All one in Christ Jesus

The argument of this passage is complex and challenging. Firstly, Paul shows that the law of Moses cannot set aside God’s covenant with Abraham, fulfilled in the gospel. The law was given 430 years after the final confirmation of the Abrahamic covenant. In everyday life, when a will has come into effect it cannot be set aside. So the law could not supersede God’s promise to Abraham, centred on Christ, his Seed. The precision of the language is important. The promise was made to Christ, one Seed, not many descendants.

Secondly, Paul emphasizes that God’s covenant with Abraham was a promise, not a contract. God took all its obligations on Himself. In a promise, everything depends on the reliability of the person who makes it. In contrast, the law was like a contract. It was a two-party arrangement made between angels, representing God, and Moses, representing Israel. The nation placed themselves under a duty to obey God’s commands. Their blessings depended on them fulfilling that obligation. The key note of promise is God’s ‘I will’. The key note of the law is His ‘Thou shalt’. Our relationship with God rests entirely on His faithfulness. He can never break His promises.

Thirdly, Paul shows the true function of the law. It could never give a right standing before God because it never gave the power for its obligations to be fulfilled. Thus it could never save. Its purpose was to demonstrate that men and women are transgressors, showing that they persistently break God’s commands. Its role was temporary. God’s people were only under it until Christ came. The law was like a prison warder. In Christ, men and women are liberated. The law was like the slave who strictly supervised the master’s children. In Christ, men and women are adults. Why renounce freedom and maturity to go back to bondage and childhood?

By faith, we are brought into living union with Christ, pictured in baptism. In Him, we are Abraham’s seed, heirs of God’s promises. These wonderful spiritual privileges are equally shared by every Christian irrespective of race, status, or gender. One with Him, we are one with each other.