Seed of Abraham Gal. 3:15-29 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

The question that Paul asks prior to this passage is “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” [Galatians 3:2].  In answer to his question he states in Gal 3:14, “that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Paul’s perspective on this is after the cross and with a view to the fulfillment of the promises made and to the effect, if any, the law would have on the promises.

Here is a verse by verse exposition of the text:

Gal 3:15 – Even a covenant between men that has been confirmed cannot be disannulled or changed by others later.  In this passage Paul shows how the law could not grant the promise of the Spirit because the law could not disannul the promise that was made to Abraham in Gal 3:15-17 – the law would have to disannul the promise to Abraham if now the promise were going to be granted by the keeping of the law.

Gal 3:16 – God made a promise to Abraham and to his seed and his seed (singular) is Christ – Matthew 1:1 – Jesus is called the son of Abraham.  Paul clarified that the promise to Abraham’s seed was not “to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” [Gal 3:16] – Christ is one and everyone in Christ is one [Gal 3:28] – in order to receive the promise you have to be in Christ and therefore one – and as one there would be no Gentile and Jew because that would be two seeds and there would be no male and female because only the male has seed and there would be no bond and free because the free and the bond are of different seeds.

Gal 3:17 – The covenant was confirmed before in Christ, since Isaac typified Jesus Christ – Genesis 22:8, John 8:56-58, Hebrews 11:17-19 – so the law that came 430 years later cannot disannul it.

Gal 3:18 – The covenant w/ Abraham included an inheritance – so if someone says now that the inheritance comes by the law, then he is attempting to disannul the promise of the inheritance by the covenant – you can’t do that; God gave it to Abraham by promise – the part of the inheritance that is available to church age saints is the promise of the Spirit [Luke 24:49, John 14:16, 26; John 15:26; Acts 1:4; Ephesians 1:13-14].  If the giving of the Spirit were of the law then it would not be of promise [Gal 3:18] – and God had already promised and confirmed it in Jesus Christ.

Gal 3:19 – So why the law? – it was added because of transgressions – Israel was doing things that God didn’t approve of under the covenant and he needed to point these out to Israel so they wouldn’t do them and forfeit the promise of the covenant – for instance, they were idolatrous – they substituted their God that made the promise for a god that cannot even speak, AND

The law would be in effect until the promised seed arrived to whom the promise was made – remember that none of the Old Testament saints received the promise [Hebrews 11:13]; they all died without the promise – we, on the other hand, receive the promise when we receive Jesus and become the seed to whom the promise was made, AND

Notice this great contrast, the law was given by a mediator and angels whereas the promise was made directly by God.

Gal 3:20 – The promise to Abraham did not need a mediator because it was given to him directly by God – but the law had a mediator [Gal 3:19-20].  A mediator is not a mediator of one but God is one – in other words, the seed had to already be there for the mediator to mediate the law between God and the seed, whereas there was no seed there when the promise was made – therefore the promise was made on faith [on a belief in what God promised] – but when the law was given it was not made on a promise or on faith – it simply pointed out some conditions on the promise.

Gal 3:21-22 – the promise of life comes as a result of the covenant with Abraham – those who are of the seed who do the law [after the law is given but before Christ rises from the dead] receive the promise of life because of the covenant promised life, not because the law promised life [remember that those who followed the law all ended up in captivity in Abraham’s bosom, Lk 16] AND

At the same time, the law is not against the promise [i.e. to make it where no one could get the life promised by the covenant with Abraham] – rather the law is there to point out that since Abraham received the promise by faith in what God said, we should also receive the promise by faith in Jesus.

Gal 3:23-25 – When Paul said “Shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed,” [Gal 3:23] he showed that “the faith of Jesus Christ,” [Gal 3:22] was not revealed to the saints in the Old Testament and that no one in the Old Testament had seen the fulfillment of the promises [the land grant, the promise of the Spirit, and the rule over the nations].

While Israel was under the law, it was not revealed to them that they could have faith in Christ and receive the promise – all they knew is that God made a promise to Abraham and if they did those things in the law, they would get in on the promise and if they didn’t do those things in the law they would not get in on the promise – when Christ came, and all of the conditions of the law were fulfilled in him [Romans 10:4], then the law was simply a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ so that by faith in him we could be justified and therefore guaranteed the inheritance of the promise with no conditions, like Abraham received it – then, after being justified by faith in Christ there was no more need to follow the law because the law had accomplished what it was here for US to do – we find life by faith in Christ.

Gal 3:26-29 – now everything fits together because of Christ – first, Jesus is God’s child and so by faith in him we become God’s children [God’s seed, John 1:12] because we have been baptized into Christ [Rom 6:3-6] – therefore, we are ONE in Christ [remember there is only one seed, Gal 3:16] no matter what nationality, what gender or what station in life [1 Corinthians 12:13] – and since we are the seed in Christ, therefore, we are the seed of Abraham [one seed, Gal 3:16] and heirs to the promise that was made to Abraham [Rom 9:8].

Conclusion: So what’s the purpose of the law?

• It was added because of the transgressions to conclude all under sin – Gal 3:19-22
• It was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ – Gal 3:23-25

And once we have faith in Christ then:

• We are the children of God by faith in Christ – Gal 3:26-28
• We are Abraham’s seed and heirs to the promise – Gal 3:29