Galatians 3:19-23 Held Captive and Freed
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: June 8, 2020 Galatians 3:19-23
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
(Understanding the Text) Paul has just said that the covenant promise came first and the law was added 430 years later. He said that the later law did not negate the covenant promise. The promise is that there would be many descendants of Abraham through his offspring, which Paul says means through Jesus. Now Paul gets to the purpose of the law. It is important to remember that this whole thought process is because Jewish Christians were teaching the Galatians that they had to become Jews in order to be saved. Paul is not saying that they are wrong in saying that only descendants of Abraham would be saved, but he is saying that the Galatians have already been made descendants of Abraham. They are already children in the only way that counted. To try to become descendants of Abraham in any other way invalidates their agreement with Jesus that He would save them. I think in a way, it’s like when I wanted my sons to get a GED diploma. In order to do so, I had to officially expel them from my private home school. They could not be both in my school and in the GED program at the same time. In the same way, we either become Abraham’s children through faith or through a legal process. Faith makes us truly children of Abraham.
Now Paul asks, “If there was already a covenant agreement, why did the law need to be added later?” Another question is if Abraham already had a covenant with God, why did circumcision have to be added? The answer is the same to both questions. Paul says that the later law was added because of transgressions. I can understand that. The people needed to be shown how to live for God because they did not have a clue about what they were doing. They were not listening to God themselves, so they needed instructions put into place to train them in how to listen to God and live as His children. This is like circumcision reminding Abraham to depend on God’s promise rather than trying to take God’s place. The law was a reminder so that people would understand and not forget what it meant to live as God’s children.
“it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.” Okay, I do not understand what Paul’s point is here. The law was put in place through angels by an intermediary. First of all, this is something new that I have never heard of before. Paul says that angels put the law in place. The SDA commentary confirms this and even adds more evidence for it. “The Exodus record is silent concerning the presence of angels at Sinai. According to Deut. 33:2 there were ‘ten thousands of saints [literally, “holy ones”]’ present at the giving of the law. In the LXX the last clause of that verse reads, ‘On his right hand [were his] angels with him’ (cf Ps. 68:17). Stephen (Acts 7:53) and Paul (Hebrews 2:2) both speak of angels as participating in the giving of the Mosaic code.” The English Standard Version (ESV) is not the best translation for Deuteronomy 33:2. It says “He said, “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.” However, other translations say “with” (not just King James Version either). The context of the next verse seems to indicate “with” to me also. In addition, Stephen said “you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it” (Acts 7:53). That “as” does not mean “as if” in the original. It means that angels delivered the law to the people of Israel. In Hebrews, it is assumed that angels delivered the law. “For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,” (Hebrews 2:2). The context here is that the message is the law that results in punishment for the disobedient.
Paul says that there was an intermediary. Is the intermediary Moses? But if so, the next line would not make sense. It says that intermediary implies more than one, but God is one, which would seem to indicate that Paul is trying to make a point about multiple as opposed to one, but I just do not get it. The LITV version says “But the Mediator is not of one, but God is one” (Galatians 3:20). The Message says “But if there is a middleman as there was at Sinai, then the people are not dealing directly with God, are they? But the original promise is the direct blessing of God, received by faith.” The Message says that Moses was the middleman. If there were multiple angels delivering messages about the law to Moses and then he delivered the laws to the people, I would say that there were a lot of intermediaries. The original promise was given directly from God to Abraham. I guess Paul is trying to say that the original promise was given directly from the source, so it is superior to anything given later through intermediaries.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) “Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.” Paul says that the law does not conflict with the promise. He says that righteousness does not come from the law, but from the promise. He says that the law cannot give life. Only God’s promise gives life.
(Understanding the Text) “But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.” I think this means that the law defined the problem, and Jesus solved it. The law was the standard by which the symptoms of the disease could be defined and dealt with. The law let people see where they were falling short and could then apply the cure of a sacrifice to cleanse the disease. Obeying the law did not cure them because they simply could not obey. Instead, the law showed them where they were having issues so that the cure could be applied to that area. The cure was repentance and sacrifice. In other words, it caused people to turn away from their sinfulness and make a choice to come to God. However, those sacrifices were place holders until the real cure came. The law essentially was trying to confine the disease until the true cure could be applied. Thus, people were held captive because they did not have any way to cleanse their sickness. Paul’s point is that the Galatians had already received the cure, so there was no need to quarantine or apply holding measures to their disease. They just had to keep taking the cure.
Paul is not saying that we do not have to obey the law. He is saying that the law shows us where we are not living for God. However, Paul is saying that the Galatians did not have to become Jews through circumcision to obtain the promises of God to the descendants of Abraham. He is saying that acceptance of the offspring-Jesus as Lord of their life made them His children. They were to live according to His directives, but they were saved by acceptance of His sacrifice.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I need to look to You first and last and always. I need to follow You wherever You lead. However, I don’t need to worry about doing extra credit work in order to be saved. Instead, when I see that I am not living up to the standards You have given in Your word, I need to turn to You and ask for forgiveness and recommit my life to You. I pray to do that.