Doctrine of the New Covenant, part 3.

Title: Doctrine of the New Covenant, part 3.  

 

 

Paul relates the fulfillment of the blessing of the Abrahamic Covenant to all families in Gal 3.  

 

Gal 3:1 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

 

Col 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

 

Gal 3:2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

 

Gal 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected [matured] by the flesh?

 

Gal 3:4 Did you suffer so many things in vain —  if indeed it was in vain [if what I have heard of you is wrong]?

 

Gal 3:5 Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

 

Because there was no provision in the Mosaic economy for an indwelling Spirit who would sanctify the believer as that believer trusted Him for that work, the Galatians were turning away from the teaching and the reality of the ministry of the Spirit in the life of the believer in this dispensation of grace, and were starting to depend upon self effort in an attempt to obey an outward legalistic system of works.

 

Gal 3:6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

 

The gospel came into the world that possessed a definition of righteousness that fell far short of God's righteousness. God's righteousness can only be had by faith.

 

Righteousness in the profane mind is more often than not a social virtue, only with a certain religious background. In pagan Greece the dikaios (righteous) person is he who does not selfishly transgress his accepted bounds. However, though he gives what is due to others, he must not forget about himself. He still desires what is his, and does not withdraw the assertion of his own claims. In other words, others are thought of and given to, but self and self-desires are also asserted. Christianity has constantly combated this view. 

 

Rom 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

 

Rom 10:2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

 

Rom 10:3 For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

 

Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

 

Paul at one time also had a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

 

Php 3:1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.

 

Php 3:2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision;

 

Php 3:3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,

 

Php 3:4 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:

 

Php 3:5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;

 

Php 3:6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.

 

Php 3:7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

 

Php 3:8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,

 

Php 3:9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

 

Php 3:10 that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

 

Php 3:11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

 

Gal 3:6 Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

 

Divine righteousness is the state called forth by God's act of justification. He removes the sinner's guilt, imputes righteousness, and then justifies.

 

Justification is the act of God removing from the sinner his guilt and the penalty incurred by that guilt, and bestowing a positive righteousness, Christ Jesus Himself in whom the believer stands, not only innocent and uncondemned, but actually righteous in point of law for time and for eternity. This is what God did for Abraham when he believed Him. This is what the Judaizers were attempting to merit for themselves by their own good works.

 

Gal 3:7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.

 

The Judiazers were under the impression that if anyone was to participate in the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant, they had to be inducted into Judaism by circumcision.

 

Gal 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify [present tense: God justifies] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham [long before he was circumcised], saying, "All the nations shall be blessed in you."

 

By the use of the word "and," Paul asserts that the blessing of Abraham, namely, the one he received from God, justification, was received by him through faith, and that it is through the exercise of a like faith that the Gentiles become his spiritual children, and not through submission to circumcision.

 

blessed - justification by faith. We would have to add all that comes with that justification as grace gifts to the believer.

 

We also have in verse 8 a wonderful expression of God's foresight. God saw the justification of the Gentiles almost 2000 years before it would happen.

 

Gal 3:9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

 

The Gentile by faith becomes a child of Abraham. This is not a genetic thing but an ethical thing. He does not become a Jew. Metaphorically speaking, faith in the gospel promise is akin to the one who had faith in the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant.

 

Abraham became the pattern to all who would follow, of how a sinner, Jew or Gentile, must appropriate salvation.

 

Joh 8:56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."