Galatians Bible studyGalatians Bible study
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel,” Genesis 3:15.
Abraham was promised in Genesis 17:6: “I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.” But we now know that it’s not just any king; it was also the King of kings. Jesus and His relation to David’s throne is crucial!
This promise rang throughout the family history. Isaac blessed Jacob saying, “May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you,” Genesis 27:29.
Later Jacob says to Judah: “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his,” Genesis 49:10. Note on Psalm 78:56-72.
In Hebrews Jesus is repeatedly related to and exalted above Melchizedek as a “Great High Priest,” (Hebrews 4:14), thus identifying Him all throughout the Torah.
Christ is called our Passover Lamb by Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:7.
Let’s look together at Luke 1:67-79 and Zechariah’s prophecy. Many were expectant.
“…do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” John 5:45-47.
Galatians 3:23-25 mystery (summarized w/ 17 places)
Our text is on slide #6
“What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God,” Romans 3:1-2.
“The people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen,” Romans 9:4-5. Note: Jesus’ nature is everything!
“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel,” 2 Timothy 2:8.
Jesus on the road to Emmaus begins with the Law, Luke 24:13-27. It’s about Him!
Phillip on the road with the Ethiopian Eunuch begins in the Prophets, Acts 8:26-34. It’s about Jesus!
In Amphipolis and Apollonia in Acts 17:1-3 Paul reasons, “From the Scriptures” that the Christ had to die and rise again.
It was the same with Apollos. In Acts 18:28, “he vigorously refuted the Jews…from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.”
Paul, with his advantage, plainly tells the church what the mystery is: Colossians 1:24-29.
Revelation five give us a final picture of the current position of Christ. “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed, Vs. 5.”
Mystery continued (built on the Law)
B.C. --- Progressive revelation --- A.D.
The fullness
We have all heard the ancient maxim about the relationship between the Old and New Testaments: “The new is in the old concealed, and the old is in the new revealed.” While the words concealed and revealed do not entirely accurately describe the relationship between the testaments, they do help us grasp the fundamental truth that the New Testament (NT) is found in seed form throughout the pages of the Old Testament (OT) and that the OT blossoms forth as a flower in the NT. Nevertheless, the NT is called the “New Testament” for the simple reason that it is, in fact, new. It is new revelation, not merely commentary on previous revelation. It is not simply a collection of apostolic reflections on the OT from the first century. In real space and time, in the history of God’s redemption of His people and by His superintendence of His appointed, sinful, human authors, God revealed to us His NT, accompanying our long-awaited Messiah and His promised kingdom. However, it’s not as if the coming of the Christ and the continued revelation of God was a surprise to those who understood the OT and, more importantly, the God of the OT. On nearly every page of the NT, God sovereignly reminds us that everything He has done, is doing, and will do is in accordance with the Scriptures of the OT. The common refrain of the NT, “according to the Scriptures,” is by no means to be taken lightly but is to drive us over and over again to behold the faithfulness of God, the trustworthiness of His revelation, and the beautiful harmony of the testaments as God shows forth His sovereignly woven scarlet thread of redemption from creation to glorification, all according to the covenant of redemption of our triune God. In each of the three portions of the OT – the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings – the Lord majestically sets forth that which Jesus Himself set forth when He was with the two men on the road to Emmaus interpreting to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. That doesn’t mean, however, that Jesus is hiding under every stone in the OT, nor does it mean that we need to overturn every stone in our pursuit to find Him at the cost of sound exegesis. Nevertheless, it does mean that every stone points to Christ and beckons us to examine the manifold ways in which Christ is in the foreground and background of the landscape of every stone in all the Scriptures, by God’s sovereign orchestration and for our redemption in Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. – Burk Parsons.
Parsons, Burk. “Christ in the Old Testament.” Table talk magazine. Ligonier ministries; Lake Mary, FL. April 2011. 2.
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Now let’s come to Our text, read it, and try to harmonize all we’re looking at tonight
“Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” Next week we get a “So then…” Vs. 26.
The Greek word “Guardian” (NIV), “Tutor” (NKJV), “Schoolmaster” (KJV), is the Greek word (παιδαγωγς) paidaggos. www. Blueletterbible.org outlines its biblical usage as, “a tutor i.e. a guardian and guide of boys. Among the Greeks and the Romans the name was applied to trustworthy slaves who were charged with the duty of supervising the life and morals of boys belonging to the better class…” Pershbacher’s Analytical Greek Lexicon uses basically the same definition.
This word is only used a few times in the NT. The Law’s job is to bring instruction. Does it work in you now?
Notice: The Law’s function is to lead faithful men (especially the Jew) to a new paidaggos – a new teacher. The new paidaggos is the (παρκλητος) parakltos – the Helper, the very Holy Spirit Himself. He is the one promised in the NT by the Son to the church. We are under Him now; not Law, yet we need not murder the guardian.
Also notice that the guardian still works, as it did/does with us all, to show men their need for life. They need a Savior. The Law opens the classroom!
John 14:22-26. Jesus reveals Himself but it is the Holy Spirit who is present. Trinity.
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“Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:24-26.
Galatians 3
Keys/suggestions for good bible study
Find a good study Bible! I recommend the John Macarthur Study Bible, or the Reformation Study Bible produced by Ligonier ministries with R.C. Sproul as the general editor.
Learn to use online references like www.biblegateway.com or www.blueletterbible.org .
Discipline yourself to a time of study. The world will not give you time.
If you’re no used to disciplined Bible study my advice to you is to start small. Go to small NT books like Ephesians, 1 John, Galatians, etc. These small books may help you build up the wherewithal to take on a larger book, maybe even an OT book.
Many quit because they start with Genesis or Isaiah.
Remember, the good soil are they who, “hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” Mark 4:20. Let others help you understand.
As you read or before you start a book, learn to place things in general timeline. As you tie together your understandings in light of the whole it’s awesome.
If you’ve been using the same Bible version for a long time, switch it up.
If you wish to take your study further you can do word studies, character or biographical studies, geographical studies, doctrinal studies.
I highly recommend:
“Living by the Book.” Written by a father and son team, Howard and William Hendricks. Available from Moody Publishers. 2007.
Study books like Millard Erickson’s “Christian Theology” by Baker Publishing, 1998, and Wayne Grudem’s “Systematic theology” by Zondervan, 1994, are great for in depth study or what’s called Systematic Theology.
Recommended preachers. Use them. See www.Biblecia.com for a good list.
Galatians bible study