Galatians 3

Does Hagar represent the Jews in slavery under the law while Sarah represents the Christians in freedom under grace? That's the conventional interpretation of Paul's parable in Galatians 4:22, but this teaching turns over that common interpretation by revealing the Jewish background to the story.

In Messiah, "there is neither Jew nor Greek," so that makes us all the same? Wrong! When Paul declares that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile in Messiah, he does not mean to imply that Jews and Gentiles forfeit their unique roles and identities. This important teaching compares "One New Man Theology" and "One Law Theology," revealing them to be two sides of the same coin of replacement theology.

"We were held captive under the law ... imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed ... but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian" (Galatians 3:23-26).

How long were the children of Israel in Egypt? Was it 430years? If so, how do we account for 430 years over only three generations? In Galatians 3, Paul employs a rabbinic tradition about the duration of Israel's sojourn in Egypt, interprets the "seed of Abraham" as a reference to Messiah, and compares the Torah to a competing inheritance document.

What does it mean that Messiah has become a curse? Paul says, "Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah by becoming a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). Paul reinvents a popular anti-Yeshua taunt derived from Deuteronomy 21:22-23 to argue that the Messiah's suffering and death releases those who rely upon him from the cruse of the Torah. 

Paul says, "The Torah is not faith." This seems to imply that, if you want to be a person of faith, the one thing you chould not do is observe the Torah. Does this make sense? In Galatians 3:11-12, Paul quotes Leviticus 18:5 and Habakkuk 2:4 in a manner consistent with rabbinic interpretation to establish that it is not the hearers of the Torah who will be declared righteous but the doers of the Torah. 

Has anyone ever warned you that you might be placing yourself under a curse by keeping the Torah? Paul says, "As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse" (Galatians 3:10). What's the "curse of the law" and how does it apply? 

Were the Old Testament saints saved? Did they know the Gospel? After all, the Bible says that "Scripture ... preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham" (Galatians 3:8). This teaching, with reference to the ingrafting of the Gentiles in Romans 11, reveals the "gospel reached beforehand to Abraham" to be identical to "Paul's Gospel." 

Have you ever heard of faith versus works? The theological argument about whether God saves a person by grace alone or if a person's obedience and good works are a necessary part of the equation is old as the New Testament itself. This teaching offers a resolution of the classic faith-versus-works debate through exploring Paul's theology of justification for the circumcised and the uncircumcised. 

Order the book, Holy Epistle to the Galatians.

Have you been "bewitched" by legalism, as Paul says: "O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you" (Galatians 3:1)? This teaching offers a look at how Paul seemingly contrasts the Spirit with the Torah in first verses of Galatians 3.