THE BOOK OF GALATIANS – CHAPTER 3:21-29 - MESSAGE 10 – THE LAW WAS THE GUIDE DOG – ALL LOCKED UP UNDER SIN – EXPLORING BAPTISM IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
[A]. ARE PROMISES AND LAW IN A MORTAL BATTLE?
{{Galatians 3:21 “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,”
Galatians 3:22 “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.”}}
So far in this chapter we looked at the promises of God given to Abraham and saw that these promises are all part of an everlasting covenant. They will never be abolished or superseded. The Law came into effect after the Abrahamic promises and lasted until the promised offspring came who is Jesus Christ. We saw that the Law cursed the adherents because they could not keep the Law and consequently they were cursed by the Law but Jesus became the curse, taking the curse of sin on Himself when He died on the cross.
Paul is still in the area of Law and promise and the purpose of the Law, so it is at that point we continue this explanation.
Verse 21 begins with a question that may have arisen in the minds of some when Paul was showing the superiority of the covenants of promise over the Law. Even so Paul was showing that the promises are everlasting but the Law was temporary so should there really be a conflict? Promises came first and the Law later so is the Law contrary to the promises given to Abraham?
The question is short lived because it is answered in the very next thought. The answer in the NASB is “May it never be.” The AV has “God forbid.” The ESV renders it as “Certainly not,” and the NIV and Holman use “Absolutely not”. Strong’s explains – “it negates the underlying idea of a statement ruling out its possibility.” I might say ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE!
Verse 21 says it all. The Law was incapable of imparting life to the one keeping the Law so it was a failure in that regard. It had a purpose though and some of that came out in the previous message and more is to come out later. Everlasting life could not be imparted through the impossibility of keeping the Law, in contrast to the everlasting promises of God to Abraham especially “your seed” which is Christ the Messiah.
Of course, if everlasting life could not be obtained through the Law, neither too, could the attainment of righteousness. Everlasting life and righteousness are like co-joined twins. They function together. In Romans when Paul said this – {{Romans 3:10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one,”}} the inference therefore is that no one can keep the Law because no one is righteous. The reverse is what Paul is saying, “If people could keep the Law then they would be righteous and have life.”
Remember something I said in an earlier message, only the Jews were given the Law. It was God’s standard of righteousness if kept. The Gentiles never had the Law and God holds them accountable for their knowledge of God from creation according to Romans 1.
In this Romans passage, Paul takes up Law and righteousness and the conclusion is that righteousness can only come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ – {{Romans 3:21-23 “Now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST for all those who believe for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and (keep) fall(ing) short of the glory of God.”}} {{Isaiah 64:6 “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and ALL OUR RIGHTEOUS DEEDS ARE LIKE A FILTHY GARMENT, and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”}}
ALL ARE SHUT UP UNDER SIN – VERSE 22
When we come to verse 22, we have yet another parallel with Romans. In fact Galatians and Romans are so closely related that you should not study either of those books in isolation from the other. Verse 22 begins with the statement that “scripture has shut up all men under sin.” When Paul says “scripture”, he means exclusively the Old Testament because the New Testament was sill being written and he would never have included his writings as scripture. Beside Galatians is one of the earlier books.
Therefore where are these scriptures that say this? Although there are specific scriptures we could quote, more to the point, I think Paul is writing a concluding statement here. The whole of scripture would prove that.
The term in verse 22 about shutting up all men under sin is translated in various ways. “Hath concluded all under sin” (AV). The Latin used here is “concludo, and I suppose it is why the AV translators chose “concluded”. The NIV translates as “Has locked up everything under the control of sin,” and Holman terms it as “Has imprisoned everything under sin’s power.” Strong’s gives the various slants on what the word means – “to shut in; to shut up altogether, to enclose; to shut up on all sides; to shut up completely.” When we put all that together we have a situation like Alcatraz that I believe was escape proof, or like Fort Knox where the gold is locked up.
I like to think of it in terms of cattle or sheep mustering. All the animals are rounded up and then locked in a pen or paddock. That is what sin has done; it’s locked every person up in the pen called “Sinners – All here are guilty.” There you have all the guilty sinners locked up without excuse, but along comes One with the promise of freedom if you want to have faith in what that One is promising.
For all those in that pen who believe in the One who is the Lord Jesus Christ, the faith exercised in Him releases whosoever believes from the pen of sin’s bondage. You would think that all those captives in sin’s pen would want to get out, but wonder of wonders, most are happy there with fellow sinners, free to engage their sinful desires and works. Very few choose to find freedom from sin, but those who do will enjoy the promises of God given long ago beginning with the promises to Abraham of the coming Christ.
There is one certainty. The promises of Jesus Christ are not withheld or revoked and are pleasant to everyone who comes by the way of faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
[B]. MORE EXPLANATION ABOUT BEING LOCKED UP THIS TIME BY THE LAW
{{Galatians 3:23 “Before faith came, WE WERE KEPT IN CUSTODY UNDER THE LAW, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.”}}
Just remember the “WE” in the verse refers to Jews as the Jew was under Law not the Gentile. However in writing to the Galatian churches, Paul is being inclusive because the argument is the same. We were all kept in custody because of sin (the Law could not deliver the Jew from sin).
By being locked up in sin, another way of saying sin had absolute control over every single person chaining each one in bondage to its operation, we were aliens to faith and locked away from faith.
After the cross the Holy Spirit came to convict of sin, of righteousness and of judgement. {{John 16:8-9 and He, when He comes, WILL CONVICT THE WORLD CONCERNING SIN, and righteousness, and judgment - concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me”}} Conviction of sin combined with genuine faith in the Lord will bring about a man’s conversion, releasing him from the stranglehold of sin.
While the Jews were under the Law they did not know about the faith that was going to be revealed. A careful study of the Old Testament could show that faith was to come and the Redeemer would come, but to all intents and purposes, faith was unknown except by individuals in trust. The revelation came through Messiah and His death on the cross and opened the way of faith, not works, for acceptance in God’s sight. {{Romans 4:16 “For this reason IT IS BY FAITH, that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.”}}
[C]. LED TO A FAR BETTER OUTCOME THAN WE COULD HAVE EVER CONTEMPLATED
{{Galatians 3:24-25 Therefore THE LAW HAS BECOME OUR TUTOR to lead us to Christ that we may be justified by faith, but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.”}}
These two verses are very logical and spell out one of the purposes of the Law. It was like a guide dog for the blind leading its owner home, or to use the example Paul gives, a personal tutor that educates us and leads us to Christ. Again we remember that Gentiles were never under the Law but Paul is making a point here from his own Jewish origin where uses the pronouns for the first person.
Richer families had a personal tutor for their kids. Lehman Strauss wrote this, [[“in well-regulated families among upper classes in Roman and Greek homes, it was the custom to employ a “child-leader” or pedagogue. This pedagogue guarded the interests of the minor child in the home, watched over the morals of the child and protected it from undesirable associations. Daily he would accompany the child from the home to the schoolroom, and then at the end of the day, would see the child home in safety.”]]
The Law was an intermediary step while the world was waiting for Messiah to come to win salvation at the cross. It was only ever meant to be temporary, so that those running around today trying to put people under the Law are very wrong. In the verses above the purpose of the Law was to lead to Christ, but much more than that, it was to open up justification by faith bringing the means of salvation to the whole world.
Once we have full spiritual sight we no longer need a guide dog or a tutor for we have full sight and knowledge. The Law led to that point.
[D]. BAPTISM IS ESSENTIALLY IMPORTANT – IMMERSION IN WATER AND BY THE SPIRIT
{{Galatians 3:26 “You are all sons of God THROUGH FAITH in Christ Jesus, Galatians 3:27 for all of you who were BAPTISED INTO CHRIST have clothed yourselves with Christ.”}}
Paul is arriving at the conclusion of the argument he is presenting in this chapter. Now he makes definitive statements about our position in Jesus Christ; the position the Galatians had, and ours too. These are all positive statements. We consider them.
[1]. FAITH HAS MADE US SONS OF GOD. It is through saving faith in Christ, in His Calvary work, that we are added to God’s family. We say sometimes, “sons and daughters of the living God”. It is a whole new family relationship where we become members of the Church, the Household of God, the Spiritual Building, and the Bride of Christ.
Paul looks at the entry to God’s family apart from faith (More to the point, following after faith). It is because of baptism we have entered into the family of God. I will be very clear here, for there are two baptisms only in the New Testament, one by water and one by the Spirit.
Water baptism is very important and there is not the case of even one unbaptised person in the New Testament. I am not going to take time to prove this, as it is abundantly clear in the Acts of the Apostles that every single believer was baptised. Why has the church changed that and overridden the bible? It got passed on down through the Roman Catholic church, through the Reformation, and many couldn’t be bothered to change it to make it right.
Let me say again in another way, after the time the Holy Spirit was given on the Day of Pentecost, when 3 000 souls were saved and baptised, all through the Acts of the Apostles, we read that all believers were baptised. That is why in Romans and Corinthians and Galatians when Paul writes of baptism, it is automatically understood that all are baptised otherwise Paul would have been requesting they be baptised.
Baptism is not salvation but the witness to salvation. If any read this and have not been baptised please see it as a step of obedience. It is a joyful thing. You would be pleasing the Lord who required it in the great commission at the end of Matthew. I live near the ocean, actually, the Coral Sea where the Great Barrier Reef is. We have had baptisms in the sea even with small to medium waves coming in. It does not have to be done in some baptismal “bath/construction” or something inside a church. We have also used swimming pools and rivers, the latter not being out of place with John the Baptist.
There have been several times when people asked about the thief on the cross not being baptised. That is very irrelevant mainly because at that time the Church had not been formed. The Lamb of God was suffering for the sins of the world and had not yet uttered the words, “IT IS FINISHED”. Additionally according to these verses - 1Corinthians 15:12-14 “Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? but if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain. Your faith also is vain.” THEN IF Christ was not raised there would be no Church.
The mode of baptism is immersion as the descriptions of dead, buried, and rising again, that the New Testament apply to baptism, are in the imagery of immersion. Sprinkling as a child does not count for baptism later on, for example if a person gets saved. Immersion should follow that salvation.
We look at Paul’s words to the Romans – {{Romans 6:3-5 or do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus have been BAPTISED INTO HIS DEATH? Therefore WE HAVE BEEN BURIED WITH HIM THROUGH BAPTISM INTO DEATH, in order that AS CHRIST WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD through the glory of the Father, SO WE TOO MIGHT WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE, for if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.”}}
The doctrinal teaching of water baptism is the picture of Christ’s death and burial and resurrection. When a Christian is baptised, he goes down into the water (symbol of death) and under the water (symbol of burial), and rises up (symbol of resurrection). ONLY immersion can do that, not any other way. Every single example of Christian baptism was by immersion.
There is an important clause at the end of Romans 6:4. It is “SO WE TOO MIGHT WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE”. Those words are truly meaningful when a person is baptised immediately or as soon as possible after being saved, not years later. We should return to the New Testament practice and be real about our faith. Paul is saying that we are baptised into Christ, a very important truth. If you read this and have not been baptised by immersion, then be obedient and be baptised as a matter of obedience. Baptism does not save you but confirms and demonstrates your salvation.
Paul says that those who are baptised into Christ have clothed themselves with Christ. I won’t expand but it means we have “put on Christ” that is, a full immersion into the Lord, and a full walk with the Lord, being fully part of Him.
The second baptism all believers also have, is the baptism of the Spirit and I do not refer to some second blessing that some think we have to have. That is not biblical because there is only one Spirit baptism. {{Ephesians 4:4-5 “There is one body and ONE SPIRIT, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, ONE BAPTISM”}}
The place where the baptism of the Spirit is taught is in this verse – {{1Corinthians 12:12-13 “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 BAPTISED INTO ONE BODY, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit”}}
The Greek tense for “baptised” there in Corinthians is Aorist and it means a once for all action never to be repeated. It happens at conversion and only then, and is the means of bringing all believers into one Body, the Body of Christ. It matters not what ethnic group you are, or your social status or rich or poor – all believers are baptised into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, to unify them with their Lord. That, and only that, is the baptism of the Spirit.
[E]. THE RESULT OF OUR BAPTISM
{{Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free man. There is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus, Galatians 3:29 and if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”}}
[2]. ALL BELIEVERS TOGETHER, BOTH WATER BAPTISM AND THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT; all together as members of the Bride of Christ. AND both baptisms happen at conversion, or should, even though water baptism is not often done at conversion but it ought to be because it is the biblical pattern.
Paul states three categories. One is your ethnic group; one is your social position; one is your gender. (I don’t see “transsexual” mentioned, just male and female – there is no WOKE garbage with God.)
[3]. WE ARE ABRAHAM’S OFFSPRING. See how Paul brings back that great word, “promise”. God promised Abraham an inheritance and one of the parts of that inheritance is this – {{Genesis 22:17-18 “indeed, I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly MULTIPLY YOUR SEED as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies, and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed My voice.”}} The stars are the heavenly members of the Church (Christians) and the sand is the earthly people (Jews). A double inheritance. We are the children by faith the outcome of the promise God gave Abraham.
I trust the examination of this will be a blessing to you. Amen.
