Chapter 3

Verse 1 — “O foolish Galatians.” He goes back now to the Galatians, he has just polished off Peter; “who hath bewitched you.” This does not mean to bewitch, it means to hypnotise. This Greek word was originally a word for an evil eye. They associated hypnotism in the ancient world with the eyes. So it should be “who has hypnotised you?” The inference is obvious. The legalists have hypnotised them with legalism. They are now hypnotised with spirituality by works. They are going to be spiritual by something they do — by keeping the law, etc. The law can never bring us into favour with God. The law makes demands which it does not have the power to fulfill whereas grace sets aside the law because these things are fulfilled through Christ. So grace is free to give us but what we cannot earn, deserve or get from the law, grace can give what the law can never gives us: relationship with God in time and in eternity. Grace can only be appropriated by faith; merit can only be appropriated by working. So it is the difference between believing and working for salvation and the difference between believing and working for spirituality. “Hath bewitched” is an aorist tense - in this point of time you are hypnotised. Indicative mood: the mood of reality. They really are hypnotised. Active voice: someone has given them the evil eye.

“that ye should not obey the truth” is not found in the original, “before whose eyes” in the next phrase — “Who has given you the evil eye? Before your very eyes Christ was set forth crucified.” You used to have your eyes on Christ, now you have your eyes on the Mosaic law. “Before whose eyes” refers to perception, they saw it in their mind’s eye.

“hath evidently set forth” — aorist tense. In a point of time. The word means to be publicly portrayed, to be designated clearly, to have something in front of you like a placard and be able to read it very simply. The passive voice means they received this information regarding the cross; “among you.” The Galatians previously had come under the spell of grace, now they are under the spell of legalism which has hypnotised them.

“crucified among you” — Perfect tense: He was crucified in the past with the result that He provides salvation forever. So they were saved by His crucifixion, not by the Mosaic law. Crucifixion stands out in contrast to the law. It isn’t the law that died for you, it is the law that kills you. It is Christ that died for you, and He died for you in the past with results that go on forever, namely your eternal salvation. The passive voice of crucified means that they received this from God, they received the death of Christ, they didn’t earn it or deserve it — the principle of grace.

Verse 2 — the principle of grace is illustrated by the Holy Spirit in verses 2-5. We have four questions. “This only would I learn of you” — Paul could rest his entire case on one point alone; he doesn’t but he could. The word “would” means volition; “I desire to learn from you.” “To learn” is an aorist active infinitive, it is Paul’s purpose to learn this from them. “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

The Mosaic law cannot provide the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is received by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul has trapped them again. These Galatians have switched to the law for spirituality but the very source of spirituality is the Holy Spirit and they receive the Holy Spirit not by keeping the law but by grace. “Received ye” — aorist indicative active. This means once and for all did you receive.

The Holy Spirit indwells every believer and this happens at the moment of salvation. We do not keep the Mosaic law to get the Holy Spirit or engage in the any of the gimmicks of “spirituality”. We receive the Holy Spirit by grace. We don’t earn it, we don’t deserve it, we don’t work for it. We receive the Holy Spirit at the moment we are saved — John 14:16,17; 7:37-39; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 5:5; 8:8,9,11; Galatians 4:6.

In verse 2 the word “hearing” is a Greek word which means the act of hearing, but it means a little more than the act of hearing and in our English language it means the willingness to listen. The “hearing of faith” means that there was a desire to listen to the gospel before there was a response to the gospel. The only thing that they had in the whole thing was desire and when they believed they exercised positive volition, but that is the end of it. Faith is the absence of works, and exercising positive volition has no merit attached to it. Since there is no merit attached to this positive volition obviously there was no work of any kind involved in entering into salvation. Nor was there any merit attached to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit which takes place at the moment of salvation. So the hearing of faith is a non-meritorious idiom referring not only to the point of believing but the volition which is included with it.

There were a lot of people in the Galatian cities who heard and did not respond. They were willing to listen with their ears but their volition was not in it. Since God Himself designed this volition there is no merit in volition. All of the merit is in God’s side which is the work side. God did the work. God the Father planned it, God the Son executed it, God the Holy Spirit revealed it. So Paul is saying, I am willing to stake the whole concept of grace on this principle: How did you receive the Holy Spirit? Not by works or keeping the law. The rest of this chapter amplifies this one principle: that you do not earn salvation, neither do you earn the things that come to you at the point of salvation. The things that come to you at salvation are the basis of victorious Christian experience, i.e. the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 3 — the second question. This is a question regarding the filling of the Spirit. The first question in verse 2 was a the question of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

“Are you so foolish?” This question is asked in the Greek syntax in a way to get a positive answer — Yes, we are. “Are you” is present indicative active, verb of absolute status. At this moment at least their absolute status is stupidity. How does the Bible define a stupid person? A person who departs from the principle of grace.

“Are you so stupid? that having begun in the Spirit” — this tells us how they start. Why did they begin in the Spirit? Because after they were saved Paul had a follow up doctrinal Bible session for them and he stayed long enough to give them some basic doctrine and get them launched in the proper manner before he left. So they had a good start in the Christian life. “Having begun” is an aorist participle, and the action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb is “Are ye now made perfect ...?” So they had a good beginning “in the [sphere of the] Spirit.” It started with the filling of the Spirit and the indwelling all at the same time. They moved along under the principle of grace for quite awhile and then suddenly they switched when the legalists came in with their panacea of the Mosaic law. So now a little bit of sarcasm: “Are ye made perfect [present tense; are you habitually] by the flesh?” The indicative mood indicates they are now in the Mosaic law. Romans 8 says that they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Those who follow any works system as believers cannot please God. Consequently they that are in the flesh cannot please God and you cannot switch from the sphere of the Spirit to the flesh and ever serve, produce, or please God in phase two.

Principle: When you get out of kilter with the Holy Spirit, i.e. carnality, then the moment you do you are operating on the energy of the flesh. This is another reason for rebound. The only possible way to operate in the power of the Spirit is to rebound when you have sinned, and as long as you are out of the bottom circle you are operating in the energy of the flesh whether you know it or not. Rebound in itself is grace; it is the basis for being filled with the Spirit. Confession is the absence of human merit. It involves volition but it is not meritorious. When we are out of fellowship it doesn’t matter what we do or what we say, it is all energy of the flesh. When the Holy Spirit controls the life the result is spirituality and we operate in the power of God, but when we have sinned the old sin nature or the flesh controls the life, and the moment the flesh controls the life we operate on works, legalism, energy of the flesh.

Verse 4 — the third question. “Have you suffered so many things in vain? if indeed be in vain.” This is a question regarding the sustaining ministry of the Spirit. “Have you suffered so many things in vain?” In other words all of the persecution they had suffered after their salvation, all of the trials and heartaches, when they were controlled by the Spirit and they rolled right through them. Have they now suffered those things in vain? “Have you suffered” is an aorist tense and it gathers into a point of time every bit of suffering they have had since they were saved.

There are four different kinds of basic aorists. Basically the aorist tense is a point of time, but point of time is not a good description of aorist because we also have the aorist tense used for eternity and since eternity is not time the correct basic designation of the aorist is occurrence. Here we have the point of time and we have a point of time divorced from time and perpetuated forever — the type of aorist we have here in verse four: a series of parallel experiences pulled together in one ball of wax. Every time they have suffered was it all in vain? When they were controlled by the Spirit and had peace and stability and power and blessing, enduring trials and testings and heartaches and frustrations, and because of the filling of the Spirit had perfect peace, inner blessings and power. Paul is asking them to remember. The Mosaic law will never give this. The Holy Spirit sustains us in our time of suffering, in our time of pressure, etc. “So many things” refers to all of the sufferings which had come to the Galatians since they were saved, when they were filled with the Spirit. Now Paul asks, Were all of these things in vain? By that he means, Were they empty?

Paul is pointing out this: All right, you are saying that those experiences were empty by going to the Mosaic law. The Mosaic law will never sustain you in suffering. That is what this next phrase says: “if indeed in vain.” Paul is not only appealing to them on the basis of doctrine but on the basis of their past victorious experience. In the midst of all their pressures they had perfect inner peace, inner happiness. Nothing could get to them. But now that they had switched over to the Mosaic law (and the Mosaic law would not sustain them) they were no longer sustained by the Holy Spirit. He is grieved or quenched, though He still indwells them. They have switched over to legalism and no legalism will sustain in time of pressure. By going over to legalism we say in effect that our previous bona fide victorious experiences in the Christian life are empty or vain - which they are really not.

Verse 5 — the fourth question. This has to do with the manifestation of the Spirit. “He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit...” “He that ministereth” is a present active participle, linear aktionsart. He keeps on doing it. The Greek word “minister” came from the drama on the Greek stage. The word means the one who foots the bill for the chorus for the drama. In other words, it is a Greek word for someone who provides. It is one of the strongest words in the Greek language for providing the expenses, for extreme generosity, for bountiful giving. “He that gave graciously and bountifully to you” is the way we should translate it. “To you” is dative of advantage. It is to our advantage to have the Holy Spirit. It was to the advantage of the Galatians to have the Holy Spirit but they are not taking advantage of the advantage. They had reverted instead to the law.

“and worketh miracles among you” — the word “miracles” does not occur in the Greek. Instead it is a Greek word for abilities, power, strength — natural and supernatural. The word “worketh” is a present active participle which means to work with effectiveness — “He who keeps on working with effectiveness in providing abilities — or the ability.” This is not the ordinary word for a miracle though it could mean supernatural as well as natural ability. For example, the ability to love all believers, the ability to be humble in the true sense of the word, the ability to forgive as Christ forgave, etc.

“among you” is literally “in you.” The Holy Spirit works inside of us. “Doeth he” is not there in the Greek. Instead we have the beginning of a question. We could supply the concept, “Does he do it by the works of the law, or does he do it by the hearing of faith?” That is what the idiom means. The answer obviously is by the hearing of faith. Faith begins spirituality in phase two.

Verse 6 — an illustration of the principle of grace in Abraham. “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.” The word “as” is an analogy. There is an analogy between the overall principle of grace and specific grace in the case of Abraham. Abraham is a Gentile who founded the Jewish race. He is the first patriarch of the Jewish race but at the same time he is the outstanding illustration of salvation in the Old Testament. So Abraham has a physical progeny, the Jewish people. Then we have another concept of Abraham and that is that Abraham is the pattern for salvation in the Old Testament, and that everyone that is born again is born again the same way that Abraham was, whether it is historical Christology or shadow Christology. The difference is that in the Old Testament they had shadow Christology. Before the cross took place historically Christ was revealed through shadows. After the cross we have historical Christology, but whichever way you slice it the answer is, believe in Christ - whether you got information through the shadows or through historical Christology.

Abraham believed. The verb to believe is a transitive verb, it has a subject and it has an object. Obviously the subject is Abraham and he is the pattern here. The question is: What is the object? This is a quotation from Genesis 15:6 and in the quotation it says Abraham believed the Lord. The word in the Hebrew is Jehovah. It is a singular word, it means one person. It can refer to God the Father, as it does in some cases, or God the Son, or in some cases as in Isaiah, God the Holy Spirit. So which person does it refer to? It refers to the Son. The reason we know is because there is a definite article even in the Greek here — “the God.” This is a translation from the Tetragrammaton. The definite article is often used to delineate something revealed and the only member of the Godhead who is revealed is the Lord Jesus Christ — John 1:18. it is always the revealed God, and the revealed God (shadow Christology) is the Lord Jesus Christ; the revealed God (historical Christology) is the Lord Jesus Christ, so the object is always the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and because this was the start of the Jewish race Stephen said before the Sanhedrin in the book of Acts, “You have crucified the Lord of glory”; but he went on to declare in the Greek, “the founder of the Jewish nation.” That is why they stoned Stephen.

So Abraham believed the revealed God. “Believed” here is aorist tense. It refers to a point of time. You only have to believe once. At the point of time when you are saved you are born again. As a result, “it was accounted”, and aorist tense again. It means in that same point of time. The passive voice means that he received this righteousness. This is God’s righteousness; this is justification. He received +R. “It was accounted” means to credit something on the positive side of the ledger. Righteousness here is the absolute righteousness of God. This is the pattern of grace: we receive God’s righteousness. And why does he mention righteousness here? Because people who try to be saved by the Mosaic law stand on their own works which is -R. People who believe in Jesus Christ receive +R, and +R is infinitely greater than -R because +R is the basis of justification, it is God’s righteousness. It is received at the moment we believe and yet the people in the legalism group keep working and working, and they could work for a hundred years or a thousand years and when they are through they still have -R. That is all the Mosaic law can do. There is only one way to do it and that is God’s way: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”

Verse 7 — “Know ye” — present active imperative. The imperative mood means this is an order for you to know this. Keep on knowing it. And the Greek word means to know from the experience of study, to know from the experience of concentrating on a point of doctrine — “therefore” goes back to the previous verse and connects it with Genesis 15:6 — “Know ye therefore.” Now we come to the conclusion — “that they which of faith [”are” is not found in the Greek]” — “of faith” should be “out from the source of faith.” The word “of” is actually a preposition in the Greek, a preposition of origin or source. Those who are believers, those who are of the source or from the origin of faith, “the same are the children of Abraham” — those who are born again, those who are believers, these are the children of Abraham. These aren’t the only children of Abraham. The word “children” isn’t children at all. Abraham actually had two types of children. The Greek word here is u(ioj. There is another word, teknoj. One means to be an adult son, the other means to be a child under the control of parents. In an analogy which is coming up in the next chapter children are said to be under guardians, and these guardians are called the law. The children of Israel — of Abraham teknoj) — are the Jews, and the Jews are said to be under the law. But Abraham has some other children — sons, adult sons — and these are made up of that portion of the human race who are born again, regenerate. The Greek word which is used here means to be an adult son. The adult sons of Abraham are those who are born again. In other words, Abraham is the pattern. Abraham become an adult son by faith in Jesus Christ. He became a son of God. You never have teknoj used with God, you always have u(ioj. Jesus Christ, when He is called the Son of God, u(ioj is always used for it, never teknoj. When we accept Christ we are entered into union with Christ, we are called adult sons of God.

Abraham has two kinds of children. He has teknoj who are the Jews in the physical life. The Jews are a race as well as a religion. The u(ioj of Abraham are all who believe in Christ, because Abraham is the pattern. Genesis 15:6 — Abraham is used as the pattern because before he became a Jew he was a Gentile. As a Gentile he was saved by circumcision and he became a Jew. He was never under the Mosaic law for any benefit of any kind and therefore he makes a perfect illustration to those who want to go under the Mosaic law after salvation. By salvation we become adult sons. This is the doctrine of adoption. We are sons of God by virtue of union with Christ.

“Know ye therefore that they out of the source of faith.” Who is out of the source of faith? Those who are born again by faith in Jesus Christ; “the same ones [literally] are” — present indicative active of e)imi. They are absolutely, continuously forever “the sons of Abraham [u(ioj].” Not children but sons. How did we become the adult sons of Abraham? The same way that Abraham became an adult son: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”; Genesis 15:6 — “Abraham believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to his account for righteousness.”

Paul is getting ready to say that there is no excuse for anyone going to the law after salvation. The law can only help up to the point of salvation by proving that a person is bankrupt and needs a saviour, but the law cannot help after salvation. The law can only hinder and make a person a legalist. The law can put you in slavery, in bondage, rob you of power, but the law can’t make you spiritual and it can’t save you.

Relationship with God is based on regeneration, not natural generation. Relationship with God is based on being born again, never by the first birth. Again, there is no quality, characteristic or ability given to us by the first birth whereby we can have fellowship with God forever. Salvation comes through regeneration. The natural descendants of Abraham are not saved by being the natural descendants of Abraham, they must be born again. John the Baptist called the natural generation of Abraham in his day a generation of vipers; Jesus called them the sons of Satan — “Ye are of your father the devil.” So obviously the natural seed of Abraham are not saved.

Verse 8 — a quotation from Genesis 12:3, “And the scripture...”: “and in thee all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” It is in Abraham’s progeny, in Christ, that all the families of the earth will be blessed. Remember that Jesus Christ in His humanity is descended from Abraham through David. So this part means that Abraham is going to be a blessing way beyond his own generation, although he was a blessing to his own generation obviously. He was also a blessing to other generations not because he personally was but because the line of Christ comes through Abraham. So “in thee” refers to Christ, “shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

So, “And the scripture, forseeing” — “forseeing” is an aorist active participle. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. The main verb is “preached before”. There is a reason for emphasising this. “The scripture forseeing” — aorist tense, in a point of time the scripture foresaw. And when did the scripture foresee? In what point of time? It foresaw it in the moment when Genesis 12:3 was quoted. The word “forseeing” means to anticipate. The scripture anticipated something in a point of time when it was quoted. What did the scripture anticipate? “That God would justify the heathen [Gentiles].” Abraham was a Gentile when he was justified. Later on he became a Jew and became the father of the Jewish race at the moment of circumcision. “Would justify” is a present indicative active. The present tense means that God habitually did it the same way in every case. The indicative mood is the mood of reality and it is a real thing that the heathen are justified - by faith in Jesus Christ, Romans 5:1.

“that God would justify the heathen through faith” — we have the word “through” which is exactly the same word that we had in the previous verse; “of,” e)k, the preposition of origin or source. Now we have “through faith” and we have the same preposition e)k. In the previous verse in the KJV they translated it “of,” in this verse they translated it “through.” In verse 7 we have the fact that we become adult sons of God by means of faith, and in both cases faith is the origin of being an adult son, faith is the origin of justification.

“And the scripture [Genesis 12:3], anticipating in a point of time [when Genesis 12:3 was written] that God would always [habitually] justify the heathen from the source of faith, preached before [the main verb]..” “Preached before” is an aorist middle indicative and it refers to a point of time when Abraham heard the gospel while still in Ur of the Chaldees. The middle voice means that Abraham was personally benefited by hearing the gospel, receiving the gospel and being born again. The indicative mood expresses the reality of the historical event. “Preached before” means to announce the gospel before hand in history. The person who is the recipient is described by two words, “unto Abraham” — dative of advantage. It was to Abraham’s advantage to hear the gospel. The word “saying” is in italics in the KJV and does not occur in the original. Instead we have simply the quotation” “In thee shall all nations be blessed.”

What did Abraham hear when he was still in Ur of the Chaldees? He heard that in Christ all nations would be blessed. He heard the gospel; he heard about Jesus Christ. He heard that in Christ would come blessing to all nations, and “all nations” means the nations outside of Israel. Israel is included but Israel is one of only many nations when it comes to the gospel. We know this is in the future because it is in the future tense: “shall be blessed.” This indicates that this would be perpetuated generation after generation. It is in the passive voice: every generation thereafter would receive blessing by believing in Jesus Christ. Verse 8 quotes Genesis 12:3 to establish a principle: God foresaw that He would always and habitually justify the Gentiles out of the source of faith, and He announced to Abraham the gospel which Abraham received by faith. All nations in all times will be blessed. That is why Jesus Christ said in John 8:56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.” Abraham wasn’t there when Christ was on earth. How did he see the day? When he was in Ur of the Chaldees. He rejoiced to see, down through the corridors of time, one from his own physical line, the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross for his sins. And he responded by faith. Abraham saw the Lord’s day when the gospel was announced to him in genesis 12:3. All the nations of the earth are blessed through Abraham’s greater Son, who is also David’s greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the blessing of regeneration, of eternal salvation.

Verse 9 — conclusion of these few verses. “So then they which [”be” s not in the original] of faith [out of the source of faith] are blessed with the believing Abraham [not “faithful” Abraham].” The word “faithful” is literally “believing” and it has a definite article, “the believing Abraham. It is a noun, not a verb, and it is dative of advantage which means that it is to Abraham’s advantage to believe in Jesus Christ back in Ur of the Chaldees. “Blessed” is a present tense, passive voice: constantly blessed, present linear aktionsart, and the passive voice means grace. The passive voice means Abraham received blessing. The preposition “with” is a preposition of accompaniment or fellowship or association — “with the believing Abraham.”

Notice that the Galatians have trusted in Christ as saviour. They came by way of grace, by way of the cross. After the cross they revert to the Mosaic law which is legalism. That doesn’t follow Abraham’s pattern. These religious Jews bypass the cross and go to legalism - circumcision, keeping the law. But what did Abraham do in the analogy? Abraham was a Gentile in Ur of the Chaldees when he accepted Christ. He went by way of the cross and he never went to the law at all. He was circumcised later and he became a Jew later through circumcision, but he never did live under the law. He is the pattern. The law never touched Abraham in any way, the law did not come until Moses.

Verses 10-13, the principle of grace illustrated by the doctrine of redemption.

Verse 10 — “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” This verse shows us that we are in slavery under the law. The law makes a slave out of the human race.

“For as many as” refers specifically to those who keep the law for salvation, those who keep the law for spirituality. What can the law do for the human race? The law can only put you in jail. Why try to keep the law for salvation when the only thing the law can do for you is put you into slavery? You go to the Mosaic law to find out that you are bankrupt but you don’t go to the Mosaic law for salvation because the law can’t save you. You have to go to Christ for salvation. The only way to get out of that jail is through Christ. Christ is the door. Christ is the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Him. You can’t get out of slavery, out of bondage to sin, apart from Christ.

“For as many as are” — present indicative active of e)imi; “of the works of the law are under the curse.” Instead of the law blessing, what does the law do? It curses us. By going to the law the Galatians have placed themselves in the place of cursing and condemnation. “For it is written” — perfect tense: it is written in the past with the results that it stands written forever. This perfect tense reminds us that the Word of God liveth and abideth forever. Passive voice: the Bible receives writing. And we now have a quotation from Deuteronomy 27:26, a part of the Mosaic law and in the Mosaic law it says to the Jews, “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law.” This is what the law says to the Jews. “Cursed” is a verbal adjective connoting a curse to the point of being an outcast; “that continueth not” — to fail to keep on abiding; “in all things” — every jot and tittle of the Mosaic law; “which are written” is a perfect passive participle, which means that the law was written in the past with the result that the law stands forever; “to do” is an aorist active infinitive denoting purpose, and if you are going to go to the Mosaic law you have to do it one hundred per cent — cf. the rich young ruler who said: “What good thing must I do?” There are two answers to that. There is nothing that you can do to inherit eternal life because the cross says, done, it is finished. This man was interested in doing something for salvation. Jesus answered his question in the literal value of the question and listed the commandments. The rich young ruler said: “These have I kept from my youth.” But when Jesus presented him with the last one the young man turned around and left, because this one cursed him. Leviticus says from the very beginning, “Cursed is the man who does not continue to do everything.” In other words, if you want to be saved by keeping the law you have to be perfect. He wasn’t perfect. How did he find out he wasn’t perfect? He didn’t love his neighbour as himself. He was sticking to something that cursed him and what he needed was to follow Christ in regeneration.

Verse 11 — we start with a conjunction of contrast. “But that no man is justified by the law.” You cannot be justified by the Mosaic law or any system of laws, you can only be justified by believe. The word “justified” is receive justification because it is in the passive voice. So it should be: “But no one receives justification in the sphere of the law.” The word “by” in the KJV is not “by” at all but is a preposition of sphere - “in the sphere of the law in the sight of God”. As far as God is concerned you can’t be justified and you can’t receive justification by keeping the law — “evident.” And why is it evident? He quotes Habakkuk 2:4, “The just shall live by faith.” The word “just” is literally “the justified ones,” the ones who have received justification. And they go on living by faith, and “by faith” is literally, “out of the source of faith” — e)k plus faith.

Verse 12 — “And the law is not of faith [out of the source of faith]: But, [then a quotation from Leviticus 18:5] The man that doeth them shall live by them.” “That doeth” is an aorist active participle, “the man having done them shall live by them in the future.” In other words, the man who does the law for salvation must stand in eternity on the basis of the law, and the law can only curse him. “Shall live” is the main verb and it refers to eternity. “Having done” is the aorist participle, referring to doing the law. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, “shall live [in eternity],” on the basis of what you do in time with the law. So in eternity, if you are going to do the law for salvation you must stand on your works of the law in eternity and the law can only curse you. Therefore what is the result in eternity? Cursing — “shall live”, referring to the future, it is a future tense, “in them” — in the precepts of the law. He takes his stand upon them.

There is a great contrast between verses 11 and 12. In verse 11 faith has justification and life the instant it begins. In verse 12, after doing the law for a lifetime has what in eternity? Cursing. Under grace faith appropriates righteousness and eternal life; under the law working a whole lifetime under the law results in the curse.

Verse 13 — the contrast: “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.”

“Christ” — the Greek word is in the emphatic position: Christ and only Christ; “hath redeemed” — aorist tense: point of time divorced from time and perpetuated forever. Active voice: the subject produces the action of the verb. Christ does the redeeming. Man can do nothing about it. The active voice is to remind the Galatians they could do nothing for their salvation; they could do nothing after salvation. The word “redemption” means to purchase or to buy from the slave market. Christ has purchased us from the slave market which is called here the curse of the law; “us from the curse of the law” — out from the curse of the law, literally.

“for it is written” — perfect tense. It was written in the past with the result that it stands written forever, a quotation from Deuteronomy 21:23 — “cursed [literally, under a curse] is everyone that hangeth on a tree.” This was written in Deuteronomy when punishment was stoning, not crucifixion, and it is a specific prohetical reference to Christ dying on the cross; “being made a curse for us” — the significance of the cross: that is the place where Christ was made a curse for us. “Being made” is an aorist active participle. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, the main verb is “hath redeemed.” He was made a curse for us before we were redeemed. “Being made” is literally, “having become.” He wasn’t made, He became a curse for us by bearing our sins. Every violation of the Mosaic law that we have ever committed was born by Christ in His own body on the cross. He was our substitute; He was judged in our place. The law cursed us but Jesus Christ took the curse on himself when he hung on the cross.

In verses 15-18 we have the principle of grace illustrated from the Abrahamic covenant.

Verse 15 — “Brethren [reference to believers], I speak after the manner of men.” “I speak” is present indicative active — “I keep on speaking”, linear aktionsart; “after the manner of men.” The word “after” is the preposition of standard or norm: I speak according to man’s standard, i.e. human viewpoint. So after the manner of men should be translated: “Brethren, I keep on speaking from the human viewpoint.” He is assuming for the moment for the sake of argument that when the Mosaic law came that it abrogated the Abrahamic covenant. This is a false assumption for the Abrahamic covenant was not abrogated by the Mosaic law. The principle of the Abrahamic covenant — justification by faith — continues. People were saved under the Mosaic law the same way that Abraham was saved, by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only way that anyone can be saved. Therefore, whatever the purpose of the Mosaic law when it was given it did not have the purpose of saving. Paul is assuming the systems of chronological sequence or when one covenant comes the other goes, and this is not correct. Actually, it is the Mosaic law which is temporary, the Abrahamic covenant continues in time and in eternity. The Mosaic law started at the time of Moses and was discontinued as of the crucifixion, but the principle of the Abrahamic covenant, justification by faith, keeps on going forever. But for the moment he must use the debater’s technique, he must assume the human viewpoint of life, he must assume something which is actually erroneous, and therefore he says, “I keep speaking” - in this particular section, verses 15-18 — “after the human viewpoint.

Now in order to understand the particular principle here that we have in verse 15 we have to go back to verse 14 and see what is involved. “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles.” “That” introduces a purpose clause. How can the blessing of Abraham come on the Gentiles? There is only one possible way and that is for the Gentiles to personally receive Jesus Christ as saviour. All of this is built around the concept of the curse. In verse 10 we have seen the human race under a curse. In then first part of verse 13 we see man redeemed out from the curse. In the last part of verse 13 Christ became a curse for us.

Now what is it that made the curse real and clear? The Mosaic law. Therefore verse 14 starts with that purpose clause, “That.” This is why Jesus Christ had to die on the cross and be made a curse for us. “That the blessing of Abraham [justification by faith in Jesus Christ] might come [come to pass] on the Gentiles.” The Gentiles are personally benefited by being saved in the same manner that Abraham was saved, and therefore Gentiles who are born again in the Old Testament are under the Abrahamic covenant, whereas Jews who rejected Christ in the Old Testament and who lived by the law and tried to be saved by keeping the law are spending eternity in the lake of fire. What is the point? The Mosaic law did not abrogate the principle of the Abrahamic covenant and it did not abrogate the principle of justification by faith.

“through Jesus Christ” is incorrect. It is literally, “in Jesus Christ.” That has fulfillment in the Church Age, union with Jesus Christ.

Next we have a result clause: “that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” We have the subjunctive mood here. Whether you receive it or not depends upon your volition. The subjunctive mood recognises human volition. The individual can accept or reject the gospel. Notice: The promise of the Spirit. Now stop. It does not say, “that Gentiles might once and for all receive the taboos and keep them vehemently; the Gentiles might get rid of their bad habits and be better people.” That is the type of malarkey that is peddled by many people today in the name of Christianity and nothing could be further from the truth. The great issue for the believer in time is never a taboo of any kind. It isn’t even sin. The great issue with the believer is, Are you filled with the Spirit or not? If you are not filled with the Spirit you are failing to represent Jesus Christ, and if you are filled with the Spirit then your life will count. There is not a taboo that you can name that some unbeliever has not kept much better than you will ever keep it, and that isn’t the issue. When you see people who keep the taboos do you want what they have? The filling of the Spirit is the issue. How do you get the Holy Spirit in the first place? You get the Holy Spirit at the moment you believe in Jesus Christ — “that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” The preposition here plus the genitive means “through the instrumentality of faith.” Why faith? Because faith is the absence of works, the absence of human merit.

Now we begin to see why Paul starts in verse 15 with this little phrase, “I keep on speaking according to the human viewpoint.” Why does he pick up the human viewpoint? It is a debater’s technique to clobber the Galatians. They have made the terrible mistake of starting out in grace and have now switched to the law, from a wonderful horse to an old nag, right in the middle of the stream.

“Though a man’s covenant” — “it be” is not in the original. We should reverse two words in the translation here: “But though a man’s covenant.” A man’s covenant is the illustration. Again, Paul is speaking from the human viewpoint. He gives an illustration. A man’s covenant is an agreement between two members of the human race; a contract, for example. “yet ratified [or confirmed] in the past [perfect tense: with the result that it keeps on being confirmed or being in existence as a contract].”

Pulling it all together so far, we have: “Brethren, I am speaking according to the human viewpoint; But though a man’s covenant [referring to a human contract], yet confirmed in the past with the result that it stands as a contract, which no man disannulleth [makes void], or addeth thereto.” In other words, once the contract is ratified or confirmed or signed then no one takes away from it and no one adds to it.

There is a threefold implication from this human illustration. The illustration, remember, is taken from Paul’s day. In that day a contract was a contract. Firstly, if mankind [an unbeliever] will not alter a contract without permission then certainly a righteous God will not do so. We are talking about the Abrahamic covenant which has as its foundation justification by faith. Along comes the Mosaic law which is not an unconditional covenant. A conditional covenant never abrogates an unconditional covenant, an unconditional covenant goes on and on and on; it is eternal in nature. Always connected with the unconditional covenant is the phrase “eternal life” or “forever” because it is based upon regeneration which is forever. If two members of the human race who are unbelievers will make a contract and keep it then God who is absolute righteousness will certainly keep it. God keeps His word. Secondly, Judaisers claimed divine authority but actually by adding anything to the Abrahamic covenant or to the principle of justification by faith they are imputing to God unrighteousness, because God would then add to His own covenant and even unbelievers will not add to a contract. That is the point of verse 15. Thirdly, the Abrahamic covenant is still in force because it is an unconditional covenant and it depends entirely upon the work of God, never upon the work or the merit or the ability of mankind. Hence, any unconditional covenant such as the Abrahamic or the New covenant is never void, it will never be abrogated, it depends upon the character of God, not upon human ability.

Verse 16 — this is not a continuation of the argument, it is a parenthesis. Verse 15 will be continued in verse 17. Verse 16 is really an amplification of the concept of the Abrahamic covenant and is a slight digression. “Now to Abraham [dative of advantage: it was to Abraham’s advantage to have the promise] and his seed [again, dative of advantage]” — Abraham’s seed in this context is the Lord Jesus Christ. The word is in the singular. Remember that the seed of Abraham is both real (the Lord Jesus Christ) and spiritual (all people who are in union with Christ); “were the promises made” — it refers also to the Galatians. As Gentiles the Galatians are the seed of Abraham and now they have gone back to the Mosaic law which can only curse. “Were made” here is in the aorist tense: one and for all made.

“He saith not, And to seeds, as of many [those who are Abraham’s physical seed, the Jews].” He didn’t promise this to the Jews because of their birth, because they are descended from Abraham. No one has these promises by natural birth, only by the new birth: “Ye must be born again.” The Jews are claiming that they are saved because they are related to Abraham physically rather than spiritually. Those who are related to Abraham spiritually are those who are born again; those who are related to Abraham physically are the Jews — unregenerate.

“but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” This explains the singular of the Word. To Abraham’s seed, singular, is Christ. We are in union with Christ, therefore we are Abraham’s seed, singular. Abraham’s seeds grow as the Jewish nation — those who are descended from him — and the Jewish nation does not have salvation by being descended from Abraham or by keeping the law. Both of these were problems to the Jews.

Verse 17 — continuing with the thought of verse 15. The law does not abrogate the Abrahamic covenant, therefore the law does not abrogate the principle of justification by faith. Mechanically when the Jews accepted Christ as saviour they were in the Abrahamic covenant, just as we are in Christ, but they were in a shadow, as it were, we are in a reality. So it is just a matter of mechanics based upon the fact that Christ had not yet come in the flesh. A theophany is not the same as the hypostatic union. The principle of salvation is exactly the same but the mechanics of disposal are slightly different based upon the fact that the historical cross had not taken place.

We must also remember the principle of the progression of revelation. These things existed for the people of that time but they did not have the understanding of it that we have — with a few exceptions: Abraham rejoiced to see my day, Jesus said. The exception there would be Abraham.

“And this I keep on saying, that the covenant” — the Abrahamic covenant which is the principle of justification by faith; “that was confirmed before” — i.e. to ratify before. God ratified it before the law. This is in the perfect tense which means it was ratified in the past with the result that it keeps on being ratified forever. The Abrahamic covenant is permanent. Passive voice: it received ratification. That is grace; “of God” is incorrect. It should be “under God.” The word “of” is the preposition in the Greek for under. It means under the authority of God; “in Christ” shows that the Abrahamic covenant was equivalent to our position under the new covenant. Ours is in Christ. They were in the Abrahamic covenant, the seed of the Abrahamic covenant was Christ, so in shadow form they were in Christ. They were not literally in Christ [baptism of the Spirit] because the hypostatic union had not taken place, the glory of Christ in hypostatic union had not occurred; “the law [which came after] which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannull.” “Cannot disannull” is present linear aktionsart — cannot abrogate; “that it would make the promise of none effect” should be translated “with the result that the promise becomes void.” It cannot disannull with the result that the promise becomes void. In other words, the promise, the Abrahamic covenant, does not become void because of the coming of the law. The law was not an addition to the Abrahamic covenant. This is the whole point. Four hundred and thirty years after the Abrahamic covenant we have the Mosaic law. The Mosaic law came afterwards chronologically but because of its chronological sequence it does not abrogate the Abrahamic covenant. They are separate and distinct.

Verse 18 — The word “If” is a first class condition of assumption. “For if the inheritance be of the law [It isn’t true; I’m assuming it — debater’s technique again], no more promise: but God gave to Abraham promise.” Note: “gave” is the only verb in the whole verse in the Greek. It is a perfect tense. God gave to Abraham in the past with the result that what He gave is still in effect, i.e. justification by faith. Middle voice: God gave it for God’s benefit. God’s character is honoured and glorified by an unconditional covenant. How can God be glorified by giving something? It is the only way that God can be glorified. God can never be glorified by blessing us through our works, He can only be glorified by giving us something. “God gave to Abraham by promise” — we have the preposition dia plus the genitive which means “by means of promise.”

Principle: Inheritance is never from the law. Inheritance can only come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 19:16

— “And behold, one came unto him [the Lord Jesus Christ] and said, “Good Master” — the word for “good” is good of intrinsic value. In other words, absolute good. There is anyone who is absolute good except God Himself. With the word “good” you would expect “Lord,” kurioj, something to indicate deity. But here we have the Greek word “master” which is simply an academic term, usually one for one who holds certain degrees or one who can teach — “what good thing” — and again he repeats the word “good” — “shall I do”; He wanted to do something for salvation. His gimmick is salvation by works. He is going to be saved, he thinks, by doing something, by doing good, by working, by the accumulation of good deeds — “that” introduces a purpose clause, “I may have eternal life.” The simple answer to this is that you can’t do anything to have eternal life. Eternal life doesn’t come by works, it comes by the work of one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. This man is off base because he wants to do something to inherit eternal life. Jesus could have answered him and said, “Nothing.” But this man is under bondage to the law. All of his life he has been trying to keep the law for eternal salvation. No one can be saved that way. So Jesus has a very interesting way of answering.

So in verse 17 — “He said unto him, Why callest thou me good?” He is trying to focus attention on the unique person of the Lord Jesus Christ; “There is none good but one, namely God; but if thou wilt enter into life”; “if” introduces a first class condition of supposition: “If you suppose that you can enter into life [in the manner in which you have already chosen], keep the commandments” — keep on keeping the commandments, present active imperative.

Verse 18 — “He [the rich young ruler] saith unto him, Which?” That answer is a facade of self-righteousness. He is assuming that he has already kept them all perfectly, so no matter which one the Lord names he is going to be able to say, Well I’ve done that; “Jesus said,” and He starts with four negative commandments, the ones which the rich young ruler had kept. These are the ones at which he had kept and He deliberately picked them first: “Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness” — these four commandments he had kept. But the next commandment Jesus gives is not one of the ten, it is called the highest of all: Verse

19 — “Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” This last one is a quotation from Leviticus 19:18. This is where the rich young ruler has erred. James 2:10 says, “If you are guilty of one point you are guilty of all.”

Our Lord could have said, You can’t be saved by keeping the commandments. But Jesus wants to do more than that for the rich young ruler, He doesn’t simply want to deny what he has said, He wants to prove to him that he has the wrong system for salvation for his system was keeping the law. Therefore He is going to demonstrate from a point in the Mosaic law that the rich young ruler has not kept the law and that you cannot keep the law, and that it is impossible to keep the law, and that if you want to be saved you must turn to the Lord Jesus Christ — Galatians 2:17.

Verse 20 — “The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept [guarded] from my youth up [from the age of accountability]. What lack I yet?”

Verse 21 — “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go [keep on going, depart], sell what thou hast” — the present active participle means what you keep on possessing; “and give to the poor.” Is anyone saved by giving to the poor? No. We are not saved by selling all that we have and giving to the poor. This is not salvation that he is talking about yet. He is showing this man that he has violated the commandment, that he does not love his neighbour as himself, and therefore if he violates one commandment he is guilty of all, and that in reality this rich young ruler cannot be saved by keeping the works of the law. All Jesus is doing is poking holes into his system, showing him that the law can condemn him but the law cannot save him; “and thou shalt have treasure in heaven” — the treasure in heaven is reward. This man isn’t even qualified for reward until he does the next phrase, “Come and follow me.” “Follow me” is the key, along with “come.” The only way to follow the Lord is not to try to keep the sermon on the mount, the only way to follow the Lord Jesus Christ is verse 28, “followed me in regeneration.” “In” is the preposition of sphere, therefore it is in the sphere of regeneration. So when Jesus says “Follow me,” He is talking about being born again, He is talking about following in regeneration. And this is done by coming — Matthew 11:28; John 6:37.

So far Jesus has brought this whole thing into focus to demonstrate to the rich young ruler that he has not kept the law perfectly, as he contends, and that no one can keep the law perfectly, and therefore no one can be saved by keeping the law and he had better come to Christ. Follow me is the key.

Verse 22 — “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful.” The word “sorrowful” is a present passive participle in the Greek and it means being filled with sorrow; “for he kept on having great possessions.” There is nothing wrong with having great possessions. The trouble with this man is that he was penurious, and because he was stingy he had violated two of the commandments, just by virtue of the fact that he was a penny-pincher. And he who is guilty of one point is guilty of all.

Verse 23 — then Jesus goes on with the dissertation here with how difficult it is for a man who depends on his wealth — not a rich man but one who depends on his wealth — to be saved.

Verse 24 — “And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle” - the needle’s eye has been terribly misunderstood. At sundown most cities in the ancient world closed the gates and wouldn’t open them until morning. But they did have a little door, and when people could prove that they were not hostile they would open this small door to admit them. This was the needle. It would only allow one person to enter at a time. It was possible to get a camel through that door but it wasn’t easy. It was necessary to unpack the camel’s burdens and haul the camel through with a lot of straining, and then haul his burden’s through. You could get a camel through the needle’s eye but it wasn’t easy. The point is that rich men can be saved but it isn’t easy for them because they have a tendency to depend on their riches. That was the trouble with the rich young ruler. In reality he wasn’t even depending on the law entirely, he was depending on his money as well.

Verse 25 — “When his disciples heard, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who, then, is able to be saved?”

Verse 26 — “But Jesus beheld them.” He gave them a hard stare. It is an aorist participle and the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb, so first of all He gave them a hard stare and then the main verb is “said”, then He taught. In other words, when they asked that silly question, Who, then, can be saved? — eleven of them were saved when they asked it. How silly can you get? Then He finally said something to them: “With men this is impossible” — in other words, no man can be saved by his works — “but with God all things possible.” There is no verb here. All things includes salvation. God provides salvation.

Verse 27 — “Ten answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all” - now Peter is going to make a big thing out of what he has done for the Lord! — “and followed thee. What shall we have therefore.”

Verse 28 — “And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you that ye who have followed me, in the regeneration” — first of all, you must be born again before your works ever count, and then they do not count for salvation they only count for rewards. So Peter’s question is going to clarify the position of works or production. When it comes to salvation the answer is negative; when it comes to the one who is born again, a believer in time, the answer is positive. Good works result then in rewards — “when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye shall also sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” After the word “regeneration” is a parenthesis which lasts until “shall receive an hundredfold” in verse 29. Then what follows the word “regeneration” is found, i.e. “shall inherit everlasting life.”

Seven points of summary

1. The rich young ruler did not recognise Jesus as the Son of God. He called Him “Good master” — failure to recognise the deity of Christ.

2. The rich young ruler wanted to be saved by works — “What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?”

3. Since the rich young ruler was trying to be saved by keeping the law Jesus seeks to demonstrate that no one can be saved by keeping the law.

4. When the rich young ruler asked “which” law Jesus immediately used this as a means of proving something to him, and He demonstrates the ignorance of the rich young ruler.

5. When the rich young ruler claimed that he kept all of the commandments from the moment of accountability Jesus proved that there was one which he had not kept, and which he had no intention of keeping. In fact, it even drove him away because he was going to hang on to his money rather than keep that commandment.

6. Since the rich young ruler had not kept this commandment he was guilty of all — James 2:10. Therefore neither he nor anyone else can be saved by keeping the commandments.

7. Ultimately the failure of the rich young ruler was that he failed to follow the Lord in regeneration — Matthew 19:28.

Returning to Galatians 3:19. “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, (till the seed should come to whom the promise was made): ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” Read that verse omitting the parenthesis for the main sentence.

The word “wherefore” is really “why”. Why the law? The law cannot add anything to grace, the law cannot save, the law cannot provide anything more. Why have it? Notice the three words, “it was added.” However the law functions it is an addition, an addition which has nothing whatever to do with salvation. Even before we notice the purpose of the law the law is an interloper regarding salvation. It was added, apart from salvation. It was added “because of transgressions”. “Because of” is what is called an adverbial accusative, used as a preposition plus the genitive case and should be translated “for the sake of.” It was added for the sake of the transgressions or for the purpose of the transgressions. In other words, the law was added to make men see their sins as transgressions. Everyone has failed somewhere in the law but they don’t know that they have failed God’s standard, God’s law, and so in order that they might understand their sins in terms of transgressions of divine law the law was added. You have to have a statement of divine law if you are going to transgress it.

The parenthesis: “till the seed should come”. The seed is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. The seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, came to provide for man what man could not provide for himself. “The seed should come” is in the aorist tense: come in a point of time, incarnation.

Hebrews 10:1 — “For the law, having a shadow of good things to come” - Codex #2, shadows pointing to Christ — “and not the very image” — the very image is Christ — “of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make those who come to it perfect.” Thousands of sacrifices were offered by the Levitical priests on the brazen altar but no one was ever saved by those sacrifices, they were shadows pointing to Christ. Every time an animal was sacrificed it was a picture of Christ dying for our sins, it was the preaching of the gospel but it didn’t save anyone. It presented Christ and then people believed in Christ for salvation.

Verse 2 — “For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshippers once purged should have no more consciousness of sins.” The fact that they didn’t stop offering sacrifices indicated the fact that the sacrifices in themselves were shadows pointing to the reality but not the reality in itself.

Verse 3 — “But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.”

Verse 4 — “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”

Verse 5 — “Wherefore, when he cometh into the world” - dramatic present tense. Christ came into the world — “he saith, Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but a body thou hast prepared me.” Christ has a human body at this point.

Verse 6 — “In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.” They are shadows. God the Father does not take pleasure in shadows. They don’t satisfy Him. They point to something but they don’t satisfy Him.

Verse 7 — “Then said I [Christ], Lo, I come (in the volume of the book [Old Testament scriptures] it is written of me) to do thy will, O God.”

Verse 9 — “Then said he [this is what Jesus said as a baby in a cradle], Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” There is the sovereignty, the free will, the decision of Jesus Christ. “To do” is an aorist active infinitive, an infinitive of purpose: ‘It is my purpose to do thy will, O God.’ This is God the Son executing phase one of the plan of God. “He taketh away the first [Mosaic law], that he might establish the second.”

Verse 10 — “By which will [the will of Jesus Christ] we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.”

That is the significance of the subjunctive mood in Galatians 3:19. “The seed [ the Lord Jesus Christ] should come.” The subjunctive mood says that it depended upon the volition, the divine sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ, as to whether He would come or not. The seed is first mentioned in Genesis 3:15. The woman’s seed is the title for the Lord there. Jesus Christ is first promised as saviour in Genesis 3:15 where He is the seed of the woman who bruises the head of the serpent. He bruises the head of the serpent by dying on the cross, and the serpent bruises His heel at the same time by having a part in putting Him on the cross.

This was the person that the rich young ruler approached and called “Good Master.” He called Him master instead of Lord. He failed to recognise the deity of Christ, a fatal mistake on the part of any member of the human race.

“till the seed should come to whom the promise was made [to Christ].” “Was made” is a perfect tense: made in the past with the result that the promise stands forever. Passive voice: Christ received the promise. This closes the parenthesis in the verse. Now we complete the sentence. The next few words: “and it was” are not in the original.

Verse 19 again: “Wherefore then the law?” — i.e. What is the purpose of the law? — “It was added because of transgressions, ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator” - that is the sentence omitting the parenthesis. “Ordained” is aorist tense, passive voice — ordained in a point of time, the law received ordination by angels. The word “ordained” means to make precise arrangements. The angels made precise arrangements regarding getting the law to Israel. “By angels” is really through the instrumentality of the angels — “ordained through the instrumentality of angels.” In other words, angels were the mediators of the law.

Hidden in this verse are two inferiorities of the law. The law has a purpose, it is from God. The law is holy, just and good, as it says in Romans; but the law is inferior to grace. The law is inferior to the promise. The promise is grace; the law is legalism. The law was transitory. It was added and then abrogated. The law was added at the time of Moses; it was abrogated by the cross. So the law was transitory, and anything which is transitory is not permanent, and that which is not permanent is inferior to anything which is permanent. Salvation, the promise to Abraham, is permanent; the law is transitory. The law was only added until the seed [Christ] should come. So the law was inferior because it was transitory. The second inferiority of the law: The law had inferior mediators. Angels are inferior to God. Actually, there were two mediators of the law: angels and Moses.

Verse 20 — the second inferiority is amplified. “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.” “Of one” is a genitive of description — “A mediator is not of one, God is of one.” This means two things. Firstly, a mediator stands between party of the first part and party of the second part. The difficulty with the law is that the angels stood between God and Israel and the angel is not connected in any way with party of the first part. God isn’t an angel, He is superior to angels. And, furthermore, angels are not people. An angel is a bad mediator because the angel is not equal with the party of the first part, God, and the angel is not equal with the party of the second part, mankind. But Christ is equal with party of the first part, God, because Christ is God. And Christ is the mediator of the new covenant and the Abrahamic covenant, is equal with the party of the second part because Christ is man. He is the perfect mediator. So the law is inferior because it has an inferior mediator.

“God is of one.” What does that mean? God is one in essence, and it means that Jesus Christ who is the mediator is just as much God as is the Father and is the Holy Spirit. God is one in essence — 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God [one in essence], and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.” Why the man? Because Christ is also true humanity. He is the perfect mediator: He is equal with God and He is equal with man.

There is an implication here too. God is one in essence. The essence of God provides a perfect plan because in essence God is perfect. A perfect plan comes from a perfect person. Under the Mosaic law man does something for blessing. Anything that man has to do is not a perfect plan because the plan depends upon man doing it. So the law was imperfect in the sense that it was weak through the flesh - Romans 8:3. Under the concept of grace God does all the doing.

Verse 21 — the third inferiority of the law. “Is the law then against the promises of God?’ They are not fighting each other, they both have a purpose. So the third inferiority of the law: The law cannot give life. The promises can give life.

“God forbid” — mh genoitw. ‘Let it not be so,’ an aorist active optative, one of the strongest negatives in the Greek language. “For if [Second class condition: if and it isn’t true] there had been a law given which would have given life [but there isn’t], verily righteousness should have been by the law.” But +R never comes by the law for the law cannot give life. The law can curse you but the law cannot bless you.

Verse 22 — a fourth inferiority of the law. The law is a jailer and not a saviour. “But the scripture” — specifically we have a reference to Deuteronomy 27:26, ‘Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the word as of this law to do them.’ In other words, you are cursed if you don’t keep the whole thing. “But the scripture hath concluded” — aorist indicative active, once and for all hath concluded; “all [the human race] under sin” — under is a preposition of domination: under the domination or authority or control of sin. The law slaps everyone under the control of sin; “that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ” — objective genitive and should be translated ‘by faith in Jesus Christ’; “might be given” — aorist tense, once and for all given; “to them that believe” — ‘to them’ is dative of advantage. It is to the advantage of any member of the human race to believe in Christ. “Believe” here is a present active participle, dative plural. The present tense is dramatic, it is a dramatic moment when a person believes in Christ.

Verse 23 — a second answer to the question; Why the law? “But before faith came” — before we were saved. ‘Faith’ is literally the faith, the salvation, “we were kept under the law” — ‘kept’ means to be guarded by a jailer. This is imperfect tense, we were habitually jailed — “shut up,” a present passive participle which means to shut up in a prison cell, “unto” — with regard to, “faith.” Faith was outside in the area of freedom, we were locked up in the prison cell. The law could not bring us to faith, it was a steel bar between us and faith; “which should afterwards be revealed.” Faith as a way of salvation was revealed “afterward,” after we got away from the law as a way of salvation.

“afterwards be revealed” is actually two verbs. “About to be revealed” is what the Greek actually says. “To be revealed” is an aorist infinitive, a result infinitive which means that as a result of getting away from the law faith in Christ was revealed as the way of salvation.

Verse 24 — “Wherefore the law [Mosaic law] was our schoolmaster” — the word ‘schoolmaster’ is a mistranslation. The law is not a school teacher, the law is a pedagogue. A pedagogue was not the teacher but he was a slave that escorted the children to school so that they would not be kidnapped. In other words, a school bus. The law was our school bus that took us to Christ. The law couldn’t save us but the law could take us to Christ; “that we might be justified” — aorist tense, once and for all justified.

Verses 25-26, the rich young ruler failed to understand the function of faith.

Verse 25 — “But after that faith is come” — aorist tense, faith comes in a point of time when we believe in Christ; “we are no longer under the pedagogue.” Once you accept Christ as saviour you get off the bus.

Verse 26 — “For ye are” — present linear aktionsart, you keep on being; “the sons [u(ioj mature sons] of God by faith” — through the instrumentality of faith; “in Christ Jesus.” It is believing in Christ that makes us sons of God.

Verses 27-29, the rich young ruler failed to understand the principle of inheritance.

Verse 27 — the baptism of the Spirit results in being in union with Christ. “For as many of you as has been baptised [once and for all, aorist tense] into Christ [into union with Christ] have put on Christ” - ‘have put on’ is an aorist tense, a once and for all put on.

Verse 28 — “[In Christ] there is neither Jew nor Greek” — there is no racial distinction positionally; “there is neither bond nor free” — there are no social distinctions; “there is neither male nor female” — in Christ male does not have any privilege over female, and visa versa; “for ye are” — present indicative active, absolute status quo. You are always in absolute status quo - -“all one in Christ Jesus.” The rich young ruler, by sticking with the law, turned his back on union with Christ and being an adult son forever.

Verse 29 — “And if [First class condition] you are Christ’s [in union with Christ], then are ye Abraham’s seed” — the rich young ruler was a Jew but he is not Abraham’s spiritual seed; “and heirs according [according to the norm or standard of the promise: grace] to the promise.”