The book of Galatians is often misused to say that we need not keep the Torah anymore. Torah has no place in our life.
Of course, that's all false. We're going to go over these scriptures to demonstrate that very thing, that the book of Galatians is not in any way, shape, or form advocating a disobedience to the law of Yahweh.
The law of Yahweh is just, holy, good, profitable for doctrine, profitable for reproof, profitable for instruction in righteousness, that the man of Elohim may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. HalleluYah. That's a paraphrase of 2 Timothy 3:15-16.
Any time somebody like us tries to tell a Christian that the Torah of Yahweh is to be obeyed and followed and heeded, and that the commandments are for us today and not just for Israelites in old time before Messiah, one of the first things they'll say is, "You need to go read the book of Galatians."
The reason they say that is because they understand the book of Galatians to have words in it which indicate that the Torah is not to be obeyed anymore. It's something old that we don't follow. The book of Galatians has really nothing to do with the question of whether or not we should obey the law of Yahweh.
The question in the book of Galatians is whether or not we should subscribe to this good news of the circumcision that was being purported out there, Acts 15:1, that they're not saved unless they're circumcised, that kind of theology.
We're going to go into that in detail. We went into that quite a bit last week about the book of Galatians, chapter 2. We spent a good bit of time going over the different elements found in this good news of the circumcision and how it's unscriptural, and the difference between the good news of the circumcision and the true good news that Yahushua wanted the disciples to proclaim.
The realities here are that in the book of Galatians there's not a single verse anywhere telling us that the law is abolished. To the contrary, the book of Galatians actually proves that while we're not saved by our observance of the Torah, true believers are going to make a sincere effort to walk in its precepts.
In this study, we planned to go through Galatians 2, through chapter 5, which contain the key verses that speak of Yahweh's Torah, its place in our life. It's the words in these chapters that are most frequently understood as what you might call abolishing the law.
We're going to examine them in detail, verse-by-verse. This requires a certain level of concentration to go through each one of these verses. Chapter 3 has almost 30 verses in it, so it's going to take us a little time here, but I think it's important, because these are the chapters that a lot of people want to point to and say that you're cursed because you're trying to follow the law.
"You've fallen from grace, because you're trying to follow the law." They say that, and we need to have an answer of defense for the good hope that's in us. We have to have a good understanding and ask them, "Can we go over the book of Galatians together?"
If you have a good understanding of the book of Galatians, you come to find that nowhere in the book of Galatians does it tell us not to follow the Torah and nowhere in the book of Galatians does it say that the Torah is done away with.
The words in Galatians 3, in particular, kind of build on chapter 2. If you haven't heard or read the study I have on chapter 2 of Galatians, some of the points here you may find difficult to understand or maybe not be quite as clear. It may be not quite as convincing unless you've read chapter 2 study.
Paul is building on previous things he's said prior to chapter 3. It's hard to pull one chapter out and not grab the whole context. We're going to try to go back a little bit here and there to help those who have not heard or read chapter 2. I encourage you to please read chapter 2.
Galatians 3 was basically written to explain, from the Old Testament scriptures, why circumcision and Torah keeping are not prerequisites to receiving salvation. In other words, nowhere in scripture does it say if a Gentile believer was to come to Messiah, that he's not saved until he has learned and kept the Torah, and he's not saved until he's circumcised.
That's kind of what was happening. They were being treated that way in Galatians 2. Even Peter, Kepha, Barnabus, other Jews were kind of withdrawing themselves from the Gentiles as if they were second class citizens of some kind.
Paul writes Galatians to make sure they're following the correct good news and not the good news of the circumcision, that they are accepted by Yahweh, even though they haven't yet been circumcised or learned and kept the Torah.
We're going to start with Galatians 2:20. There is a very, very good verse. It's one of my favorite verses in scripture. I guess I probably need to read not from the King James, but I think the New King James, which I shared from last night.
Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Messiah; it is no longer I who live, but the Messiah lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of Yahweh, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 2:21 - "I do not set aside the grace of Yahweh; for if righteousness comes through the law, then the Messiah died in vain."
Now, looking at the context from which Paul is speaking here, Paul is facing those, again, who are presenting another good news, another gospel, for lack of a better word. That's called the good news of the circumcision.
The Gentiles were not accepted by those who were of the circumcision, because they believed that even though the Gentiles received Yahushua, that that was not good enough. They believed Gentiles were not really sons of Abraham and were not really saved until they first were circumcised and kept the Torah.
In other words, Yahushua and His cleansing is not sufficient. You need something more than that to be received by the brethren. This was false doctrine, and that's what we're going to be going over in detail here.
He actually demonstrates from the Torah why this is false doctrine to begin with. This unscriptural method of receiving salvation actually was a threat to Yahushua Himself. It was a threat to the good news being preached to all nations.
Galatians 1:8-9, the beginning of Paul's letter, he says:
Galatians 1:8 - But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
Galatians 1:9 - As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
Pretty strong words there. If we preach any other evangel, any other good news than the one preached in the first century, we've got a lot of answering to do on the day of judgment.
This was a very, very important thing and not to be taken lightly, and it's not to be taken lightly today either. I think sometimes it is taken a little bit lightly.
What's happening in this evangel is a lie, that they're not really accepted by Yahweh. That's a terrible lie. An evangel often taught today is the opposite. They're taught people are accepted by Yahweh, when they're not. We've got this opposite thing happening.
The evangel today skips the message of repentance. People believe they're saved, because they're told they're saved, and they quote Galatians and other verses to prove they're saved, but they're not being taught repentance, so they're not saved. You have to repent. You have to turn away from sin.
It's different in the first century. The Gentiles had repented, turned away from sin. They were learning the Torah. They were trying to walk in the commandments the best they knew how, but they were not being accepted.
Both sides, both evangels are false, and both are very dangerous. The reason why we need to proclaim the good news, and the good news be true, and the good news involve Torah keeping is because if we don't teach Torah keeping, then people are not really fully repenting.
They're just repenting part-way, and they're not being encouraged to keep even the most fundamental commandments, like the Ten Commandments, to keep the Sabbath day.
We have very, very important precepts and a foundation we need to build on. Since we are seeking to preach the correct and true evangel, which says sin is transgression of the law, 1 John 3:4, not just transgression of some new testament new law that Yahushua came and obliterated the old one and came up with His own.
Since we are the carriers of that good news, we have a very important work ahead of us. All throughout the scriptures, the good news of the circumcision was false. Some people think Judaism was actually following the correct way in the first century. They think that was the old way of getting salvation. You had to be circumcised, had to do this, had to do that.
Think about this for a moment. Suppose there was a Gentile who lived 200 years before Messiah came. He came to the conviction that Yahweh was the true Elohim, and he wanted to worship Yahweh, so he turned away from his idolatry and decided to worship Yahweh alone.
Then, as he learned more about Yahweh's commandments, he started to make sincere efforts to walk in those precepts. That being the case, at what point would such a man be received by Yahweh? When would he be accepted? Would it be after he observed five commandments? Would that be when he's actually accepted by Yahweh, when he observed five, or maybe ten?
Would he have to observe 613 commandments? We're talking Old Testament period, so-called. Would he have to observe 613 commandments in order for him to achieve salvation?
When is a person accepted by Yahweh? Does he have to observe a certain number of commandments before he's accepted? Or does he just need to turn his heart to Yahweh?
The truth is and it's always been true--it's not just a New Testament thing--it's always been true that Yahweh knows the hearts of every man, and He can meet them right where they're at.
Ezekiel 33:12 - "Therefore you, O son of man, say to the children of your people: `The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; nor shall the righteous be able to live because of [his righteousness] in the day that he sins.'
In the day that a man turns from his wickedness, he becomes a man who is truly--if he's truly from the heart turning away and wants to worship Yahweh, Yahweh accepts him. This good news of the good circumcision was not based on a correct understanding of how Yahweh has ever dealt with mankind.
It wasn't true in Paul's day, and it was never true at any point in history. Yahweh sees the hearts of all men. It was prideful men in the first century who wanted to have this little club that tried to turn the good news of Yahushua into works-based salvation with circumcision being the hazing act in order to be accepted into the club.
That's a perversion of what Yahweh intended His plan of salvation to be. It's even a perversion of what he wanted circumcision to be. I want to review some of the characteristics of these people proclaiming this good news of the circumcision. That's what I've been calling it all throughout this study.
I'm not trying to say it's good news you get circumcised. The circumcision is the Jews who were big time into this idea you need to be circumcised to be saved. You can get an idea of what they were like based on reading different scriptures which describe them.
In Acts 15:1 it says they're from Judea. Acts 15:5 says they were of the sect of the Pharisees, and they claimed to be believers in Yahushua. Acts 15:1 says they believed you could not have salvation unless you were first circumcised or you keep the Torah.
It says they were vigorous to this belief they have to the point they would be willing to argue with Paul and Barnabus over it and even approach the apostles and elders about it.
Galatians 2:4 refers to these men as false brethren. They're not even really brethren. Here's another thing he said in Galatians 2:4. They liked to sneak into the assemblies of true brethren to convert them to their own good news of the circumcision in a way they want to proclaim the way of receiving salvation.
Galatians 6:12 says that they didn't keep the law themselves. They weren't even law keepers themselves, but it says that they were interested in circumcising the Gentiles so that they could receive glory from men. That's Galatians 6:12-13.
Their sect had a history, the Pharisees had a history of being focused on man-pleasing and laying heavy burdens on people that they themselves wouldn't do. That's in Matthew 23:4-5.
We need to have a good understanding of what these people were like that Paul is responding to, so that when we read his writings, we have a good context. Let's start in Galatians 3:1-2.
Galatians 3:1 - O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Yahushua Messiah was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
Galatians 3:2 - This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
The Gentiles who had turned their lives over to Yahweh very clearly received the Holy Spirit before they had really started fully keeping the Torah. They received the Holy Spirit, because they repented and accepted Yahushua the Messiah in their hearts and in truth.
In response to this false good news of the circumcision, Paul was reminded them that the Spirit was given to them as evidence of their immediate salvation and acceptance by Yahweh. Kepha had been shown this truth. In Acts 10:44-47, it says:
Acts 10:44 - While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.
He's speaking to the Gentiles here, Cornelius and his household.
Acts 10:45 - And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.
Acts 10:46 - For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify Elohim. Then Peter answered,
Acts 10:47 - "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we [have]?"
We can see they were even willing, at least some of them, through the indication here, to forbid water, to forbid baptism to those who were uncircumcised. He says, "Can any man forbid water? Look, they've got the Holy Spirit."
Yahweh's plan of instant recognition of the Gentile's salvation was something very difficult for many of the Jews in that time era to accept. It was so ingrained in their culture that a Gentile couldn't just come to Yahweh and be accepted the same as a natural Jew without going through a long proselytization process.
Yahweh showed He accepted them when He poured out His Spirit on the Gentiles the moment they believed; thereby demonstrating their sins were forgiven by faith, not by circumcision, not by any act of Torah keeping, whether it was honor your parents or whatever it was. It didn't matter.
Where was their heart? Yahweh knows. When the Spirit came down upon them, they had repented truly in their hearts. They had accepted Yahushua truly in their hearts. That is all that Yahweh requires of any human being on this planet.
Do you believe that? Did you know the message of salvation is very simple? It's not complicated at all, but the message of salvation is repent and believe in Yahushua the Messiah, and receive Him as your cleansing for your transgressions, your sins. That's all we need. That's it.
No matter who you are, a Jew, Gentile, a slave or whatever you are, wherever you are on the face of the earth, that's what Yahweh wants. Evidence of that was the Gentiles had received the Spirit of Yahweh by the hearing of faith, not because they kept the Torah, because they hadn't kept the Torah.
In fact, none of us have kept the Torah, but we're going to get into that later. He says in Galatians 3:2-3:
Galatians 3:2 - This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Galatians 3:3 - Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
In this verse, it is believed by some that anyone attempting to be obedient to Yahweh's law is seeking to be made perfect by the flesh. That's how they view us a lot of times. They say, "You people who try to keep the Sabbath are trying to be made perfect by the flesh. You don't want to eat unclean animals. You're trying to be made perfect by the flesh."
They won't say that about themselves when they keep other commandments such as honoring your parents or refraining from adultery or whatever. "Oh, that's not being made perfect by the flesh. That's just being obedient."
There's nowhere in scripture that makes a difference between one commandment and the other. They have that because of anti-Semitic history and so on.
If you were to submit to the good news of the circumcision, then you are trying to be made perfect by the flesh. But, actually, if you look in the Greek, the Greek word there translated as "made perfect" is Strong's 2005, and it means to fulfill further or completely, i.e. execute; by implication, to terminate, undergo.
In the Thayer's Greek Lexicon it means to bring to an end, to accomplish, to perfect, to execute, to complete.
Young's literal translation--I like it because it's a literal translation out of the Greek or Hebrew. It says in Galatians 3:3, "So thoughtless are ye, having begun in the Spirit, now in the flesh do ye end?"
Since the Gentiles had already received the Holy Spirit as evidence of their salvation, it was senseless for them to convert to a good news. They'd already gotten the good news. They'd already gotten the Holy Spirit.
For them to try to convert to the good news of the circumcision would have actually resulted in their condemnation, rather than their salvation. If we were to require Torah obedience as a prerequisite to salvation, the truth is none of us would be found faultless before the throne of Yahweh on the day of judgment.
We're relying on the Adam man, the self and his abilities in the flesh to obey the Torah, to achieve salvation through human effort, rather than trusting in what Yahushua has already done for us.
Our end would actually be in the flesh, rather than in the Spirit.
Anyone relying on their perfection in the flesh as one of the prerequisites to salvation is going to find that their own righteousness is not going to save them on the day of judgment. That's exactly what the good news of the circumcision was all about.
Some of the Jews at that time period taught you were not a child of Abraham; therefore, you were not Israel until you were first circumcised. They believed you could not receive Israel's promises unless you became Israel through circumcision. That was never true to begin with.
Overall, they were putting too much of their faith in the fact they were children of Abraham. To them, that was the main emphasis. You need to be a son or daughter of Abraham. They put a lot of confidence in the fact that they were. We can see that, because John the Baptist, Matthew 3:7-9, rebukes them.
Matthew 3:7 - But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Matthew 3:8 - "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,
Matthew 3:9 - "and do not think to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as [our] father.' For I say to you that Elohim is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
There was a tremendous amount of emphasis put on whether or not a person was a son of Abraham, even to the point of someone getting puffed up and believing they don't really need to repent. They were very similar to the folks preaching the good news of circumcision, who themselves didn't even keep the law, according to Galatians 6:12-13.
There was a tremendous amount of emphasis on this. It didn't change later when those from the sect of the Pharisees wanted to join the body of Messiah. I think the reality was they were false brethren. Paul calls them false brethren. They weren't really people who were sincerely believers, although they professed it.
They were trying to avoid persecution, so they wanted to circumcise, circumcise, circumcise, so that those other Pharisees would not persecute them. Let's continue in Galatians 3:4-5.
Galatians 3:4 - Have you suffered so many things in vain -- if indeed [it was] in vain?
Galatians 3:5 - Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, [does He do it] by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? --
Further proof that the context of Paul's words on this issue is a question of which good news is to actually be believed, which is the correct good news, and what's necessary for salvation is what Paul actually says here in verse 4.
He asks them if they suffered all these things in vain. If the Gentiles had been fed a false message of salvation by Paul or any of the other apostles and they weren't really accepted by Yahweh, then they were enduring persecution for nothing, because they weren't even saved to begin with.
That's further evidence that the context of Paul's words on this whole issue is the question of what is necessary to receive salvation.
Paul is making the point in verse 5 that, again, they have received the Spirit of Yahweh upon them, which was evidenced by various miracles they had done. So he asks them, reminding them again, "Did He work all those miracles because you had done works of the law, or because you had faith? Which one?"
We all know the answer; and, of course, they knew the answer. They had the Spirit of Yahweh and were doing the miracles and so on, proof again that they were accepted. They didn't have to submit to this good news of the circumcision and put themselves under a curse. Evidence of that is in Acts 15:8-9.
They came up to the apostles and elders to address this question, and Kepha, the first apostle to the Gentiles, said:
Acts 15:8 - "So Elohim, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as [He did] to us,
Acts 15:9 - "and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
That's exactly the point Paul is trying to make here, that the only thing required for salvation and to be accepted into the brotherhood is repent and accept Yahushua the Messiah; and, of course, baptism will follow that, and so will Torah keeping, as a person learns.
We are all saved by grace. We're not saved by this good news of the circumcision, which is very different from the true good news. How was it different?
In case you weren't here last week, let's review those two again. This is the good news of the circumcision. I'm going to read it off to you, based on looking at the different verses. Here it is.
Number one, repent and accept Yahushua. They agree with that part, but that was not good enough. That's the first step. Then, number two, learn all the Torah and obey it. Then, number three, get circumcised. Then, number four, you are finally Abraham's seed, and you are declared righteous.
That was the steps they were trying to get people to follow in order to receive salvation to be accepted into the brotherhood of believers. That was their requirements, but this is a vain attempt to be justified by the law.
The true good news is, number one, repent and accept Yahushua. That's it. Then you are Abraham's seed, and you are declared righteous, and you are accepted into the fellowship of believers.
No separate tables, no peering down the nose at someone else. You'll even see that in some Messianic assemblies today. If you're not a Jew, a circumcised Jew, then you're a second class citizen in their congregation.
They're submitting to the same exact error found in the first century that Paul is trying to get people to not follow. The true good news is we are justified by faith. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile when they repent and accept Yahushua, as far as someone being accepted by Yahweh and to be received into the body of Messiah. Of course, there's physical differences, heritage and so on.
This justification by faith is the true good news that was being preached by Paul and all the apostles. This is a humble thing. We're putting ourselves under grace. We're not saying, okay, first I've got to do this, repent and accept Yahushua. That's all completely in the heart and mind, no works added.
We're not saying then you've got to learn all the Torah and follow it, then you've got to go cut your foreskin off, and then we'll accept you. That's not the way it works. It never was the way it works.
Yahweh sees the hearts. He always has, He does today, and He always will.
If we're trying to do various works in order to achieve salvation through our own efforts, we're not putting ourselves under His grace. We're putting ourselves under the law. If we're putting ourselves under the law, we're in big trouble, because we haven't kept it.
The true good news is that we receive salvation. We accept Yahushua as our righteousness, not our own righteousness. Those who lived before Yahushua's day, again, they were saved by faith, even Abraham, saved by faith in Yahweh's promises. In Galatians 3:6, it says:
Galatians 3:6 - just as Abraham "believed Elohim, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
Abraham, even Abraham believed Yahweh. Because of that belief, he was declared righteous. He believed the promises. His faith in Yahweh was evidenced by his works when he demonstrated a willingness to even offer his own son, Isaac, Yitshaq, on the altar to Yahweh.
Hebrews 11:17 - By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten [son],
Hebrews 11:18 - of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called,"
Hebrews 11:19 - concluding that Elohim [was] able to raise [him] up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
We see that Yahushua mentioned in John 8:56 that:
John 8:56 - "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw [it] and was glad."
Paul is demonstrating that even Abraham was saved by faith. Those who are of faith are also considered to be children of Abraham. He says that in Galatians 3:6-7.
Galatians 3:6 - just as Abraham "believed Elohim, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
Galatians 3:7 - Therefore know that [only] those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
Yahushua mentioned something along those lines, as well, in John 8:37-39. He's talking to the scribes and Pharisees.
John 8:37 - "I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.
John 8:38 - "I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father."
John 8:39 - They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Yahushua said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.
The same is true for us. If we want to be sons of Abraham, then do the works of Abraham.
Continuing in Galatians 3:8-9 and the scripture for seeing that Yahweh would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the glad tidings to Abraham beforehand, saying:
Galatians 3:8 - And the Scripture, foreseeing that Elohim would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, [saying], "In you all the nations shall be blessed."
In Hebrew, that's goyim. In you all the goyim shall be blessed.
Galatians 3:9 - So then those who [are] of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
In keeping with the theme of understanding the true good news, Paul begins to explain here how the true good news, the true glad tidings was preached all the way back in the 12th and 22nd chapters of Genesis.
The good news of Yahushua the Messiah was actually preached in Genesis 12 and Genesis 22, and he shows that.
Genesis 12:3 - I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
Yahweh is talking to Abraham. In Genesis 22:11-14, we're going to look at the context of another blessing.
Genesis 22:11 - But the Angel of YAHWEH called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am."
The context here is that Abraham is obediently taking his son Isaac up to the mountain and offering him as a burnt offering to Yahweh. The angel interrupts him and says:
Genesis 22:12 - And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear Elohim, since you have not withheld your son, your only [son], from Me."
Genesis 22:13 - Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind [him was] a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
Genesis 22:14 - And Abraham called the name of the place, The-YAHWEH-Will-Provide; as it is said [to] this day, "In the Mount of YAHWEH it shall be provided."
Because of this, Yahweh said to Abraham:
Genesis 22:15 - Then the Angel of YAHWEH called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
Genesis 22:16 - and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says YAHWEH, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only [son] --
Genesis 22:17 - "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which [is] on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
Genesis 22:18 - "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
Yahweh said that Abraham obeyed. His obedience was simply evidence of his faith. Because of this faith he had and not even withholding his only son, Yahweh gave him the promises.
We read earlier in Galatians 3:8 that the good news was preached to Abraham when he was given a specific promise.
How was the good news preached in this promise, that in you, in your seed, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed? How is that the good news? What does that have to do with Yahushua?
Where does the Torah fit? How does this have a role in the good news?
That's what Galatians 3 is all about. It explains it in detail, and it's actually quite awesome when you fully understand it. Let's continue, verses 9 and 10:
Galatians 3:9 - So then those who [are] of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Galatians 3:10 - For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed [is] everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them."
Because of a misunderstanding of the book of Galatians, there are a lot of people who believe that anyone attempting to obey Yahweh's law is under a curse. If this was true, we would be cursed every time we tried to honor our parents. We'd be cursed from refraining from adultery.
We'd be cursed for trying to worship Yahweh alone. The truth is we're no more cursed for doing those things than we are if we decide to keep the Sabbath day holy, as he says.
What does verse 10 actually mean? There are some who try to Greek their way into a different understanding, and they pull out the word--I respect them. I'm not saying they're awful people or anything, but they are believers. They want to keep the Torah, but what they do is--it says as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.
What they do is take that word "of" and they say it means "out of." If you're out of the works of the law, you're under a curse. If you grab the one verse there, you might say, "Well, that could make sense."
Looking at the context, I don't think we need to try to even change the translation here. If we are of the works of the law, we are under a curse. What does he mean by that?
We've got to remember the comparison all throughout Galatians 2 and Galatians 3 is this. There are two versions of the good news. One requires faith, one requires works.
The one which requires faith and a heart repentant--repent and be baptized--there's no work. Repent and believe in Yahushua. There is no work that you're doing in that. It was a specific thing happening, other than your mind. In your mind, you've turned away from sin. You're tired of sin.
You ever see someone go down what they call in Christianity going down to the altar? They cry out to the heavenly Father. In their mind, they've changed. They haven't kept any commandments yet, but in their mind they've changed and accepted Yahushua.
Does Yahweh wait until they've observed a certain number of commandments before He accepts them? No. He knows their hearts.
The good news of the circumcision involved you had to do so many steps. You've got to go through the proselytization process and get circumcised. Then you're saved.
That's someone trying to be saved by the works of the law, not by faith. There's two versions of the good news: the good news of circumcision and the true good news.
The good news of circumcision, which was never true, says we don't receive salvation through faith in Yahushua alone, but we receive salvation when we learn and keep the Torah and are circumcised.
As we said earlier, if we required Torah obedience as a prerequisite to receiving salvation, none of us would be found faultless before the throne of Yahweh. We'd be relying on the Adam man itself and his abilities in the flesh to obey the Torah, rather than trusting what Yahushua has already done.
Anyone attempting to trust in their Adam man for their righteousness are people who are of the works of the law. Those are the kinds of people he's talking about. It goes all the way back. This phrase goes all the way back earlier in Galatians 3. They're under a curse.
Why are they under a curse? Because he said right there, where it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things which are written in the book of the law to do them."
In other words, if you have not in your lifetime kept the Torah and obeyed it, you're under a curse.
Every one of us, were it not for Yahushua the Messiah, would be under a curse. We deserve damnation. We deserve condemnation and to not be a child of Yahweh.
If we're looking to the Torah and some act of Torah obedience to try to make up for the wrongs we did, you can't do it. It's too costly.
We have not done the things which are written in the Torah; therefore, if we're relying on our obedience to the Torah as one of the things that we need to do before we're accepted by Yahweh, every one of us will be condemned.
How many have us in the room today are walking in absolute perfect obedience and never sin? I don't think too many people would be raising their hands, if I could see your hands. I think everyone would have to say there's probably some areas they may be ignorant about, that they may not know about that they're not obeying.
Maybe you are having issues and having a hard time keeping a certain thing. If we were to require that you have to be obedient in order to be saved, not one of us would make it. Nobody would make it.
What do we have to rely on? What do we have to go to? We have to humble ourselves and say were it not for Yahushua the Messiah, I would be under a curse, because cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
We've not continued in them. We haven't done them. To try to put that into the message of salvation is a mistake. If we go too far with that, it doesn't mean you don't in your heart make a sincere effort to walk in them. We don't continue to sin purposely so grace may abound.
It's that little fine line there that Satan is playing in. That's where his playground is today, and he's having a whole lot of fun there. He's been having a whole lot of fun there for about 2,000 years.
Since none of us have done them, none of us are going to receive salvation by them. Anyone attempting to be declared righteous or being justified by them is going to find themselves condemned.
Sadly, though, many think that we're under a curse if we even seek to obey them, but that's not what it says. Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy 27:26.
Deuteronomy 27:26 - `Cursed [is] the one who does not confirm [all] the words of this law by observing them.' And all the people shall say, `Amen!'
Does this scripture say in Deuteronomy 27:26 that you're cursed because you obey the law? No! It doesn't. It says you're cursed if you don't obey the law. Do you see how Satan gets things twisted around here?
Paul is not saying that you don't keep the Torah. He's saying that we don't submit to this false good news of the circumcision, which places a person under a curse by trying to insert the works of the Adam man into Yahweh's plan of salvation. Can we see the difference? There is a big difference.
Anyone seeking to be justified, declared righteous by the law is going to be condemned, because they haven't kept the law. They're not blessed with believing Abraham; they're cursed. That's what he's saying.
We're going to read that again, Galatians 3:9-11.
Galatians 3:9 - So then those who [are] of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Galatians 3:10 - For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed [is] everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them."
Galatians 3:11 - But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of Elohim [is] evident, for "the just shall live by faith."
Wait a minute. He's quoting from the Old Testament there, Habakkuk 2:4.
No one is justified--that's a word meaning declared righteous--no one is justified by the law. Who's going to go before Yahweh on the day of judgment and say, "Your law declares me to be righteous." Nobody!
Every one of us, at some point in our life, even if we broke one, and we kept every single other one, even if we only broke one, we couldn't come before Yahweh and say, "Look, I kept your commandments. I obeyed every one of them." No, we broke one of them.
We can't be declared righteous by the law. It's impossible. If we're trying to be declared righteous by the law, we're actually under a curse, because cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Therefore the just--and he does say "just" there, the one who's declared righteous--must live--that means have eternal life--by faith, faith that Yahweh has mercy, faith that Yahweh will forgive our sins through Yahushua the Messiah, as we know today. The scripture in Habakkuk 2:4 says:
Habakkuk 2:4 - "Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
You cannot live or be justified by trusting in your own righteousness. This scripture says his soul, which is lifted up, is not upright in him. That means he's prideful. In fact, it says that in the New King James version.
Habakkuk 2:4 - "Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith."
Paul is quoting this. He's pointing out that if you submit to the good news of the circumcision and think you're going to be saved by your obedience, you're prideful. You're prideful, and you're not upright, as you think you are.
You're going to have to have faith in order to be just before Yahweh. It's not a Pauline doctrine here, brethren. This is not a new thing. This has always been true. Old Testament, New Testament, no matter where you are in scripture, this is still true.
He's quoting from the Old Testament, so-called, in order to prove his point. He's pulling things out of Genesis, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, the prophets, to prove his points. This is not a new thing; it's an old thing, a thing predicted to come, a thing true even then.
We have no choice but to accept that just because a person claims to be upright doesn't he is, and we cannot be justified before Yahweh by our own claims of righteousness, because every man on the face of the earth has sinned at some point in their life.
We have no choice but to live--that means have eternal life--by faith. We need to come to Yahweh in humility. Don't say to Him, "I deserve to be there. I deserve to be with you. I've kept your law." Say, "I trust in you to forgive me of my sins and make me righteous. Make me righteous through Yahushua the Messiah."
If we have any hope whatsoever, it's going to be in Him, not on ourselves. Any other claim to righteousness, any other claim to say "I deserve salvation because I've kept your laws," is complete, utter pride. It's false. We make him a liar.
The good news of the circumcision minimizes the sufficiency of our righteousness in Yahushua and says you've got to do this, you've got to do that, then you've got to be circumcised, then we'll accept you. Then we'll accept you into the brotherhood.
Until then, you go eat over there. You don't eat with us at the table. You're not worthy. You go somewhere else. You go fellowship in your corner; we'll go in our corner.
It was wrong. That's the problem he's dealing with. Gentiles are not being fully accepted. That problem was evident in Acts 10. That problem was evident in Acts 15. In Galatians, it was no different.
Let's continue in Galatians 3:11-12.
Galatians 3:11 - But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of Elohim [is] evident, for "the just shall live by faith."
Galatians 3:12 - Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them."
He's quoting from Leviticus 18.
Leviticus 18:5 - `You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I [am] YAHWEH.
If a man has done the law, he will certainly live and have eternal life by that law. He would be justified by the law, but no man has ever done this, except one, Yahushua the Messiah.
No man can live or have salvation because they, the Adam man, has kept them. We all need to rely on Yahushua the Messiah. We cannot rely on our own obedience to the law in order to save us. That is the key to understanding Paul's writings regarding the Torah. That is the key.
If you understand that, no matter what you read in Paul's writings, you're going to understand what he's talking about when he's talking about the Torah. We're not justified by the law.
That's where everyone gets confused. One place he's saying in Romans 8, if you're carnally-minded, you're not subject to the law, but if you're spiritually-minded, you are subject to the law.
Wait a minute. I thought the law was done away with. When you get that other mindset, you're going to be confused, but when you understand what he's trying to say--what is bringing us to salvation? What is the plan of salvation? What is the good news? Then it all comes together and makes sense. Galatians 3:13--we talked about the curse earlier. If you're under the works of the law, you're under the curse. But it says in Galatians 3:13,
Galatians 3:13 - Messiah has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed [is] everyone who hangs on a tree"),
Is a law a curse? Would you believe there's some people who think that Paul is cursing Yahweh's law there? That's how they look at the words. They do.
That's not what he's saying. He's saying He's redeeming us from the curse that came from that Torah, as a result of our disobedience. Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things which are written in this book.
As we learned earlier, it's not those who keep the law that are under the curse. It's those who have broken the law that are under the curse. If we're seeking to keep the law, you're not being cursed unless you believe, through your law keeping, that you're not saved until you keep that law. Then you're under a curse, because you can't be saved by it.
The law can never justify you. Even if you were to walk in perfect obedience from this day forward to the day you died, it will not atone for your former disobediences. Only Yahushua can atone for that.
Yahushua redeemed us from the curse that came when we disobeyed the law, because He became a curse for us by being hung on a tree. He quotes Deuteronomy 21:22-23 there.
Deuteronomy 21:22 - "If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,
Deuteronomy 21:23 - "his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which YAHWEH your Elohim is giving you [as] an inheritance; for he who is hanged [is] accursed of Elohim.
It says in the Torah that those who are hanged on a tree are accursed of Elohim. Yahushua became accursed of Elohim for us. He became accursed. He was hanged on a tree, but He committed no sin.
Why was he hanged on a tree? The prophets say, Isaiah 53:5-6:
Isaiah 53:5 - But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
We receive the healing; He receives the wounds.
Isaiah 53:6 - All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And YAHWEH has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
We have committed sins, which are transgressions of the law, according to 1 John 3:4, that are worthy of death. We know the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. Yahushua has redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us when Yahweh laid on Him the iniquity of us all. We get the healing, we get the blessing, we get the cleansing, but He got the curse.
If anyone was to claim they have salvation because they've done the law, then they're rejecting Him. They're saying, "I don't have any sin. None of my sin has to be laid on you."
None of us has done them, and so none of us is going to live or have eternal life by them. Anyone saying you're not saved unless you do this, then do that, then do this, then do that--no matter what it is--circumcision, do this, do that, none of that--it's seeking salvation by their own works.
The minute you're saved is the minute you get on your face. If there's anybody listening to my voice here today who hasn't done this, I want you to know that there's good news. If you have not done this, you can right now.
You can right now go before Yahweh, confess that you are a sinner, you have sinned, that you want your sins to be placed on Yahushua the Messiah who was cursed for you, you want to turn away from those sins, don't want to do them anymore, and you accept His atonement, you believe, and at that very moment you're accepted by Yahweh.
You haven't done a single thing but turn your heart to Him and receive His Son for your salvation, and that's all that's necessary.
What comes after that will naturally, out of that true repentance, yes, there will come obedience, but you're not saved because you were obedient. You were saved because you got on your face and repented before Yahweh. In your heart, you repented and turned from your evil way.
That's the good news. You don't have to live in Jerusalem to get it. You don't have to live anywhere in particular to get it. You just need to live, have your breath in your nostrils, be a living soul that wants to serve Yahweh, wants to do the right thing, wants to turn away from the wrong and start walking the right way, truly from your heart. He accepts you.
But if we're trying to be saved through, "Okay, I've done this through my prayers and everything. I've turned my life to Yahweh, but He still hasn't accepted me yet. First, I need to go cut my foreskin off." No!
"No, first I've got to wait until next Sabbath, this coming Sabbath. I've got to keep at least one Sabbath, then I'm saved, then He'll accept me."
No! No, no, a thousand times no! It's not true. That's not the good news, but that's what was happening in the first century. The Jews were saying, "Oh, no, you've got to go through this proselytization process, learn and keep all the Torah. Then Yahweh will accept you, and then we'll accept you." No.
Yahweh poured out His Spirit upon them. They didn't even say a word in Acts 10. He poured out His Spirit upon them because they believed in their hearts, and they were accepted.
Galatians 3:13 - Messiah has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed [is] everyone who hangs on a tree"),
Galatians 3:14 - that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Messiah Yahushua, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
They received that promise of the Spirit. They were accepted. This promise was fulfilled. We saw how the Gentiles received the Spirit in Acts 10. Kepha, Peter, repeated that story in Acts 15.
Here's Paul again showing, "Look, you've received the Spirit, Gentiles. What are you doing trying to follow some other good news that's not even true?"
The blessing of Abraham, which is eternal life in the promised land, would also come upon the Gentiles when they received the promise in the Spirit through faith. That's what he's saying in verse 14.
The Spirit of Yahweh was poured out on the Gentiles when he purified their hearts in Acts 10 and other scriptures, proving He accepted them in their uncircumcised state when they believe in Yahushua.
For Jews or anyone to refuse fellowship with the Gentiles, like in Galatians 2, Acts 11, and Acts 15, until they're circumcised and kept the law was hypocritical, because they themselves did not receive salvation that way.
It was a misrepresentation of the true good news. It denied the power of Yahushua's blood as being sufficient enough to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
Next, Paul begins to explain exactly how this good news was preached to Abraham in the Genesis 12 and Genesis 22 promises and how that applies to us today, as well.
Galatians 3:15 - Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though [it is] only a man's covenant, yet [if it is] confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.
He's making the point that even in covenants of men, no one can take away or add to that covenant. Once it's confirmed, that's it. The same is true of Yahweh's covenants, and he brings this point up in verse 16 and 17.
Galatians 3:16 - Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Messiah.
Notice very carefully here, Paul is making an important point here. You've got to pay attention regarding Genesis 22. Yahweh did not mean to seeds--that means all the descendants of Abraham--but rather to his Seed, and that Seed is Yahushua the Messiah.
The promise is made to two people: to Abraham and to Yahushua. It does not say unto seeds, as of many, but as of one. You can look in the Hebrew. It is singular there, although it's sort of like in our own language. Seed can mean more than one.
He's pointing out that the word "seed" was intended to be singular and intended to refer to Yahushua the Messiah. Not everyone is going to inherit the land, not everyone. The wicked among the children of Israel is not going to inherit it. All those idolaters down through the centuries, do you think they're going to inherit the land? No!
The wicked among the Gentiles certainly are not going to inherit the land. Only the righteous are going to inherit the land. The promises of the inheritance of the promised land is to two people, two persons: Abraham, who already demonstrated his faith in everything, and to his Seed, Yahushua.
Abraham and Yahushua are the ones to inherit the land, and that's what he says. That's what Galatians 3:16 says. That's to whom the promises are made.
In order for us to be righteous, in order for us to inherit the land, we need to be a part of the body of the Messiah. Then we will be the seed to whom the promise is made. Yahweh said to Abraham:
Genesis 12:3 - I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
He was the father of Yahushua. Yahushua came out of his line.
Genesis 22:18 - "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
That's the one that's being quoted. "In thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
Not only are the promises made to Abraham and to the Messiah, but Yahweh also promised the blessing to all nations and families of the earth, Gentiles included, through Abraham and through his Seed, the Messiah.
The blessing of eternal life in the promised land is the inheritance. The following promise, Genesis 3:15, looking at seed again, speaking to the serpent after he had done what he did in the Garden of Eden:
Genesis 3:15 - And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
We know that Yahushua bruised the head of the serpent, but not without a wound Himself. It was this seed that Yahweh chose to bring through a son of Abraham, and then later narrowed it down to a son of David, and then ultimately through Mary, who was the woman who brought forth that Seed that would destroy the work of the enemy, which was sin and death.
The work He did, it began in the Garden of Eden, as it says in 1 John 3:8.
John 3:8 - "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Continuing in Galatians 3:
Galatians 3:16 - Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Messiah.
Galatians 3:17 - And this I say, [that] the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by Elohim in Messiah, that it should make the promise of no effect.
Yahweh gave a promise to Abraham, and there's nothing written in that law that is going to annul that promise. That's where it can get a little confusing, if we didn't understand the previous points.
The good news of the circumcision tries to involve the necessity of circumcision and Torah keeping as a prerequisite to receiving salvation--which is forgiveness of sin and eternal life in the promised land--and not being accepted into full fellowship until you do.
Paul is making the point here that there's nothing written later on in the Torah that can disannul the promise given to Abraham and to his Seed. If we are in Yahushua, we have everything we need.
The additional requirements which the good news of the circumcision tried to add or involve were attempts to disannul the Abrahamic covenant or add to it. So Paul said:
Galatians 3:18 - For if the inheritance [is] of the law, [it is] no longer of promise; but Elohim gave [it] to Abraham by promise.
If this inheritance, eternal life in the promised land, was to come from Yahweh's law, it's not a promise anymore. It's something conditional upon our own righteousness. If it was conditional upon our own righteousness, our own ability to keep the Torah, none of us would make it.
What do we need? We need the promise, this promise He gave. He said to Abraham and to His Seed. We need to be a part of the body of Yahushua the Messiah.
It's this promise to Abraham and His Seed, Yahushua, which is actually the good news. It's that good news that was preached to Abraham. Let's go back to Galatians 3:8, and then we'll fully understand what was meant here.
Galatians 3:8 - And the Scripture, foreseeing that Elohim would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, [saying], "In you all the nations shall be blessed."
Galatians 3:9 - So then those who [are] of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
We need to be as faithful Abraham, who believed the good news, and we need to be the seed of Abraham, the Messiah, in order to be blessed with the inheritance.
It needs to be like this, like Paul in Galatians 2, saying, "It is no longer we who live. It is Yahushua, who is that Seed of Abraham, who lives in us."
That's the simple plan of salvation Yahweh first mentioned in Genesis 3:15 right after the first sin was committed, further revealed by Yahweh's promise to Abraham and to his Seed, and even further revealed by the righteousness found in the Torah, Yahweh's promise to David, and the words of the prophets.
It's all one cohesive message. I think it's beautiful. I think it's awesome when you really think about it and you understand Galatians 3 as it was intended.
Where does the law of Yahweh actually fit in all of this? Paul would be glad we asked that question. He says in Galatians 3:19,
Galatians 3:19 - What purpose then [does] the law [serve]? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.
Now, if we hadn't paid any attention to the previous verses, we just grab this one verse out of context, we might get the impression that the law was just a temporary thing until Yahushua came.
But since we've been going over this very carefully, up to this point, we're going to fully understand what is meant in verse 19. First, notice it says the law was added because of transgressions. It needed to be established that Yahweh has a righteous standard that He wants everyone to live by.
He wants us to love one another. He wants us to love Him. When He gave the Torah, which means instruction, He was teaching us how to be like His Son, how to be like Him. We're created in His image.
When He gave these commandments, it was to bring us to repentance, as we're going to see. If Yahweh had not given the Torah, there would have been no transgression from which we needed to be redeemed by. We would have no need for Yahushua to begin with.
What did He come for? He came to die for our what? For our iniquities. What's that? So it holds a purpose, as it says in the last portion of Romans 4:15, "Where no law is, there is no transgression."
Now notice it says that it was added till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made. This is where everyone really says, "Oh, see? We don't need the law anymore. It's no use. It's abolished. Its purpose was fulfilled. We don't need it."
To whom was the promise made? It said, "...until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made." The Seed is Yahushua. We found that out back in Galatians 3:16.
Galatians 3:16 - Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Messiah.
We identified the Seed is coming. The Torah is added because of transgressions until the Seed will come. Who is the Seed coming to? The Seed is coming to whom the promise was made. To whom was the promise made? You go back to Galatians 3:16. To Abraham and his Seed were the promises made.
If you don't think about what's really going on here in Galatians 2 and 3, you'll say that doesn't make any sense. Abraham's seed coming to his seed? Abraham what?
But, you see, the promise was made to Abraham and to Yahushua. That's who the promise was made to. But how is it that the Seed is going to come to Abraham? How is it the Messiah is going to come to Abraham and to Himself?
This is the beauty of the good news, I think. We are the body of the Messiah. Remember that. He is the head of the body, and it's no longer we who live. It's Messiah who lives in us. That's what baptism represents: the death of our old man and the new man, the Messiah Yahushua, living in us.
The day will come when Yahushua will return to gather each of us. That's His body. The day will come when He will come to resurrect Abraham. At that time, there will be no more need for us to know the Torah, as far as our need to show us that we're sinners anymore.
This is where it can get a little confusing, if it hasn't been already.
1Timothy 1:9 - knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for [the] lawless and insubordinate, for [the] ungodly and for sinners, for [the] unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
Let me ask you a question. When Yahushua comes, are we going to be perfectly righteous? Are we ever going to sin again? No, we will never sin ever, ever, ever again.
When Yahushua returns and gathers His people, when the Seed comes to whom the promise is made, His body, when He comes to His body of believers, when we've become one with Him, the marriage supper of the Lamb, spiritually become one, there will not be this problem we have today with sin in the assembly.
Everyone will be righteous. There will not be any lawless. There will not be any disobedient among us, no more wicked, no more sinners, no more unholy, no more profane, no more anything. We'll be perfectly righteous.
What purpose will the law have? It's not made for a righteous man. That's true. He says the law is not made for a righteous man.
1Timothy 1:9 - knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for [the] lawless and insubordinate, for [the] ungodly and for sinners, for [the] unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Timothy 1:10 - for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,
That's what it's for. Are there such men like that on the earth today? Oh, yeah! There's plenty of that going on. Guess what? You still need the Torah. The Torah is not abolished. Sometimes even those in the body of Messiah fail to cleave to sound doctrine. Don't even try to deny that one.
So there is a need for the law of Yahweh to instruct us, to guide us to righteousness for those times we might fall short.
Suppose for a moment you had the responsibility to supervise a room full of 30 children for a day. On the first day you supervised them, all the children were loving, obedient, and never needed a bit of correction.
In such a condition, there's no need for laws, commandments, ordinances, or anything to keep the children from doing wrong. But suppose that on the second day you supervised them, there were some major problems where the children were starting to get selfish, fighting with one another, and disrespecting you?
Then you need to set up ground rules. You need to set up commandments, ordinances, statutes, laws for the children to follow, so that they will learn to walk in love, rather than hate.
The same is true of our heavenly Father. If we were walking in love, He wouldn't have had to give the commandments. He wouldn't have had to give the ordinances and laws to keep us from doing wrong things to Him and wrong things to each other.
But since little man has an inclination to do evil and to be selfish, the Torah, the law of Yahweh was given so that we would see that we have sinned against Him and against one another.
When the day comes that we no longer have the inclination to do evil, we won't have any need for the Torah. In fact, you won't need your Bible at all. You won't need the New Testament either.
The New Testament has 1,000 commandments in it. You're not going to need those commandments anymore, because you don't have that inclination to do evil. You're righteous.
The law, the commandments are given, because there's unrighteousness, because there's sin and to demonstrate that we have sinned, so that we'll come to Yahushua.
As long as there's lawlessness, disobedient sinners, unholy, profane men, liars, any other such thing contrary to sound doctrine, we need Torah. We need commandments to direct us to righteousness just as it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
All scripture is given by inspiration of Yahweh, not just New Testament. In fact, there wasn't a New Testament when he wrote this.
2Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture [is] given by inspiration of Elohim, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
2Timothy 3:17 - that the man of Elohim may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
With these principles in mind that I've shared with you, I think a correct understanding of Galatians 3:19 comes to light.
Galatians 3:19 - What purpose then [does] the law [serve]? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.
The simple truth is that the earth was full of disobedient children who needed instruction in righteousness; in our case, also needed redemption, also needed forgiveness, cleansing from sin, which is transgression of the law, 1 John 3:4.
If no law had been given, and Yahweh said we could do what we want to do, Yahweh's righteous standard would have been unknown, and none of us would have realized that we needed to repent and be forgiven for anything.
Yahweh needed to show everyone what His will is, what His way of righteousness is, so that when Yahushua would come, we would all realize, number one, He kept that law completely, totally, perfectly, without fault. Number two, we haven't. We're sinners. We have displeased Yahweh. We have failed Yahweh.
Until the day comes when we no longer sin, and we no longer have any problems--I have to overcome this, I have to overcome that--then the Torah is here to guide us and direct us, number one, in the righteous standard to live by; and, number two, to bring us to the feet of Yahushua again, even as believers, to get that cleansing we need.
As He said, our daily prayer, "Forgive us our transgressions, our trespasses." I hope everyone in the room understands before we move on here. I've tried to be as clear as I can, explain it two or three different ways. I hope everyone grabs it, and I'll take questions on this section, too, as well, after the study today. Galatians 3:20, on the other hand, is a bit vague.
Galatians 3:20 - Now a mediator does not [mediate] for one [only], but Elohim is one.
He's talking about how the Torah was appointed by angels or through angels by the hand of a mediator. This particular verse has resulted in a tremendous amount of perplexity. If you look in various commentaries, I think one commentary I read said that there's no other verse in the entire Bible that has caused more confusion and perplexity than this one.
So I'm going to be humble enough to join them in saying that I'm not 100% sure what Paul exactly was trying to say here. There's some words in italics there. Those words in italics even throw it even more into a whack, because if you add words into it, you can make it say something, but I don't want to have to do that. I like to just read it for what it says.
There's just a few words there in verse 20 I'm going to say I'm not 100% sure what is meant there, but I know this. There's nothing there saying anything to do with the idea that we're free to disobey Yahweh's law. I think we can be safe and say that for a fact.
We can also say Yahweh is one. That's true. That's a fact. Yahweh is one. HalleluYah. In chapter 3, verse 21, it says:
Galatians 3:21 - [Is] the law then against the promises of Elohim? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
If the law itself was able--let's say that it was able in some way to give us righteousness, to give us eternal life. It actually would have gone against the promises of Yahweh, which we discussed, involving the Seed, bringing us the blessing. Instead, the law would have brought us the blessing.
We could have said, "I don't need whatever Abraham's Seed was, Messiah. We don't need that. We just need the law. The law itself will bring us the blessing."
If we weren't sinners, and we had kept the law perfectly, we could have said we don't need the promised Seed. We just need the law, then we'll be okay.
If the law was able to give us righteousness and eternal life, then Yahushua didn't need to come. There was no reason for him to come, because we got the thing we needed. We got it from the law. We got the salvation! HalleluYah! Hey, we're righteous! We're not sinners!
So he's saying we got this promise through Abraham and his Seed. We've got this promise here. Is that law Yahweh gave against Yahweh's own promises? Absolutely not, but that's what they're having to teach. We didn't need the promise; we've got the law.
The good news of the circumcision taught that you needed the law. You don't need the promise. You need the law.
The law itself does not deliver the promise of life. It only points out what our sins actually are, so that we will receive the promise of inheritance, because we are Yahushua the Messiah, no longer we who live, He who lives in us.
Galatians 3:22 - But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Yahushua Messiah might be given to those who believe.
Were it not for the Torah, we would not have recognized our sin. We would have not sought to receive the promise by faith in Yahushua. So the Torah has an important role in us receiving the promise, but the Torah itself does not give us the promise.
Do you see the difference? The Torah does promise life to those who do the things written within it, but none of us have done the things written within it. Only Yahushua has done it; therefore, we need to be a part of Him. We need to be a part of His body. We need to abide in Him in order for us to receive the promise.
The promise is made to Him. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that's why no one comes to the Father except through Him. Isn't that beautiful? The promise is made to Him and to Abraham, and so we have to come through Him in order to be an inheritor, to be blessed, to have eternal life.
Of course, as we discussed in the Galatians 2 study, those who abide in Yahushua, those who are a part of the body of Yahushua will want to walk as Yahushua walked, and the evidence that He abides in us is that we are doing just that.
1John 2:6 - He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
If we say that we abide in Yahushua and that we are the body of Yahushua, then we need to recognize and accept that Yahushua was a Torah keeper, not a Torah breaker. We're going to walk as He did, keeping Torah, but it's faith and salvation that comes first, not Torah observance; otherwise, we're all condemned.
Let's continue in Galatians 3:23-24.
Galatians 3:23 - But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
Galatians 3:24 - Therefore the law was our tutor [to bring us] to Messiah, that we might be justified by faith.
Before we believed, before faith came, the Torah, the law kept us under guard like a schoolmaster or a tutor, or a paidagogos in Greek, to teach us we need salvation, we need redemption. It confined us all under sin, kept until the promise by faith in Yahushua is revealed to us.
The purpose of the Torah is to bring us to Yahushua so that we can be declared righteous, justified by faith. If today we choose to put ourselves under the law, that means you're relying on the law to save you, rather than grace to save you, then we would be condemned.
If we would humbly admit we need Yahweh's grace and chose to believe in the promise of justification by faith in Yahushua, then we would be a part of His body, and He would dwell in us so that we can receive the promise of eternal life.
Galatians 3:25 - But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Galatians 3:26 - For you are all sons of Elohim through faith in Messiah Yahushua.
Galatians 3:27 - For as many of you as were baptized into Messiah have put on Messiah.
If we were still under the law, we would still be confined under sin. We'd still be looking for the way to get out of this confinement. But we're not under that anymore. We consider ourselves sons of Elohim now, by faith in Yahushua, who is a Son of the living Elohim.
We were baptized in the Messiah. We have put on Messiah. It's no longer we who live; it's Messiah who lives in us. The purpose of the Torah has been fulfilled in us in that we have been brought to Messiah.
This being the case, we're not any longer under the law. We're not any longer under the tutor which condemned us--had the intent of bringing us to Yahushua through confining and concluding us all under sin.
But the mistake people make over and over again is that they think we can now disobey the law. We're not held to it. No, no, no, no, no. Paul says that. "No, no, no! No means, no means, by no means! Not by no means! Yahweh forbid!"
Romans 6:15 - What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
What is sin? Sin is transgression of the law. Shall we transgress the law? 1 John 3:4. Because we're not under the law, but under grace? By no means--or as the King James has, "Elohim forbid."
Romans 6:16 - Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin [leading] to death, or of obedience [leading] to righteousness?
Again, Romans 6:1-6.
Romans 6:1 - What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Romans 6:2 - Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
We're dead to sin. Why? Go back to Galatians 3:27.
Galatians 3:27 - For as many of you as were baptized into Messiah have put on Messiah.
You've put on Messiah. You're dead to sin. You are crucified with Messiah, Galatians 2:20. You're dead to sin, so how are you going to live any longer in that sin?
Romans 6:3 - Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Messiah Yahushua were baptized into His death?
Romans 6:4 - Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:5 - For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be [in the likeness] of [His] resurrection,
Romans 6:6 - knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [Him], that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
It's those who don't understand that point, that teach that the law is abolished and you don't obey it anymore. But Paul never taught being under grace was a license to continue breaking Yahweh's law and living in sin.
This is another perversion, the modern good news often proclaimed today. It's terrible. It just is perverted. It's worse. I don't know if it's worse. It's bad. Put it that way. It may be worse. Yahweh knows. But it's not the true good news.
The fact that we're now the body of Messiah should demonstrate that we are to live as He did, and walk as He walked, and love as He loved. I have a study on that. It's called "The Dying of Yahushua in Us."
If you go to the transcripts page, you can listen in to that study. It'll fit on a CD, if you want to burn it on a CD. Listen to it in your car, if you'd like.
We know Yahushua kept the Torah perfectly. If He was a sinner, He couldn't have saved us.
I was talking to Brother Tommy Waller. He does ministry there in Israel. One of the orthodox Jews they work alongside in a vineyard came up to his son and said, "Why do you keep Shabbat?" Tommy's son said, "Because it says to do that. Yahweh told us to."
I think he told him something else told us to, maybe God or something. In the orthodox, being a young Sheva student there, he said, "Yeah, I guess that would be right, because if the Father says to keep Shabbat, and the Son says to keep another day, then you should do what the Father says."
Through that, you can get this idea of how they view Yahushua, because they've been taught by Christianity, basically, that Yahushua is this rebellious Son who did not obey His Father or He taught people to disobey His Father.
But Yahushua is not that way. He's an obedient Son. He's not an Absalom. He's an obedient Son, an obedient Son of David. He kept the Torah perfectly, and it is He who now lives in us. Our choice to turn away from the Torah-breaking lifestyle we had before and to receive Him for our salvation is the evidence that He lives in us.
The problem with the Galatians is that they had it backwards. They had it completely backwards, the ones proclaiming the good news of the circumcision. You don't seek obedience to the Torah through human effort and then receive your salvation. You receive salvation through Yahushua's indwelling, so that you have the power to walk in obedience.
Without that indwelling, you couldn't do it anyway. The good news of the circumcision was a false doctrine that created a vision within the body of the Messiah, with the Gentiles being treated like second class citizens who needed something more than Yahushua's righteousness in order to be considered of full fellowship.
In Galatians 3, Paul's purpose is to demonstrate quite clearly from the Tanakh, from the Old Testament, one principle that exposes the good news of the circumcision is a false doctrine that was never true. That is this: salvation is not of the Torah, it's of the promise.
You don't receive salvation by Torah keeping. You can't. You've broken it. You have to rely on Yahweh's promise, so you don't need circumcision or any other act of obedience in order to be considered a son of Abraham.
You need Yahushua the Messiah, the Seed of Abraham, dwelling in you.
Does this mean you're free to disobey the law now? Absolutely not. If that Seed of Abraham is dwelling in you, and you've repented, you've received Him, then your attitude toward the Torah is that you want to obey it. You want to walk in it.
As you learn, Yahushua gives you the power to do that. You don't say the law is abolished now. You don't say I don't have to keep that commandment anymore. You don't say it's done away with. No.
Yahushua lives in you, and your attitude is one of wanting to do it, because you want to love, you want to love Yahweh, you want to love your neighbor. HalleluYah! Because He loved us first.
Galatians 3:27 - For as many of you as were baptized into Messiah have put on Messiah.
Have you put on the Messiah today?
Galatians 3:28 - There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Messiah Yahushua.
Galatians 3:29 - And if you [are] Messiah's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
That promised seed. That's what he was teaching in Galatians 3. You are heirs according to the promise, because the promise is made to Abraham and to Yahushua, Abraham's Seed. HalleluYah!
Yahweh's eyes were on Abraham's Seed, through Yahushua the Messiah. It is through Yahweh's promise to Abraham that this is so. It's not through circumcision, not through our own righteousness; only through Yahushua, His sonship, His righteousness, His indwelling.
We are Israelites, indeed, through Yahushua who dwells in us. Because of this, we're no longer strangers. We're no longer Gentiles. We're fellow heirs.
Ephesians 2:8 -
Ephesians 2:9 -
Ephesians 2:10 -
Ephesians 2:11 -
Ephesians 2:12 -
Ephesians 2:13 -
Indeed, many of us in the time past were Gentiles in the flesh. We were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise. But through the good news of Yahushua the Messiah we are no longer Gentiles. We are sons of Abraham, made near to the covenants of promise, joint heirs, according to the promise, being one new man, Yahushua the Messiah living in each one of us.
For this, we have much to be thankful for. Let's allow Him to live in each of us in such a way that others recognize His workmanship in us, the Torah observant Savior in us.
Let it be that they also want the peace and reconciliation with Yahweh we have received through Him, cleaving to His promises, heeding His Word, loving Yahweh with all of our hearts and loving one another as He so loved us.
That's what Yahushua was all about. That's what the Torah is all about. The fellow children of Israel, let's follow His example. Let no one on this earth tell you any different.
May Yahweh bless you, and may Yahweh have mercy on each and every one of us.
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