Galatians 3:23-4:7 "The Inheritance" Children, what does it mean to be a son of God? And especially for you girls, why would you want to be a son of God? Paul is talking about the inheritance and in the ancient world the inheritance was something given to sons. If there were no sons, then, maybe a daughter could inherit but generally only sons received the inheritance. So then, what is the inheritance? Paul says that we are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. (3:29) What is the inheritance that we receive? Plainly it is the inheritance promised to Abraham. 3:18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. What was the inheritance that God promised Abraham? In the OT the inheritance was understood to be the Promised Land. But Paul says in Romans 4:13 that this was the promise that he would inherit the whole world! In Galatians 5:21 Paul speaks of our inheriting "the kingdom of God" and in 6:15 he speaks of the "new creation" as the thing that counts. So the inheritance is alternately described as the whole world, the kingdom of God, and the new creation. And this is what Jesus has received. In verse 16 Paul insisted that the promise of the inheritance was to Jesus the offspring singular. Jesus has received the promised inheritance. He has entered the new creation He has established the kingdom of God He has inherited the whole world. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. 1. Faith and Baptism (3:26-29) How do you become a son of God? Paul says that there are two parts to this. 1) for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. It is through faith that you are called a son of God. As John puts it, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13) Paul has just finished saying that the law was given as a guardian (or paedogogue) in order to imprison everything under sin, "until the coming faith would be revealed." In other words, Paul is contrasting two ages the age of the law and the age of faith. 2) for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (3:27) Notice the second "for." Paul says that we are no longer under a guardian "for" in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. And you are all sons of God through faith "for" you have been baptized into Christ. I want you to see the big picture of what Paul is doing here. The orthodox Judaism of Paul's day found their identity in two things: circumcision and the law. The boundaries of Judaism were clearly demarcated around circumcision and the law. Remember the problem with Peter in chapter 2? The Judaizers were saying that Jewish Christians could not have table fellowship with Gentile Christians, because Gentile Christians were not circumcised and did not observe the law. In response Paul says that the boundaries of Christian fellowship are not circumcision and law, but baptism and faith. Notice that Paul does not say that baptism and faith fit as one-to-one replacements for circumcision and law. If baptism simply replaces circumcision, then Paul could have said to Peter, Hey, Pete, the Gentiles were baptized, so eat with them! What's the problem with saying that baptism simply replaces circumcision? Baptism is to circumcision what faith is to the law, what Jesus Christ is to Moses. If all you do is make a one-to-one correspondence between circumcision and baptism, then you're doing what the Judaizers did! You wind up with a Jesus who is just like Moses! A faith that is just like the law! Baptism is as much better than circumcision as faith is better than law, and Jesus is better than Moses! Because baptism is the sign that the new creation has come. Think about the various pictures of baptism in the Old Testament. The flood (1 Peter 3). In the flood God saves one household through water the same waters that destroyed the wicked and through water God brought about a new creation. The Red Sea (1 Cor 10). Paul says that Israel was baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. God saved one household through water, destroying Pharaoh's armies, and establishing a new humanity Israel. Leviticus speaks of the consecration of the priests, and of the cleansing of the unclean through water. Ezekiel 36 promised the day would come when God would sprinkle clean water on his people. So every Israelite knew that washing with water was a sign of the new creation. And when John the Baptist came baptizing with water for repentance, no one asked him what baptism meant! They only asked him why he was doing it! But of course, baptism for the Judaizers was all about Israel. Israel needed to be cleansed (that was what Ezekiel had said!). Sure, Gentiles needed to be cleansed as well, so Gentiles should be both baptized and circumcised! They needed to believe in Jesus and follow Moses! And to this Paul says NO! For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. For Paul this is not a statement about your eternal election nor is it about your individual assurance. This is about where do you draw the lines of Christian fellowship! When he says "as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ," he is saying something very similar to what he says in 1 Cor 10 about Israel being baptized into Moses. In the same way that Israel was publicly declared to be God's son through the Exodus, so also the church is publicly declared to be God's household in baptism. In this sense "to put on Christ" is analogous to his statement "now that faith has come" (v25) or "until Christ came" (v24). The way that you are identified as part of the people of God has changed. Circumcision is no longer relevant. Observance of the Mosaic law is no longer a mark of your identity. This is why Paul can say in 5:4, "you are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace." The reason why he can say that a person can be severed from Christ, is because they were publicly identified with Christ in their baptism they had "put on Christ" and were counted as sons of God through faith. Verse 28 points out that baptism not only replaces circumcision, but it also expands it! There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. The Mosaic economy restricted the sign of the covenant to Jewish males. Paul points out that baptism is for all kinds of people. The Galatian church was in danger of being divided into Jewish churches and Gentile churches. Paul's application of this principle to slave and free, as well as male and female, rebukes us as well. Because the church today, like the Galatians, tends to divide by race and class as well. We have churches that target the wealthy and highly educated. We have churches that target the poor. And every ethnic group has their own denomination! And it's easy to understand why: we are more comfortable with people "like us." What Paul is doing is completely redefining what "like us" means! Paul says that you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. Are they identified by faith and baptism? Then they are "like us!" This is why Michiana Covenant has only two requirements for coming to the Lord's Table: 1) baptism 2) faith. To add anything beyond what the apostles required would be to make the same mistake the Galatians made. If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. 2. The History of the Son of God (4:1-5) Paul now explains how it is that we have become heirs of the promise. And he does so by describing the history of the people of God as the history of the son of God. Israel is my son, my firstborn (Israel in the wilderness = the terrible twos!) The paedogogue the disciplinarian Jesus Christ is the Son of God come to maturity. How then do we relate to the law? As a faithful servant who has fulfilled his task. Would you beat him? No, you would love him for his faithful service. But would you let him order you around? Would you let him beat you? Conclusion: How do we come to maturity? Through the Spirit of his Son Eph 4:13-15