Read Galatians 3:13-21.
This passage of Scripture, Galatians 3:13-21, is Good News! We are now under Grace and not under the law. We’re free from the law. I don’t have to perform according to the law for God to love and accept me. When I believed in Jesus Christ, I received God’s approval and promise of freedom.
The covenant God made with Abraham is irrevocable. God gave the promise to “Abraham and his child.” The "Abraham and his child" to which the promise was given represents Abraham and his descendant, Christ. The covenant with Abraham is one of grace. There was no law Abraham had to keep to receive it. If the law had been in force at that time, some of the things Abraham did would have broken it. There was no law until it was given to Moses 430 years later on Mount Sinai. And that law given to Moses didn't cancel the covenant of grace that God had given to Abraham. If it had been canceled, God would have broken his promise.
Abraham's covenant of grace is still in force—just as the law is still active. Abraham’s covenant of grace is received by faith through Jesus Christ, who perfectly fulfilled the requirements of the law. Abraham's faith in God was credited to him as righteousness. Jesus, as our perfect mediator, has met the requirements of the law and set us free. We are heirs to Abraham's promise, and faith in Jesus is credited to us as righteousness. Jesus has paid what the law requires because we never can. We live in the freedom of His Grace and not in debt to our sins.
The law only exposes and gives power to sin. It doesn’t make us righteous. We are made righteous by faith in Christ. Those who depend on the law to make them right with God are cursed by it because it is impossible for them to keep the whole law. They erroneously believe that their good performance will make them acceptable to God.
Only faith in Jesus sets you free from the condemnation and judgment of the law! To perfectly keep the law (which is still active just as every other covenant made by God is active) you can't fail one law. If you fail one law, you have failed all of over 600 laws. Only Jesus could perfectly mediate for our inability to keep the law. He was our perfect sacrifice. He became the curse for us because we can’t save ourselves! In Jesus, we are free from having “to do anything” to be saved. We believe by faith, and faith in Jesus makes us righteous to God.
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses?” Paul asked the Galatians. “Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it” (Galatians 3:2-4, NLT)?
What about you? Are you striving to be perfect when Jesus has made you righteous by faith? You can't make yourself righteous by keeping a law. That becomes self-righteousness. After accepting Jesus as your Savior, do you bear the weight of guilt from sin, which Jesus bore for you on the cross? Have you experienced the grace of Jesus for nothing? When you have a revelation of who you are in Jesus, you are forever changed by the Holy Spirit. Living for Jesus doesn't come by self-effort. It comes from the gift of His Grace within you.
“The law was our guardian until Christ came.” Paul wrote. “It protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian” (Galatians 3:24-25, NLT).
If you believe the Good News of Jesus, you are accepted and approved by God. Jesus has made you worthy. Nothing you do makes you worthy. The law is no longer your guardian. You live by faith.
“You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you” (Galatians 3:26-29, NLT).
The promise was given to Abraham and his child. And now because of Christ, you are also an heir to God’s promise of salvation! By faith, you are saved! Nothing of yourself! Christ makes you free! Nothing you do gives you freedom. You are a new creation in Christ! Nothing you have—nothing you do—has the power to give you a new life where the old is completely gone. Only Christ gives new life! Allow the Holy Spirit to teach you in His Word the new you that He has made you! Believe in the promises you have received in Christ!
We decide which covenant under which we live. I choose Grace.
©2021 Lynn Lacher
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