Abraham, Moses and Christ (Galatians 3:15-18).
The legalistic false teachers based their doctrine on Moses, saying that our conformity to the Law of Moses was the way of salvation. Paul goes back 430 years earlier to Abraham, when God revealed the true way of salvation, based on promise (grace), not on law (works). He then uses the human example of a WILL, which, once established, promises and legally guarantees the inheritance to the seed, as a free-gift. He points out that once it is confirmed, it cannot be annulled, especially after the one who made the will has died. In the same way, God made an unchangeable covenant (will) with Abraham, promising that in him and his seed all the nations will be blessed (receive the inheritance of salvation), on the basis of the death of Christ, which was an established fact in the mind of God, from the foundation of the world. Therefore, this way of salvation by grace must still be in force, and that therefore the Covenant and Law of Moses did nothing to render this promise void. Thus, the Law was never meant to be a substitute way of salvation, replacing the Abrahamic promise, for if salvation was by the law, then it would no longer be through the promise (faith), and that is impossible, because God gave Abraham an unconditional, unchangeable promise of this inheritance (the blessing of Abraham), and God is always faithful to keep His word.
Previously we saw that God established his way of salvation by grace through Abraham, so that when he introduced the law through Moses, He never intended it to ...
Abraham, Moses and Christ (Galatians 3:15-18).
The legalistic false teachers based their doctrine on Moses, saying that our conformity to the Law of Moses was t ...
Galatians 3:13-14 are foundational verses, upon which we can establish our faith that (1) Christ has delivered us from every curse, and that (2) the blessing of ...
Deliverance from the Curse (Galatians 3:10-14).
To be in relationship with God requires us to be justified by God (declared righteous in His sight). This provid ...
After showing that salvation by works contradicts the finished work of the Cross (v1), as well as the Galatians' own experience (v2-5), Paul then also proves th ...
Sanctification by the Spirit (Galatians 3:3-5).
In these verses, Paul moves on from the issue of our justification (based on Christ's imputed righteousness) to ...
The Centrality of the Cross (Galatians 3:1-2).
Paul realised that the reason the Galatians had fallen into legalism, was that they had lost sight of the Cross, ...
We study what Paul says to Peter to show why he was wrong to withdraw from eating with the Gentile believers. If the Gospel of grace is true, then God has fully ...
Paul confronts Peter (Galatians 2:7-16).
At the conclusion of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), not only did Peter, James and John confirm that Paul preached th ...
We continue our study showing how Paul fought for the true Gospel at the Jerusalem Council, taking an in-depth look at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, and har ...
The first attack against the Gospel in Church history came from legalism, and it was the issue before the first Church Council in Acts 15. We show how Galatians ...