One in Christ

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November 9, 2008

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Lesson: Galatians 3:22-47

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Key Verse: Galatians 3:28

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Introduction

The union between Christ and his Church is beautifully expressed in these words of the Westminster Confession: “To all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption, He doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same, making intercession for them, and revealing unto them, in and by the word, the mysteries of salvation, effectually persuading them by His Spirit to believe and obey, and governing their hearts by His almighty power and wisdom, in such manner, and ways, as are most consonant to His wonderful and unsearchable dispensation” (9. 8). Christ is always active in the lives of his people. His people come from every nation; there is no division as Jew and Gentile. For now “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus;” they all stand before the Father on the same rock, Christ Jesus, “as the one is not accepted on the account of any national or personal advantages he may enjoy above the other, so neither is the other rejected for the want of them; but all who sincerely believe on Christ, of what nation, or sex, or condition, so ever they be, are accepted of him, and become the children of God through faith in him” (M. Henry)

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Our School Master -Gal. 3:22-25

How should we understand the use of the moral law of God? Is it so connected to the promises of grace that there are works required for justification? Moses was moved to pen these words, “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments; which if a man do, he shall live in them; I am the Lord” (Lev. 18:5). Paul asks the question “Is the law then against the promises of God?” (Gal. 3:21). “God forbid!” is his reply. “For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” The law or moral demands upon those who were created after God’s image, if they were without sin, and then they could live by them.

However, “the Scripture hath concluded all under sin.” Thus the law, the Scriptures of God, condemns all as sinners. Therefore “the promise by faith of Jesus Christ” is a needed grace to “be given to those that believe,” who have been persuaded by the Spirit to be fully convinced that Christ alone can save. As Christ said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. …For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:3, 16). Condemned as sinners we need the regenerating work of the Spirit whereby we are given that grace of faith whereby we embrace the redeeming work of Christ for us.

Before faith came into our lives, “we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.” The moral law of God disclosed the truth that we are transgressors of the law, and, therefore, enemies of God. We were kept in that condition until we could be justified in the sight of the Lord against whom we sinned. In this way “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” We are not mistake makers, but law breakers. If we make a mistake, which is the way the world looks at the law breakers, that all you need is a moral eraser. But if we are lawbreakers then that law needs to be satisfied. God’s moral law then is used of the Writer, in whose image we are to live, to reveal our condition and lead us to Christ, the only Savior who can make peace between us and our Creator (Heb. 2:17).

Discussion: How is the law of God our schoolmaster?

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Heirs According to Promise -Gal. 3:26-29

Having been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, we find ourselves in a new relationship with our Father in heaven. We all, from every tribe and nation, are “the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” The Holy Spirit, who gave us our new birth, witnesses to our spirit that we are “children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16-17). It is God who has chosen us, poor in spirit, transgressors in need of deliverance, to be “rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him” (James 2:5). To be heirs in Christ is to be called into a glorious relationship with God, “children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

This relationship is in Christ. Having been “baptized into Christ” we “put on Christ.” God has imputed our sins to Christ that he might pay the penalty for our guilt of transgression against Him. He has also imputed Christ’s righteousness to us that we might know that we are accepted as his righteous children. This identification is seen by Paul as he wrote that “we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,” and in a like manner “we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Rom. 6:5).

Since everyone who is saved by grace through faith, whether they are of this tribe or that nation, there is a new relationship, not only between us and God, but between one another: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” There is only one division that is between those who are of God and those who deny him. It is sad that we would judge one another as to the cut of the cloth, or the gloss of the skin. All those who claim they are of Christ, are “Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Calvin wrote, “Christ is the blessed seed, in whom …all the children of Abraham are united. He proves this by the universal offer of the inheritance to them all, from which it follows, that the promise includes them among the children. It deserves notice that, wherever faith is mentioned, it is always his relation to the promise.”

Discussion: What does it mean to be called children of God?

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Our Adoption -Gal. 4:1-7

Another comparison is made by Paul to help us understand what it means to be an heir in God’s covenant family. A child is no different from a servant, but is “under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father” to claim that position as inheritor of his blessings. “When we were children” writes Paul, we “were in bondage under the elements of the world.” Using the word “children” Paul is speaking of those who are underage, ignorant, under the influence of the world around us. But there is a time appointed by our heavenly Father when all of his chosen children would become heirs of his promise. This was “the fullness of the time” when “God sent forth his Son,” born of the virgin Mary, of the lineage of David (under the law), for the purpose of redeeming those who “were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

Becoming sons, male and female as heirs of our Father’s kingdom, God sends to us the “Spirit of his Son into” our hearts, “crying, Abba, Father.” We, through the redeeming work of Christ and the regenerating work of the Spirit, are no longer considered servants, but heirs “of God through Christ.” We now know by grace through faith that we “have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,” but “have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” The Holy Spirit himself bearing “witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:14-17).

Adoption is not our request to become children of God, but that grace by which the Father has called us his children. We have, at spiritual birth, entered into a life regenerated by the Holy Spirit. A new born baby enters into a home and begins to experience a new surrounding, new relationships with parents and brothers and sisters. So with being born into the household of God, we experience something new and wonderful, and that not of our choosing or making. Our adoption is like a new birth. “At birth the child enters upon a new state of existence. Birth is not its own act. It is born. It comes from a state of darkness, in which the objects adapted to its nature cannot act on it or awaken its activities. As soon as it comes into the world all its faculties are awakened; it feels, and hears, and gradually unfolds all its faculties as a rational and moral, as well as a physical being. The scriptures teach that it is thus in regeneration. The soul enters upon a new state. It is introduced into a new world. A whole class of objects before unknown or unappreciated are revealed to it, and exercise upon it their appropriate influence” (C. Hodge).

Discussion: What is the meaning of our adoption in Christ?

Dr. Robert LaMay

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Lessons are based on the International Sunday School Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright © 2009 by the Committee on the Uniform Series.