Jesus was the source of abrahamic blessings

JESUS WAS THE SOURCE OF ABRAHAMIC BLESSINGS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Galatians 3:14 14He redeemed us in order that the
blessinggiven to Abraham might come to the Gentiles
through ChristJesus, so that by faith we might receive
the promise of the Spirit.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The Curse Of The Law And The Curse Of The Cross
Galatians 3:13
W.F. Adeney
I. THE LAW BRINGS A CURSE. It is not itself a curse, though it is a heavy
burden. It was not sent for the purpose of injuring us, nor, rightly obeyed,
would it cause any evil to fall upon us. It is the breach of the Law that is
followedby the curse. But we have all brokenthe Law. So long, then, as we
continue to live under the Law the curse hangs over us. Instead of hankering
after a religion of Law, as the Galatians were doing, we should regard it with
horror as for us sinners only a prelude to a fearful doom. The curse is the
wrath of God, banishment from God, death.
II. CHRIST REDEEMS FROMTHIS CURSE. This greattruth implies three
things.
1. Christians are setfree from the curse of the Law,

(1) by the free forgiveness that stays the curse from falling on those who have
incurred it in transgressing the Law; and
(2) by removal from the dominion of Law for the future, so that its
requirements no longerapply, and principles of love resulting from grace
have full sway. Obligations to righteousness are notthereby diminished, but
increased;the motive for fulfilling them, however, is no longerthe terror of a
curse, but the spontaneous devotion of love.
2. This liberation is effectedby Christ. We cannot fling off the yoke of Law
nor dispel the curse. If done at all it must be done by One mightier than us.
Hence the need of a Saviour. The gospelproclaims, not only deliverance, but a
Christ who accomplishes it.
3. The deliverance is at a cost. It is redemption. The costis Christ's endurance
of a curse.
III. CHRIST SUFFERED THE CURSE OF THE CROSS. He was not cursed
of God. It is significant that that expressionis omitted in the quotation from
the Old Testament(see Deuteronomy21:23). We have no evidence of any
mysterious spiritual curse falling upon Christ. On the contrary, we are told in
what the curse consisted. It was the endurance of crucifixion itself. That was a
death so cruel, so horrible, so full of shame, that to suffer it was to undergo a
very curse. Christ was crucified, and therefore the curse fell upon him.
Moreover, this curse is very directly connectedwith the breach of the Law by
us.
1. Deathis the penalty of transgression. Christ never deservedthis penalty of
violated Law, yet, being a man and mortal, he suffered the fate of fallen men.
2. It was man's wickedness, i.e. nothing else than man's violation of God's
Law, that led to man's rejectionof Christ and to Christ's death. The world
flung its curse on Christ. By a wonderful act of infinite mercy that act of
hellish wickednessis made the means through which the world is freed from
the curse of its own sins.

IV. CHRIST'S ENDURANCE OF THE CURSE OF THE CROSS
LIBERATES US FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW. He freely endured the
curse. He endured it for our sakes. He became "a curse for us."
1. His endurance of the curse gave weight to his propitiatory sacrifice of
himself. This was the most extreme surrender of himself to God in meek
submission. As our Representative, he thus obtained for us Divine favour and
grace offorgiveness in answerto that most powerful intercession, the giving of
himself to a death that was a very curse rather than abandon his saving work.
2. Christ's endurance of the curse for us is the grand inducement for us to
leave the "beggarlyelements" ofLaw and devote ourselves in faith and love to
him who died fur us. - W.F.A.
Biblical Illustrator
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ.
Galatians 3:14

The purpose of redemption
W. Perkins
I. THAT THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM MIGHT COME UPON THE
GENTILES.
1. Whence comes this blessing? Fromthe cursed death of Christ.
2. Where is it to be found? In Christ Jesus, who is
(1)the storehouse ofGod's blessing;
(2)the dispenser thereofto all nations.
II. THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT
THROUGH FAITH.
1. What is meant by the promise? (see Isaiah44:3; Joel2:28).
2. Forwhat end do we receive the Spirit?
(1)Forillumination (1 John 2:27; 1 Corinthians 2:13).
(2)Regeneration, wherebythe image of God is restoredto us (John 3:5).
(3)Forthe government of our counsels, will, affections, actions (Isaiah11:1;
Romans 8:14).
(4)Forunion with Christ (1 Corinthians 6:17).
(5)Forconsolation(Romans 8:16).
(6)Forthe confirmation of our faith in every goodduty (2 Corinthians 1:22).
(W. Perkins).
The blessing of Abraham
J. Parker, D. D., William Penn.
I. The receivers of God's blessing receive it not for themselves alone.

II. One is most blessedin being made a blessing to others.
(J. Parker, D. D.)The meek, the just, the pious, the devout souls are
everywhere and in all ages ofone religion; and when death hath takenoff the
mask they know one another, though the liveries they wearhere make them
strangers.
(William Penn.)
Perpetuatedblessings
J. Cumming, D. D.
It has been askedwhy the goodnessofone man should extend to, and be
rewardedin, successive generations, covering the remotestages and reaching
to the close ofour present economy? But is it not a factthat in the world of
providence the very same thing occurs? Has not, e.g., sucha characteras
Howard left a mark upon the world that cannotbe obliterated, and
bequeathed influences that live long after he has gone up higher? Have not the
victories of Wallington, securedat a dread price, left us years of prosperity
and peace? Do notmillions shine in the light, and are not thousands of hearts
warmed by the fires, that were kindled by Luther, Ridley, Cranmer, Knox,
Calvin, and others? And if you find this to be a factin the world, you should
not objectto its being declaredthe law of God's administration of the world.
The discoveryof printing, steam, the telegraph, are also illustrations all
tending to show that beneficent discoveries made by fathers break in
benedictions upon their children.
(J. Cumming, D. D.)
The value and powerof faith
Philo.
Faith is the only sure and infallable good, the solace oflife, the fulfilment of
worthy hopes, barren of evil and fertile in good, the repudiation of the powers

of evil, the confessionofpiety, the inheritance of happiness, the entire
ameliorationof the soul which leans for support on Him who is the cause ofall
things and willeth to do those things which are excellent. In the possessionof
this Abraham was thrice blessedindeed.
(Philo.)
Blessing through Christ's sufferings
When the prairie grass catchesfire and the wind is strong and the flames
hasten onwardtwenty feet high, what do the frontier men do when they see
them coming? Knowing that they cannot outrun them — the fleetesthorse
cannot do that — "they just take a match," says Mr. Moody, "and light the
grass around them, and let the fire sweepit, and then they getinto the burnt
district and stand safe. Theyhear the flames roar; they see death coming
towards them; but they do not tremble, because the fire has passedover the
place where they are and there is no danger; there is nothing for the fire to
burn. There is one mountain peak that the wrath of Godhas swept: that is
Mount Calvary, and that fire spent its fury upon the bosomof the Son of God.
Take your stand here by the Cross, and you will be safe for time and for
eternity."
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(14) The abolition of the Law, consummated upon the cross, involved the
doing awayof all the old restrictions which confined the Messianic inheritance
to the Jews. Henceforththis inheritance, and the promised outpouring of the
Spirit which was to accompanyit, was open equally to the Gentiles. The one
condition now was faith, and that intimate relation to the Messiahwhich faith
implied.

The blessing of Abraham.—That is, the blessing pronounced upon Abraham
and to be fulfilled in his seed.
Through Jesus Christ.—Throughthe relation into which they enter with
Christ by embracing Christianity.
We.—The Apostle and his readers, whether Jews orGentiles.
Receive the promise of the Spirit.—A specialoutpouring of the Spirit was to
be one of the characteristicsofthe great Messianicmanifestation. (Comp. Joel
2:28-29;Acts 2:16-21.)The promise is saidto be “received” by the generation
on which it is fulfilled, not by that to which it is given. The same phrase occurs
in Acts 2:33; Hebrews 9:15.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
3:6-14 The apostle proves the doctrine he had blamed the Galatians for
rejecting;namely, that of justification by faith without the works of the law.
This he does from the example of Abraham, whose faith fastenedupon the
word and promise of God, and upon his believing he was ownedand accepted
of God as a righteous man. The Scripture is said to foresee,becausethe Holy
Spirit that indited the Scripture did foresee. Throughfaith in the promise of
God he was blessed;and it is only in the same way that others obtain this
privilege. Let us then study the object, nature, and effects ofAbraham's faith;
for who can in any other way escape the curse of the holy law? The curse is
againstall sinners, therefore againstall men; for all have sinned, and are
become guilty before God: and if, as transgressorsofthe law, we are under its
curse, it must be vain to look for justification by it. Those only are just or
righteous who are freed from death and wrath, and restoredinto a state of life
in the favour of God; and it is only through faith that persons become
righteous. Thus we see that justification by faith is no new doctrine, but was
taught in the church of God, long before the times of the gospel. It is, in truth,
the only way wherein any sinners ever were, or canbe justified. Though
deliverance is not to be expectedfrom the law, there is a way open to escape
the curse, and regain the favour of God, namely, through faith in Christ.

Christ redeemedus from the curse of the law; being made sin, or a sin-
offering, for us, he was made a curse for us; not separatedfrom God, but laid
for a time under the Divine punishment. The heavy sufferings of the Son of
God, more loudly warn sinners to flee from the wrath to come, than all the
curses of the law; for how canGod spare any man who remains under sin,
seeing that he sparednot his own Son, when our sins were chargedupon him?
Yet at the same time, Christ, as from the cross, freelyinvites sinners to take
refuge in him.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
That the blessing of Abraham - The blessing which Abraham enjoyed, to wit,
that of being justified by faith. "Might come on the Gentiles." As well as on
the Jews. Abraham was blessedin this manner before he was circumcised
Romans 4:11, and the same blessing might be imparted to others also who
were not circumcised;see this argument illustrated in the notes at Romans
4:10-12.
Through Jesus Christ - Since he has been made a curse for all, and since he
had no exclusive reference to the Jews orto any other class ofpeople, all may
come and partake alike of the benefits of his salvation.
That we might receive the promise of the Spirit - That all we who are
Christian converts. The promise of the Spirit, or the promised Spirit, is here
put for all the blessings connectedwith the Christian religion. It includes
evidently the miraculous agencyof the Holy Spirit; and all his influences in
renewing the heart, in sanctifying the soul, and in comforting the people of
God. These influences had been obtained in virtue of the sufferings and death
of the Lord Jesus in the place of sinners, and these influences were the sum of
all the blessings promised by the prophets.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
14. The intent of "Christ becoming a curse for us"; "To the end that upon the
Gentiles the blessing of Abraham (that is, promised to Abraham, namely,
justification by faith) might come in Christ Jesus" (compare Ga 3:8).

that we might receive the promise of the Spirit—the promised Spirit (Joe 2:28,
29; Lu 24:49). This clause follows not the clause immediately preceding (for
our receiving the Spirit is not the result of the blessing of Abraham coming on
the Gentiles), but "Christ hath redeemedus," &c.
through faith—not by works. Here he resumes the thought in Ga 3:2. "The
Spirit from without, kindles within us some spark of faith Whereby we lay
hold of Christ, and even of the Spirit Himself, that He may dwell within us"
[Flacius].
Matthew Poole's Commentary
The apostle, by the blessing of Abraham, here, understands those spiritual
blessings ofjustification, reconciliation, and adoption, which came to
Abraham upon his believing, and the imputation of righteousnessthereupon
unto him. Christ (he saith) was made a curse for us, that all those blessings
through him might come on the Gentiles; and so all the nations of the earth
might be blessedin him. Particularly, that the Gentiles
might receive the promise of the Spirit; which promise is not to be interpreted
so narrowly, as only to signify its miraculous gifts, but to be extended to all
those gifts and habits of grace whichare the effects of the Holy Spirit in the
hearts of believers, whether sanctifying or sealing them; which Holy Spirit is
receivedupon persons’believing: see Galatians 4:6 Romans 8:13.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
That the blessing of Abraham,.... The same blessing Abraham enjoyed, even
justification by the righteousness ofChrist; and what was promised to
Abraham, that in him, his seed, that is Christ, the Gentiles should be blessed,
or justified; for though this blessing may in generalcomprise every spiritual
blessing, yet it chiefly regards that of justification; or a deliverance from the
curse of the law, and which is the end of Christ's being made a curse, that this
blessedness

might come on the Gentiles; the uncircumcision, as well as the circumcision;
see Romans 4:9 that is, upon as many of them as were ordained unto eternal
life, and in consequence ofthat believe in Christ; quite contrary to a Jewish
notion, that
"no blessing dwells but upon an Israelite (a):''
now though this blessing, as all other spiritual ones, were laid up in the
covenantof grace, put into the hands of Christ, and God's electblessed
therewith, as consideredin him, yet the curse of the law for their
transgressions stoodin the way of their personalenjoyment of it, to their
peace and comfort in their own souls;wherefore Christ is made a curse for
them, to make way for the blessing to take place upon them; which is by an
act of God's grace imputed to them, and is receivedby faith:
through Jesus Christ; or "in Jesus Christ", as the words may be read;
meaning either, that this blessing comes upon the Gentiles that were in Christ,
chosenin him, in union with him, and representedby him, both in the
covenantand on the cross;or else that Christ is the Mediator, as from whom,
so through whom, this, as every blessing of grace, comes to the children of
God:
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith; Beza puts the
copulative and to this clause, reading it, "and that we", &c. as does the
Ethiopic version; thereby more clearly pointing out this to be another end of
Christ's being made a curse for us: by "the promise of the Spirit" may be
meant, either by an "hypallage", the Spirit of promise, who opens and applies
the promises;or the Spirit promised, not as a spirit of regeneration,
conversion, and faith; for, as such, he cannot be receivedby faith; Since,
antecedentto his being so, there can be no faith; but rather as a spirit of
adoption, in respectto which he is said to be received, Romans 8:15 and this
blessing of adoption, as in consequenceofredemption from under the law, its
curse and condemnation, Galatians 4:4. Or else a spiritual promise, in
distinction from the temporal promise of the land of Canaan, made to
Abraham and his natural seed, and means the promise of eternal life and
happiness in the world to come;which promise is now receivedby faith, and

that in consequence ofthe sufferings and death of Christ the testator;see
Hebrews 9:15.
(a) Zohar in Exod. fol. 51. 3.
Geneva Study Bible
{16} That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
(16) A conclusionof all that was said before in the handling of the fifth and
sixth reasons, thatis, that both the Gentiles are made partakers of the free
blessing of Abraham in Christ, and also that the Jews themselves, ofwhose
number the apostle countedhimself to be, cannot obtain that promised grace
of the Gospel, which he calls the Spirit, except by faith. And the apostle
applies the conclusionin turn, both to the one and to the other, preparing
himself a way to the next argument, by which he declares thatthe one and
only seedof Abraham, which is made of all peoples, cannotbe joined and
grow up togetherin any other way but by faith in Christ.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Galatians 3:14. Divine purpose in Christ’s redeeming us (the Jews)from the
curse of the law; in order that the blessing promised to Abraham
(justification; see onGalatians 3:8) might be imparted in Christ Jesus to the
Gentiles (not: to all peoples, as Olshausenand Baumgarten-Crusius, following
the earlierexpositors, take τὰ ἔθνη, in opposition to the context). So long,
namely, as the curse of the law stoodin force and consequently the Jews were
still subjectto this divine curse, the Gentiles could not be partakers ofthat
blessing;for, according to that promise made to Abraham, it was implied in
the preference which in the divine plan of salvationwas granted to the Jews
(Romans 1:17; Romans 15:8-9; Romans 3:1-2; Romans 9:1-5), that salvation
should issue from them and pass over to the Gentiles (comp. Romans 15:27;
John 4:22; John 11:52). Hence, when Christ by His atoning death redeemed
the Jews from the curse of the divine law, God, in thus arranging His
salvation, must necessarilyhave had the design that the Gentiles, who are

expresslynamed in the promise made to Abraham (Galatians 3:8), should
share in the promised justification, and that not in some way through the law,
as if they were to be subjectedto this, but in Christ Jesus, through whom in
fact the Jews had been made free from the curse of the law. The opposite of
this liberation of the Jews couldnot exist in God’s purpose in regardto the
Gentiles. Rückerttakes a different view of the logicalconnection(as to which
most expositors are silent), in the light of Ephesians 2:14 ff.: “So long as the
law continued, an impenetrable wall of partition was setup between the
Jewishand the Gentile world; … and just as long it was simply impossible
that the blessing should pass over to the Gentiles.” Butthe context speaks not
of the law itself as having been done away, but of the curse of the law, from
which Jesus had redeemed the Jews;so that the idea of a partition-wall,
formed by the law itself standing betweenJew and Gentile, is not presented to
the reader. Usteri thus states the connection:“Christ by His vicarious death
has redeemedus (Jews)from the curse of the law, in order that (justification
henceforth being to be attained through faith) the Gentiles may become
partakers in the blessings of Abraham, since now there is required for
justification a condition possible for all,—namely, faith.” Comp. Chrysostom,
Oecumenius, and Theophylact. But since the point of the possibility of the
justification of the Gentiles is not dealt with in the context, this latter
expedient is quite as arbitrarily resortedto, as is Schott’s intermingling of the
natural law, againstthe threatenings of which faith alone yields protection
(Romans 2:12 ff; Romans 3:9 ff.).
εἰς τὰ ἔθνη] might reachto the Gentiles (Acts 21:17; Acts 25:15), that is, be
imparted to them (Revelation16:2). Comp. on 2 Corinthians 8:13 f. Such was
to be the course of the divine way of salvation, from Israelto the Gentiles.
Observe, that Paul does not say καὶ εἰς τ. ἔθνη, as if the Gentiles were merely
an accessory.
ἡ εὐλογία τοῦ Ἀβρ.] the blessing already spokenof, which was pre-announced
to Abraham (Galatians 3:8), the opposite of the κατάρα;not therefore life

(Hofmann), the opposite of which would be θάνατος, but justification—by
which is meant the benefit itself (Ephesians 1:3; Romans 15:29), and not the
mere promise of it (Schott).
ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ] so that this receptionof the blessing depends, and is
founded, on Christ (on His redeeming death). The διὰ τῆς πίστεως which
follows expressesthe matter from the point of view of the subjective medium,
whilst ἐν Χριστῷ presents the objective state of the case—the two elements
corresponding to eachother at the close ofthe two sentencesofpurpose.
ἵνα τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν κ.τ.λ.]cannot be subordinated to the previous sentence of
purpose (Rückert), for it contains no benefit speciallyaccruing to the Gentiles
(Paul must have written λάβωσι, which Chrysostomactually read—evidently
an alteration arising from misunderstanding). It is parallel to the first
sentence ofpurpose by way of climax: comp. Romans 7:13; 2 Corinthians 9:3;
Ephesians 6:19 f. After Paul had expressedthe blessedaim which the
redeeming death of Christ had in reference to the Gentiles,—namely, that
they should become partakers ofthe εὐλογία of Abraham,—he raises his
glance still higher, and sees the receptionalso of the Holy Spirit (the
consequence ofjustification) as an aim of that redeeming death; but he cannot
againexpress himself in the third person, because, afterthe justification of the
Jews had been spokenof in Galatians 3:13 and the justification of the Gentiles
in Galatians 3:14 (ἵνα εἰς τὰ ἔθνη … Ἰησοῦ), the statement now concerns the
justified generally, Jews and Gentiles without distinction: hence the first
person, λάβωμεν, is used, the subject of which must be the Christians, and not
the JewishChristians only (Beza, Bengel, Hofmann, and others). This by no
means accidentalemergenceofthe first person, after τὰ ἔθνη had been
previously spokenof in the third, is incompatible with our taking the
receptionof the Spirit as part of the εὐλογία (Wieseler), or as essentially
identical with it (Hofmann).

τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πνεῦματος]τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν λαμβάνεινmeans to become
partakers in the realization of the promise (Hebrews 10:36; Luke 24:49;Acts
1:4); but τοῦ πνεύματος may be either the genitive of the subject(that which is
promised by the Spirit) or of the object(the promised Spirit). The latter
interpretation (comp. Acts 2:33; Ephesians 1:13) is the usual and correct
one.[131]Forif (with Winer) we should explain it, “bona illa, quae a divino
Spiritu promissa sunt” (Luke 24:49;Acts 1:4), then, in conformity with the
context, this expressionmust refer back to Galatians 3:8 (προϊδοῦσα ἡ γραφή
κ.τ.λ. προευηγγελίσατο τῷ Ἀβρ. κ.τ.λ.);and to this the first person λάβωμεν
would not be suitable, as Paul referred that promise given to Abraham in the
Scripture (by the Holy Spirit) to the Gentiles. And if ΤῊΝ ἘΠΑΓΓΕΛΊΑΝ
ΤΟῦ ΠΝΕΎΜΑΤΟς were essentiallythe same as the ΕὐΛΟΓΊΑΤΟῦ ἈΒΡ., it
would be entirely devoid of the explanatory characterof an epexegesis.
διὰ τ. πίστ.] For faith is the causa apprehendens both of justification and of
the receptionof the Spirit; comp. Galatians 3:2-5; Galatians 5:5.
[131]So that τὴν ἐπαγγελίανis to be referred, to the O. T. promise of the
communication of the Holy Spirit (Joel3; Acts 2:16),—a promise well known
to all the apostle’s readers. Hilgenfeld incorrectlyholds that “the promise
given to Abraham is directly designatedas an ἐπαγγελία τοῦ πνεύματος (a
promise, the substance of which is the πνεῦμα).”
Expositor's Greek Testament
Galatians 3:14. ἵνα … ἵνα … Two gracious purposes of the Redeemerare here
coupled together:(1) the extension of the blessing to Gentiles as well as Jews;
(2) the outpouring of the Spirit upon those that embraced the faith of Christ.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
14. The twofold result of our Lord’s obedience unto death, the justification of
the Gentiles, and the gift of the Spirit, through faith.

Christ having satisfiedthe Law in its most minute demands, has abolishedit
as a condition of salvation, and has thus removed the wall of separation
betweenJew and Gentile. “Theywhich are of faith are blessedwith faithful
Abraham”, Galatians 3:9.
the blessing of Abraham] Justification by faith, Galatians 3:9.
the promise of the Spirit] This takes us back to the question of Galatians 3:2.
The ‘promise’ is of course not the promise spoken, but the promise fulfilled.
So in Acts 1:4, where to wait for the promise is to awaitits fulfilment.
Bengel's Gnomen
Galatians 3:14. Ἵνα—ἵνα, that—that) The first that corresponds to, being
made (a curse), the last to, hath redeemedus; comp. that occurring twice,
Galatians 4:5, note.—εἰς τὰ ἔθνη) on the Gentiles, who were afar off,
Galatians 3:8.—τὴνἐπαγγελίαντοῦ πνεύματος, the promise of the Spirit)
Luke 24:49, note.—λάβωμεν, we might receive)we Jews, nearlyrelated in
Christ to the blessing. The nature of faith is expressedby this word; the
promise and faith stand in relation to eachother.—διὰ τῆς πίστεως, by faith)
not of works, forfaith depends on the promise alone. “The Spirit from
without kindles within us some spark of faith, whereby we lay hold of Christ,
and even the Spirit Himself, that He may dwell within us.”—Flacius.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 14. - Two results are here stated as having flowedfrom the abrogation
of the Mosaic Law which was effectedby the crucifixion of Jesus:one, the
participation of Gentiles in "Abraham's blessing," to which they could not
have been admitted as long as the Law was authorized to shut them out from
God's covenant as unclean; the other, the impartation to God's people, upon
their faith only, apart from acts of ceremonialobedience, ofthe promised gift
of the Holy Spirit. Are these statedas co-ordinate results, in the same way as a
repeatedἵνα ("in order that") introduces co-ordinate results in Romans 7:13;

2 Corinthians 9:2; Ephesians 6:19, 20? Or is the seconda consequenceofthe
first? In favour of the first view, it may be said that, in point of fact, Gentiles,
as such, were not admitted into a participation in Abraham's blessing till some
time after the day of Pentecost. Buton the other hand, it may be urged
(1) that, though not as yet actually admitted, yet in the Divine purpose, and in
the ordering of the conditions of the case, theymight have come in, - the door
was open, though the threshold not actually crossed;and
(2) that their admissibility may be supposedto have been in the Divine
counsels the prerequisite condition of the Holy Spirit being imparted, it not
being fitting that the Spirit should be given so long as the Law was, so to
speak, standing there, authorized to debar from this, the most essential
portion of "Abraham's blessing," any who were partakers of Abraham's
blessing. In the three passagesreferredto as favouring the construing of the
two clauses as co-ordinate, we have not as here two different results, but one
and the same, only in the secondclause more fully described. The secondview
seems, therefore, the more probable one. That the blessing of Abraham might
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ (ἵνα εἰς τὰ ἔθνη ἡ εὐλογία τοῦ
Ἀβραὰμ γένηται ἐν Ξριστῷ Ἰησοῦ: so most recenteditors read, in place of
Ἰησοῦ Ξριστῷ); that upon "the nations" might crone the blessing of Abraham
in Christ Jesus. The phrase, εἰς τὰ ἔθνη... γένητα, is illustrated by the use of
γίγνεσθαι εἰς, "arrive at," or "accrue to," in Acts 21:17; Acts 25:15;
Revelation16:2. For the preposition εἰς we may also comp. Romans 3:22,
"Unto (εἰς) all and upon (έπὶ) all." By τὰ ἔθνη, as the whole context shows, the
apostle means in particular "the Gentiles," the non-Jews, as such. At the same
time, the phrase is evidently used, as found ready at hand in the passagecited
by him in ver. 8, "In thee shall all the nations (ἔθνη) be blessed," which
passagealso suggestedthe notion of "the blessing of Abraham." It had therein
been foretold that all the nations should, by exercising the faith of Abraham,
obtain the same blessing;and (says the apostle)we see now by what method
the benefit has been brought to them. "In Christ Jesus;" not merely by him;

the blessing is, so to speak, immanent in Christ. both procured by him and
obtained by the nations through their coming by faith into union with him.
Comp. Ephesians 1:6, 7, "His grace whichhe freely bestowedupon us in the
Beloved;in whom we have our redemption;" Colossians 2:10, "In him ye are
made full;" and the like. "The blessing of Abraham." The expression, being
drawn from the passages in Genesis in which the Lord assures Abraham that
"he would bless him," and that "in him all nations should be blessed," must
be taken to import the Divine goodwill and whateverbenefits would
therefrom result. Menarrive at t is "benediction" by being justified; but
justification is only the entrance into it, and not the whole blessing itself. It is
styled Abraham's blessing, as having been emphatically declaredto have been
possessedby the patriarch, "the father" of all who should thereafter receive
it. That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (ἵνα τὴν
ἐπαγγελίαντοῦ Πνεύματος λάβωμεν διὰ τῆς πίστεως). The pronoun "we"
points, not to the Israelites as such, nor to Israelite believers in particular, but
to those who were viewed as God's covenantpeople. These had hitherto been
Abraham's natural seedonly; and had also hitherto been under the Law. But
the time had come when they were to receive the full "adoptionof sons," and
therewith the Spirit of God's Son (Galatians 4:5, 6); which, however, could not
come to pass until the Law, "the yoke of slavery," had been clearedout of the
way, opening the gate to God's benediction to all believers, whether Jews or
Gentiles. The Law and the Spirit could not coexist. Where the Law had sway,
there was tutor-ship (παιδαγωγία)and slavery. Such, it is true, was needed, so
long as the Spirit was not there; for moral beings, forming a people of God's,
must be under some Law; and, if there was not a law written on the "fleshy
tables of the heart" by God's Spirit, there behoved to be one embodied in an
outward code of ordinances, which should coerce men's frowardness and keep
them under discipline. But when this outward code had been takenout of the
way," nailed to Christ's cross,"then the people of God could not be left
without the Spirit - the Spirit of holiness, as well as, or rather, because also,
the Spirit of adoption; which accordinglywas forthwith imparted, the sole
condition of the bestowmentbeing their living obedient faith, felt and by
baptism professed, in Christ and in God. Comp. Ephesians 4:13-18, as
containing a full presentment of these facts relative to the introduction of the
new covenant, and in the same order of sequence. Thus the apostle has

triumphantly returned to the thesis from which he had started in the two first
verses of the chapter - Christ crucified, and the receiving of the Spirit without
works of the Law. "The promise of the Spirit" is the Spirit which had been
promised; the word "promise" here denoting, not as in Hebrews 11:33, the
word assuring a subsequent bestowment, but as in Luke 24:49 and Hebrews
11:39, the bestowment itself. The apostle points not merely to such passagesof
the Old Testamentas had definitely fore-announced the outpouring of God's
Spirit (Joel2:38; Isaiah 44:3; and the like), but the whole "kingdomof God,"
or "world to come," whose blessednesstherewithcame.
Vincent's Word Studies
That (ἵνα)
Marking the purpose of Christ in redeeming from the curse of the law.
That we might receive, etc.
The secondἵνα is parallel with the first. The deliverance from the curse results
not only in extending to the Gentiles the blessing promised to Abraham, but in
the impartation of the Spirit to both Jews and Gentiles through faith. The
εὐλογία blessing is not God's gift of justification as the opposite of the curse;
for in Galatians 3:10, Galatians 3:11, justification is not representedas the
opposite of the curse, but as that by which the curse is removed and the
blessing realized. The content of the curse is death, Galatians 3:13. The
opposite of the curse is life. The subject of the promise is the life which comes
through the Spirit. See John7:39; Acts 2:17, Acts 2:38, Acts 2:39; Acts 10:45,
Acts 10:47;Acts 15:7, Acts 15:8; Romans 5:5; Romans 8:2, Romans 8:4,
Romans 8:6, Romans 8:11; Ephesians 1:13.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES

BRUCE HURT MD
Galatians 3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might
come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith.
Greek - hina eis ta ethne e eulogia tou Abraam genetai(3SAMS)en Christo
Iesouhina ten epaggeliantou pneumatos labomen (1PAAS) dia tes pisteos
Amplified: To the end that through [their receiving] Christ Jesus, the blessing
[promised] to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through
faith might [all] receive [the realizationof] the promise of the [Holy] Spirit.
Phillips God's purpose is therefore plain: that the blessing promised to
Abraham might reachthe Gentiles through Jesus Christ, and the Spirit might
become available to us all by faith.
Wuest in order that to the Gentiles the blessing of Abraham might come in
Jesus Christ, to the end that the promise of the Spirit we [Jew and Gentile]
might receive through faith.
NET Galatians 3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham
would come to the Gentiles, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit
by faith.
GNT Galatians 3:14 ἵνα εἰς τὰ ἔθνη ἡ εὐλογία τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ γένηται ἐν Χριστῷ
Ἰησοῦ, ἵνα τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πνεύματος λάβωμεν διὰ τῆς πίστεως.
NLT Galatians 3:14 Through Christ Jesus, Godhas blessedthe Gentiles with
the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers
might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.
KJV Galatians 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith.

ESV Galatians 3:14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might
come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through
faith.
ASV Galatians 3:14 that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of
Abraham in Christ Jesus;that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith.
CSB Galatians 3:14 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.
NIV Galatians 3:14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to
Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we
might receive the promise of the Spirit.
NKJ Galatians 3:14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the
Gentiles in Christ Jesus, thatwe might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith.
NRS Galatians 3:14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham
might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith.
YLT Galatians 3:14 that to the nations the blessing of Abraham may come in
Christ Jesus, thatthe promise of the Spirit we may receive through the faith.
NAB Galatians 3:14 that the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the
Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the
Spirit through faith.
NJB Galatians 3:14 so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the
gentiles in Christ Jesus, andso that we might receive the promised Spirit
through faith.
GWN Galatians 3:14 Christ paid the price so that the blessing promised to
Abraham would come to all the people of the world through Jesus Christ and
we would receive the promised Spirit through faith.

BBE Galatians 3:14 So that on the Gentiles might come the blessing of
Abraham in Christ Jesus;in order that we through faith might have the Spirit
which God had undertaken to give.
in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham: Ga 3:6-9,29 Ge 12:2,3
Isa 41:8 51:2,3 Ro 4:3-17
in Christ Jesus:Ga 3:16 Ge 22:18 Isa 49:6 52:10 Lu 2:10,11 Ac 2:39 3:25,26
4:12 Ro 10:9-15 1Ti 2:4-6
so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit : Ga 3:2,5 4:6 Isa 32:15
44:3,4 59:19-21 Jer31:33 32:40 Eze 11:19 Eze 36:26,27 39:29 Joe 2:28,29 Zec
12:10 Lu 11:13 24:49 Joh 7:39 Ac 1:4,5 2:33,38 5:32 10:45-47 11:15,16Ro 8:9-
16,26 Ro 8:27 1Co 12:13 2Co 1:22 Eph 1:13,14 2:18,22 3:16 4:30 1Pe 1:22
Jude 1:19,20
Galatians 3:6-14 BlessedorCursed? - John MacArthur
Galatians 3:6-14 SalvationIs by Faith Alone - John MacArthur
Galatians 3:10-13 The HopelessnessofSin - John MacArthur
Galatians 3:10-14 Redeemedfrom the Curse of Law - John MacArthur
Galatians 3:10-14:The Curse; and the Curse for Us - C H Spurgeon
Galatians 3:10-14 Christ: A Curse for Us - Phil Newton
Galatians Commentary - Verse by Verse - Kenneth Wuest
Galatians 3 Resources - Multiple sermons, commentaries, etc
THE PURPOSE OF DELIVERANCE
FROM THE CURSE
Grant Osborne makes aninteresting observationthat "Here Paul explains
two purposes of Christ’s redeeming work, with the first acting as a summary
of Galatians 3:10–14 andthe secondsummarizing Galatians 3:1–5."
(Galatians:Verse by Verse)

In order that...so that (hina...hina) - Paul uses two terms of purpose. These
phrases should always arrestour attention, causing us to pause and ponder
"What is the purpose? (et al questions)." Note that both purposes relate not to
the lastclause of Gal 3:13 but the first clause "Christredeemedus from the
curse of the Law, having become a curse for us."
In order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the
Gentiles - Paul explains the first purpose of Christ becoming a curse for us.
While he does not specificallysay that the blessing is justification by faith
(salvation, eternal life) apart from works (circumcision, etc), that is clearly
what Paul us saying. Paul had already alluded to the blessing of Abraham as
being justification by faith in Galatians 3:8-9+. Clearly this blessing is also
related to the promise of the Spirit because unless one is justified by faith he
or she would not receive the promise of the Spirit.
MINI-EXCURSUS - DOES PAUL TEACH THAT THE BLESSING OF
ABRAHAM INCLUDES "THE LAND"? It should be noted that in the
context of Galatians 3:8 this blessing of Abraham is clearlya spiritual blessing
and Paul says is relatedto justification by faith. In other words, the blessing of
Abraham in Paul's contextual argument does not make any reference to the
promise of land. In fact if you observe the original promise from God to
Abraham (Abram) in Genesis 12:1 there is no promise regarding God giving
him the land but simple God's charge for him to go "To the land which I will
show you." It is not until Genesis 12:7 that God makes a specific land
promise. Notice also that the promise of the land was given to Jacoband his
descendants in Genesis 28:13. The question arises "Who are Jacob's
descendants?"If one reads and interprets this text literally (without
spiritualizing or allegorizing)Jacobhad 12 sons and they comprised the literal
nation of Israel. In sum, this brief "excursus" is simply to show that the
blessing of Abraham was a spiritual blessing and that the Church was not
given the promise of the literal land originally promised to Abraham, but that
the land was given to the nation of Israel(Isaac and Jacob's descendants).
Gotquestions adds - Many other passagesofScripture support the fact that
Israelwill possessthe Promised Land forever. For example, God spoke to
Isaac in Genesis 26:3, saying, “Stayin this land for a while, and I will be with

you and will bless you. Forto you and your descendants I will give all these
lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.” The Lord
also spoke to Jacobin Genesis 28:13–14with similar words:“There above it
stoodthe Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham
and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which
you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will
spread out to the westand to the east, to the north and to the south. All
peoples on earth will be blessedthrough you and your offspring.’” See also
Psalm132:14;Isaiah 14:1; and Zechariah2:3–5, 10–13.(Did God give Israel
the PromisedLand for all time ) One point of clarification - Gentile believers,
don't worry, for you will share in the benefits of the future millennium
kingdom!
I would add a literal reading (emphasize literal!) of Amos 9:15 (See
Commentary) strongly supports the premise that the Church does not inherit
the land promise to Abraham. Amos records the non-lying God Himself
making a promise to Israel - “I will also plant them on their land, And they
will not again be rootedout from their land Which I have given them,” Says
the LORD your God."
Even the frequently amillennial comments of the Treasuryof Scripture
Knowledge says on this passage"As the Jews, aftertheir return from
Babylon, were driven from their land by the Romans, this can only refer to
their future conversionand restoration." (Amen and amen!)
Even the often amillennial ESV Study Bible seems to support this promised
blessing of land is given to national Israel - "This final blessing of the people is
predicated upon their recognitionof their Davidic Messiah, something that is
yet to occur." (ED:BUT THIS FUTURE "RECOGNITION" OF THEIR
MESSIAH IS CLEARLY PROPHESIED IN Zechariah12:10-14+!)
Note the phrase in Christ Jesus - It means that the blessing comes to Gentiles
(and Jews)who are identified with Christ, who are in (the new) covenantwith
Him by grace through faith.
The blessing of Abraham refers to Ge 12:3+ ''And in you ALL the families of
the earth (Jews and Gentiles)shall be blessed." How are all the families of the

earth going to be blessedin Abraham? He lived and died and was buried.
The nations that came from his loins are not the promised blessing to the
families of the earth either. The blessing of Genesis 12:3 is the SALVAT ION
that would come through THE SEED, the MESSIAH (Ge 22:17, 18, cp Gal
3:16+).
Spurgeonon the blessing of Abraham - Christ was made a curse for us that
the blessing might come upon us. He took our curse that we might take the
blessing from His own dear hands and might possessit evermore.
Gentiles (nations) (1484)(ethnos gives us our word "ethnic")in generalrefers
to a multitude (especiallypersons)associatedwith one another, living
together, united in kinship, culture or traditions and summed up by the words
nation, Gentiles (especiallywhen ethnos is plural), people (much like "people
groups" in our modern missionary vernacular).
A T Robertson- So in Christ we all (Gentile and Jew)obtain the promise of
blessing made to Abraham, through faith.
Wuest - There are two purpose clauses in this verse, eachintroduced by the
words in order that...so that (both = hina). These are coordinate, depending
upon the statementin Gal 3:13 to the effectthat Christ became a curse for us
in order that the blessing of Abraham, justification by faith, and also the Holy
Spirit, might be given to both Jew and Gentile (Joel2:28+). The law which
was the barrier that separatedJew and Gentile, is done awayin Christ (Eph
2:13-15+). By its removal, the Gentiles are put on a common level with the
Jew, and thus united, both Jew and Gentile are recipients of the Holy Spirit
through faith. (Galatians Commentary)
THE GIFT OF THE
PROMISED HOLY SPIRIT
So that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith - The second
purpose clause introduces the promise. So that we receive the PROMISED
SPIRIT not by KEEPING the LAW but by BELIEVING in the One Who kept
the Law perfectly. All who believe in Jesus receive the Spirit immediately

when they are born again(Ro 8:9+, cf 1 Cor 12:13, "Holy Spirit of promise" -
Eph 1:13+).
It is interesting that Abraham (and all OT believers) did not receive the
promise of the Spirit as a permanent possession, but only after the Spirit came
on believers at Pentecost.
W E Vine goes on to point out that "There is no Old Testamentrecordof any
promise to Abraham of the gift of the Spirit, nor do the words of the apostle
necessarilyimply that there was. In the message to Abraham the
comprehensive word "blessing" is used; later revelation of the purposes of
God specifiedthe gift of the Holy Spirit as included in this, cp. Isaiah32:15;
Ezekiel36:27;Joel2:28, e.g. Two things are to be kept in mind in connection
with these prophetic utterances:a, read in the light of the New Testamentit is
plain that the personalHoly Spirit was intended, and not merely a holy
influence from God; b, that while these prophecies still awaittheir (ED:
COMPLETE)fulfillment (ED: IN OTHER WORDS THE SPIRIT WILL BE
GIVEN TO REPENTANT,BELIEVING ISRAEL IN THE FUTURE AS
PROMISED IN Zechariah12:10-14+), yet He Who is promised in them to
renewedIsrael(ED: WHEN THE BELIEVING REMNANT OF ISRAEL
WILL BE SAVED [SEE Ro 11:26-27+]IN THE TIME OF JACOB'S
TROUBLE Jer 30:7+)has been given to the Christian in accordancewith the
words of the Lord Jesus. (CollectedWritings)
Notice the pronoun we, which might lead some to interpret Paul as saying "we
Jews" but clearly it includes the Gentile believers because ofPaul's earlier
question to the Gentile believers asking "did you receive the Spirit by the
works of the Law or by hearing with faith?" (Gal 3:2+) So the promise of the
Spirit was for Jews andGentiles who placed their faith in Christ.
Vincent on we would receive - The secondso that is parallel with the first (in
order that). The deliverance from the curse results not only in extending to
the Gentiles the blessing promised to Abraham, but in the impartation of the
Spirit to both Jews andGentiles through faith. The blessing (eulogia)is not
God’s gift of justification as the opposite of the curse; for in Gal 3:10, 11,
justification is not representedas the opposite of the curse, but as that by

which the curse is removed and the blessing realised. The content of the curse
is death, Gal 3:13. The opposite of the curse is life. The subject of the promise
is the life which comes through the Spirit. See John7:39; Acts 2:17, 38, 39;
Acts 10:45, 47;Acts 15:7, 8; Ro 5:5; Ro 8:2, 4, 6, 11; Eph. 1:13.
God’s covenant promise to Abraham was first that Abraham would be
blessed, and then that he would be a blessing to “all the families of the earth.”
This distribution of blessing has always been God’s intention (Gal 3:8). The
Jewishnation often (usually) misunderstood God’s missionary purpose for
them, mistaking His favor for favoritism. Israelsought to “hoard” instead of
“herald” the blessing of God on Abraham. By using the phrase might come to
the Gentiles Paul emphasizes that God intends that ALL the families of the
earth, Jew and Gentile, might experience the blessing promised to Abraham.
Receive (2983)(lambano)means to take or grasp. It can indicate both
benevolent and hostile actions, and have as objecteither people or things; e.g.
take a wife, collecttaxes, accepta verdict, take a road, and figuratively take
courage.
Jesus Himself described the promise of the Spirit in some of His last words to
His disciples...
Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to
wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from
Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy
Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:4-5+)
Jesus earlierhad given the disciples a similar promise...
And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you
(REFERRINGTO THE HOLY SPIRIT); but you are to stay in the city until
you are clothed with power(cf Acts 1:8+) from on high.” (Lk 24:49+, cf Jn
14:26)
Promise (1860)(epaggelia/epangelia from epí = intensifies meaning of + aggéllo
= to tell, declare)literally means to "tell at or upon." Epaggelia originally
referred to an announcement or declaration(e.g., a favorable messageas in
Acts 23:21). Howeverepaggelia came to mean a declarationto do something

or give something. This in came to be associatedwith the implication of
obligation to carry out that which was declaredto be done or given. Thus we
come to the meaning of a promise. In Scripture, epaggelia refers primarily to
God's pronouncements that provide assuranceofwhat He intends to do. As
Lightfoot says in fact that epaggelia was usedonly of the promises of God, and
described"a gift graciouslybestowed, not a pledge obtained by negotiation."
Epaggelia -Used 50vin the NT and 7x in Galatians 3 - Gal. 3:14; Gal. 3:16;
Gal. 3:17; Gal. 3:18; Gal. 3:21; Gal. 3:22; Gal. 3:29. Also used in Gal 4:23 and
Gal 4:27.
W E Vine has a gooddiscussionof epaggelia as it relates to Galatians 3 -
Epaggelia is primarily a law term, denoting a summons (epi, upon, aggellō, to
proclaim, announce), also meant an undertaking to do or give something, a
promise. Exceptin Acts 23:21 it is used only of the promises of God. It
frequently stands for the thing promised, and so signifies a gift graciously
bestowed, not a pledge securedby negotiation. Thus, in Gal. 3:14, “the
promise of the Spirit” denotes ‘the promised Spirit:’ (cp. Luke 24:49;Acts
2:33, Eph. 1:13) And in Heb. 9:15, “the promise of the eternal inheritance” is
‘the promised eternal inheritance.’...InGal. 3:16, the plural “promises” is
used because the one promise to Abraham was variously repeated(Ge 12:1-3;
13:14-17;15:18; 17:1-14;22:15-18), and because it containedthe germ of all
subsequent promises;Ro. 9:4; Heb. 6:12; 7:6; 8:6; 11:17. Galatians 3 is
occupiedwith showing that the promise was conditionalupon faith and not
upon the fulfilment of the Law. The Law was later than, and inferior to, the
promise, and did not annul it, Gal. 3:21; cp. Gal 4:23, 28. Again, in Eph. 2:12,
“the covenants of the promise” does not indicate different covenants, but a
covenantoften renewed, all centring in Christ as the promised Messiah–
Redeemer, and comprising the blessings to be bestowedthrough Him.
(CollectedWritings)
THE KEY PHRASE:
THROUGH FAITH
The blessing of Abraham and the promise of the Spirit were not the result of
works but were in response to personalfaith in Christ. Of course the first

clause the blessing of Abraham indicates that they also receivedthat blessing
(justification) through faith.
And don't miss the divine paradox that Christ bearing a curse brings both
Jews and Gentiles a blessing!
C H Spurgeon, ever the quotable wordsmith, says it beautifully - Since our
Lord Jesus Christ has takenawaythe curse due to sin, a greatrock has been
lifted out from the river-bed of God’s mercy, and the living stream comes
rippling, rolling, swelling on in crystaltides, sweeping before it all human sin
and sorrow, and making glad the thirsty who stoopdown to drink thereat(cf
John 4:10, 15+, John7:37+, Jn 7:38+, Jn 7:39+). O my brethren, the blessings
of God’s grace are full and free this morning; they are as full as your
necessities. Greatsinners, there is greatmercy for you.
Blessing (2129)(eulogiafrom eú = good, well+ lógos = word; English = eulogy
= a commendatory formal statement) is literally a goodword, goodspeaking,
fine speechor praise. Eulogia is the act of speaking favorably (cp Rev 5:12, 13,
7:12) and as in this passagerefers to a favor or benefit bestowedby God (cf
He 12:17, He 6:7, Ep 1:3, Ro 15:29). The verb eulogeo was usedin Gal 3:9
emphasizing that "those who are of faith are blessedwith Abraham, the
believer." And here Paul says the promise of the Spirit is through faith.
James MontgomeryBoice onthrough faith - These lasttwo clauses, stating the
purpose for which Christ redeemed men from the curse, are coordinate. That
is, they express the same reality from two perspectives. Bothreturn to the
point from which Paul's argument started—namely, that the blessing of
Abraham, seentoday in the receptionof the Holy Spirit, is receivedthrough
faith and through faith only. (The Expositor's Bible Commentary)
Gromackion through faith adds that "It is that entrance which makes
possible the life of sanctification“through faith.” The Spirit does not come
into a person’s life after he has been sanctifiedthrough his own effort."
(Stand Fastin Liberty - Exposition of Galatians)
Spurgeonon through faith - Dearfriends, are you living by faith upon the Son
of God? Are you trusting in God? Are you believing His promises? Some

think that this is a very little thing, but God does not think so. Faith is a better
index of characterthan anything else. The man who trusts his God and
believes His promises is honoring God far more than is the man who supposes
that by any of his own doings he can merit divine approval and favor....Inever
had a better idea of believing in Jesus than I once had from a poor
countryman. Speaking about faith, he said, “The old enemy has been
troubling me very much lately, but I told him that he must not say anything to
me about my sins. He must go to my Master, forI had transferred the whole
concernto Him, bad debts and all.” That is believing in Jesus. Believing is
giving up all we have to Christ and taking all that Christ has to ourselves.
Faith (4102)(pistis)is trust or belief and describes the conviction of the truth
in Scripture usually speaking of belief respecting man's relationship to God
and divine things. Be aware that one cansay they believe in Jesus, but what
they really mean is they believe the facts about Jesus. Thatis, they believe
intellectually, but that is not saving faith! For example, in Jn 8:30 we read
"many came to believe in Him." This sounds like they were true followers of
Jesus. But if you keepreading in context, Jesus plainly declares to them
"because Ispeak the truth, you do not believe Me." And in fact their "works"
proved they did not have saving faith for "they picked up stones to throw at
Him." (Jn 8:59) Even Charles Ryrie commenting in John 8:31 says it was
"Likely only a professionbecause ofwhat they saidin John 8:33." (Better
evidence is Jesus'evaluationof their hearts in Jn 8:42-44)In summary, tTrue
faith that saves one's soulincludes at leastthree main elements (intellectual
assentis assumedand is followedby) (1) firm persuasionor firm conviction,
(2) a surrender to that truth and (3) a conduct emanating from that
surrender. In short, faith shows itself genuine by a changedlife. (Click here
for W E Vine's similar definition of faith)
Through faith - Literally "through the faith." This important phrase occurs
16x in 16v in the NAS
Ro 3:22; Rom. 3:25; Rom. 3:30; Rom. 3:31; Gal. 2:16; Gal. 3:14; Gal. 3:26;
Eph. 2:8; Eph. 3:12; Eph. 3:17; Phil. 3:9; Col. 2:12; 2 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 6:12;
Heb. 11:4; 1 Pet. 1:5

THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT
IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS
The Spirit was prophetically promised to Israelin the OT in the New
Covenant:
Ezekiel 36:26-27+ Moreover, Iwill give you a new heart and put a new spirit
within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you
a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in
My statutes (How? The Spirit in us will give us the desire and the powerto
keepGod's law - see this vitally important truth taught by Paul in Php
2:13NLT+), and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
Comment: Note that this passage showsGod's provision("My Spirit") and
man's responsibility ("to observe"). It is not as is sometimes falselytaught
"Let go and let God." It is more accuratelystated"Let God and let's go!"
Isaiah32:15; Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, And the
wilderness becomes a fertile field, And the fertile field is consideredas a
forest.
Isaiah 44:3 ‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the
dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on
your descendants;
Isaiah59:19-21 So they will fearthe name of the LORD from the westAnd
His glory from the rising of the sun, For He will come like a rushing stream
Which the wind of the LORD drives. 20“ARedeemerwill come to Zion, And
to those who turn from transgressionin Jacob,” declaresthe LORD. 21“As
for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit which is
upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart
from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth
of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”
Jesus also foretoldof the promise of the Spirit

John 7:39+ But this (Jn 7:37, 38) He spoke of the Spirit, Whom those who
believed in Him were to receive;for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus
was not yet glorified.
Luke 11:13+ “If you then, being evil, know how to give goodgifts to your
children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask Him?”
Luke 24:49+)“And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father
upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power
from on high.”
The giving of the promise of the Spirit was partially fulfilled to Israel at the
feastof Pentecost(Acts 2:2-4,18+)but will be completely fulfilled at the end of
Daniel's Seventieth Week whenGod pours out His Spirit of grace (salvationis
always by God's grace)and supplication
I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the
Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they
have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son,
and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
(Zechariah 12:10+)
Paul also alludes to the final and complete fulfillment of this promise of the
Holy Spirit (New Covenant)in Romans 11 writing
and so all Israel will be saved;just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL
COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESSFROM
JACOB.” 27 “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE
AWAY THEIR SINS.” (Romans 11:26, 27+)
Warren Wiersbe has an interesting note on Genesis 12 that relates to
Galatians 3:14 - Notice the contrastbetweenGenesis 11:1–9 and Gen12:1–3+.
At Babel, men said, “Let us!” but to Abraham, God said, “I will.” At Babel,
men wanted to make a name for themselves;but it was GodWho made
Abraham’s name great. At Babel, the workers tried to unite men, only to
divide them; but through Abraham, a whole world has been blessed, and all
believers are united in Jesus Christ. Of course, Pentecost(Acts 2:1-47+)is the

“reversal” ofBabel;but Pentecostcouldnot have occurred apart from God’s
covenantwith Abraham (Gal. 3:14). (Bible Exposition Commentary)
Spurgeonon the promise of the Spirit - Wherever the Spirit of God dwells, the
covenantis fulfilled. You have in the Spirit the foretaste ofthe promised rest
(See Restin the Bible); you have the initial stages ofthe promised perfection;
you have the dawn of the promised glory. The Spirit is the earnestof the
inheritance till the redemption of the purchasedpossession, to the praise of
His glory.
F B Meyer -Our Daily Homily)That we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith. Galatians 3:14
“The promise of the Spirit” is the invariable term for the specialPentecostal
gift; and this is to be equally receivedby faith as the forgiveness ofsins and
eternal life. To me this text once came as a perfectrevelation. It was the clue
to unravel perplexity, the point around which truth held long in solution
suddenly crystallised. Before this verse spoke to my heart it had been my
constantendeavorto feelthe Spirit’s presence as the sign of my having
received;but now it became clearthat one might receive by simple faith God’s
very richest communications, even though the emotion tarried long. The
stages have beenthus specified:—
There is such a blessing. — Yes;there canbe no doubt of this; for it pleased
the Fatherthat the fulness of the Holy Spirit should dwell in Jesus, that He
might communicate Him to eachmember of his Church.
It is for me. — At PentecostPetersaid, This promise is for as many as the
Lord our God shall call.
I have not received. — It is very important to realize what your standing is.
Paul’s first inquiry of the Ephesians was to ascertainthis.
I would give anything if it might be mine. — Because ofthe life, and love, and
powerit would bring into your life, and the immense increase ofpower over
others, there is no sacrifice you should be unwilling to make.

I do now in humble faith receive. — There may be no coronetof flame, nor
rush of wind, nor flash of joy; but if we have put ourselves in the right attitude
towards God, and opened our hearts to receive — He who taught us to hunger
and thirst must have bestowed.
DON ANDERSON
v. 14 In order that to the Gentiles the blessing of Abraham might come in
Jesus Christ, in order that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith.
Last verse. Two purpose clauses.
1. “In order that to the Gentiles the blessing of Abraham might come in Jesus
Christ”
2. “in order that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
Wow!What a study.
Take those things, revel in them today and realize that God’s plan all the way
from way back in Abraham was for us by faith to be declaredrighteous in
appropriating what Jesus Christ has done for us upon the Christ.
Dr. Jack L. Arnold Equipping
Pastors International, Inc.
GALATIANS
Lesson8

The Two Alternatives
Galatians 3:10-14
INTRODUCTION
There are people who are not Christians who are kind, gracious, loving,
servants to others, humanitarians and generallyjust goodpeople. It makes it
even more difficult when these people say they believe in God but not the God
of scripture.
The Bible says that as goodas these people may seemto be they are under a
curse (1 Cor. 16:22:“If anyone does not love the Lord--a curse be on him”).
Why would Godcurse seeminglygoodpeople?
Surely the world is a better place with men and womenwho seemto be doing
goodthan with those who are being bad. Why a curse?
The Bible does not deny that non-Christians do goodworks, but these good
works will in no way make them acceptable to God. The Bible teaches that
salvationby the works of the law, and salvationby grace through faith in
Christ, are two completely different systems. They are antagonistic to one
another and lead to different ends. Salvationby works leads to eternal
judgment and salvation by grace through faith in Christ leads to eternal life.
It is very difficult for people to think in terms of salvation by grace through
faith in Christ, for everything people do is relatedto works and human effort.
It is perfectly natural for folks to believe in the merit systemfor salvation.
Men work to eat and support their families. People work to make good

impressions upon others. They work to do well in school. They work to excel
in some particular skill like athletics, art or music. All men understand work
and the keeping of the law of work is natural and normal to them.
However, in the spiritual realm, people have to shift gears. The Bible teaches
that salvationis by grace through faith in Christ alone, apart from any human
works, acts ormerits. Salvation is by grace because Godgives it as a free gift
to men. It is through faith because alla person can do is receive the gift from
God.
Humanly speaking, we are taught to distrust anything that is free. If we see an
advertisement which says that something is going to be given awayfree of
charge, we know that there must be some gimmick involved, for men simply
do not get something for nothing. When we tell people that salvationis a gift
from God and they cando nothing for it but receive Christ through faith, they
often say, “Come now, you are putting me on. God or no one else gives us
something for nothing. We have to do something for salvation. Surely there is
a gimmick somewhere? Absolutelynot, there is no gimmick, because salvation
has been, is, and always will be, a free gift from God to all who receive Christ.
In Galatians 3:10-14, the Apostle Paul’s whole point is that salvationis not by
any law-works but is by faith in Jesus Christ alone. To work for salvationis to
totally misunderstand the Biblical teaching on salvation.
THE WAY OF LAW-WORKS 3:10-12

“All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written:
‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the
Book ofthe law.’”
Paul was fighting the false teaching of the Judaizers who said that in order to
be saved a personhad to keepthe Mosaic Law and do goodworks to be
acceptedbefore God. They were adamant about keeping the law. Paul
pronounced a curse upon all who were trying to keepthe law to obtain or
attain salvation, and he quoted from the Old Testamentto prove his point
(Deut. 27:26 “Cursedis the man who does not uphold the words of this law by
carrying them out.”).
The Mosaic Law does not give eternal life but it condemns men and shows
them that they are really sinners and in need of a Savior. God’s holy standard
is in the law and He expects the requirements of the law to be met. The law
demands perfection and no human being can keepthe law, for those who
continue in the sphere of the law are under the curse. The law does not save
but it condemns, and if we are going to keepthe law for salvation, then we
must keepthe law perfectly (James 2:10 “ For whoeverkeeps the whole law
and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”). To try to
keepthe law brings one into deeper debt spiritually and places him under the
law as a condemned sinner (Rom 4:4 “Now when a man works, his wages are
not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.”).
All human beings are lawless, forthey have neither loved God with all their
being or loved their neighbor perfectly as themselves, whichis the essenceof
the Mosaic Law (Matt. 22:37-40 “Jesus replied:‘Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the
first and greatestcommandment. And the secondis like it: Love your
neighbor as yourself. All the law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments’”).

What man could ever say he has never covetedor spokenevilly against
another person, or never disobeyedhis parents, or never lied? No man! Every
human being has brokenthe law somehow and the law shows he is a sinner,
and if a sinner, then he stands under the judgment of a holy and just God. We
see, then, that the law does not bring life but it brings condemnationand
death.
In my first pastorate, I ministered mostly to farmers. One time I went into this
old farmer’s house in order to talk to him about his personal relationship with
Christ. I explained the whole gospelto him in detail. When I finished, he
pointed to the wall and hanging on the wall was a framed picture containing
the TenCommandments. He said, “See those laws, son, they are all we have to
do if we are going to getto heaven. If we try to keepthe Ten Commandments,
God will acceptus.” I then askedhim if he kept the law and he said he did the
best he could, but admitted sometimes he failed. He could not see that the law
actually condemned because he was so blinded by his own self-righteousness
and goodworks. Here was a sincere man, but he was sincerelywrong about
the Mosaic Law being the way to heaven.
“Clearlyno one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘The righteous
will live by faith.’”
The Apostle Paul saidthat it is obvious that no personcan be justified or
declaredrighteous by the Mosaic Law or any other kind of law that men may
setup. No one cankeepany kind of law perfectly for he either breaks it by
acts or in the mind.
The Old Testamentis again quoted to show that men are actually justified by
faith and not by law-works (Habakkuk 2:4 “See, he is puffed up; his desires

are not upright—but the righteous will live by his faith.”). Salvationby grace
through faith is a teaching in both the Old and New Testaments. The
“righteous” or“just” speaks ofthose who have been declaredrighteous in
Christ,. giving them a perfect position before God. The “righteous” are those
who have a legalrather than an ethicalrelationship to God; it refers to one’s
standing rather than character. This should be translated, “The righteous by
faith will live.” Those who trust Christ for salvationwill have spiritual,
eternal life. Why? Because theyhave exercised faith in Christ and have given
up any trust in works to save them.
“The law is not basedon faith; on the contrary, ‘The man who does these
things will live by them.’”
Again Paul quotes from the Old Testamentto make his point (Lev. 18:5
“Keepmy decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them.”).
Notice how Paul’s authority for his arguments come from scripture and not
human reasoning or logic.
His point is that if a person could keepthe law, he could have acceptancewith
God, but he cannotbecause he has a sin nature and always breaks the law,
proving himself to be a sinner. To getacceptance before Godon the basis of
law, a person would have to keepthe law perfectly, and no one has ever done
that—exceptJesus Christ.
THE WAY OF FAITH 3:13-14
“Christ redeemedus from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for
it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’”

All men are under the curse of the law and the only way to escape this curse is
not by our works but through the work of Christ for sinners. Christ, who kept
the law perfectly, was made a curse for sinful men in His death. The curse of
the law againstgoodworks for salvationwas laid squarely on Christ and in
His death He bore the curse for us. Christ was never under the curse because
He never sinned. Howeverbecause we have sinned we are under the curse and
only Christ can take awaythat curse (2 Cor. 5:21 “Godmade him who had no
sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God”).
Again Paul appeals to the Old Testament(Deut. 21:22-23 “If a man guilty of
a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not
leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day,
because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.”). Everycriminal
sentencedto death and executedunder Mosaic Law was then fixed to a stake
or hung on a tree for public display until nightfall. This was a symbol of his
rejectionby Godand the Jewishcommunity. Christ was nailed to a cross,
which was equivalent to being hanged on a tree. He died under a divine curse,
not His curse but our curse. Christ in His death redeemed men from the curse
of the law. The word “redeem” means “to purchase out of sin and to set free.”
Christ redeemedsinners, ransomed them and setthem free from the awful
condition of bondage to which the curse of the law had brought them. In His
death Christ accomplisheda great work for sinful men.
God curses our human works because ofthe requirements of God’s law. The
requirements of the law, however, were met perfectly by Christ in His death.
BecauseChristians are in spiritual union with Christ, the righteous
requirements of the law are also fulfilled in the Christian. As far as God is
concerned, all who believe in Christ have fulfilled the righteous requirements
of the law (Rom 8:3-4 “Forwhat the law was powerless to do in that it was
weakenedby the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness

of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in
order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who
do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”).
“He redeemedus in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to
the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the
promise of the Spirit.”
Christ went to the cross so that even Gentiles who are under the curse of the
law might be delivered from sin and hell. The “blessing of Abraham” is the
promise of justification. God promises that a man can be given a righteous
standing before God, not by works, but through faith in Jesus Christ. When a
person trusts Christ as Saviorand Lord, two things happen: (1) he is declared
righteous before God; and (2) he receives the Holy Spirit.
Since we are not savedby works, whatis the guarantee that a Christian will
produce goodworks as the result of salvation? Every Christian receives the
Holy Spirit who begins to do a spiritual work in the personso as to convict of
sin and create a desire for godly living. Every truly saved personwill produce
goodworks to some degree.
Notice carefully that the blessing of justification and the Holy Spirit are not
for everyone but they are for all those who are in Christ. Not everyone is
redeemedfrom the curse of the law, but those who are in Christ are
redeemed. It was in Christ that God actedto secure a man’s salvation, and so
a man must be in Christ to receive it.
The way a persongets into Christ is through faith. You may be asking
yourself, “Did Christ provide for my redemption at the Cross?”My friend,

the death of Christ is sufficient for all men, but it is efficient to those who
believe. Christ will not turn awayone person who trusts the Savior, and He
will redeemthat person from the curse of the law. Those who trust Christ will
come to understand that Christ died for their sins to declare them righteous
before God and to redeem them from the curse of the law.
A very subtle way Christians may teachlaw-works is to their children. Some
actually believe they can educate their children to be Christians. We raise our
children to pray, to believe Jesus, to obey God’s commands, to tell people
about Jesus, to give money, to attend church and to keepthe moral law of
God. This is not wrong. We should do this out of obedience to God, but this is
not salvation. Many times when our children get older they know what a
Christian is to do but are not Christian themselves. Consequently they either
rebel or go on believing they are Christians because theydo certainthings,
but have never really been saved supernaturally by grace through faith in
Christ. Parents must teachtheir children spiritual truths, but they can never
settle for thinking that because their kids do certain Christian things (usually
to please parents or others)that they are Christians. God must do a
supernatural work in our kids so that they have a relationship with Christ and
work as a result of having been saved, and not working to get savedor to stay
saved.
CONCLUSION
For you here today without Christ, I want you to understand that there are
just two alternatives before you. Salvation by works or salvationby faith in
Christ. These are two distinct roads or ways. The way of salvationby works
leads to the ultimate end of condemnation and spiritual death. The way of
salvationby faith in Christ alone leads to acceptancebefore Godand eternal
life. If you choose to travel the road of faith in Christ, you will receive God’s

blessing of justification and the Holy Spirit. If you choose to travel the road of
law-works, youare under the curse of God and will be rejected.
Remember, the road of law-works is a dead-end street; there is neither
justification or life in that way. The road of faith in Jesus Christ is a never-
ending freewaythat takes you all the way to heaven (John 14:6 “Jesus
answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father exceptthrough me’”).
Will you trust in your own works and die spiritually or will you trust in the
work of Jesus Christ for you and live? This is the most important decisionyou
will ever make in your life, for your eternal destiny hangs on it.
WAYNE BARBER
Galatians 3:12-18 Free to Be What God Wants Me to Be
You see, mostpeople even today, would agree that, yes, faith alone in Christ
alone is the means of salvation, but that’s where they run into a brick wall.
Now what? How do we live now? And that’s Paul’s argument as he begins the
third chapter of Galatians.
Turn in your Bibles if you will to Galatians 3. We’re going to be looking at
Gal 3:12 and following today. Now, let me go back and catch you up as to
where we are. Paul’s argument in the third chapter of Galatians has been
awesome.He has been combating the false teachers. The false teachers have
come in and deceivedthe Galatianpeople and gotten them back up under law,
and Paul is trying to combatthat error and trying to come againstthat heresy.

He begins by asking severalvery pointed questions to which the answeris as
clearas a bell, and that’s in Gal 3:1-5. I mean, he said, “did you get savedby
your works,” etc. I mean, we’ve been through that. And then in Gal 3:6 he
does something that’s incredible. He brings up an unquestionable example
that nobody cancome against. He brings up the man by the name of
Abraham. Everything he says from this point forward hinges on who
Abraham is, who Abraham was, and what happened in his life.
First of all, Abraham was savedby faith. Now, he wants to make sure they
understand this. Abraham came a long time ago, back in the book of Genesis.
Technicallyhe was savedby faith alone in Christ alone. He says in Gal 3:6,
“Evenso Abraham believed God and it was reckonedto him as
righteousness.”Now, the word “reckoned”again, and we have been over it
and over it, it simply means written to his account. There’s no way you and I
can earn salvation. And evenback to Abraham he couldn’t either. It was
reckonedto him. He didn’t earn it. He didn’t deserve it. But because he
believed, it was written, or reckoned, to his account. That’s the first thing Paul
wants to make sure they understand.
Secondly, since Abraham was saved by faith that leads us to an unchangeable
truth. It has never changed. He set the pattern for salvation. He setthe
pattern for sanctificationway back in the book of Genesis.
Gal 3:7 says, “Therefore be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons
of Abraham.” Now, that term “of faith” is really “outof faith”. It’s the word
ek. Ek means out of; it gives origin to something. Those who are products of
faith are those who are sons of Abraham. We saw how Jesus and Paul use that
very phrase, “sons of Abraham” to describe those who put their faith and
their trust into God and to His Word. Abraham was savedby faith.
Everybody then who is also savedby faith are sons of Abraham. We canall
stand up today and saywe are sons of Abraham, figuratively and spiritually.
Why? Because we are savedthe same way he was saved.
Thirdly, Paul brings out the fact that the gospelof Jesus Christ was preached
to Abraham. I don’t know if that has grabbed you yet. Has that grabbed you
yet? The gospel, the same gospelwe believe, was preachedto Abraham. This

is before the law ever came into existence. Youwill see today, 430 years (note)
before there everwas any such thing as the law, and many, many years before
Israelever became a nation, Abraham was not a Jew. Abraham was a
Chaldeanand God brought him forth and said it’s going to be from you I’m
going to create a nation. The gospelof Jesus Christ. He understood that one
day, through the nation that God planned to give to him, would come the seed.
And that seedwould be the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemerof the world.
What a powerful point Paul brings up. How are you going to argue with that?
Why would you go 430 years laterand try to put people up under a temporary
covenantwhen all the way back here God has already given you the pattern in
how Abraham was saved?
And then the fourth thing Paul brings up is, this gospelwhich was preachedto
Abraham included the Gentiles and the Jews. Galatians 3:8 (note), “The
Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached
the gospelbeforehandto Abraham saying, ‘All the nations.’” Now, make sure
you’re hearing what I’m saying. Israel was not a nation when this was given.
Israelwas one of those nations. “All of the nations will be blessedin you.”
Now think about what Abraham has brought up on the table. Think about
why Paul is using Abraham as such an example. Before Israelever existed,
before there everwas a law, it was revealedto Abraham that there was going
to be a Redeemerthat was going to come one day. For the Redeemerto get
His humanity He would be born of a virgin. He would come through one of
the tribes of Israel. Abraham had a son, Isaac. Isaachadtwo sons, one was
Jacob. Jacobwas the one that the covenantwas passedto. Jacobbecame
Israel. Israelhad 12 sons, and one of those sons was named Judah. And it was
through the tribe of Judah and the line of David that that seedwould come.
This was preachedto Abraham before Israel everexisted. Faith alone in
Christ alone was the means of salvationfrom the getgo. And what Paul is
trying to sayis, what in the world are you people doing?
And then finally the fifth thing Paul shows is that the law doesn’tsave us and
it doesn’t sanctify us. Faith is not only how Abraham was saved, it’s how he
lived after he was saved. It framed his lifestyle. And he says in Gal 3:9, “So
then those who are of faith [out of faith, products of faith] are blessedwith
Abraham the believer.” The words “Abraham the believer,” the word

“believer” there in Gal 3:9 means the faithful one, the faithful Abraham,
Abraham the faithful. The word pistos describes a lifestyle. And we saw the
last time we were here, to prove that he lived by faith once he was saved, it
was accountedto him as righteousness.Genesis22 was put into Scripture, and
that’s when he was told to take Isaac up on the mountain. That’s documented
in Hebrews 11; that’s documented in James 2:21, 23-note. And it was proof of
the factthat he had truly been justified by faith.
You see, mostpeople even today, would agree that, yes, faith alone in Christ
alone is the means of [[salvation]], but that’s where they run into a brick wall.
Now what? How do we live now? And that’s Paul’s argument as he begins the
third chapter of Galatians. And really he has alreadysettled it. He said, “If
you startedthat way, why are you trying to be perfectedby the works of the
flesh?” And then he quotes out of Habakkuk 2:4 (note) just to remind them
that faith is the only way a person lives. He says, “Now that no one is justified
by the law before God is evident. Forthe righteous man [that’s the Christian,
that’s the believer] shall live by faith.” That’s how you live after you get
saved. That’s how you get saved.
And so this is his whole argument. Abraham, oh, how much hinges on how
Abraham was saved and how he lived. So Abraham was savedby faith. All
those Jew and Gentiles who are saved by faith are sons of Abraham. The
gospelwas preachedto Abraham before the law and the nation of Israelever
existed. The gospel, in the gospel, the Gentiles and the Jew were included.
And fifthly, the law does not save, nor does it sanctify. Then to strengthen his
argument he says in Gal 3:10, “Foras many as are of the works of the law are
under a curse: for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all
things written in the book of the law to perform them.’” Now again, he uses
that little term “of,” which is really “out of”. Those who are products of the
law are under a curse. What Paul is trying to sayis if the law produced what
you are now then you had better hope it can produce what you should
continue to be. But it can’t and that’s his whole point.
Many people think that by Paul saying these things about the law that he is
anti-Semitic. And I want to make sure we nail this down. No, sir! Paul was in

no way anti-Semitic; he was anti-law. Do you see the difference? Now, as a
matter of fact, Paul was a Jew and he was converted. His Jewishbrethren, he
loved them more than anybody I know of in the whole New Testament. He
says in Romans 9:3 (note), “ForI could wish that I myself were accursed,
separatedfrom Christ, for the sake ofmy brethren.” It breaks his heart. He
says, “My kinsmen according to the flesh.” They are putting all their stock
into a temporary covenantand they are not looking beyond it to the
everlasting covenant that was given to Abraham. Well, Paul himself—a
former Pharisee;talking about a Jewishman, I mean, that was the most
religious sectthat you could have—was a man who said “I had to be setfree
from the curse of the law, my brethren need to be set free, and the only way is
through Jesus Christ.”
In Gal 3:12 he says, “However, the law is not of faith.” That’s very important.
“On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them.” There’s no faith
existent with the law mentality; all it is is a “do” mentality—you do it and you
live; you don’t you die. And that’s the law mentality. And he says there’s no
faith built into it.
This brings us up to where we are today. You say, “Why do you do so much
review?” Well, it’s important and it’s very helpful. You’ve got to stay in the
flow because he is not finished yet. I told you to strap your seatbelts on. This
stuff is getting deeperand deeper, but I will tell you, if God will just open our
eyes it’s the simplest truth in the world and it will just absolutely, you will
wake up in the middle of the night shouting when you begin to see it, the
covenantof grace that we are under.
He turns our focus now from Abraham and he shifts it over to Christ and
what Christ has done in fulfillment of the promise that was given to Abraham.
Three things I want you to see. Firstof all is the freedom that we have in
Christ. Gal 3:13: “Christ redeemedus from the curse of the law, having
become a curse for us: for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a
tree.’” Now, folks, listen. No man canobey the moral law of God, no human
being of flesh and blood, born of man and woman, no man can do it. Jesus was
the only one that can do that. And for the sake ofyou that have not been with

us, or perhaps you have been and you are still confused, let me try to go back
over this one more time.
When I say the moral law of God, I refer to the Ten Commandments. The law
was divided into two parts basically. The first part was the ceremoniallaw.
Now, this was the part that contained all the rituals, the feasts, the sabbath
days. It was basicallytheir religious order. It was what they were required to
do in order to worship God. The ceremoniallaw was just a shadow of Christ
in the Old Testament. That’s all it was. I don’t know about you, but when you
walk around the corner and your shadow precedes you, that’s not real. That’s
just pointing to something. The form is coming after the shadow. It’s the
fulfillment of what has already been previewed.
Well, Hebrews beautifully brings this out. All that they did in their ritualistic
ceremoniallaws were pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 10:1
(note) it says, “Forthe law, since it has only a shadow of the goodthings to
come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices which
they offer continually year by year make perfect those who draw near.” You
see, this ceremoniallaw, this religious instruction of what one was supposedto
do, including circumcision, was attainable. Anybody could do it. In no way
would the ceremoniallaw evercondemn anybody. In fact, Paul himself
boastedof having attained the ceremoniallaw. Philippians 3:5 (note),
“Circumcisedthe eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutorof the
church, as to the righteousness whichis in the law, found blameless.” That
couldn’t condemn anybody. There were many that lived up to the ceremonial
law.
However, the moral law, the Ten Commandments, no one could attain.
Therefore all men are under its curse. Do we understand that this morning?
It’s the Ten Commandments that condemn all men, Jew and Gentile. It’s the
standard of conductthat God requires from all of us. It has never been
erased, it has been fulfilled. The Lord Jesus, who gave that law, is the One
who came as a man to fulfill it. He said, “I did not come to destroy the law; I
came to fulfill it.”

Now, because ofthis law which condemns us all, we are all on spiritual death
row. If you are here this morning and you have never bowedbefore the Lord
Jesus Christ, you are sitting on spiritual death row. You have no hope.
There’s not one way in the world you can save yourselffrom the penalty of
hell, being separatedfrom God forever, unless somebody comes to redeem us.
And I will tell you what, I want to soberus a little bit to think about those
people that we go to work with, that we live with, that are in our
neighborhood, that don’t know Christ, are sitting on spiritual death row. I
don’t know if you ever read the book The Chamber, by I think his name is
Grisham. He came out of Mississippi. I love that particular statement he
made. He said, “I don’t write bad books because my mother reads them.” And
The Chamber was talking about a man who was on death row in Mississippi,
at Parchment State Penitentiary. I’ve been there.
No, not what you think. I was in the principal’s office all my life, but I haven’t
been to prison. No, I had some kids in my youth group when I was in Youth
group. I had a bunch of kids that were just this close to being put in jail. I
mean, they were criminals waiting to happen. And I calledup to Parchment
Penitentiary and I said, “Let me ask you a question, could I bring these boys
up there and sober them a little bit as to what might be in store for them if
they do not shape up?” And the guy said, “Man, that would be awesome.”The
chaplain did. He said, “You know, I have a couple guys on death row that
have been savedand they would love to share their testimony. They are
waiting to be executed by the gas chamber here.” So I went up to Parchment
State Penitentiary there in Drew, Mississippi, took those boys with me. We
went out to death row. That’s a sobering trip.
We getout and they take us inside. And the first thing I saw was a guy’s arm
on one side tattoos all over it and the guy’s arm on the other side and they are
playing cards on the floor, cells down the side, you know. And he took us up to
eachcell and some of those guys, man, these guys thought they were mean.
They understood a new meaning to the word. But some of them had been
saved, and they sharedtheir testimony. While we were there they took us over
to the gas chamber. Never seenit before;I had never cared to. And they
showedthese guys what happens when people do bad things.

And so he said, “One of you needs to getinside this gas chamber. I want you
to experience it.” So all of them grabbed my arm and shouted up. And I think,
“I don’t want to go in there.” Sure enough, I got inside that gas chamber, sat
down in a chair. They strapped me down, and, of course, back then it was not
by injection. It was by you put the cyanide, or whatever it is into a gaseous
thing and it comes in through these vents and obviously it doesn’t take long
before a person dies. It’s a very difficult death.
So I am sitting there, strapped into this chair. They have windows where you
can see the witnessesthat come to see this. He’s talking to me through a
microphone that’s built in there. And as I was sitting there— he’s a clown,
much to my chagrin—and while he was talking, he says, “Ohno, Oh no, Oh
no! I hit the button. I hit the button. Get the door open!” Oh, man, my heart
jumped out of my right ear. I mean, it scaredme half to death. See, they had
already shut the door and bolted it shut, just like you would if you were fixing
to die in that chair. And, man, I satthere and I got to thinking. He said, “I
want you to think, Wayne, about all the people that have been here and satin
that very same place and the fact that they had no hope whatsoever.”
And that’s the only thing I could think about when I thought about today.
People that are born into this world are born on spiritual death row. And
evangelismstarts when we begin to realize what it costGod to save us and we
begin to see our friends and our neighbors and the people around us not
hearing this message. This is the message;the messageis of goodnews because
“Jesus redeemedus from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us,
for it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” You know what that
word “redeemed” is? That word “redeemed” is the word referring to buying
back a person’s freedom. It means to purchase with a greatprice, to buy back,
to pay a ransom. A ransomhad to be paid for you and I to come into this
place today and even admit that we are believers. Jesus paid a price for us on
the cross. Christjustified those who believe in Him by buying them back.
How did He purchase us back? Well, having become a curse for us. This truly
reminds us of what it costGodfor you and I to be justified or saved. He
quotes Deuteronomy21:22-23. He says “Forit is written, ‘Cursed is everyone
who hangs on a tree.’” Now, none of us will understand the shame that Jesus

went through on our behalf. We will never fully graspthat. But he is trying to
get it across. He says in Deuteronomy 21:22, “And if a man has committed a
sin worthy of death and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree his
corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on
the same day; for he who is hangedis accursedof God so that you do not
defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.” In
ancient Jewishtime, when a criminal committed a crime of some kind that
was worthy of death, when he was executed, probably by stoning, he was then
takenand tied to a post, a type of tree and there his body would hang until
sunsetand it was to be a visible representationof the rejectionof God.
It was not that a person became cursedbecause he was hung on a tree. Oh, no,
he was hanged on a tree because he had already become accursed. Jesus
didn’t become accursedbecause He was hung on the cross, He was crucified
because He was already cursed. You say, “What do you mean?” He took the
full sin of this world, of Jew and of Gentile, upon Himself. He was the
Redeemerand that was the price that it took to setus free from the curse of
the law. That’s what Paul is trying to get across.In 1 Peter2:24 (note) so
beautifully Petersays, “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the
cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.Forby His wounds
you were healed.”
And what Paul is saying is do you understand the freedom you have in
Christ? He gave the law. He fulfilled the law and then He died for those who
could never come close to it. He paid a debt He didn’t owe when we owed a
debt we couldn’t pay. Christ became a curse for us. The Jewishprophet Isaiah
had foretold that this was going to happen. This is what Jesus tried to tell
those two disciples in Luke on the day of resurrection. “You’re not paying
attention to everything your prophets have spoken.”
Listen to the words of Isaiah53:1-10:“Who has believed our message?And to
whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before him like
a tender shootand like a root out of parched ground. He has no stately form
or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be
attractedto Him. He was despisedand forsakenof men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face, He was

despisedand we did not esteemHim. Surely our grief’s He Himself bore and
our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemedHim stricken, smitten of
God and afflicted. But He was piercedthrough for our transgressions. He was
crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him
and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray,
eachof us has turned to his ownway. But the Lord has causedthe iniquity of
us all to fall upon Him. He was oppressedand He was afflicted, yet He did not
open His mouth. Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, like a sheepthat is silent
before it’s shearers so He did not open His mouth. By oppressionand
judgment He was takenawayand as for His generationwho considered, who
consideredthat He was cut off out of the land of the living [In other words,
anybody paying attention] for the transgressionofthe people to whom the
stroke was due [They paid no attention to Him whatsoever]. His grave was
assignedwith wickedmen, yet He was with the rich man in His death. Because
He had done no violence, nor was there any deceitin His mouth. But the Lord
was pleasedto crush Him, putting Him to grief if He would render Himself as
a guilt offering. He will see His offspring. He will prolong His days and the
goodpleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.”
The shameful death of Jesus Christon the cross is the only hope a person has
who is on spiritual death row. In order to be justified before God He became a
curse for us. This is the only hope Abraham had, even though He would not be
born for centuries later. See, salvationwas they lookedforwardto the
Redeemerwho would one day come. We look back to the Redeemerwho has
already been here. A sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, must recognize the
futility: he is not able to save himself. The freedom we have from the curse of
the law was given to us in Jesus Christ. And as we receive Him then we are set
free foreverto live in the relationship through Him.
Gal 3:13 says “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a
curse for us: for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” Why
would He do that? Gal3:14: “In order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of
Abraham [that which happened to him in Genesis 15:6]might come to the
Gentiles so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” His
death on the cross sealedthat promise that was made to Abraham. It was the
price of our being set free, both Jew and Gentile. Christ setus free!

Jesus was the source of abrahamic blessings

Jesus was the source of abrahamic blessings

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