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Galatians 3:19-29
On the whole, the Galatian assemblies were being deceived by false teachers into believing that they
needed to add the works of the Law to their faith in Christ in order to effect their complete salvation. Paul
recognizes that the Galatians were devoid of understanding the implications of what they were doing, and
proceeded in his letter to make the case that, for salvation, faith and works are mutually exclusive and even
opposing concepts of how a man can approach God.
Paul used the example of Abraham to show that simple faith in Christ leads to justification, whereby a man
is pronounced righteous by God, having become the righteousness of God in Christ. Faith is the channel
through which all the blessings of God are received.
Then Paul used the Scriptures to show that, conversely, trying to be justified by the works of the Law leads,
not to blessing, but to cursing. Why? Because no man can keep the Law perfectly; and to break it in even
one point is to be guilty of breaking the whole Law (James 2:10).
In fact, all men both Jews and Gentiles are guilty of breaking the Law, whether the Law of Moses, for
the Jew, or the law that God has written in mens hearts which includes the Gentiles (Rm 2:14-15). All
men are lawbreakers, and thereby come under the curse of the Law death.
Men need to be saved from that curse and they learn that they cant save themselves. Thats why God
had always planned to send them a Savior Jesus Christ.
Christ redeemed men from the curse of the Law how? By becoming a curse for them; by taking the curse
of death upon Himself. In fact, God used the very manner by which Jesus was put to death the cross as
a means of proclaiming Jesus to be His chosen Redeemer.
Implanted within the Law that God had given Moses was the instruction to hang on a tree the body of one
put to death for sin, showing that man to be accursed of God (Deut 21:23). It was in this way that God
clearly portrayed Jesus to be the One whom He had appointed to take the sin of men upon Himself, as well
as the curse of death which they had earned, in order to free men from both sin and death. The curse of the
cross became our source of blessing.
And that blessing was for both Jew and Gentile, who enter into it by faith. This is the one and only way for
men to be justified before God, by which they receive the blessing of Abraham which we see that Paul is
expanding to its full concept as an eternal inheritance everlasting life, through the Life of the Spirit whom
they have received, in believing.
Paul went on to write of how the inheritance had been guaranteed to Abraham by God through the covenant
God made with him. That covenant, having been confirmed in type by Christ, could not be changed; not
added to, taken away from, or replaced.
That was exactly what the false teachers were trying to do in Galatia; they were trying to add the works of
the Law to the faith, through which alone the promises found their fulfillment.
Paul has shown that the works of the Law cannot justify a man; and that the Law did not in any way change
the covenant that God gave to Abraham for everlasting life. Neither one of these was the purpose of the
Law. But it was God who gave the Law; therefore, it must have a purpose.

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Gods Word does not ever return to Him void, but accomplishes what He wills; and it prospers in the thing
for which He sends it (Is 55:11). So having shown what Gods purpose is not, for the Law, Paul next
addresses what Gods purpose is. It does accomplish what He wills; and it does prosper the thing for which
it was sent.
Were going to begin by reading the whole section, to maintain the continuity of the letter.
[Read Galatians 3:19-29]
Lets return to verse 19, as Paul begins to list Gods purposes in giving the Law. Paul says the Law was
added because of transgressions. Now, you may remember that Paul had just previously said that nothing
can be added to a confirmed covenant. Yet now Paul is saying that the Law was added. In the English, this
may seem a bit contradictory; but not in the Greek.
These are two different Greek words for add. The first, found in verse 15, conveys the idea of
supplementing an agreement already made; an additional arrangement. But here in verse 19, this other
Greek word for add means literally, to place beside. The Law was given, not as a supplement to the
promise, but separately from it, after it, accompanying it.
And why was the Law given? Paul writes, because of transgressions. Men violate the will of God. But
how do they know when they are in violation? So what God has done is He has revealed His will,
expressed it, in the Law; and then men can see when they are in violation of the will of God; they can see
that they are lawbreakers.
By the Law is the knowledge of sin (Rm 3:20). The Law is like a mirror, to show men what they are:
sinners. The Law, then, was not given to remove sin; it was given to reveal it.
Notice that Paul then qualified his statement: till the Seed should come, to whom the promise was made.
That little word till tells us that Paul is writing of a period of time, that comes to an end. What we see is
that Paul is showing how Gods plan, concerning the Law and the promise, unfolded over time; how they
stood in relation to each other, through time.
First, the promise was given to Abraham; then, 430 years later, the Law was given, but only for a time. Till
when? Till the Seed came, to whom the promise was made. Who is this Seed? We just need to think
back to Pauls point in verse 16, where he showed that Abrahams Seed, ultimately, is Christ.
It is interesting that Paul says the promise was made to the Seed. That Seed, Christ, was in Abraham when
God covenanted with Abraham concerning his inheritance. Christ is the true heir to the promise of
Abraham; He is the heir of all things (Heb 1:2).
The Law was added, but only temporarily; until the Seed came. It is not that the Law was abolished after
that; but it had, by then, completed its essential purpose for which God gave it, according to His plan.
Now, the promise was given before the Law, and it continued to exist, unchanged, during the time of the
Law. Then when the Seed came, the Christ, the covenant was ratified in real-time in His blood, and the
promise of the eternal, heavenly inheritance was made available to men. How long will this promise, and
its fulfillment, be in force? Forever. So the Law was temporary; the promise is eternal.

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Paul makes the further point that the Law was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now, at
the time that the Law was given on Mount Sinai, Scripture does not directly reveal the presence of angels,
but it is alluded to later in the OT (Deut 33:2, Ps 68:17).
In the NT record, Stephen states before the Sanhedrin that the Jews received the Law by the direction of
angels (Acts 7:53) and the writer to the Hebrews refers to the Law as the word spoken through angels
(Heb 2:2).
This means that angels were present at the giving of the Law, and that the LORD spoke through an angel or
angels in delivering or pronouncing the Law to Israel; perhaps it was the angel of the LORD, in a
preincarnate appearance of the Christ. So an angel or angels were a go-between, in the giving of the Law.
Paul says in addition that the Law was administered by the hand of a mediator. Now, who was the mediator
of the children of Israel? Moses. Moses was the go-between for God and the people.
Lets recollect what the typical pattern was, there. Moses would receive the LORDs words; he would
communicate them to the people; the people would disobey the word of the LORD; and Moses would go
back to God, report on what the people had done, and receive Gods judgments concerning them.
Can you ever remember a case where the people received commendation from God? No, only judgment.
The Law was fulfilling its intended purpose; it was showing the people to be lawbreakers, and subject to
the judgment of their holy God.
Now, in Jewish writings outside of Scripture, the fact that angels and the great Moses were involved in
administering the Law enhanced the glory of the Law. Even Scripture bears witness to this Jewish
perspective of the Law as glorious (2 Cor 3:7-11). No doubt, the false teachers showed forth the Law that
way; that was likely part of its mesmerizing effect on the Galatians.
But Paul will show through this passage that these mediators actually put the people at a greater distance
from God; in a sense, it kept them from Him as long as they sought out Gods approval through the Law.
Now Paul will bring out a fundamental difference between the Law and the promise.
v. 20 The words mediate and only are not present in the original; it actually reads, Now a mediator
does not for one, but God is one. A cryptic sentence until we relate it back to the issue at hand: the
purpose of the Law, and its relation to the promise.
It was the Law that was appointed through the hands of a mediator, Moses. The very fact that there was a
mediator shows that there were two parties to mediate between; God and man. After all, the Law was a
covenant; and each party had their part to uphold, for it was a conditional covenant.
So whats the problem with that? Think back on the experience of the children of Israel. The problem is
that man can never keep his part in a covenant of works; he will always fail. This shows the inherent flaw
in a covenant in which man is one of the covenanting parties.

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Then Paul says, But God is one. Remember that Paul is comparing the Law with the promise of God
the inheritance of the land that was promised to Abraham.

That inheritance was sealed with a covenant, which we looked at last week. Who was the one with the
possession, the ownership? Thats the LORD God. And who will receive the inheritance? The Seed, Christ.
And how was the covenant confirmed ratified? In the blood of those sacrificed animals, which pictured
Christ. And who were the covenanting parties who passed between the pieces of the sacrifices? In type,
Christ.
So does this covenant, in any way, depend on man? No; only on Christ. This is an unconditional covenant.
God is one; He covenanted with Himself to ensure that what He promised would be made good. Man is not
involved; so there is no possibility of failure; the promise is sure. And as we have seen, in its fullness, that
promised inheritance is for eternal Life. So the covenant of the Law must fail, due to man; but the
covenant of Abraham, based on the Christ, stands.
Paul continues to explore the relationship between the Law and promise.
v. 21 When Paul asks this question, he is not asking if the Law works against the promises of God,
hindering it. What he is asking is if the Law competes against the promises of God; that is, is it an
alternate route to eternal Life; does it provide another way to become righteous?
We can tell this is his meaning, because Paul then goes on to express that no law can give Life and make
one righteous; if it could, would God not have given such a law, and spared His own Son? Of course. But
God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all (Rm 8:32) because it was the only way.
So does the Law compete against the promises of God? Paul answers his own question certainly not! No
law can give life to men, for they are sinners; they cannot keep it. You see, Paul did not want to leave the
false teachers with any loopholes through which they could continue to hold out the Law as a way of
justification.
Apart from faith in Christ, then, that leaves men unjustified which Paul expresses next.
v. 22 Who is Paul including, in his all? Both Jew and Gentile, here all are confined under sin. Here,
Scripture is personified it acts as a judge.
We had seen Paul personify Scripture back in verse 8, where the Scripture preached the gospel to Abraham.
In that Scripture is Gods Word, we could say it speaks and acts for Him. So it was God who preached the
gospel to Abraham, and God who shut men up under sin.
Paul expands on this in his still-future letter to the Romans. Turn to Romans chapter 3. Paul was showing
that both Jew and Gentile are equally under the condemnation of a holy God.
[Romans 3:9-18]
v. 9 we here are the Jews. The previous section of Pauls letter to the Romans shows that both Jew and
Gentile will come into the judgment of God.

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This next section is a quote from various passages in the OT, mostly the psalms.
v. 10-12 They are unprofitable to God; that is, they no do not serve His purposes. These speak of
unrighteousness in the inner man. These verses are from Psalm 14:1-3 and Psalm 53:1-3.
v.13-14 These speak of unrighteous words. The verses are drawn from Psalm 5:9, 10:7 and 140:3.
v. 15-17 These speak of unrighteous actions. Verse 17 is found in Isaiah 59:7-8.
v. 18 Theyre all rebels. From Psalm 36:1, concerning the transgression of the wicked.
So as Paul says in Galatians, the Scripture has indeed confined all under sin.
[Return to Galatians]
So God, through His Word, has shut up all men both Jew and Gentile under sin. Here sin can be seen
personified as a jailer. This is like a maximum security prison, and the prisoners are on Death Row. No
matter what a man does, he cannot get himself out. He can rationalize his sin; he can say the Judge is
unfair; he can say he was falsely accused; he can say he was framed; he can say he didnt do it; he can try
to break out, by his own efforts; he can even deny that he is in a prison!
Nonetheless the Judge has made His decision, and the prison is completely secure. No matter what way a
man tries, he cannot get himself out. This indeed is the pit of despair!
But into that pit of despair, shone a beacon of Light. Man cannot get himself out of this prison, but the
Judge is so compassionate. The Judge Himself secures some new evidence, which allows Him to declare
man not guilty, and to free him of that prison, forever. Man can be acquitted based on the evidence of
what Christ has done, in his stead. And based on that evidence, the Judge has opened up a Door (Jn 10:7)
in the prison, and left it wide open.
The Light streams through that Door the Holy Spirit, leading to Christ and all a man need do is to
follow the Light to the Door, recognize that Door is his way out, and go through it. Then the man will be
free forever free.
What we see is that God has confined all under sin, but He has also provided a way to be freed from sin
through believing into Christ. In fact, Paul is meaning even more than this he is meaning that God has
intentionally confined all under sin why? Because then they will know they are sinners, and need Him to
save them which He does. This is the one and only way that God can give them the promise of everlasting
Life through the death of Christ, which they enter into by faith.
All men both Jews and Gentiles are confined under sin. But Paul indicates one group in particular that
are under additional confinement.
v. 23 Throughout verses 23-25, Paul employs the personal pronouns we and our to qualify one
particular subset of mankind. Here he writes of them as those who were kept under guard by the Law.
Who would that be? The Jews.
Paul is continuing with his analogy of a prison here, now with the Law being the jailer. All men, both Jews
and Gentiles, were shut up under sin. The Jews were additionally shut up under the Law. We can think of

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this as the solitary confinement cell within the maximum security prison. By the way this cell shares
the same Door out as the prison!
But meanwhile, are the men in this cell still in the prison? Yes. Are they still on Death Row? Yes. But
they are isolated from the other prisoners, in their additional confinement; they are guarded over, so that
they are additionally secured. This cell keeps them in, and it keeps others out.

And what are the Jews being kept for? For the faith, which would afterward be revealed. Paul had opened
verse 23 with, before faith came literally, before the coming of the faith. This speaks of the Coming
One in whom the faith is placed Christ Jesus. The Jews were being kept under guard by the Law until
their Messiah came.
Paul then springs off of this metaphor, of how the Law kept Israel, into another metaphor, which completes
his picture of the purpose of the Law. The second metaphor speaks of the Law as a tutor.
v. 24-25 Now, we think of a tutor as a teacher. But the Greek word for tutor here is paidagogos in the
English, we would say pedagogue. Literally in the Greek, it means child leader.
Although it came to mean teacher, pedagogue originally referred to the slave who was appointed as the
guardian of the young children in a Roman household; they were kept in his custody. This guardian would
train and discipline the children, but he was not their teacher.
Instead, this slave was the one who would take the little ones by the hand and lead them to school, where he
would turn them over to the schoolmaster. This slave cared for the children until they reached maturity
considered 13 or 14 years of age in that ancient culture.
Here Paul uses the imagery of this guardian slave to portray the relationship of the Jews to the Law. The
purpose of the Law was to keep the nation of Israel to maintain its unity as a nation, separate from other
nations.
One reason for this is that the LORD formed Israel for Himself and chose this nation to be His own people,
who would, one day, represent Him to the other nations of the earth, so that they may also know the LORD.
Another reason is that the LORD intended to bring forth His Christ from this nation He formed which we
will discuss in chapter 4.
So we see Gods additional purpose for the Law in keeping Israel a distinct nation. The Law provided a
hedge of separation between Israel and the other nations. But the Law had yet another purpose.
It was the Law which brought the Jews to Christ; just like the guardian slave brought the young children to
the schoolmaster. How did the Law do this? It wasnt just that the commandments of the Law gave the
Jews the opportunity to see that they were sinners, and that they couldnt make themselves righteous by the
Law.
The ceremonial Law revealed the Savior to the Jews, in its types and shadows so that when the faith came
when their Messiah actually came to the earth, and died, and rose again they were able to recognize
Him from their Scriptures assuming they had kept the pictures true to type.

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So this is how the Law brought the Jews to Christ. By faith, the Jews let go of the hand that led them there
the Law and justified by faith, they now became the Masters Christs.
Of course, once they become the Masters, they were as children who had now come of age; they were fullgrown sons of God; so then, they would no longer be under the Law, would they? The Law had faithfully
done its job, to lead them to Christ just as the guardian slave had led the children to the schoolmaster, and
they were no longer under the slave.

Paul has shown the threefold purpose of the Law. It was given so that men could see that they were
sinners; whether they had the Law of Moses, or the law that God wrote on their hearts. And the Law was
specifically given to the Jews to keep them separated as a nation; and finally, to lead them to Christ,
through the types in the ceremonial Law.
Once the Jews had placed their faith in Jesus as their Messiah, they were then equipped to share Christ with
the Gentiles. This is the pattern which we have seen again and again in the early church.
The Law could not save; it could not justify; but God did have a purpose for it, which complemented faith.
The Law prepared men to place their faith in Christ, and introduced them to Him. So we see that the Law
was indispensable; separate from, but complementary to the promise of eternal Life that came by faith.
Having shown the special purpose of the Law concerning the Jews, Paul now shows the result for both Jew
and Gentile, who have placed their faith in Christ.
v. 26 In verse 22, we saw that the Scripture has confined all under sin both Jew, and Gentile. Now we
see that all both Jew and Gentile are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Both Jew and Gentile
were set free from the bondage of sin; and the Jew was additionally set free from the burden of the Law,
from trying to keep it. Remember its the same Door; the same way out.
Previously, Paul had said that those who are of faith are sons of Abraham, meaning that they are like him,
in being justified by God through their faith. Now Paul shows that faith makes them no less that a son of
God.
In context with verse 25, what Paul is saying is that a believer is no longer a child. In the ancient world a
child had no rights, no power, no say, and no freedom. To be a son was to come of age, to be considered a
mature adult. A son entered into his privileges as an heir, and was free to act for himself; and to be
responsible.
But Paul does not simply say that believers are all sons; he says they are sons of God. We are so used to
that term that we fail to appreciate its significance and its privilege.
How is it that believers are sons of God? Through being born from above; born of the Spirit (Jn 3:3, 5); it
is a heavenly birth; a spiritual birth. Now, what comes forth, in a physical birth? A physical body. What
would come forth in a spiritual birth? A spiritual body.
The glorified body is what is born of the Spirit our eternal inheritance; and the Spirit within the believer
now is the guarantee of that inheritance (Eph 1:14). God sees us as already complete His full grown sons
in our glorified bodies.

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Paul then goes on to explain further his statement that believers are all sons of God.
v. 27 Paul is explaining how it is that believers are sons of God; it is by virtue of being in union with
Christ, through the Spirit. This union is realized through faith.
It is by faith that you identify yourself with Christ. You are then baptized into His death, by which you
make your exodus out of the old man, Adam that condemned creation. You are buried with Christ,
through baptism into death taken out, separated, from this world and its corruption.

And just as Christ was raised from the dead in a body of glory, you are raised in a new life through the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit to your spirit (Titus 3:5).
By the Spirit, you are baptized into one body (1 Cor 12:13) the Body of Christ. You are now part of that
new creation in Christ Jesus to walk in the newness of life one day in a glorified body, but even here
and now, as if you already are.
Being baptized into Christ, you are immersed in Him, by the Spirit; and He fills your being, by the Spirit.
You are now in Him; and He is in you.
Another way to see this is that the one who places his faith in Christ has put on Christ like a garment. In
Scripture, the garment is a symbol of character. As garments clothe the outer man, character clothes the
inner man. To have put on Christ is to put on His character. It is to possess His righteousness; that is now
the definition of our character.
Paul proceeds to show the implications of what it means to be in Christ.
v. 28 Paul references three divisions that men use to categorize people, and they would seem about as
extreme as possible, in that day; virtual opposites. We have the cultural opposites: Jew and Greek; the
economic opposites: slave and free; the gender opposites: male and female. In the social context of the
day, these differences translated into division, partiality and prejudice.
Paul was saying here that these differences do not exist in Christ Jesus in what way? Paul explains
because we are all one in Christ Jesus. Was Paul trying to do away with the order and distinction in
society? Not at all.
It goes back to Pauls point in verse 26. Believers are all sons of God in Christ Jesus. The differences
between people have to do with their earthly circumstances, and with the earthly body they have been born
into. One is born a female Gentile slave; one is a free-born Jewish man; and so on.
But now, believers have been born again, born of the Spirit, a son of God. God sees believers as complete,
in their bodies of glory; and in those bodies, no such distinctions exist.
Paul wants the Galatians to begin to see themselves as God sees them: all of them equally His sons, all of
them freed from sin and death (and the Law), all of them a heavenly people. And the source of their
equality is also the source of their unity the Holy Spirit, through whom they are one in Christ Jesus.

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Remember Pauls earlier point, back in verse 20: God is one. He had covenanted with Himself, to ensure
that His promise would be made good; and it was, in Christ. We, having received that promise of eternal
Life through believing into Christ, are now made one with Him in the Spirit.
The covenant of the Law, which depended in part on men, could not but fail. It kept men at a distance from
God, because of sin; it required a mediator, a go-between, who was constantly working to try to reconcile
the two parties.
Where the covenant of the Law could not but fail, the eternal covenant with Abraham, which depended
only on God, could not but succeed. Jesus is the Mediator of that covenant; He mediated peace once and
for all through His death. Then, through the blood of Christ, we enter into that covenant. We are no longer
afar off; through Christ, we have drawn near to God so near, in fact, that we are One.
One in Christ. In perfect union with Him, through the Spirit. You cant get any closer than that. It is the
place of greatest fellowship, of greatest intimacy. It is the place of perfect Love.
Jesus spoke of this union with his disciples just before He went to the cross. Turn to John chapter 17.
This was Jesus prayer of intercession for His disciples. His prayer was not just for the disciples who were
listening to Him, that night; His prayer was for all of His disciples, down through the age; it was for you,
and for me. Jesus even mentions us in the prayer! We find that in verse 20 just before He speaks of the
unity that we would have with Him.
[John 17:20-26]
v. 20 Those who will believe in Me through their word. That includes the Galatian believers, who
received the Word from Paul; and it includes you and me.
v. 21-23 Jesus likens the oneness that we have with Him, through the Spirit, to the oneness that He has
with the Father! They are one God; inseparable; one in thought, desire and purpose, always acting in
perfect union with each other. Yet they are distinct persons, with distinct roles in the execution of their will.
And so it is with us; perfect union in Christ, with God and with one another; different roles, but one mind
Christs. We are made perfect in One.
Notice that Jesus states that this oneness has a purpose: that the world may believe that You sent Me.
The purpose is to draw others into this marvelous union of One.
v. 24 Jesus asked the Father that believers may join Him, thinking ahead to His return to heaven, when He
will once again share the glory which He had with the Father before the world was (Jn 17:5). We will one
day soon be with Jesus where He is in heaven and there, behold Him in all of His full, resplendent
glory.
As we are one with Him, we, in some way, partake of that glory, as well. Even now, He has given His
glory to us the glory that the Father gave Him (v. 22) through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit glorifies
Jesus to us (Jn 16:14); He reveals the reality of who Jesus is, and what He has done, to us.
v. 25-26 Perfect in One; perfect in Love. This is the union that we have in Christ, and with one another,
through the Holy Spirit.

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10

[Return to Galatians 3]
Having reflected on that perfect union that the Galatians now have in Christ with one another, as sons of
God, Paul then sums up his argument.
v. 29 Paul has made the point that in believing into Christ Jesus, we are baptized into Him; we now live in
Him, by virtue of the Holy Spirit. We are therefore the seed of Christ; His spiritual seed. Christ is the Seed
of Abraham; therefore, that makes us the seed of Abraham as well.

The seed are the heirs of the promise; of what the owner has promised them. To Abraham and his seed
were given the promise of eternal life, by the LORD who is the possessor of that Life. He has promised
eternal Life for all who believe.
When is it that the heirs come into their inheritance? When the owner dies. Christ has died and through
His death, His seed, the seed of Abraham, have come into their inheritance eternal life, in Him.
Until September read Galatians.