had only to be believed; the law, which stood for works, had to be obeyed.  They were two different things.” 2

They were two different things which served the same purpose.  God’s covenant to Abraham to make a great nation of him and to make him a father of nations illustrates salvation by grace.  God intends to do this and He’s simply telling Abraham what He’s going to do.  When Abraham believes God’s promises, God credits righteousness to Abraham.  God chooses to justify, to save Abraham, as a result of Abraham’s faith in God to do what He says.

The Law given to Moses serves to make the covenant with Abraham all the more wonderful.  It does not serve to make it null and void.  The Law teaches us of our inability to be justified through adherence to it.  We cannot keep the Law.  The Judaizers, and apparently the Galatians, couldn’t see that.  But Paul is making his case for salvation by faith, not works, FROM the Old Testament.  He is saying the Old Testament teaches the same thing the New Testament teaches: Men are saved by faith, not works.  By faith in God to keep His promises, NOT by perfect obedience to a Law that was never a means of salvation.

So let’s read the text again in light of the explanation I’ve just given you:

15 To give a human example, brothers: 6 even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.  It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

And notice in verse 16 that God did not only make a promise to Abraham.  He made a promise to his Seed: the Lord Jesus.  Jesus is THE Seed of Abraham.  Paul seems to make that huge point just in passing.  But it was to Abraham and to Jesus that God the Father also made this covenant.  And when did He come?  Way after Moses.  God’s covenant to Abraham was also to the Lord Jesus who would come after Moses.  So the covenant given to Moses in the form of the Law 430 years after Abraham did not annul the covenant to Abraham and His Seed, the Lord Jesus.

And how did God ratify His covenant with Abraham?  With a sacrifice.  Abraham took some animals and cut them in half and God passed through their midst.  It was a covenant in blood, ratified or confirmed by God so that it could not possibly be changed or annulled.

“Why then the Law? (v19)  If the people of God are simply given an eternal inheritance as a gift of grace, then why did God give us the Law of Moses?  What’s the point?  If we don’t earn salvation by obeying God’s Law, then apparently it wasn’t really needed.  We don’t really need to obey it.”  Doesn’t that sound like a reasonable conclusion?  It sounds like people I’ve talked to who tried to tell me that obedience to God’s Law is optional.  “We’re not under Law, we’re under grace, right?”

Doesn’t that sound like what Paul is saying?  And he actually does use those words in Romans.  He realizes what his argument sounds like.  “If salvation is simply a a gift granted by faith apart from works of the Law, then why do we need the Law?”  That is a reasonable question, so he puts a stop to that line of thinking immediately by asking the question himself:

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. (v19)

It was NOT added as Plan B, as another means of salvation.  It was added because of transgressions. This is admittedly a difficult verse.  It seems no one is certain what Paul means by that.  This is another one of those difficult things Paul talks about which Peter says is hard to understand.

The law was added because of transgressions.  First of all, it was added.  It didn’t replace the previous covenant.  God added the Ten Commandments and the entire Law to His promise of salvation by faith alone to Abraham in order to drive men away from attempting to earn their salvation, and to cry for mercy.  Look at what Paul says in Romans 7:

Did that which is good [i.e. the Law], then, bring death to me?  By no means!  It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. (Romans 7:13 ESV).

The commands of God cause our sinfulness and our sins to become even more heinous than we would perceive them to be if we did not have the Law.  The Law serves to make us without excuse and hopeless in achieving the approval of God by means of our obedience.  So God gave the Law as an act of mercy, in order to make our transgressions stand out in high relief.

But I have one other thought on this, and you can take it or leave it.  I think it is interesting, or else I wouldn’t be sharing it with you.  Do you recall what it says in Genesis 6 about the spiritual condition of the world at the time of Noah?  Noah lived five or six hundred years, at least, before God gave the Law to Moses.  So there was no written Law from God given to men at that time.  And what was God’s assessment of the situation?

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:5-8 ESV).

According to the book of Hebrews (11:7), Noah was a man of faith.  When God spoke to him and told him He was going to destroy the world, Noah believed God and built an ark.  He was saved by faith in God to keep His promise.  And after God destroyed the world and all the people in it because of the completely pervasive sinfulness of men, except for Noah and his family, He made a covenant with Noah.

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.  And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9:8-17 ESV).

This is not just a covenant with Noah, or with the human race, but with all life on this planet.  Never again will God destroy the earth by a flood.  But the cause of the flood and the subsequent destruction of all animal life was the perpetually evil thoughts and the wickedness of men.  It was because of the incessant transgressions of man.  Therefore God added the Law.

The Law of God does not serve as a means of salvation, nor does it make men holy.  But it does have the effect of curtailing sinfulness and providing men with a standard by which they can police themselves so that men are not as sinful as they would be.  I would submit to you that one of the purposes of the Law which God gave was in order to avoid another Genesis 6 scenario where the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and . . . every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Look once again at Galatians 3:19. Why then the law?  It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made. Who was the offspring to whom the promise was made?  Verse 16 - “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. So the Law of Moses was given until the coming of the Lord Jesus.  But then what?  Why was the Law added until the coming of Christ?  Paul answers that in verse 24.  Next week.

Verse 21.  So if both of God’s covenants, to Abraham and to Moses, are still in force, Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Are the two opposed to one another?  Is the covenant of salvation by faith contrary to the covenant of God’s Law?  Is God contradicting Himself by offering two opposing means of salvation?

Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture [specifically, the Law of Moses, but generally the entire Old Testament text] imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

In other words, the Law is meant to provoke faith, not works.  Faith in the Promised Seed, faith in God to save those who trust Him and believe His word, faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah and the Savior.  The Law grants no hope, no consolation, no mercy to those who trust in their own ability to obey it.  So God’s Covenant to Abraham and God’s Covenant to Moses are not contrary to one another, but complimentary to one another.  The Law of God drives sinful men to the Promises of God.  Both Covenants ultimately serve the same overarching purpose of bringing salvation to men.

So here we are at the end of yet another sermon and once again we have to ask the question, “So what?”  What does this have to do with me?  How does this affect me personally, and us collectively as a church family?  Why are we better off now, having gone to the trouble to think through this hard-to-understand portion of Scripture?

Firstly, because we learn from this text that God does not contradict Himself.  His covenants are, in the grand scheme, totally compatible with His purposes.

Secondly, the Scriptures do not contradict themselves.  Even when Paul is explaining this, he anticipates this charge of preaching a gospel that contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture.  But he does a masterful job of explaining how both covenants are still in effect, the one not negating the other.  The Law still serves its original purpose: to drive us to the grace of God.

Thirdly, this text teaches us that all men of all ages have all been saved in the same manner: by faith.  By believing God.  It teaches that all men are saved in only one manner: by faith in Christ.

Fourthly, this text builds our confidence in the integrity of Scripture.  Paul even goes so far as to point out the fact that a single word can make a huge difference in how we understand God’s purposes.  He points to the word “seed” or as the ESV helpfully translates it, “offspring”.  The word is singular, not plural.  And we can be confident that the inspired word of God, breathed out by the Holy Spirit through men, is accurate, reliable, trustworthy, faithful, and dependable, even down to the tiniest of details.

Finally, we see the absolute faithfulness of God to keep His promises.  He made a promise to Abraham and to his Seed which is Christ.  And He kept that promise.  Even though it seemed for centuries that the line of Abraham would surely be broken, and that the nation of Israel might become entirely extinct, God preserved a remnant for the sake of His own name, for the sake of keeping His promises, and for the sake of His people.

This is a wonderful passage, and the next section is just as good!  Let’s be careful to heed God’s word, trust His promises, depend upon all the Scriptures to teach us rightly, and thank God for the Seed of Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ, who saves all who put their trust in Him.

============================================

1. "covenant." The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 24 Sep. 2011. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/covenant>.

2. http://www.gty.org/resources/Sermons/1660_Gods-Promise--Why-the-Law