Opening Up
Member testimony: have one member share his or her two-minute story of faith.
Earlier in Galatians 3, God announced his plan to save his people through faith in his promises to Abraham, the “man of faith” (Gal. 3:9). In today’s passage, Paul considers the role of the law, which came much later than Abraham’s era.
It’s important to note that Paul is not writing about each person’s individual experience of the law, but of the different stages in salvation history.
Digging In
Describe the strictest babysitter or teacher you ever had. Why was he or she so strict?
Why don’t you need a babysitter or guardian now?
In today’s passage, we will encounter the strictest guardian of all time!
Read
Galatians 3:15–25
The Law and the Promise
15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
Children of God
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
Digging In
3. Once someone has made and signed their will, no one else can cancel or change it (v.15). How does Paul relate this to the covenant God made through Abraham (v.15-18)?
4. Who is the ultimate heir of God’s promises to Abraham, and why (v.19)?
5. If God’s law cannot impart life or save anyone, what role does it play in God’s great plan of salvation (v.19-25)? In what sense was the law a guardian (v.24)?
6. What does the world need most (v.22)?
The law as guardian kept people alert to the reality of sin and God’s holiness. But as we saw in 3:10, anyone who keeps trying to follow the law is in a cursed state. No one can keep it perfectly. This guardian law is very, very tough, but its role doesn’t last forever—it is guardian only until Christ arrives.
7. Consider your answer to Q. 2. How do maturing men and women of faith resist the temptation to slip into legalism (trying to keep the law) as we live for God day to day?
Taking it with you
Nominate someone to give a two-minute testimony at the next study.
Share one thing from this study that you can share with someone at home or elsewhere.
Pray for one another.