In Roman society, when a youth became old enough to be considered an adult, he took off his children’s clothes and put on an adult’s toga. This switch indicated that he had adult citizenship and responsibilities. In the same way, the Galatians had laid aside the old clothes of the law and had put on Christ’s new robes of righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21; Eph. 4:23–24).
Having explained the vertical change that grace brought, now Paul shows its horizontal effect when he states you are all one in Christ. In Christ, human distinctions lose their significance. Regardless of race, profession, or gender, all who come to Christ must come the same way—through faith and repentance. As a result, with all distinctions erased, all believers are united in Christ.
To begin with, the Law could never justify the guilty sinner. The trouble is, nobody was righteous! It is only through faith in Jesus Christ that the sinner is justified—declared righteous—before God. Furthermore, the Law could never give a person a oneness with God; it separated people from God. There was a fence around the tabernacle and a veil between the holy place and the holy of holies. Finally, the Law could never make us heirs of God (Gal. 3:29).
Paul’s vindication of the doctrine of justification by faith reached a climax in this section as he contrasted the position of a justified sinner with what they had been under the Law. Three changes are noted. First, all who believe in Christ become children of God. Second, believers are all one in Christ Jesus. Third, believers in Christ are Abraham’s seed.
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. (NASB)
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- From this section we see our Christian position: we are children of God, we are all one in Christ, and we are Abraham’s seed
- Our Christian life ought to take on new wonder and meaning as we realize all that we have in Christ. And all of this is by grace—not by Law!
- Grace appropriated through faith makes us adult children of God and unites us as brothers and sisters.
- The law never brought this vertical and horizontal oneness. Therefore, grace is superior to the law.
CLOSER LOOK:
Verses 26–27: The first change from the law to grace regarding a believer’s position is all who believe in Christ Jesus become “sons of God.” The change in person from the first to the second (you) indicates that Paul turned from looking at Israel as a nation to address the Galatian believers. Under the dispensation of Law, as seen in verse 24, the Law was a discipling tutor, and those under its supervision were regarded as children. However, now that Christ had come, the Galatian believers were adult sons “through faith” and were no longer under a Jewish slave-guardian. Through faith in Christ Jesus, believers are not only blessed as sons of Abraham but also sons of God (Jn 1:12) and God’s heirs (4:7). Believers have been adopted by God Himself. Although we were His enemies, we have been made His sons. Although we deserve judgment, we will receive an eternal inheritance from our Father.
The term “Son of God” has been used twice before in this letter, both times as a proper title for Jesus Christ (1:15–16; 2:20). In all Paul referred to Jesus as the “Son of God” seventeen times in his letters. Jesus is uniquely and exclusively the Son of God, equal with the Father from all eternity, unrivaled by any creatures in His essential deity. All the more remarkable, then, is Paul’s description of the redeemed as “sons of God.” He developed this theme in the verses that follow by showing how the sonship of Christians is derived from the sonship of Christ. In the immediate context of the tutor analogy, the language of sonship has still another connotation. Now that we have entered into full adult sonship, we no longer need a baby-sitter. The law of God still has a positive role to play in the life of the believer, but it may no longer condemn, imprison, or destroy. To be reshackled in that former bondage, as the Galatians were being “bewitched” to do, was to turn life in Christ into a sordid anachronism.
In verse 27, Paul explains how this adult sonship occurred. We were united with him through the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). This placement into the body of Christ unites all believers. Why should they seek to revert to their inferior status? The exalted position of “sons of God” is explained in verse 27 to involve a living union with Christ brought about by being “baptized into Christ.” This is the baptism of (or in) the Holy Spirit, which according to Paul (1 Cor. 12:12–13) joins all believers to Christ and unites them within the church, Christ’s body. This union with Him means being “clothed…with Christ.” In the Roman society when a youth came of age he was given a special toga which admitted him to the full rights of the family and state and indicated he was a grown-up son.[1] So the Galatian believers had laid aside the old garments of the Law and had put on Christ’s robe of righteousness which grants full acceptance before God. Who would want to don again the old clothing?
Verse 28: The second change in our position is believers “are all one in Christ Jesus.” The context of this verse is justification by faith in Christ Jesus, the fact that Jesus has redeemed all those who believe in Him, whether Jew or Greek. Since all believers became one with each other, human distinctions lose their significance. None is spiritually superior over another, that is, a believing Jew is not more privileged before God than a believing Gentile (“Greek,” in contrast to Jew, suggests all Gentiles; cf. Col. 3:11); a believing slave does not rank higher than a believing free person; a believing man is not superior to a believing woman. Some Jewish men prayed, “I thank God that Thou hast not made me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.”[2] Paul cut across these distinctions and stated that they do not exist in the body of Christ so far as spiritual privilege and position are concerned. Racial, social, and gender distinctions that so easily divide in no way hinder a person from coming to Christ in order to receive His mercy. All people equally can become God’s heirs and recipients of His eternal promises (4:5-7).
Verse 29: The third change is believers in Christ are Abraham’s descendants (literally seed). To be Christ’s through faith also means to be Abraham’s sons (seed) and blessed (heirs) with Him, according to God’s promise (Gen 12:3). As Paul previously stated, Christ is the Seed of Abraham (vv. 16, 19); therefore being in Christ makes a believer a part of that seed and an heir of the promise to Abraham. Any discussion of the seed of Abraham must first take into account his natural seed, the descendants of Jacob in the 12 tribes. Within this natural seed there is a believing remnant of Jews who will one day inherit the Abrahamic promises directed specifically to them (cf. Rom. 9:6, 8). But there is also the spiritual seed of Abraham who are not Jews. These are the Gentiles who believe and become Abraham’s spiritual seed. They inherit the promise of justification by faith as Paul explained earlier (cf. Gal. 3:6–9). Some amillennialists take this verse to suggest that Gentile believers inherit the national promises given to the believing Jewish remnant—that the church thus supplants Israel or is the “new Israel.” Premillennialists will say that is to read into these verses what is not there.
This section of Galatians is valuable to us as we read the Old Testament Scriptures. It shows us that the spiritual lessons of the Old Testament are not for the Jews only but have application to Christians today (see Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11–12). In the Old Testament we have preparation for Christ; in the Gospels, the presentation of Christ; and in the Acts through Revelation, the appropriation of Christ.
As we conclude chapter 3, let’s take a step back and summarize what we saw.
- Some people have mental barriers preventing them from believing in Christ. Some think the only way to God is by working for their salvation. As Christians, we can help those struggling to distinguish between legalism and righteousness that comes by faith.
- Our inability to obey the Law perfectly shows us that we need Jesus Christ as our Savior.
- God’s entrance requirement for heaven is perfection. Only Jesus is perfect and perfectly fulfilled the Law.
- Remember that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
- If observing the law could have saved us, then God would never have sent Jesus to die on the cross.
- The law was a tutor or guardian leading us to Jesus Christ—our personal Lord and Savior.
- Allow our imperfections and mistakes to humble us before the Father. Thank God for grace and the life, work, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ
- Rejoice that as believers, we now live under God’s blessing and not sin’s curse.
- Christ breaks down the barriers that divide people (v. 28).
[1] Donald K. Campbell, “Galatians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 600.
[2] Donald K. Campbell, “Galatians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 600.