This week, we are looking at a section of a letter called the book of Galatians. Yesterday, we saw a man named Paul provide two pieces of evidence to prove that religion does not make us right with God. First, Paul revealed that God’s standard was clearly communicated from the beginning and has not changed. To be in a right relationship with a perfect God requires perfection. Paul then quoted and Old Testament verse to provide the evidence that the person who is right with God is right with God not because of what they did for God by keeping a list of rules for God.
A person who is right with God is right with God because they have faith in God and live their life by faith in God and His promises. A person who is right with God and who will experience eternal life in the relationship with God that they were created for will live a life of devotion to Christ based on their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. Paul then hammers his point home by providing a third piece of evidence in verse 12:
However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM."
Here we see Paul reveal the stark contrast between the religious centered life that tries to be right with God based on keeping a list of rules for God with a gospel centered life of devotion to Christ based on their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. The Apostle simply says “However, the Law is not of faith”. In other words, Paul is saying “living a religious centered life and living a gospel centered life are incompatible. You cannot live a religious centered life and a gospel centered life”.
Paul then reveals the reason why the Law was not compatible with faith by quoting a section of a letter in our Bibles called the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus 18:5, God clearly tells the Jewish people that eternal life through God was achieved through keeping the Law perfectly. In other words, God was saying “only the person who keeps the Law shall gain eternal life through the Law.”
Paul’s point is that the religious centered life and the gospel centered life are incompatible, because the gospel centered life experiences eternal life based on placing one’s confident trust in what God has done through Jesus. The religious centered life however, only experiences eternal life by perfectly keeping God’s commands. And no one perfectly keeps God’s commands, do they? Whether or not you buy into the Jesus, Bible, church thing, our culture readily recognizes this reality. We even have a phrase that we use to acknowledge this reality, don’t we: “Well nobody’s perfect”.
And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us a timeless reason why we are to vote no on religion. And that timeless reason is this: We are to vote no on religion because religion requires a perfection no one possesses. You see, God’s standard has been clear from the beginning and has not changed. To be in a right relationship with a perfect God requires perfection. And because nobody is perfect, religion can only reveal the problem because every human being on the planet ends up breaking a rule on their religion’s list. To attempt to be right with God by keeping a list of rules for God only results in revealing that we have a huge problem with God.
You see, a religious centered life can never provide us justification; a religious centered life only reveals our condemnation. The person who is declared not guilty of having a problem with God is right with God not because of what they did for God by keeping a list of rules for God. A person who is declared not guilty of having a problem with God is right with God because they have placed their confident trust in God and live their life by faith in God and His promises. We see Paul unpack this reality for us beginning in verse 13:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE "-- in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Here we see Paul reveal for us the reality that Jesus Christ chose to do what humanity refused to do. When Paul uses the word redeemed here, this word, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to secure deliverance or rescue. What Christ rescued us from was the curse of the Law. Paul’s point here is that Jesus rescued us from the divine condemnation that humanity was under as a result of their failure to perfectly keep God’s commands. Paul then quotes from Deuteronomy 21:23 to reveal exactly how Jesus was able to rescue us from what a religious centered life was unable to do.
Jesus, as God in a bod, fully God and fully man, entered into humanity and lived a perfect sinless life. Jesus kept all of the commandments of God, which enabled Him to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. Jesus became a curse for us; Jesus represented us and took our place on the cross, where He hung and died in order to absorb the divine condemnation and punishment we deserved.
In verse 14, Paul then reveals the reason why Jesus would willingly choose to become a curse for us. Jesus allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. But what does that mean? Paul is pointing the members of the churches of Galatia, and us today, to the promises that God made Abraham, which are recorded for us in the book of Genesis. In Genesis 12:1-3, 15:1-6, and 17:1-5, God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed.
Paul’s point here is that Jesus Christ chose to do what humanity refused to do so that all humanity, whether Jew or Gentile, would have the opportunity to be declared not guilty of having a problem with God as a result of placing our confident trust in what God has done for us through His life, death, and resurrection. And as a result of believing, trusting, and following Jesus, we would not only experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for; we would also receive the Holy Spirit and have Him dwell in us.
The gospel centered life that trusts in Jesus perfection to rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion does what a religious centered life could never do, which is to meet God’s standard of perfection. You see, when we trust in Jesus as Lord and Leader, a great exchange takes place. We receive Jesus perfect righteousness and Jesus takes our selfishness and rebellion.
Friday, we will see Paul provide an illustration to unpack this truth…
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