Experiencing the Grace
Sermon series based on the Letter to the Galatians (III)
Galatians 3
We move to the third chapter
of the letter to the Galatians. Paul
goes deeper in understanding how we are justified by the Grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He expresses the theology
of salvation.
-A drunken robber enters a service
station asking for cash. The cashier
refuses to give. He asks again and the cashier refuses. Then the robber threatens the cashier by
calling the police. He does and is
arrested. This event happened in
-Police in
How foolish one can be. Well, Paul begins his third chapter by saying “You
foolish Galatians” (vs 1). Then he adds rhetorical questions where
the answers are obvious, and he wants to remind the Galatians where they stand
in their faith.
When are you gong to learn
that “works” or “laws” cannot save you?
Paul reminds them of an image that they (and
also we) should never forget: The crucified
Christ. “Before your very eyes Jesus
Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified” (vs 1).
As I mentioned last Sunday,
we need to acknowledge that we are sinners and we cannot change our condition
by merits or works. We desperately need
Christ. Without his cross, there is no
salvation.
John Stott states it well: “There is then, it is safe to say, no
Christianity without the cross . If the cross is not
central to our religion, ours is not the religion of Jesus.”
John MacArthur says, “The cross moving
powerfully and relentlessly through history, and it will stand forever as
living proof that men cannot redeem themselves.”
Paul is surprised. How come the Galatians forgot the most
important message? “Who has bewitched you?” (vs 1). And in
the rest of the letter Paul will give explanations about how important is to
have faith in Jesus Christ. He will
explain where the Law stands. Do we need
the law? Why did God give the law? Where is faith in all these?
1. Faith and not law JUSTIFIES us with
God.
“So the law was put in charge to
lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith” (vs
24). In other translations, “But after
that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (KJV)
(Tutor). The Greek word is paidagogos. In the Greek world, houses had special servants
or custodians who were in charge of the children’s development in learning and
social skills. Paul uses the same word
describing the law. Law was given as a custodian,
a teacher, who will show right from wrong. But, the law itself cannot save.
In
Romans 7, Paul confesses his experience in just trying to obey the law: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I
hate I do... know that nothing good lives in me, that
is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it
out. For what I do is not the good I want to
do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (15,18,19).
Do you feel this way? That is why the law cannot cure our problem. It is like when you go to the dentist who uses
mirrors to evaluate and diagnose the problem. But that is just the first step. The dentist goes further in curing the decay. Law cannot heal. We need Jesus.
Here is the trap. Some of us cannot see why we need salvation. Some of us try to keep the “moral laws” as
much as possible. The result according
to them: good people. This is exactly
what Paul is fighting against. If we can
be “good” people without Jesus, we don’t need Jesus, and Jesus died in vain. We don’t need confession to God. We don’t need communion, we don’t need
repentance. We cannot be justified with
God. The laws made it clear that we are
sinners, and we need God.
We will continue in English.