Faith Has Always been God’s Plan (Galatians 3:10-14)

"For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.' Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.' But the law is not of faith, rather 'The one who does them shall live by them.' Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'--so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith" (Galatians 3:10-14; English Standard Version).

Continuing in our study of Paul's letter to the Galatians, we are currently in the doctrinal section of his letter. As we noted last time, Galatians chapter 3 presents several arguments that Paul uses to support his thesis of justification by grace through faith in Christ alone. The first argument (which we studied last time) was the argument from a believer's experience, and it answered two questions: How did you come to Christ, and how are you built up in Christ? The answer to both questions is by faith working through the Holy Spirit.

Paul's second argument is the argument from Scripture. What does the Bible itself say about this matter of justification? Now, you might be thinking, "I thought we were finding out what the Bible said in regards to justification." Yes, we have, but from a New Testament perspective. When Paul wrote this letter, the New Testament was just being written. So when Paul quotes Scripture, he is quoting the Old Testament—the Bible the Jews (and Jesus) was familiar with. What we want to discover is whether or not the Old Testament supports the New Testament teaching about justification by faith. In the passage before us, Paul presents four Old Testament proofs for his thesis; and I want to look at all four of them.

1. The law only brings a curse ("Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them"). It always amazes me that people who preach law and legalism gloss over this passage. If you're going to snub your nose at God's grace, you better be able to follow the law perfectly in every detail. James writes in his letter, "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it" (James 2:10). Think about this for a moment. This might seem awfully harsh, but suppose you were convicted of first degree murder. What good do you think it will do you to tell the judge that you never broke the speed limit, never got a parking violation, never cheated on your taxes, never jay-walked, never committed arson, etc.? The judge is going to say, "Sir, all that doesn't matter, you broke the law by committing murder." If that holds true for a human judge in a human court of law, how much more so in God's courtroom where the Judge is holy, righteous and perfect? If you're going to preach the law, you better live by the law!

2. Righteousness comes by faith ("The righteous shall live by faith"). You may recall this from our study of Habakkuk because Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 here. This is such an important Old Testament verse that Paul quotes it twice in his writings; here and in Romans. I know some people who think (in fact, I used to think this way too) that the Old Testament is radically different from the New Testament; i.e., that the two testaments tell two different stories. This couldn't be more wrong! The whole Bible, both Old and New Testaments, tells a single, coherent story of mankind's creation, fall, redemption, and glorification; all accomplished by God's grace through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. God has operated differently toward mankind throughout redemptive history; most notably through the old and new covenants (read the book Hebrews to see the differences between the two covenants). But while God has operated differently in the different covenants, the road to salvation has always been the same: Through faith. In this the two testaments are in complete agreement.

3. Law and faith are mutually exclusive ("The one who does them shall live by them"). This is a quote from Leviticus 18:5 and proves that law and faith are mutually exclusive; you cannot mix law and faith. Law says, "I can do it," and faith says, "God has done it." In the book of Romans, Paul writes, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). "Wages" implies work which implies law; whereas, "gift" implies grace which implies faith. The bottom line here is that if you're trusting in the finished work of Christ to save you, then there is nothing you can do to save yourself. Conversely, if you're working to earn your salvation, then you're not exercising faith in what Christ did to save you. The two are mutually exclusive. As Paul said at the end of chapter 2, "for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose" (Galatians 2:21).

4. Christ bore the curse of the law ("Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"). This is quoted from Deuteronomy 21:23. What makes justification possible is the fact that someone took the curse of the law meant for us. The perfect Son of God allowed Himself to be crucified (hung on a tree) which according to Jewish law was a shameful, accursed thing to have done. He offered Himself up as a curse to redeem us from our curse for failing to keep the law. This is a corollary to the first argument. Since the law only brings a curse (because of our utter inability to keep it in all points), the curse must be dealt with in order for God to provide salvation to those who have faith.

Application Time: Paul presents a clear case for justification by grace through faith from the Old Testament Scriptures: The law only brings a curse; righteousness comes by faith; faith and law are mutually exclusive; and Christ bore the curse of the law. How does this apply to us? Take a look at Paul's closing point in this passage: "so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles [that’s us], so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith." God wants us to live in victory and blessing, and that comes from living by faith. Paul makes a big deal about this, and for good reason; we like legalism because it's a way to keep score. We can look at someone who has committed adultery and say, "Poor soul, well I guess he wasn't holy enough." How sad! Faith sets us free from all that!

Bottom Line: I close with this verse from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, which sums up these arguments Paul presents: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Have a blessed day!

Back to “Galatians” page.