Galatians 3:19-29
19 Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.
 - The Law came to:
 1) Define sin (Romans 4:15 - 15 For the law produces wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression. [1])
 2) Increase sin (Romans 5:20 - 20 The law came along to multiply the trespass.[2])
 - The Law was temporary – It was after the covenant and ended before the covenant was fulfilled.
 - There were no “ifs” in the covenant with Abraham like there was in the Law given to Moses.
 - “It was added” – Came in by a side road.

20 Now a mediator is not for just one person, but God is one.
 - Moses was this mediator.
 - The Law needed a “go between person”
 - The Covenant between God & Abraham did not need a mediator.
21 Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly be by the law.
 - While Law and grace seem to be contrary to one another, if you go deep enough, you will discover that they actually complement one another.
 - Why, then, was the Law given?[3]
 - If we could attain righteousness but fulfilling the Law, then Christ’s sacrifice on the cross would be pointless.
 - It was “worship of the Law” that led Israel into a self-righteous religion of works, the result of which was the rejection of Christ [4]
22 But the Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
 - Romans 7:12 -12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. [5]

23 Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. 24 The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.
 - Eat a powdered donut in one bite.
 - Look in the mirror
 - Someone else clean their face
25 But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian (tutor), 26 for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
 - Highly educated slaves escorted children to and from school. They watched over them through the day.
 - Paul was saying they were not born though the Law but were raised up by the Law.
 - The Law did not give life to Israel… it regulated life.
 - The Judaizers taught that the Law was necessary for life and righteousness.
 -Once the child came of age, they no longer needed the guardian.

 - The Law has performed its purpose: the Savior has come and the “guardian” is no longer needed.
 - It is tragic that the nation of Israel did not recognize their Messiah when He appeared.
 - God finally had to destroy the temple and scatter the nation, so that today it is impossible for a devoted Jew to practice the faith of his fathers.
 - He has no altar, no priesthood, no sacrifice, no temple, no king (Hosea 3:4).
 - All of these have been fulfilled in Christ, so that any man—Jew or Gentile—who trusts Christ becomes a child of God.[6]
 
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ like a garment.
 - Faith in Jesus baptizes us “into Christ” (Gal. 3:27).
 - This baptism of the Spirit identifies the believer with Christ and makes him part of His body (1 Cor. 12:12–14).
 - Water baptism is an outward picture of this inner work of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 10:44–48).[7]
 - To believe in Jesus Christ and water, Jesus Christ and bread and wine, Jesus Christ and church membership, Jesus Christ and anything else is to profane the grace of God and render useless the death of Christ (2:21).[8]
28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
 - The Pharisee would pray each morning, “I thank Thee, God, that I am a Jew, not a Gentile; a man, not a woman; and a freeman, and not a slave.” Yet all these distinctions are removed “in Christ.”[9]
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.[10]
 - Genesis 12:1-3 -  The Lord said to Abram:
Go out from your land,
your relatives,
and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make you into a great nation,
I will bless you,
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing. l
3 I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse those who treat you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.[11]
 - Your Christian life ought to take on new wonder and meaning as you realize all that you have in Christ.
 - And all of this is by grace—not by Law!
 - You are an adult son in God’s family, an heir of God.
 - Are you drawing on your inheritance?[12]

[1] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ro 4:15). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ro 5:20). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 702). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 702). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ro 7:12). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 703). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 704). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[8] George, T. (1994). Galatians (Vol. 30, p. 277). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[9] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 704). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[10] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ga 3:19–29). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[11] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ge 12:1–3). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[12] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 704). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

 - Serve radishes… then a donut… back to radishes!

Galatians 3:10-18
10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written: Everyone who does not continue doing everything written in the book of the law is cursed.
 - Paul uses contrasts/antithesis:
         - Crucified with Christ - Alive to God
         - The hearing of faith - The doing of works
         - Beginning in the Spirit - Ending in the flesh
         - Promise – Fulfillment
         - Blessed - Cursed[1]
         - Vs. 9 – Blessed – Vs. 10 - Cursed
 - Deuteronomy 27:26 - ‘Anyone who does not put the words of this law into practice is cursed.’ And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ [2]
 -Deuteronomy 28:58 - “If you are not careful to obey all the words of this law, which are written in this scroll, by fearing this glorious and awesome name—Yahweh, your God--[3]
 - James 2:10 -  For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of breaking it all.[4]
11 Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.
 - It is obvious…
 - Habakkuk 2:4 -
         - The Righteous – Romans 1:17
         - Will live – Galatians 3:11
         - By faith - Hebrews 10:37
 - It doesn’t say “those who live by faith are righteous.”
 - Nor is it a command.
 - It is a simple statement of fact.
 - Those who have been made righteous will naturally live by faith.
 - If these are words by Habakkuk… they were still under the law… This was about the future.
 - If Daniel was here today… could he see the righteous.
 - Paul saw and experienced living under the Law vs living by faith because of his righteousness.

12 But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.
 - Leviticus 18:5 - Keep My statutes and ordinances; a person will live if he does them. I am Yahweh. [5]
 - The Law is based on doing… not trusting!
 - God never intended the Law to make people righteous.
 - God intended to send a Savior to save us from our own works.
 - God intended to send a Helper to live our life for us.
 - “How in the world am I going to get through this?”
 - You’re not in your own strength.
 - You will by trusting Him to do it in your own life!

 - Eating radishes vs eating a donut
 - Why go back to radishes!?!

13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written: Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed. 14 The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.
  - Deuteronomy 21:22 - “If anyone is found guilty of an offense deserving the death penalty and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, 23 you are not to leave his corpse on the tree overnight but are to bury him that day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.[6]
 - Jews were stoned first and then hung on a tree for display.
 - They are not talking about crucifixion here.
 - This was major since the Jews were careful with treatment of a dead body.

 - The word redeemed means to purchase a slave for the purpose of setting him free.
 - It is possible to purchase a slave and keep him as a slave, but this is not what Christ did.
 - By shedding His blood on the cross, He purchased us that we might be set free.
 - The Judaizers wanted to lead the Christians into slavery, but Christ died to set them free.
 - Salvation is not exchanging one form of bondage for another.
 - Salvation is being set free from the bondage of sin and the Law into the liberty of God’s grace through Christ.[7]

 - God’s provision through Christ’s death on the cross enables believers to no longer live under the threat of condemnation.[8]
 - You… my friend… have been released from the curse.
 - There is no one who can condemn you for what you have done or going to do.
 - There will be logical negative consequences.
 - But you can never be condemned.
 - Judgment Day will be a good day.
 - To the Jew – “Do you want the blessing of Abraham? It comes through Jesus.”
 - To the Gentile – “Do you want to be included in the blessing?” It comes through Jesus.
15 Brothers, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to even a human covenant that has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ.
 - Paul was quoting from the Law, now he has to show in his argument that the Law did not change the covenant.
 - The promise made to Abraham in Genesis 15 was around 2000 BC.
 - The Law was given to Moses around 1450 BC, after 430 years of slavery.

17 And I say this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not revoke a covenant that was previously ratified by God and cancel the promise.
 - The presentation of the Law did not change the promise made between God & Abraham.
 - Ratified by God alone because Abraham was asleep when it was presented to him.
 - This covenant can only be changed by God… It is not based upon us perfecting the Law.
18 For if the inheritance is from the law, it is no longer from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.[9]
 - Abraham could not revise the covenant.
 - Neither could Moses, who was given the Law.
 - The law is not, and never was intended to be, the means by which believers experience their inheritance as God’s children.[10]
1 Corinthians 15:56 - 56 Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law[11]
 - The law demands, “Do this!” The promise grants, “Accept this!”[12]

[1] George, T. (1994). Galatians (Vol. 30, p. 229). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[2] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Dt 27:26). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Dt 28:58). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Jas 2:10). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Le 18:5). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Dt 21:22–23). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 700). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[8] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ga 3:13). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ga 3:10–18). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[10] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ga 3:18). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[11] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (1 Co 15:56). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[12] George, T. (1994). Galatians (Vol. 30, pp. 249–250). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

I hope you get this right:
 - In the Gospels, what did Jesus teach?
 - How did Jesus model His life?
 - Did Jesus obey God’s Law?
 - How many times did Jesus die on the cross?
 - What did His blood do?
         - Hebrews 10:14 – For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified.
         - Hebrews 10:4 – It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.
 - What were Jesus’ last words?
 - As believers, what do you have to do now?
 - Are you now a “child of God”?
Galatians 3:1-9
1 You foolish Galatians! Who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified?
 - It would be like asking our country, “Have you gone mad?”
 - Is it mental incompetence or just lack of wisdom?
 - But I focus on the part of the question, “Who has hypnotized you?”
 - “Who told you that you were naked?” – Genesis 3:11
 - The scheme of the evil one is to confuse the truth. To make it seem like something it is not.
2 I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?
 - Did we not teach you that as Jews, you are no longer subject to circumcision, food restrictions and calendar observances? As a Gentile, you never were?
 - Gentiles didn’t even start with the Law. Why would you bring that into your beliefs?
 - What saved you? Your works or your faith?
3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so much for nothing—if in fact it was for nothing?
 - Did you not learn your lesson enough in the flesh that you want to give up on the Spirit already?
 - “flesh” being things done in your own strength… whether bad or good.

5 So then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?
 - This is what the Spirit does:
 - John 16:8-11 – The Spirit convicts the world of its unbelief.
 - Acts 7:51 - 51 “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit; as your ancestors did, so do you.[1]

• Ephesians 1:13-14 - 13 When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. 14 He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory.[2]

6 Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness,
 - Genesis 15:6 - 6 Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
 - Genesis 17:9-12 - 9 God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep My covenant. 10 This is My covenant, which you are to keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every one of your males must be circumcised. 11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 Throughout your generations, every male among you at eight days old is to be circumcised.
Exodus 20 – The Ten Commandments.

7 then understand that those who have faith are Abraham’s sons. 8 Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and told the good news ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.
 - Genesis 18:18 - 18 Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.

9 So those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.[3]
 - The logic here is evident: if God promised to save the Gentiles by faith, then the Judaizers are wrong in wanting to take the Gentile believers back into Law.
 - The true “children of Abraham” are not the Jews by physical descent, but Jews and Gentiles who have believed in Jesus Christ. All those who are “of faith” (believers) are blessed with “believing Abraham.”[4]

[1] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ac 7:51). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Eph 1:13–14). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ga 3:1–9). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 699). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Where we left off:
 - Paul gave Peter a couple of laws to add to the message of grace so as to appeal to the Jews.
 - “Give an inch… take a mile.”
Acts 11
1 The apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had welcomed God’s message also. 2 When Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who stressed circumcision argued with him, 3 saying, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them!”
4 Peter began to explain to them in an orderly sequence, saying: 5 “I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a visionary state, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me. 6 When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. 7 Then I also heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat!’
8 “‘No, Lord!’ I said. ‘For nothing common or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth!’ 9 But a voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call common.’
10 “Now this happened three times, and then everything was drawn up again into heaven. 11 At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were. 12 Then the Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house. 13 He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. 14 He will speak a message to you that you and all your household will be saved by.’

15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’  17 Therefore, if God gave them the same gift that He also gave to us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?”
18 When they heard this they became silent. Then they glorified God, saying, “So God has granted repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles![1]

Galatians 2
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch,
 - Antioch was 300 miles north of Jerusalem (Syria)
 - During the New Testament period Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire and boasted a population of more than half a million.
 - Peter came to Paul’s home turf.
 - The Jewish community formed a significant segment of the city’s population, numbering some sixty-five thousand during the New Testament era.[2]
I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. 12 For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James.
 - These were not the same men mentioned in 2:4 (false teachers). These men were sent from Jerusalem by James.
 - They ate differently (law vs no law) – piety
 - It wasn’t the fact that he was just eating with the Gentiles. He ate like the Gentiles… forgetting Jewish rituals that he practiced with the Jews.
 - How does this differ when Paul says, “Be all things to all people.”?
 - When the Judaizers came along, they expected the Gentiles to eat like them.
However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party.
- What did Peter have to be afraid of? Intimidation?
- Power of sin working on Peter… He was the one who had authority… not James’ men.
 - Peter’s fear was robbing him of his freedom.
 - Proverbs 29:25 - 25 The fear of man is a snare, but the one who trusts in the Lord is protected.[3]

13 Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
 - That speaks of the influence that James had back in Jerusalem.
 - Or how strong Jewish rituals were taught.
 - Paul used two very strong words in his public condemnation of Peter and the other Jewish Christians at Antioch who had separated from their Gentile brothers and sisters: playacting and crooked walking.
- The word in v. 13 translated “hypocrisy” (hypokrisis) comes from the world of the theater, where it refers to the act of wearing a mask or playing a part in a drama.
 - By negative transference it came to mean pretense, insincerity, acting in a fashion that belies one’s true convictions.
 - Here is the brunt of Paul’s charge against Peter: He should have known better!
 - Peter was not guilty of an honest mistake, nor was there any evidence that he had changed his mind about the extension of salvation to the Gentiles.
 - Peter had donned a mask of pretense; he was shamefully acting a part contrary to his own true convictions.
 - What Paul rebuked was the inconsistency of his conduct.[4]
14 But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?”
 - 1) Circumcision 2) Food laws & 3) Calendar observances
 - Paul is separating Peter’s personal convictions vs Truth of the Word.
 - Suppose Peter and Barnabas had won the day and led the church into legalism? What might the results have been?
 - Would Antioch have continued to be the great missionary church that sent out Paul and Barnabas? (Acts 13)
- Would they, instead, have sent out the “missionaries” of the circumcision party and either captured or divided the churches Paul had already founded?
 - You can see that this problem was not a matter of personality or party; it was a question of “the truth of the Gospel.” And Paul was prepared to fight for it.[5]
15 We who are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners”
 - They were “Gentile sinners” from birth because they were not given the Law like the Jews were.
16 know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.
 - “How should [a] man be just with God?” (Job 9:2) was a vital question, because the answer determined eternal consequences.
 - “The just shall live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4) is God’s answer; and it was this truth that liberated Martin Luther from religious bondage and fear.
 - So important is this concept that three New Testament books explain it to us: Romans (see 1:17), Galatians (see 3:11), and Hebrews (see 10:38).
 - Romans explains the meaning of “the just”;
 - Galatians explains “shall live”;
 - Hebrews explains “by faith.”[6]
 - Christ died one time and based upon our belief in the Son of God, we were justified one time.
 - Proven “not guilty”
 - Double Jeopardy – Cannot be tried twice for the same crime.

17 But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild the system I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker. 19 For through the law I have died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ
 - Paul is not referring to a physical death here, but a death of his former life.
 - What died?
20 and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,
 - Faith in the Son of God transforms a person from a slave of the Law to a child of God.
who loved me and gave Himself for me.
-  Law says DO! Grace says DONE! “It is finished!” was Christ’s victory cry (John 19:30).[7]
21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.[8]
- Paul’s opponents had accused him of using God’s grace to justify unrighteous living.[9]

Ask yourself:
1) Have I been saved by the grace of God?
2) Am I trying to mix Law and grace?
3) Am I rejoicing in the fact that I have been justified by faith in Christ Jesus?
4) Am I walking in the freedom of grace?
5) Am I walking by the Spirit (that aligns with the Truth of the Gospel)?
6) Am I willing to walk by the Spirit in defense of the Gospel?

[1] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ac 11:1–18). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] George, T. (1994). Galatians (Vol. 30, p. 170). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[3] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Pr 29:25). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] George, T. (1994). Galatians (Vol. 30, p. 177). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[5] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 694). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[6] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 695). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 696). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[8] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ga 2:11–21). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (Ga 2:21). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.