Meditations in Galatians #16, Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Galatians 3:19-22

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"Why the Law, then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the Descendant would come to Whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only, whereas God is only one. Is the Law then contrary to the purposes of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scriptures has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might might be given to those who believe."

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So, You only intended the Law to deal with transgressions from Moses' time until Abraham's Descendant, Jesus, received the what You promised to Abraham, the Resurrection from the dead!

Father, how was anyone supposed to figure this out? I mean, who knew that the promise You made to Abraham, was actually meant for Jesus? I didn't. If Paul had not written this one sentence, I don't see how anyone would have understood it this way. And I am not saying that I really understand anything. Is this another case of us today not knowing something that was common knowledge in the first century? It doesn't look like that to me. But how could Paul have gotten this from the account of Abraham's life in Genesis? I can see that Matthew 1 emphasizes Jesus' heritage from Abraham, and Jesus emphasized Abraham's spiritual children over the biological ones, but only Paul says the promise of eternal life was actually promised to Abraham's "Seed/Descendant" Jesus, because of the singular form of that word in the Bible verse he is referring to. I guess for most people, this is just an example of revelation through Paul. It seems to me that Paul must have either explained this to the Galatians earlier, or it was already well known. I guess I'll never know. It's just a little frustrating sometimes when "lost information" suddenly shows up without explanation, and it feels like we were supposed to have known it.

I'm sorry. Ummm.... Are You saying that this is not the last time this will happen? I'm going to find more of this? O wait...Do You mean that I/we might yet discover some things that relate to Abraham but were not recorded by Moses, or even Paul? And that this in no way undermines or weakens the Bible? .....You are saying that we already have!

When we see the parallel between Jesus' carrying His cross to Golgatha, and Isaac carrying the wood up Moriah, we see meaning that helps us to understand both in ways that the Bible does not mention. So we can't know all the things You revealed to Abraham and Moses that You did not want recorded, but there are things You want to reveal to us, that they did not need to know. OK, like what? Abraham did not know there would ever be a Mosaic Covenant? Well, why would he? But Jesus told us the story in which Abraham tells the dead rich man that his family should learn from Moses and the Prophets? Abraham did not know this when he was alive, so Jesus is revealing that Abraham, even after he died, must have been kept aware of the history of his descendants. And what did Jesus intend us to learn from that? Well, Jesus is at least saying what Paul is saying to the Galatians here, that the Law was not contrary to the purposes of God, and that it did not interfere with His promise to Abraham and to his Heir. But in Jesus' story Abraham was not telling the dead rich man that his family needed to become righteous through the Law, but that the Law would show them their need to repent.

I want to know more about the impossibility of the Law producing righteousness, and why that concept is still such a problem for so many people. But I know that You want us to actually be more concerned about the Laws we make up for ourselves in our own hearts, because we can deceive ourselves in the same way. OK. I'm listening.

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Some of Paul's written prayers show there is more for us to learn. Click here.

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Thank You for giving me a few minutes of your time. Galatians is a unique letter. It will take some time to get into Paul's mind, and from there to understand what God has chosen to reveal through the disaster that the congregation at Galatia was experiencing.

The effect of these Meditations will be cumulative, and the real benefit may have nothing to do with what I have written. I believe that the discipline of having a brief daily conversation with God about the meaning of a variety of Bible passages over a period of a few weeks, even if you come to some very different conclusions, will still be a wonderful and enlightening experience for you. At DeadRight.net, under the Yellow Pages, is some background info about Galatians. If you missed an earlier Meditation, you can still read it at DeadRight.net by going to the homepage, clicking on Newsletter, and clicking on "browse previous newsletters