Click Here to Read Galatians 3:15-29

This portion was a little bit confusing for me and sent me down a rabbit hole researching the Abrahamic Covenant for more understanding.  It is fascinating and I still need to dig into it more, but I did get some clarity that I can offer here in case you run into some of the same questions I had.  Let’s talk about verse 16 where Paul is talking about the promises being made to pass on to Abraham’s “Child” not “children”.  Some translations say “Seed” not “seeds”.  I went back to Genesis and looked through all the promises God made to Abraham and I could not see this.  All translations I looked at say either “descendants” or “offspring”.  I was puzzled because we can see here that Paul made it a point to bring up the distinction between Child versus children because it speaks to Jesus being the Child of promise.  After reading and re-reading Genesis 12 through 24 I finally looked up the Hebrew word for descendants and what do you know, it is “SEED!”  And if we go all the way back to the third chapter of Genesis we find where the “Seed” was first mentioned.  “And I will put enmity (open hostility) between you and the woman, and between your seed (offspring) and her Seed.  He shall (fatally) bruise your head, and you shall (only) bruise His heal.” (Gen. 3:15 AMP).  We know this speaks of Jesus, so the promised Seed is Jesus, the Messiah.

In verse 19 Paul talks about the reason for the law and why it was different from the covenant between God and Abraham.  It was interesting to me that it says Moses was the mediator between God and the Israelites; the law was given (through angels) to Moses and Moses delivered it to the Israelites.  Moses represented the two parties that were involved in law.  But God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham that only He was responsible to fulfill.  If we look through the promises that God made to Abraham in Genesis, we notice that God obligates himself with the unconditional declaration “I will”. See Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 13:15, Genesis 17:2-8.  Also in Genesis 15:9-18 Abraham prepares the animal sacrifices to seal the covenant but only God passes through them.  “When the sun had gone down and a (deep) darkness had come, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch which passed between the (divided) pieces (of animals)” (Gen. 15:17 AMP).  Here we are again, God does everything.  His covenant was not contingent on anything Abraham or anyone else would do.  It was all on Him to fulfill it and He did.  Though the law was given 430 years later it did not supersede what God had already sealed.

If the covenant was already in place, why was the law given at all?  Paul says it was to show us our guilt.  You don’t look for a savior until you see that you need one.  It was that way for me.  I saw just how far I could get myself.  It was like I had reached a wall and could go no further but I knew if I could just get on the other side of it there was so much more.  I tried to climb the wall, go around it, under it, even ran into it a few hundred times.  Nothing I could do got me to the other side.  But the moment I began to put my faith in Jesus I suddenly found myself on the other side of that wall.  Colossians 1:13-14: “He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of his beloved Son.  For in the Son all our sins are cancelled, and we have the release of redemption through his very blood.” (TPT).  There is no law we can keep that will bring us new life.  Our salvation can only come through Jesus.  “But the scriptures make it clear that since we were all under the power of sin, we needed Jesus!  And he is the Savior who brings the promise to those who believe.” (Gal. 3:22).

The law leads us to Christ because it shows us our sinfulness.  I love how verse 27 says faith immersed us into Jesus.  “Immersed” makes me think “all the way in”.  Faith puts us all the way into Jesus.  Nothing is left uncleansed or uncovered: “…and now you are covered and clothed with his anointing” (Gal. 3:27).  What does that mean?  The Amplified is a little more descriptive: “For all of you who were baptized into Christ (into a spiritual union with the Christ, the Anointed) have clothed yourselves with Christ (that is, you have taken on His characteristics and values)”.  I am clothed in Jesus!  You are clothed in Jesus!  And this is what unites us together and makes us all heirs of Abraham and his promises.  In our former (natural) state we may have many differences that separate us, but united in Jesus we are all spiritual heirs according to God’s promise.  We have the same purpose that Jesus had: reveal the heart of the Father.  Tell of what He has done, show how He loves, bring others into the freedom we have found. 

“Four you (who are born-again have been reborn from above – spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified and) are all children of God (set apart for his purpose with full rights and privileges) through Faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26 AMP).

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank you for the law.  For without it we would never know how much we need Jesus.  Thank you for the gift of faith that moves us from darkness into your glorious light.  Thank you for immersing us into Jesus and clothing us in his anointing.  Help us to see how you have done this for us personally, in our own lives.  Bring us into a better understanding of our unity in Jesus.  Remind us of the blessings that we have inherited as descendants of Abraham through faith.  Give us opportunities to share this faith with others around us so that they too can inherit the promises of the kingdom realm.  Amen.