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Galatians 3:6-20 Paul Has Made His Argument That Righteousness Is Imputed by God to Gentiles As Well As to Jewish People And

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Galatians 3:6-20 Paul Has Made His Argument That Righteousness Is Imputed by God to Gentiles As Well As to Jewish People And Galatians 3:6-20 Aaron Eime, Christ Church Jerusalem, 2021 Paul has made his argument that righteousness is imputed by God to Gentiles as well as to Jewish people and that it is not earned through the ‘works of the Law’ that create distinctions, boundaries and social standings between them. A new reality has been formed with the resurrection of the Messiah which Paul can see clearly now, yet others (his antagonists) are unable to at the present time. Jews and Gentiles are of equal value, infinitely loved by God who created all things and sustains all things, God has plans for all of humanity, and the Torah proves it! Paul had provided the example of the patriarch Abraham, which should satisfy both Gentile and Torah-observant Jewish listeners to Paul’s argument. Abraham both believed and trusted in God. He also kept the Torah even before it was delivered at Mt. Sinai, and God imputed to him righteousness. While the Book of Genesis does not contain the word “faith,” it says ‘Abraham believed God’. Paul does a midrash on the story to involve the faith of Abraham. ‘Faith’ or ‘faithfulness’ is an action word, the operating noun derived from a verb. Faith is not a one-time decision but the acting out of belief. Faith was never something attached to what you know, as even demons believe and they have seen God yet they have no faith. Twice in Genesis God declares that through Abraham all the nations of the world would be blessed. Thus the midrash is complete: Abraham walked out his belief in faithfulness, kept the Torah before it was given, received the covenant of circumcision as a sign forever, and God blessed him with righteousness. If Abraham can do this all before Mt. Sinai, including a blessing to the nations, then so can the Gentiles also through faithfulness. Those that believe in the Messiah are imputed righteousness by God and join the family of God as non-biological and spiritual ‘sons of Abraham’. Paul adds to his defence by quoting Scripture again concerning the ‘curse of the Law’. This is not to say the Torah is a curse, but rather transgressing the Torah brings a curse. The fault is not with the Torah as that comes from heaven and is written by God, hence by very definition must be holy and good. The fault is with mankind. We bring the curse on ourselves. God delights to bring blessing and does not bring curses. It’s in His nature. Paul has already argued with Peter acknowledging that possession of the Torah is no guarantee for observing the commandments. Israel had the Torah and physically travel with the Ark and the tablets of the Law, yet the Mosaic Covenant was broken repeatedly. Psalm 143 declares that actually no one is righteous, and this prayer is sung in the Temple of God in Jerusalem during worship. Do broken covenants and knowing no one is righteous cause us to give up and sit dejected under a rock or to live out our lives in a state of complete lawlessness, hedonism and nihilism? Not at all, for despite all this Paul quotes the prophet Habakkuk to show that the righteous (those possessing righteousness imputed by God) live through faithfulness. The righteous continually act out and put faith into practice. Interestingly, Paul drops the personal pronoun that is in both the Septuagint and Hebrew text of Habakkuk 2:4. We have all fallen short of the glory of God; we have all invited the ‘curse’ upon ourselves through our sins and willful disobedience. Redemption is delivered to the world through the death and resurrection of Messiah. Redemption is not a free rescue; it is purchasing back something with a payment in price. The cost is curse for curse! Paul does another exegetical midrash on the word ‘curse’, as Messiah redeems from the curse by becoming a curse on a tree. The quote by Moses in Deuteronomy does not in context reference crucifixion, which was a Roman invention, as the method for Jewish execution was stoning. However, in midrash and exegesis, hints, metaphors and foreshadows can lead to the connection between the defeat of the 1 Galatians 3:6-20 Aaron Eime, Christ Church Jerusalem, 2021 curse through the cross of Christ. The resurrection of the Messiah also prompts the outpouring of the Spirit onto all flesh, as prophesied. Thus both Jews and Gentiles are equally blessed with the presence of the Spirit. As Paul has noted previously in Galatians, the Spirit is alive and well and active in miracles and power amongst them. Paul now brings his third example, human experience, to argue his case. Human contracts are binding, with no one adding or subtracting from a signed agreement. Subsequent contracts do not negate or annul previous agreements. Hence, the promises to Abraham cannot be undone by later covenants. The covenant of David does not negate the Mosaic Covenant, nor does the covenant with Pinchas, etc. Paul looks carefully at the text in Genesis and notes the promise of God was pertaining to the ‘seed’ of Abraham in the singular. Paul exegetes that singular ‘seed’ to refer to the Messiah. In all this discussion of the Torah the question must now be asked, what was the whole point of the Torah anyway? If the covenant gets broken even before Moses gets down the mountain why bother preserving the Torah or trying to observe its commandments? In our discussion we noted that all peoples through history follow laws; there are no lawless societies that exist for very long. Paul says the Torah was given due to transgression. Physically the Torah was given to Israel, spiritually it was available to the whole world. From where did the transgressions originate? Both from heaven through fallen angels and through mankind with the fall of Adam! Following the resurrection, has the Torah ceased to exist? Obviously not, as human laws also remain in existence so also do heavens laws. The role and place of the Torah in the life of the community is still to be discussed. Paul describes the giving of the Torah in light of Second Temple Period traditions, which include angelic mediators and an intermediary. The Book of Exodus does not describe any mediators between Moses and God; this was a theological tradition that developed later. I confessed to not understanding the cryptic verse 20 where Paul describes the intermediary implying more than one and God as being one. Arieh provided an interesting insight into the intermediator as the ‘seed of Abraham’. Paul is of course stating that the ‘seed’ reference applies to Jesus. The land of Israel was given as an inheritance to the ‘seed of Abraham’, that is to Jesus. Thus the final title deed of the Land remains held by the Messiah Himself, who will return to run and reign from His eternal capital in Jerusalem. 2.
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