Galatians 3 and verse 1 reads.
Gal.3:1] O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
This shows that they witnessed Jesus do miracles. Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, so we have a false teacher that was among them and had convinced them of another truth.
Gal.3:2] This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Being gentiles, they were not under law, but through faith they are saved.
Gal.3:3] Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
The answer is no, but by the Holy Spirit only can they enter into heaven.
Gal.3:4] Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
Doesn’t salvation come through Christ. Vain is emptiness.
Gal.3:5] He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
This sounds like the false teacher they had put them back under law. But, had that false teacher known the law, then he would have known that even Moses taught that Messiah (Christ) would come through Israel. I want to go to the song of Moses, and read Due.32:15.
Due.32:15] But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
Jeshurun is a pet name for Israel when things are going well and through the blessings of the LORD they have fallen away from the LORD. Notice the capital R in Rock. This is Jesus Christ, he is our Rock, Moses taught about Christ in many other places. I took us here because I wanted you to read that about Israel, this is prophesied just how quickly we fall away when our blessings are abundant. Back to Galatians and verse 6 reads.
Gal.3:6] Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
[7] Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
[8] And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
[9] So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Understanding what this means is simple if you know Abraham means father of many nations. You don’t have to be an Israelite to have salvation. In fact, Jesus died on the cross for all that believe may have Salvation. But why Abraham? For this we go to Genesis 12:1-3 and it reads.
Gen.12:1] Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
This is when Abraham was still called Abram. He was told to leave Ur, somewhere inside of Iraq today. Told to go over the river, this is how they came to be called Hebrews for the first time. Those that crossed the river.
Gen.12:2] And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
[3] And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
All families of the earth be blessed. In his seed shall come the Christ who by believing on him we have salvation. Back to Gal.3 and verse 10 reads.
Gal.3:10] For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Do the law or you are cursed. Still under law, if you don’t think so then commit a crime and see how well it goes for you.
Gal.3:11] But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
This we find in Habakkuk 2:4 and it reads.
Hab.2:4] Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
Back to Gal.3 and verse 12 reads.
Gal.3:12] And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Leviticus 18:5. And it reads.
Lev.18:5] Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.
In both verses I want you to see it said “DO”. Be a doer for the Lord. Back to Gal.3 and verse 13 reads.
Gal.3:13] Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
This is what it means about cursed is he that hangs on a tree. They crucified Christ on a tree (cross). Christ is not cursed but those in sin are cursed because of law. Due.21:22-23. And it reads.
Due.21:22] And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
[23] His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Now, did Christ commit any sin? No, he was crucified for our sins. And who is our inheritance? Always good to check scripture when studying the Word of God. Back to Gal.3 and verse 14 reads.
Gal.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.
This is mentioned in Hebrews 11:17-19 and it reads.
Heb.11:17] By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
[18] Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
[19] Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Abraham’s faith was that if he offered up Issac, the LORD would raise him up. But the Lord provided the ram, Jesus Christ in his stead, thanks to Abraham’s faith. Back to Gal.3 and verse 15 reads.
Gal.3:15] Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
A contract is a contract, that no man should break. It is your word.
Gal.3:16] Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
The many times Moses spoke of Christ that I was telling you about are confirmed here. From Adam to the second Adam, which is Christ. The Old Testament follows the genealogy of Jesus Christ, and is completed in Luke 3.
Gal.3:17] And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
God made the covenant with Abraham 430 years before the LORD and Moses brought the children out of Egypt. Gen.15:13-14 and it reads.
Gen.15:13] And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
[14] And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
400 years in captivity, this promise was made 30 years before they went into captivity. Making it 430 years. Back to Gal.3 and verse 18 reads.
Gal.3:18] For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
[19] Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
All Abraham was given was a promise. His faith counted him as righteous. We are under law period. Without the law, we are Godless. Only that Christ crucified on the cross gives us Salvation through repentance. Some people argue that we are no longer under law, for that I say 1Epistle of John 3:4 and it reads.
1Ep.John 3:4] Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
To say we are not under law is saying we do not sin. That is a ridiculous statement. Back to Gal.3 and verse 20 reads.
Gal.3:20] Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
[21] Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Of course not, then Christ would have died in vain. But for our sakes he died for the world so all would have Salvation. John 3:16, but let’s pick it up with 15 and read it through 17.
John 3:15] That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
[16] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
[17] For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Back to Gal.3 and verse 22 reads.
Gal.3:22] But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
[23] But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Law brings us to Christ, that we are justified through Jesus Christ through faith.
Gal.3:24] Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Faith brings us out from under the law through repentance.
Gal.3:25] But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
[26] For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
[27] For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
[28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
[29] And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Being under Christ we are all under Abraham’s covenant with God. Being freed from the bondage of the law, through faith and by repentance. Let’s go to his throne.
Father, we thank you for your covenant with Abraham through your Son Jesus Christ, and bless all that love you in Jesus’s precious name, Amen.
KJV along with The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of The Bible