The Superiority of the Promise to the Law

So far, Paul in chapter 3 has been proving that the Law has been set aside. And this is a hard nut to crack with some people. It's hard for people to hear that. You say to people, "The Law is done away." Really? The Mosaic Law is gone? Yep, it's gone. He said that in the first fourteen verses. Now he's going to show them why. And the key problem you have here is that if the Law has been done away, then why was it given in the first place? He's going to talk about that in this section. He's going to say four things about the Law, and the first one is that the Law is not a part of the promise. It never was. It is not a part of the promise. He uses an illustration here, and then he applies that illustration.

I. The Law is Not Part of the Promise — 3:15-18

A. The Illustration — 3:15

The first illustration is in verse 15. He says, "Brethren, I speak as the manner of men, though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it." No one ends it, no one tears it up or adds to it, except the people who made the covenant.

The Judaizers were teaching that the Law changed the promise by adding works to it. The Judaizers had been saying the Law changed the promise — the Law changed the promise, it added to it. And he says, "No, no, you can't do that." But look how you do contracts. If you make a contract, say to buy a car, you sign it, and the owner says, "We'll do these things," and you do these things, and you sign it, and nobody changes that. My neighbor came to me and said, "Well, I'm going to change your contract with the dealer down here" — can't do that. That's what he's saying.

One of the best methods for teaching is to go from the known to the unknown. See, the best method for teaching, one of the best, is to go from the known to the unknown. They know what a contract is. They know what it's like to sign your name on something and say, "All right, this is what we'll do." Nobody can change that except the two people who signed it, or as many as there were. So he's going from that and saying, okay, now you understand that — that's what you do.

See, men — in covenants of men, if it is confirmed, no one changes it but the parties who made it. They would cut an animal in two pieces. See what they would do — they didn't just shake hands. They would take an animal and cut it in half, and they would lay it out like this. And then when you made this covenant, the two of you would walk between the pieces. And the idea was, I'm going to do this, you do this, I'll do this, you'll do this, as you walk through, reciting the terms of the covenant. And then they would say, "If I don't keep this covenant, may I be like these animals? May I be like them?" Shedding the blood there says, this is true, this is what's going to happen. Only they could change the covenant. That's the way men did it. So he says, okay, if that's the way you do it here among men, that's exactly what God does. See, that's the illustration.

B. The Explanation — 3:16

Now the explanation is verse 16. "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'And to your Seed,' who is Christ." The stress on "Seed," not "seeds," is to remind the readers — the faithful in Israel had always recognized that the covenant with Abraham, "I will bless the world by your seed," was not saying all the Jewish people were going to bless the world. One seed, and that Seed is Christ. So he's saying the blessing ultimately comes through that single individual, the Messiah (3:19).

The first verse in the New Testament makes that point. If you open your New Testament, the first verse is this — Matthew chapter 1, verse 1: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham." Why did Matthew start that way? Well, because he's introducing this Messiah. He's introducing the one, the Seed from the Abrahamic covenant, way back there, two thousand years before Christ. So he's introducing Him and saying, Abraham spoke of a seed, and the Seed is here in Messiah.

And the promise was made to Abraham, way back in Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 to 3.

1. God Told Him — Genesis 12:3

There were no requirements placed upon Abraham. God told Abraham — He just said, "Here's what I'm going to do." Now, how many times does God have to say something before it's true? One. One time, right? It doesn't have to say more than once, just once. God says, "This is what I'm going to do." No requirements upon Abraham. He doesn't say to Abraham, "Now you have to do this. If you do this and this and this, then I'll do this for you." Or, "I'm not going to do that unless you do yours. If you stop doing yours, then it's all over, I quit." Not that at all. It was unconditional.

He promised him three things: land, nation, and blessing — and all of those are unconditional.

1) Land — the land is expanded in the Palestinian Covenant, Deuteronomy 29 and 30.

Abrahamic Covenant — 2) Nation — the nation promise is expanded in the Davidic Covenant, 2 Samuel 7.

Genesis 12:1-3

3) Blessing — the blessing promise was, first of all, given through [the Mosaic Covenant — Exodus 19-20]. Problem: the Mosaic Covenant is not an unconditional covenant. The Mosaic Covenant is conditional. And so with the Mosaic Covenant, you say, well, why then was the Mosaic Covenant brought in? We'll see in a minute. But the Mosaic Covenant is there, and then later on, God does away with the Mosaic Covenant. What? Yeah, He does away with it. It's gone. The Mosaic Covenant is no longer here. Can I say that often enough? I'm going to keep on saying it, because that's what the Bible teaches. You're going to see it no clearer anywhere than here in this passage. So the New Covenant comes in and takes the place of the Mosaic Covenant — New Covenant, Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8. We've talked about this before.

Now, that's the — Abraham says, "Okay, I heard You. You said You were going to give me a son." If he's going to have a multitude of ancestry, if he's going to bless the world, he's going to have to have at least one son to begin with. You can't have ancestors unless you have a son. You understand, don't you, that in order to have your ancestry as the stars of the heavens, one has to come first — it's like getting olives out of a bottle. The first one has to come out, then the rest of them will come out. He doesn't have one.

2. Abraham Asked for Confirmation — Genesis 15:8

Heifer — goat — ram / dove — pigeon.

And so Abraham asked for a confirmation. He says, "How do I know?" What? You're talking to the God of the universe. But Abraham doesn't know Him very well yet. He believed God, but — okay, but how are You going to show me this? And the way they used to do that in Abraham's day was the cutting of the animals. God said, "Okay, I'll tell you what we'll do. You get yourself a heifer, a goat, and a ram, and cut them in half and lay them out like you do in a man's covenant" — and the dove and the pigeon, don't cut them up, they're too small, just lay them out there.

God put Abram into a deep sleep. Abram could hear what God was saying, but he was asleep — like a vision. And during that time, instead of Abraham walking through here with God, Abraham said, "I'll do this," God said, "I'll do this, I'll do this" — no, Abraham's not there. Where's Abraham? He's asleep on the side. So He's making this point: if you have a covenant among men, you walk through saying, "I'll do this, I'll do this." That's it. But we find in chapter 15 of Genesis that a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed through the pieces. Those are symbols for God — just God. God the Father saying to God the Son, "This is what we're going to do. I'm going to send You there. You're going to die on the cross. You're going to save men. They'll die — they'll have salvation by faith in Jesus Christ." That's what they were doing. And Abraham didn't have a thing to do. Abraham was just there.

What was Abram doing? Taking a nap. He could not be a party to the covenant! That means that the Abrahamic Covenant was unconditional. He didn't have to do a thing except believe.

And in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 17 — very interesting, this is looking back at that covenant — the writer of Hebrews says God took an oath to Abraham. First of all, God said it, and that's enough. But God, willing to make the covenant even more plain, He swore an oath. He took an oath by Himself, that by these two things, His word and His oath, it might be settled.

Now, did you ever see the movie Oh, God!? What's the guy's name? ... George Burns — thank you. George Burns was God, and he appeared to — whatever — and they came into court, and they say, "Do you say You're God?" He's on the witness stand, and they say, "Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" What did George Burns, playing God, say? "So help me, Me." You can't swear by anybody higher. And so God, willing to make His covenant sure to them, said, "I'll swear by Myself that this is true." Now, so that's Genesis 12 — He told him. Genesis 15 — He gave him the covenant. So that's the explanation.

C. The Application — 3:17-18

Now, the application — He's saying, why say all this? What's he talking about? He's talking about the fact that the Law has been done away. The Law can't change the Abrahamic Covenant.

1. The Law Came too Late — 3:17

So he says the Law came too late. Verse 17 says this: "And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect." It can't do that. The Law came 430 years later. It's not a part of that original thing, and only the parties who made the covenant can change the covenant. So it's impossible — it came too late. The Law was not a party in the Abrahamic Covenant. It came along 430 years later.

2. The Law Contradicted the Promise — 3:18

Also, the Law contradicts the promise. For he says, "If the inheritance is of the law, then it's no longer of promise; and God gave it to Abraham by promise." You can't mix promise and the Law together. They are contradictory. See, Abraham's covenant was unconditional, and no requirements from him were needed to produce it. And the Law was conditional.

The Law said: "Do this and you will be blessed."

The Promise says: "You have been blessed, do this."

Conclusion: the Law cannot, did not, and will not change the promise. Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness — that's Genesis chapter 15, verse 6, God told him that, and then it says Abraham believed God and that was counted to him for righteousness — what is he saying? He's saying that you don't have to do anything except believe. If God says, "I'm going to do this," you believe that — that's all there is to it. You don't have any part of it. You know, that's the way salvation is — that's where he's going with this. Salvation is like that. God has already made salvation; God has already paid, in Jesus Christ, for your sins on the cross. What do you have to do? Well, "you have to do this and this" — there are lists of things like that, that people say you have to do. Wrong. And you know what they do? They leave out "believe." That's it. You believe, you have eternal life. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. You believe God — "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Do you believe that? You believe that, and you have eternal life. See, nothing to do. You believe it, just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness — you believe God, He'll count it for righteousness as well.

So also anyone in any age who believes God has the assurance that God accepts him on the basis of that faith. So some indignant Judaizer might respond with these objections when Paul insisted that the Law:

Could not give the Holy Spirit (vv. 1-5);

Could not bring justification (vv. 6-9);

Could not alter the permanence of faith (vv. 15-18); but does bring a curse (vv. 10-12). (see note below)

Paul's been saying all of that. They might object to that. Well, Paul's going to talk about that as he goes on.

So the Law is not a part of the promise. And he says also, the Law is not on a par with the promise — it's not as high as the promise.

II. The Law is Not on a Par with the Promise — 3:19-20

A. The Law Came because of Disobedience — 3:19a

(The Promise Came because of Obedience)

The Law came because of disobedience. The promise came because of obedience — Abraham believed God. So what purpose then does the Law serve? It was added because of the transgression, added because of the sin. As we went down from history — down 2,000 years, Abraham; 1,500, Moses — at that time sin was so ripe, they had to have some law codification that says, "Here's what you have to do. Do this, do that, and you'll be — not saved, not justified — but you will be at least in a right relationship with God." You do that in order to, as someone has said, "keep body and soul together." Because many times the Law says, "If you do this, you die" — you know, pick up sticks on the Sabbath, and you'd be killed. So you do that to please God.

The Law was given as a means of checking sin. It served as a restrainer of sins by showing them that transgressing God's Law would bring God's wrath. Keep it from happening — to restrain sin by showing them that transgressing God's Law brings God's wrath.

B. The Law is Temporary; the Promise is Permanent — 3:19b

But the Law is also temporary; the promise is permanent. The Law, the entire Law, was given only until the Seed, to whom the promise was given (v. 16), should come. The Law was temporary — it says, "until the Seed should come." Who's the Seed? Jesus Christ. The Law came about 1500 BC, until Christ came, until the Seed came. And when Christ died on the cross, the Law died. What? The Law died. The Law is no more.

I know someone came to me and asked this question, and I was so happy, because that person had been listening, thinking: "Well, if the Law's done away, didn't the Law say don't steal? Is it now okay to steal?" Very good question. And I said, "No, no." The Law, "thou shalt not steal," is also in the New Testament. The New Covenant says, "Don't steal." The New Covenant says, "Don't commit adultery." All ten of the commandments are reiterated, restated in the New Covenant, the New Testament — except for one. If you don't understand this, you should have been here yesterday. The fourth commandment is, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Not in the New Testament, not in the New Covenant. It's not a part of the New Covenant. It was a part of the Old Covenant. So we don't keep that one. And unless you understand the Law has been done away, you should have been here yesterday with your animal, so I could kill it. I was here — nobody came. Why? Because you understand the Law has been done away.

C. The Law Required a Mediator; The Promise has None — 3:19c-20

So the Law was brought by disobedience, the Law was temporary, and the Law required a mediator, in verses 19c and 20.

1. The Law had a Mediator — 3:19c

Why do you have to have a mediator? Well, some here say two mediators — the angels and Moses. I think not; I think that Moses was the mediator. Remember, up on Mount Sinai, God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, and Moses brought them down to the people. There was a mediator between God and the people. That was it, because you had two parties — you have God, you have the people, and you have to have a mediator between the two. In any case, the Law was not a direct revelation as the promise was.

2. The Promise has No Mediator — 3:20

Now, the promise — he says in verse 20, the promise had no mediator. He says, "Now, a mediator does not mediate for only one, but God is one." So there was no mediator in the promise. God just spoke to Abraham — no mediator between them. Well, wait a minute — God spoke to Abraham, no mediator? Why? Well, because the promise is not conditional. The promise is unconditional. And so, no mediator, because God is one. God made it. Remember, God's walking through here — the Father and the Son walking through. Abraham is not a part of it. There is no mediator because God is one. There's no mediator; He didn't need one. God said, "I'm going to do this," and that's it. Once God said "I'm going to do it," that's all there is to it. So He's saying, "I'm going to do this for you." Remember that the two persons walking through the slain animals were the Father and the Son, one God. In effect they were saying, "This is what we will do."

So the Law is not a part of the promise. The Law is not on a par with the promise. And the Law had a purpose in the promise. The Law is not totally irrelevant, in other words.

III. The Law Had a Purpose in the Promise — 3:21-25

A. The Law was Given to Demonstrate Man's Weakness — 3:21

The Law then — verse 21 says, "Is the law then against the promise of God? Certainly not!" One of my favorite expressions in Greek — μὴ γένοιτο. Now, don't say it wrong — the Greeks say it this way. Sometime learn that, so that if your husband says, "Let's do this," and you say, "Mē genoito," he'll know that you mean no way, not going to happen. That's what he's saying here. Is the Law against the promises of God? No. The Law had a part in that. "For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law." So he's saying, if God had given man a part in salvation, then man couldn't do it.

You know, some people would think that when we get to heaven, God is going to have a big scale up there, and all your good deeds go on this side and all the bad deeds go on that side, and if the good deeds are more, they go down — and, well, I think maybe it would go the other way. But in any case, even if God said, "Okay, I'll judge you on your good works" — remember, He requires perfection. How many here are going to make it? You're not going to make it, I'll guarantee you — I'm not either, of course. Nobody, because man couldn't perform it if God had done it that way. God said, "No, I'll do it, I'll take care of it." Do you believe that? Okay, that's it.

"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ... and were by nature children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:1, 3). You can't do anything to please God. All your righteousness — Isaiah says — are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). You have nothing on the good side. You have all on the bad side, because everything righteous you try to do, it's not good — it's as filthy rags to God. So the Law was given to demonstrate man's weakness. You can't do it.

B. The Law was Given to Display Man's Sinfulness — 3:22a

And the Law was given to display man's sinfulness. "But the Scripture has confined all under sin." The whole world is trapped under the dominion of sin. Romans 3:9 says this: "For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin." Everybody. Everybody's under sin, no matter who you are.

Romans 3:23 — we know that one, don't we? We don't know it quite the way it ought to be, but you know part of it. You've probably heard it said, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Wrong. What? "All sinned" — not "all have sinned." All sinned, and are coming short of the glory of God.

What's the difference? Well, what it means is this: all sinned — when? Let's look at it as one event. It happened at one time. When did it happen? When did all sin — in Adam? Whoa — in Adam. When Adam sinned, we all sinned. That's what he's saying. He said the same thing in Romans 5:12. All sinned — when Adam sinned, you sinned. So we're all under sin. Hebrews — sometimes read Hebrews 7:16 and 17; that explains that a little bit. But we all sin — not all have committed sin, but all sinned in Adam. Then he says we then continually fall short of the glory of God — that's personal sin.

Now, here's a word: you are not a sinner because you sin. You sin because you're a sinner. You started out that way. You were born that way. You sin. So the Law displayed that. The Law showed that every person is a sinner.

This is not saying that "all have committed sin." It is saying that "all sinned in Adam." Then he adds that all continually fall short of God's standard — His glory. That is personal sin. You are not a sinner because you sin. You sin because you are a sinner. The Law displayed that.

C. The Law Was Given To Drive Man to Christ — 3:22b-25

Now, so the Law was given to demonstrate man's weakness. It was given to demonstrate man's sinfulness. And the Law was also given to drive man to Christ. It says this — the Law was given "that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe."

Verse 23 says: "But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor, our teacher, to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under the tutor, no longer under the Law." Now, he'll give more about this in chapter 4. But what he's saying is that Israel — not we Gentiles, but Israel — was under the Law, way back here, under the Law, 1,500 years. Israel was under this tutor to teach them — teach them, "You're a sinner. And if you will turn to Jesus Christ, to God in Christ, then you will receive salvation. You're a sinner, you're disobedient, and you have to go to Christ in order to be justified." That's what he's saying.

Knowing that we are sinners, we are now in a place to receive salvation by believing — just as Abraham did. So knowing that we're sinners, then, we're now in a place to receive salvation. You can't be saved until you know you need to be saved. So just as Abraham did — Abraham believed God, it was counted to him for righteousness. So Abraham was declared righteous by faith. You know what that means, "declared righteous"? It means that Abraham believed God, even though he wasn't righteous personally — he believed God, and God said, "Okay, I'll count that as righteousness. You are My friend, you are in relationship with Me, because you believe God, you believe Me." And this is what happens at salvation. At salvation, when you believe that Jesus Christ died in your place on the cross, you believe Him — when you do that, God says, "Okay, you're righteous." It's a bookkeeping term — credit and debit. All you have is debits, and God gives you a credit that covers all the debits. That's what he's saying.

"God made Him, Jesus Christ, the one who knew no sin, to be sin for us, in order that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). What happened? Well, when I believed on Jesus Christ, He took my sin — all my sin — and placed that on Jesus Christ. My sin is paid for on the cross. He took His righteousness and placed it on me. So now I'm righteous. You want to see a righteous person? Here I am! Because I do righteous things? No. But because I have Jesus Christ as my Savior — He died in my place on the cross, He took my sins, He gave me His righteousness. And everyone who believes in Jesus Christ gets that righteousness. See? That's it.

Abraham was declared Righteous by faith; so are we! What do we have to do to be saved? Believe — or else throw away the Gospel of John. And that is the only way anyone can be saved, and we are driven to that conclusion by the Law.

And so we are all sons of God through faith. So now that faith has come, we're no longer under that tutor. The Law is not a part of the promise. The Law is not on a par with the promise. The Law had a purpose in the promise. Now, one more thing: the Law's prospects were inferior to the promise.

IV. The Law's Prospects were Inferior to the Promise — 3:26-29

The prospects of the promise are these — first, it has higher promises.

A. Higher — 3:26

Verse 26: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ." We're all sons of God through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Now, that's pretty high. If you were sons of the devil — excuse me for saying so — now you're sons of God. That's higher. The Law could not get you up there. The Law could get you excluded from the wrath of God, but the Law can't get you up there as sons of God. You're all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Under the Law we — Israelites — were children. Now we are all sons of God. They were in the household of Israel, but they weren't in God's elite group, which reaches to the throne of God. You just can't get much higher than that.

"Sons of God" implies inheritance — Paul uses that term in two ways:

1] Passive inheritance, which is possessed by all believers. It includes eternal life, entrance into the Kingdom, justification, sonship, and so forth. Ephesians 1 tells us this — we are blessed with all the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

2] Active inheritance, which is possessed by faithful believers. It includes rulership with Christ — if we suffer with Him, we'll reign with Him — and all the privileges that go with it. That's earned; that is earned when we serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul uses the former in Galatians except in 5:19-20, and possibly 6:7-9 (cf. Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:14).

B. Deeper — 3:27

It's also deeper. "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Baptism here is certainly Spirit baptism. We do not enter the church, the family of God, by water baptism — we enter by Spirit baptism. "By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13). That's Spirit baptism.

This relationship is deeper than any other relationship. Jesus said — remember, they said to Him, "Your mother and Your brothers are outside," and He looked around at the people who were with Him, His disciples, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers" (Matthew 12:49). That's the relationship we have with Him. We are brothers with Christ.

C. Wider — 3:28

Now it's much deeper, but it's also wider. Verse 28 says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, but you are all one in Christ Jesus." Wow — all one. All of us who know Jesus Christ as Savior are in one group.

No national differences: Jew/Greek. There's no national difference — Greek or Jew, no difference. Now, it doesn't mean that they stop being Jewish or stop being Greek — they remain Jew and Greek, but they have no special place with God, no matter what nationality, what color, what creed, or whatever you have. You are no better with God than the one next to you.

No social differences: bond or free. Back at that time they had slaves, and the slaves were in the church, but the slave and the owner are on the same level. Philemon is a good example of that. Both slave and owner are on the same level.

No sexual differences: male or female. The males are regarded no higher than females. So the ground is level — just as the ground is level when you come to Christ, just so the ground remains level in the church.

Now, you might ask, "Wait a minute — we don't have women preachers." Well, I didn't say that the equality means there's no difference in station in the church. It's like in the home — there's one male, one female, hopefully; one is the leader. The husband is the head of the home. Why? Because he's a man? No — because God said he's the head. And so there are different ways in which we serve the Lord, but we are no different with the Lord. We are still on one level there.

D. Longer — 3:29

And then verse 29 says, it's also longer. "If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." The Law went from about 1450 or so up to the cross — 1500 years total. That's not very far. But he says, concerning the promise, Abraham's seed — we're Abraham's seed way back to Genesis 12, and all the way as far as you can see, as far as you can imagine — forever. Because Abraham's seed are the sons of God.

Now, all who are of faith belong to Christ. All who belong to Christ are Abraham's seed. They are also heirs according to the promise. Heirs — this again refers to the passive inheritance, which has been granted to the sons by adoption (cf. Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:14).

Conclusion

The Law has been done away, but the Law was important. It was important to bring us to Christ, to show our sinfulness, to show our need for a Savior, and then to show who that Savior is — Jesus Christ. So we're not putting down the Law. The Law was holy, it's good and righteous, but it did its job, and now it's gone. We are under grace. And the salvation that we have is salvation by grace, by grace through faith, plus not one thing. That's his point.

Note: Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983–c1985). *The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures* (2:599). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.