Galatians 3:27-29 - Baptized Into Christ

Paul views the coming of Christ as the coming of a new era or the ushering in of the end of all things. But perhaps it would be better said that he views it as the ushering in of the new era. The old era of Adam and Moses is coming to a close and the age of the second Adam has come. To put it another way, the kingdoms of this world are becoming the kingdom of our Lord and Christ.

Remember how in Mark's gospel he represents the preaching of Jesus and the ministry of Jesus as an invasion of the Kingdom, or the King announcing his Kingdom? What Paul is saying here in Galatians fits that dynamic.

What he has been explaining throughout this chapter is that what we see in the Church is the fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham. Jesus is that promised offspring through whom the nations of the world would be blessed. The Galatians believing and being brought into the kingdom is a part of the fulfillment of that promise.

The Law of Moses was not in contention to the promises made to Abraham. Nor did the Law of Moses fulfill the promises made to Abraham. Nor did the Law of Moses replace the promises made to Abraham. The Law of Moses served to help bring those promises made to Abraham about. The Law could never bring life, not because of any problem with the Law, but because of the problem with us. As we have previously discussed, the Mosaic covenant served a purpose within the Abrahamic covenant, but now that covenant is coming to fulfillment in Christ and Moses has served his purpose. The theological argument Paul makes with the Judaizers is one of covenant priority. Abraham trumps Moses. And Abraham is fulfilled in Christ and the Church.

In verse 27 Paul mentions baptism--the only time he does so in this letter. We examine that in this Bible study from four viewpoints. Then we conclude by considering the ramifications of this passage to our views of Israel and the Church. The Church is not a parenthesis in redemptive history. The Church is the fulfillment of redemptive history. The Church is not a separate program God is doing, distinct from his program with Israel and existing alongside it. The Church is what Israel has become since the coming of Christ. The Church has not replaced Israel any more than the frog replaced a tadpole. The Church is what Israel was always intended to become.

The audio to this bible study is linked below. I hope you will take the time to listen and think about these things. God bless.



Click here:  Galatians 3:27-29 - Baptized Into Christ



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Galatians 3:23-27 - The Role of the Law

How do we understand the Mosaic covenant and its relationship to the people of God in the New Testament? That's the thrust of this bible study from last Wednesday night where we covered Galatians 3:23-27.

To try to understand what Paul is saying here we went back and reviewed the covenant of grace in its various administrations beginning with the proto-evangelion in Genesis 3:15 and continuing through Jeremiah 31 and Christ at the cross. But how does Moses fit into that?

Part of the problem in Galatians that Paul has been working to solve is the seeming conflict between the Abrahamic unconditional covenant of grace and the Mosaic conditional covenant of law.

What Paul has done to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory things is to teach us the true purpose of the Mosaic covenant. According to Paul, the Mosaic covenant served a specific and limited purpose within the framework of the Abrahamic covenant. In other words, Moses served Abraham. This is what we talked about last week.

There was never salvation in the law. There was never life in the law. The law condemned us and killed us. And according to Paul that was its purpose all along. In an ironic twist, then, the law becomes grace to us because it shows us our shortcomings, teaches us our true nature, and points us to Christ. And now that we are in Christ we are no longer under the law.

But does that mean we no longer have to obey God's moral precepts? Are the Ten Commandments antiquated and obsolete? We discuss all that, as well as the continuing role of the Law in the life of a believer, in this bible study. Below you will find a link to the audio recording of it. Just click the link, a new window will open on your browser and you will be able to listen to the Bible study from your computer or other device. God bless.


Click here: Galatians 3:23-27 - The Role of the Law


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Galatians 3:15-22 - Moses Serves Abraham

Paul is in the middle of his theological argument against the Judaizers, an argument which covers chapters 3 and 4 of Galatians. Here is what we have covered thus far in chapter 3:

First he argues from their experience (v. 1-5).
Then he argues from the Scripture showing how the Scripture backs up their experience (v. 6-18).

A. He first points out that Abraham was justified by faith alone. (v. 6-9)
B. Then he points out that the law brings a curse. (v. 10)
C. Next that the Scripture itself says we are justified by faith. (v. 11)
D. Then that law-keeping as a human effort is the opposite of faith. (v. 12)
E. Finally that the curse brought upon us by the law was taken by Jesus at the cross in order that he might give us the promise made to Abraham by faith. (v. 13-14)

Now, in the passage covered in this bible study, he switches gears just a little and makes an argument from everyday life, though he will still tie it in to Scripture.

Essentially his argument is this. The covenant promises made to Abraham were eternal and immutable. Something that happened 430 years later cannot change them. And those promises made to Abraham clearly stated that we are made righteous through faith. Nothing God did through Moses can possibly change that.

The covenant God made with Abraham was an unconditional covenant. That's why Paul uses the word "promises" interchangeably with "covenant." Those promises were not contingent on obedience. They were grace. They were and are for all those who believe. By contrast the covenant at Sinai was conditional and had a different purpose, as we shall see.

It has been pointed out that the promises made to Abraham are all God saying, "I will . . . " while the covenant at Mt. Sinai was all God saying, "You shall . . ."

This bible study was an important one because it helped establish the relationship between the covenant God made with Abraham and the covenant God made with the people through Moses and what that has to do with us in the New Testament. In other words it gives us the relation between law and grace. In doing so it puts a lot of things in order and in perspective as far as what we are to think about the relation of the Old Testament and the New. I hope you will take the time to listen to it and to think through these things. Beneath all this there is wonderful news. There is gospel.

To listen to the audio from this Wednesday night study just click the link below.

Click here: Galatians 3:15-22 - Moses Serves Abraham



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Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy is the re-telling or re-giving of the Law. The last of the books of Moses, this is one of the key books for understanding the whole Bible. The entire book takes place in one scene and is the last recorded words of Moses to God's people before Moses dies. In this video, I ask and John attempts to answer some important questions that will help the modern reader to understand and appreciate this book.

The first video is fifteen minutes and part 2 is only five minutes more. Those last five minutes are important, though, because that is the segment where we tie it all into Christ.

Numbers--In the Wilderness

What is the book of Numbers about? What was its original name? For what and for whom was it written? Is there anything in it that is relevant to the 21st century? Where is Jesus in Numbers?

This is the sixth video in our Old Testament series. These videos were designed to help make the Old Testament understandable for the 21st century reader. The New Testament says that God's word is alive and powerful, and when it says that, it is talking about the Hebrew Bible, or what we Christians call the Old Testament. Is it true that a dusty old Hebrew book like Numbers could have something for us today? Watch the videos and find out. Once again, Pastor John Pflug and I have a discussion. This time John asks the questions and I stumble over the answers. The first video is 15 minutes and the second one only 6 minutes more. Watch and be blessed.

Into the wilderness . . .

Leviticus

What is the book of Leviticus about? What purpose does it serve in the Bible? What are all those animal sacrifices for? Why does Leviticus have so many rules and do they matter to you and me? Do Christians have to obey all the laws in Leviticus? How does Leviticus point to Jesus?

This time I ask the questions and Pastor John R. Pflug, Jr. attempts the answers. Take a few minutes to watch and learn something about the book of Leviticus. The first clip is fifteen minutes and the second one only five. Be blessed. 

(Be on the lookout for a chart and a brief cameo from the Moses bobble head)

Exodus

Exodus is a very important book in the Bible. No doubt you're familiar with the story. What you may not be aware of is its importance in redemptive history. The total time for the two videos is only 20 minutes. The first one lasts for 15 and the second one wraps it up in 5 more.

Genesis

What is the first book of the Bible and what is it about? Does it have relevance for us today? Can we believe it? What are we to make of it and what does it have to do with Jesus?

The first video is Part 1 and it goes about 15 minutes and then gets cut off abruptly, but it picks back up again in the second video which lasts just a few minutes longer.

Introduction to the Pentateuch

What is a 'Pentateuch' and why would anyone ever need to know? Well, Pentateuch is just a fancy name for the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Books of Moses or the Torah. In our video series, John and I will go through each of those books one at a time, but first we introduce this section of the Bible in these two short videos. The first one is about 14 1/2 minutes and the second one is just a little bit short of 12. Anyone who wants to be able to read the Bible and understand what it's about and what is going on will benefit from these videos.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Isaiah 1:2 - The Witnesses Are Called

It has been pointed out by many that the opening lines of Isaiah's prophecy are an allusion to the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 which begins thus:

“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

We will find as we go along that Isaiah spends a lot of time reminding the people of their covenant with God and thus he uses a lot of the language of Moses--especially from Deuteronomy--in his prophecy.

It is good to keep in mind that as a nation Israel and Judah were in a covenant relationship with God. This, I think, gets lost a bit on us--or at least its importance to the biblical narrative--because we are not used to looking at the Bible through this lens. The prevalent viewpoint in our day has been the dispensational viewpoint which tends to downplay the covenantal aspects of God's relationship with his people. But this covenantal aspect is paramount to our ability to understand the relationship between the Old Testament (Covenant) and the New Testament (Covenant).

The Old Covenant (as St. Paul called it) was a conditional covenant. It was based on conditional promises.  Basically, it was this:  Obey me (and my commands) and I will bless you. Disobey me and I will curse you. Obey me and live and prosper. Disobey me and be cursed and die. Paul covers this extensively in Galatians and it is a major theme in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Here is that covenant as it was given to God's people in Moses's own words:

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:19,20)

In the ancient near east when men or nations made solemn agreements together, these covenants were sworn to by both parties in the presence of witnesses. Moses calls the heavens and the earth as a witness to the covenant which the people have just sworn to enter into with God. If they break the conditions of this covenant, then those witnesses can and will be called forward as a testimony against them and God will be found just in meting out judgment against them for their breaking of the covenant. In fact, Moses uses this same language more than once in warning them of what will happen to them after he dies.

Deuteronomy 4:25-27 “When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.

And again:

Deuteronomy 31:28,29 "Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

It is for this reason that Isaiah begins his opening prophecy to God's people with this language--to remind them that they are in covenant with God, to point out that they have broken that covenant, and to warn them that the witnesses of this are being called forward and judgment will soon be pronounced against them. Following the calling forward of these witnesses, God will make his case:

Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.

Although you and I are not under the Mosaic Law in the sense of being participants in the Old Covenant and its conditional promises, we still have a duty of love to live out the precepts of that law by faith and through the power of the Holy Spirit. As we delve into this case God is making against his people there are two things we should consider as we read. One is a look inward . . . How does my life measure up to God's perfect law? In what ways have I failed? Do I see myself or my inclinations mirrored in the failings of ancient Judah? The other is a look upward . . . How thankful we are as we see our own failings that One came who perfectly kept God's law and then passed the blessing and life he rightfully earned onto us, though we did nothing to deserve it.

The Ministry of the Prophet

A brief exposition of the following passage in Deuteronomy will go a long way toward helping us to understand why God sent Isaiah. Let's begin here:

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this.

God knows the human heart better than anyone. He made it. And God knows how impatient we get with life, with our circumstances, and with Him. He also knows we are fickle, unfaithful, that we are easily led astray. God gave his people the Law, and the priesthood to teach the Law. It was the duty of the Levites to instruct the people in the Torah. God also anticipated what would happen years down the road when the people saw the false worship of those around them and desired to follow some of the methods of communication which those people had invented to converse with their false gods. Let's look at them: (1) appeasement of or purchase of favor through human sacrifice, (2) the attempt to tell the future through the reading of signs in nature, (3) the attempt to communicate with the dead for the same reason.

If the highest act of virtue is bringing proper praise and glory to God, then it follows that the highest crime that can be committed is to take that which properly and only belongs to God and give it to someone or something else. If we trust in God with all our heart, then we have no need of seeking any sort of divine or supernatural knowledge elsewhere. God had called them away from superstition and false worship and toward spiritual and theological truth. To go back was a slap in the face of the Holy.

But God, in his wisdom, gives them something more than just the priests to teach them the Law. God sends them prophets. Consider the very next verses of our passage:

Deuteronomy 18:15-19 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

Did you recognize the reference to our passage from the previous post? Here, however, Moses tells us more of what God said in that day. God made a promise to send a prophet like Moses to speak to them so that He would never again have to speak to them in the way that he did that day at Sinai. There is a two-fold fulfillment of this prophecy in Israel's history. Let us look at the first:

Deuteronomy 18:20-22 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

The first part of the fulfillment of this promise is in the many prophets God sent to Israel from Moses to Malachi of whom Isaiah was one. These spoke God's word to God's people. They were to be tested for authenticity and a method of discernment is given. These did not add to the Torah in the sense of changing it or contradicting it. Their prophecies were consistent with the Torah and could be tested by it. They pointed the people back to God and to God's Law and reprimanded them for breaking it. In this they were reminders of what Moses had been and they also typified the second and truest fulfillment of the promise which is found in Jesus Christ. Observe the words of Peter in Acts 3 from his sermon on Solomon's porch:

"But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The LORD God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

There's our passage again. God promised a Prophet. All of the pre-Prophet prophets spoke of him . . . including Isaiah. They pointed back to the Torah given through Moses, but also they pointed forward to the Prophet who would come after. What was it the author of Hebrews said again? We never did finish that quotation:

"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world."

And John echoes this as well in John 1:17--

"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

This is what Isaiah is to us. He is a bridge from Moses to Jesus. He links them together.

God is Coming (A Prelude to Isaiah)

As the desert sun sets over the distant land of Egypt a people sit and wonder at what has happened to them, what will become of them. They are being led out of bondage by one who was once a great prince, but has fallen into disgrace--one of their own. They are Hebrew, descendants of Israel. They are returning home. The man who is leading them is Moses.

They have followed Moses thus far because Moses has come and announced their deliverance and the fulfillment of promises made by God to their fathers. Now God has sent Moses to them with more promises, a covenant, and a new name--YHWH. It is the name by which God has chosen to be known to them in covenant with them and it means I AM, or the Ever-living One, the Eternal Self-Existent One.

They have believed this announcement and these promises because these promises have been accompanied by many signs and wonders. God has given these as proofs, to demonstrate that he is, indeed, really who he says he is, that he can do what he says he will do, and that he is worthy of awe and wonder. These people have been delivered from bondage, from plagues, and from the sword. They have passed through fire and water. It has been three months now since they left Egypt.

The skies are darkening, though it is early yet in the day. Moses has gone up into the mountain to meet with God. A strange feeling permeates the air, a sense of foreboding almost. Men speak together in hushed tones and women keep their children close. The wind blows and the darkness grows. Many silently wonder if they will ever see Moses again. Minutes pass into hours. Someone points at something on the mountain and a speck can be seen moving back toward them, climbing slowly down. It is Moses.

When Moses returns he calls together a meeting of the tribal elders. He tells them what God has said. If they will obey God's voice, he will be their God and they will be his people. It is an offer of conditional covenant. The elders agree. The people agree. Moses returns to God on the mountain.

Now he comes back. This time he has another announcement to make, a more frightening one. "Prepare yourselves," he says. "God is coming."

There is fear. Moses follows his announcement with a set of instructions--the people are to prepare themselves to meet with God. They have today and tomorrow. On the third day God is coming.

So now the camp has been very busy. The people are consecrating themselves, washing their garments. Barriers have been set up all around the mountain so that no one, not even an animal, can get close enough to touch it. Anyone who does so will die. The tension builds. People are nervous. Men are not even allowed to touch their wives. The third day comes.

And with it comes a thick cloud enveloping the mountain, along with a thick smoke. There are thunderings and lightnings. The people stand back, afraid. Now comes a long trumpet blast. This is the signal for the people to approach. God calls Moses up to the top once again, tells him to go back, get Aaron, and warn the people for the second time not to touch the mountain. Moses does so.

Now God speaks. His voice comes at them from the rumblings of the thunder. He gives them the ten commandments. The people tremble in fear. Let's let Scripture take this up briefly and finish it from here. In Deuteronomy 5 Moses says:

“These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. And you said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? Go near and hear all that the LORD our God will say and speak to us all that the LORD our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’"

They had heard God speak and it was terrible and they never wanted to hear it again. They say to Moses, "You go up. You speak to God. You come tell us what he said. But we don't want God speaking directly to us again. It is frightening." How did God respond to this? What did he say? Moses continues:

“And the LORD heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken."

So God spoke directly only once to his people Israel. After that, he always spoke to them through proxies, through representatives--"holy men of old" Peter called them. The author of Hebrews wrote:

"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,"

What has all of this to do with Isaiah? Wait and see.