The document discusses Paul's letter to the Galatians and the difference between living by law versus relying on faith. It argues that faith alone, not works, justified Abraham and is the path to righteousness. Living by the works of the law requires following all aspects of the law perfectly, which is impossible. Instead, the law's purpose was to reveal humanity's sinfulness and point to salvation through faith in Christ.

1. 1
Living by Law vs.
Relying on Faith
Paul’s Letter to the Galatians

2. 2
Gen 15:6 – Abraham Believed God…
Romans 4
v2-5 Works leaves no room for Grace
– it earns it’s wages
Faith alone is what Justified Abraham
v9-10 Righteousness reckoned when Abraham was
uncircumcised
v19-22 “considered his own body as good as dead” (i.e.
crucified the flesh)
Believed God could do what his own flesh could not
achieve – the exact opposite to the idea of salvation
by works
v23-24 Written for our sakes as well
– a universal law of justification

3. 3
True Sons of Abraham
Matt 3:9 …do not suppose that you can say to yourselves,
'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you,
that God is able from these stones to raise up
children to Abraham.
John 8:39 They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our
father."
Rom 4:12, 16 and the father of circumcision to those who not only
are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the
steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he
had while uncircumcised.

4. 4
Two Ways of Life
Gal 3:11 (Hab 2:4) Gal 3:12 (Lev 18:5)
“The righteous man
“He who does them
(i.e. a law-doing man)
shall live by shall live by
Faith”
them (the works of the
law)”
Focus is on TRUSTING Focus is on DOING

5. 5
“Do ALL of them”
Deut 27:26 'Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law
by doing them.'
Deut 28:58-59 "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law
which are written in this book… the LORD will bring
extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even
severe and lasting plagues, miserable and chronic sicknesses.
Acts 15:10 Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon
the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers
nor we have been able to bear?
Gal 5:3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision,
that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.
James 2:10-11 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one
point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, "Do not
commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Now if
you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have
become a transgressor of the law.

6. 6
UNDER the Law
3:10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are UNDER a
curse;
3:22 But the Scripture has shut up all men UNDER sin…
3:23 we were kept in custody UNDER the law,
3:25 we are no longer UNDER a tutor.
4:2 but he is UNDER guardians and managers
4:3 held in bondage UNDER the elemental things of the world.
4:4 born UNDER the Law,
4:5 redeem those who were UNDER the Law,
4:21 you who want to be UNDER law,
5:18 If you are led by the Spirit, you are not UNDER the Law.

7. 7
The Law is not of Faith
Deut 32:20 …they (Israel) are a perverse generation, sons in
whom is no faithfulness.
Exod 4:1-9, 31 Signs Moses gave to make them believe
Exod 14:31 Israel believes at crossing of Red Sea
Exod 19:9 God comes in a cloud so that they would believe –
instead they ask God not to appear again!
Num 12:7 Moses is unique in being faithful
Num 14:11 People do not believe
Num 20:12 Even Moses and Aaron do not believe
Deut 1:32 Despite all of God’s miracles, they did not believe
Deut 7:9 God is a faithful God
Deut 9:23 Did not believe God in incident of the 12 spies

8. 8
Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree
Gal 3:13 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"
Deut 21:22-23 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 hanged is accursed of God),
so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your
God gives you as an inheritance.
1 Cor 12:3 Therefore I make known to you, that no one speaking by
the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed“

9. 9
Gal 3:15-18 – Summary
v15-16 Premises
1) Even human covenants/testaments cannot be altered
2) God Made a promise to Abraham
3) It concerned ONE SEED (see also v20, 28)
V17-18 Conclusions
1) Law came 430 years after the promises – cannot disannul
the covenant
(Jews were teaching law was an essential addendum or
improvement)
2) Covenant granted (related to the word for “Grace”)
3) Not a bilateral covenant – it was ONE way (Gen 15:12-21)
4) Covenant = Promise = Inheritance
This is not a legal contract – it was a one way Gift of Grace

10. 10
ONE Seed
John 10:16 And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring
them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become
one flock with one shepherd.
John 17 …that they may be one, even as we are one. (3 times)
Rom 12:5 So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually
members one of another.
1Co 12:12-13 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and
all the members of the body, though they are many, are one
body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized
into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or
free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
(See also 10:17 “one body” implies “one bread” (or table))
Eph 4:4-6 One body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one
hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one
God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed
you were called in one body; and be thankful.

11. 11
Law does not “invalidate” Covenant
Only other occurrences of the word for “invalidate”/“disannul”:
Matt 15:5-6 But you say, 'Whoever shall say to his father or mother,
"Anything of mine you might have been helped by has been
given to God, he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And
thus you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your
tradition.
Mark 7:11-13 But you say, 'If a man says to his father or his mother, anything
of mine you might have been helped by is Corban (that is to
say, given to God, you no longer permit him to do anything for
his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by
your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many
things such as that."

12. 12
400 or 430 years in Egypt?
Gen 15:13 And God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your
descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where
they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.
Exod 12:40 Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four
hundred and thirty years.
Age
75 Gen 12:3 Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he
departed from Haran.
Gen 12:10 Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went
down to Egypt to sojourn there…
100 Gen 21:5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his
son Isaac was born to him.
105? Gen 21:8-9 And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham
made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom
she had borne to Abraham, mocking.

13. 13
Why the Law then?
1) To uncover sin and incite it into action
v19 It was added because of transgressions
v22 The Scripture has shut up all men under sin
(see also Rom 5:20; 7:7-12)
2) To show law, legalism and human effort is not a means to life
v21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be!
For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then
righteousness would indeed have been based on law.
3) To point to Christ as the solution
v22 But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise
by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
v24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ,
that we may be justified by faith.

14. 14
Gal 3:19 – Giving of the Law
1) “it was added” It was not first
2) “because of
transgressions”
Associated with sin, not righteousness
a) As a result of transgressions
b) To make aware of transgressions
c) To multiply transgressions
3) “through
angels”
A degree of separation from God
4) “by a mediator” i.e. Moses: Another degree of separation
5) “Until the seed
should come”
It was temporary
Jews in 1st century said law was eternal:
Wis 18:4 “imperishable light of the law”
Josephus “wealth and cities may fail, Jewish law is
immortal”
Philo “law changeless as long as sun, moon
and stars exist”

15. 15
Added as a result of transgressions
Incident Result
Worship of Golden Calf (Exod 32) Levites replace firstborn as priests
(Exod 32:26; Num 3:40-41)
Nadab and Abihu offer strange fire
(Lev 10:1-2)
Laws against drunkenness for Priests in
Tabernacle duties. (Lev 9:11-13)
Man picks up sticks (Num 15:32-
34)
Tassels on corners of garments
commanded (Num 15:38-41)
Almost 15,000 die in Korah’s
rebellion (Num 16)
Red Heifer law given for purification of
those unclean by touching dead bodies
(Num 19)
Abraham attempts to fulfill promise
by works and power of flesh
(Gen 16:1-4)
Law of circumcision given – teaches
cutting off of the flesh (Gen 17:10-14)
Ultimate irony – A law that taught the
flesh is powerless became a source of
pride in that very flesh

16. 16
Added to show us we are sinners
Rom 3:19-20 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are
under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world
may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no
flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law
Rom 4:15 for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, neither is
there violation.
Rom 5:20 And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but
where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
Rom 7:5-13 …sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law…I would not have
come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known
about coveting if the Law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin,
taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting
of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead…when the
commandment came, sin became alive, and I died; and this
commandment…proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking
opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it
killed me….sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting
my death through that which is good, that through the
commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
1Cor 15:56 The power of sin is the law

17. 17
God is ONE – The Implications
Deut 6:4-5 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! And you shall
love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your might.
Mal 2:10 "Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do
we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the
covenant of our fathers?
John 17 And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent…that they may be one, just as We
are one;
Rom 3:29-30 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes,
of Gentiles also, since indeed God (who will justify the circumcised by
faith and the uncircumcised through faith) is one.
1Tim 2:1-7 I urge that entreaties, prayers, petitions, thanksgivings, be made on
behalf of all men…this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a
ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time. And for this I was
appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not
lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

18. 18
Eternal Life – By Law or Faith?

19. 19
Gal 3:22-23 – Under Sin and Law
v22 “But the Scripture has shut up all
men under sin…
…that the promise by faith in
Jesus Christ might be given to
those who believe.
v23 But before faith came, we were
kept in custody under the law…
…being shut up to the faith which
was later to be revealed.
“shut up” = enclosed in a trap
“in custody” = guarded, as if by
a prison warder
v22 Jew and Gentile all shown to
be sinners
v23 Jews also we supervised by
the Law
References to “faith in Jesus
Christ” in Galatians better
translated as “the faithfulness of
Jesus Christ” (see NET Bible)
Thus “the faith” in v23 is a
reference to Jesus Christ .

20. 20
Gal 3:24-25 – Schoolmaster?
“So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we
might be justified by faith. But now that faith (i.e. Christ) has
come, we are no longer under a custodian” (RSV)
“to lead us” or “ to bring us” is a translator interpretation not in the Greek
text.
“School Master” or “Tutor” also not a good translation.
“paidagogos”
• A slave in a rich household
• Administered discipline of boys aged 7-17
• Responsible to take them to and from school
• Not a teacher!

21. 21
The “Faithfulness of Christ”
The Result The Means Our Belief
Rom 3:22 the righteousness
of God
which is by the
faithfulness of
Jesus Christ:
unto all and upon all
them that believe
Gal 3:22 that the promise By the
faithfulness of
Jesus Christ
might be given to
them that believe.
Phil 3:9 not having mine own
righteousness,
which is of the law,
but that
which is through
the faithfulness
of Christ,
the righteousness
which is of God by
faith:
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man
is not justified by
the works of the law,
but by the
faithfulness of
Jesus Christ,
even we have
believed in Jesus
Christ,