You are Set Free from Law – Galatians 3:23-29

Topic: You are Set Free from Law

Reading: Galatians 3:23-29

23 Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. 24 So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian; 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Introduction and Overview

You are set free from law in Jesus Christ. The aim of the whole book of Galatians is to drive home this point. It also shows what is possible when you believe you are set free from law.

The Galatians church was in a difficult place. Some itinerant preachers had visited saying they had to be circumcised and keep the laws of Moses. But Paul was showing the church this was not the case. You have been set free from law through your baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The contrast between a life under the law and the new life in Jesus Christ could not be more stark. Under the law, people are in bondage. They are slaves to the law, and if they break the law, they are slaves to sin. No person could ever come to perfection under the law. The promises of God to Abraham that his offspring would inherit the world did not come under the law.

All of the blessings, gifts and promises of God come through Jesus Christ. In Him we have freedom from law. We are released from the bondage of the law. We are also released from the bondage to sin that the whole world suffers under. And all of these blessings, gifts, and promises rest on faith. We must believe in what God has done and receive His gifts.

Furthermore, in Christ there are no prejudices or biases. Everyone is equal in Him. Whether you are male, female, black, white, Jew, Gentile, or anything else, we are all equal. God shows no partiality. And if we are truly following Christ, we too should not show any partiality as we walk in the faith.

Key points from reading:

• You are set free from law in Jesus Christ.
• The law was given to keep us in line, but in Christ the custodian of the law is removed.
• We stand righteous and you are set free from law by your faith in God and in Jesus Christ.
• In Christ Jesus, all are equal.

Discussion:

1. Scripture: Galatians 3:23-24

• Prior to the coming of Christ, everyone was under the law. Even today, those who are born into this world are born under the law. And they remain there until they come to Christ.
• The law acts as a custodian to keep us in line. In some Bibles it refers to the law as our schoolmaster. The point of the law was to define right and wrong. There is much we can learn from the law regarding what God considers right and wrong, good and evil.
• But the law also binds us. The law is called the power of sin (See: 1 Corinthians 15:56). Under the law, sin is made more powerful because if a person breaks the law, they are a sinner for doing wrong, but they are also judged as a law-breaker.
• The schoolmaster of the law teaches us what is right and wrong. But the law was never meant to be permanent. It was only meant to remain in place until faith was revealed. Through faith you are set free from the law. And it is through faith you receive the inheritance from God. By faith we are justified and made righteous by God.

2. Scripture:Galatians 3:25-26

• In this verse we see the effect of faith. By faith we are made righteous. And through faith you are set free from the law. If God declares you righteous because you believe what He has accomplished in Jesus Christ, then there is no need for the law. When God says you’re righteous, then the law has no power over you. But you have to accept this righteousness by faith.
• We see in the scripture how and what this faith to become righteous is based upon.

22 That is why his faith was “reckoned to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:22-25)

• Abraham was reckoned righteous because he believed God could do the impossible. He believed God could give him a son by his wife Sarah, who was over ninety years old, well past menopause, and physically unable to bear children. And because Abraham believed God could do this, because Abraham had faith, God reckoned him righteous. God declared Abraham righteous because of his faith.
• Likewise, we see in the scripture above that we too are reckoned or declared righteous by faith when we believe God can do the impossible. We are told (in verses 24 & 25), that when we believe Christ died for our sins and was resurrected for our justification, then we too are declared righteous by God.
• If we are declared righteous by God, sin no longer has any power over us. And you are set free from the law, which removes the power of sin altogether. Through our faith we are also declared to be the children of God.

3. Scripture: Galatians 3:27

• Now, having stated that you are set free from law, it is important to understand how this occurs. This verse tells us how.
• You are set free from law through being baptised into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the scripture quoted above from Romans 4, we saw that He died for our trespasses and was raised for our justification. When we are baptised into His death, God allows us to receive Jesus’ death as if it were our own, so that we put on His death and new life. We die with Him and we are raised as new creations with him. We put on His death, which He died to sin and to the law, and we also put on His new life, which He lives to God. This is how you are set free from law.
• The law ends at death. As it says in Romans 7:1, “Do you not know, brethren–for I am speaking to those who know the law–that the law is binding on a person only during his life?”
• So, since we have died with Christ, and God accepts His death in our stead, then we too have died to the law because we believe we have died with Christ. So, when you put on Christ’s death and resurrection as your own, you have died to the law with Him.

4. Scripture: Galatians 3:28-29

• Earlier in Galatians 3 it showed that the promises of God were to Abraham and his offspring. “Offspring” is singular and Paul explains that it refers to Christ.
• When we enter into the death, resurrection, and new life of Christ through baptism and faith, then we become one with Christ. He is in us and we are in Him. And if we are in Christ, then there is no distinction between any of us. There is no male, female, Jew, Gentile, black, white, or coloured. We are all one in Christ, indistinguishable from each other in the sight of God. There is therefore no partiality as we are all one. And so there is peace.
• Understanding this, we see that we are all children of Abraham in Christ Jesus. And if we are his children, then we are heirs to the promises God gave to Abraham that are received in Jesus Christ.
• And as stated before, these promises did not and do not come through the law. They come through faith.

Prayer Points:

• Pray so that you can understand the importance of this matter and that you are set free from law. This is a most critical issue for every Christian to understand as if you continue to believe that you are still under the law, then you are under the power of sin and still a sinner.
• Pray for the faith to accept that you are truly set free from the law and from sin, and that you now stand in the presence of God in Jesus Christ.
• Pray and thank God for His great blessings in giving us this opportunity to come before Him in Christ Jesus and to receive the inheritance promised to Abraham and his offspring.