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Fall Quarter 2023: God’s Law Is Love
Unit 2: Faith Triumphs, Law Fails
Lesson 8
Sunday School Lesson for the week of October 22, 2023
By Craig Rikard
Devotional Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14
Background Scripture: Galatians 3:1-18
Key Text: Galatians 3:2b
Lesson Aims
- Understanding the significance of “Law” to the Jewish people.
- Understanding what Paul meant by using the term “foolishness.”
- Understanding the meaning of “flesh” in the New Testament.
- Understanding the contrast of “faith by hearing” and “righteousness through obedience to the Law.”
- Understanding our family roots of faith in Abraham and Sarah.
Historical Background/ Context
There exists a repetition of Paul’s thought in the last three lessons. Remember, the letter to the Romans and the epistle to the Galatians are two different audiences. However, both share a similar difficulty: to unify the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians into the one church of Jesus Christ. Consequently, understanding the meaning of Law to the Jewish Christians in contrast to the limited understanding of Law possessed by the Gentiles remains a constant point of contention.
(Please read the introduction and context of last week’s lesson from Galatians for they akin to the context of this lesson).
Paul faced the same difficulty in his writing to Rome in Romans as he did in the earlier book Galatians. The Jewish people did not perceive Law as simply a document of writings concerning moral and acceptable behavior. The Law also provided regulations that ordered Jewish society and provided order. However, the Law represented far more than a series of societal and regulations. Religious faith and day to day life were totally intertwined. Questions could be asked such as:
- What does the Law require of your family functioning, which includes marriage, child rearing, divorce, etc.?
- What does the Law require of your business practices?
- What does the Law require of the way you deal with your livestock?
- What does the Law require of where you can plant crops and when?
- What does the Law require you eat?
This list could be extended. To the Jewish people, Law was life. The Law in Judaism also established social class, status, and position. Since the Pharisees and other religious leaders knew the Law (in mind, not always in heart) they socially and economically stood above the masses of people. Since the masses were constantly informed that they failed to keep the Law of Laws, they were never fully favored by God and were reminded of such shortcomings. Since there was power assigned to those who proclaimed to know the Law and were trained in the Law, they were rewarded economically. Thus, if one challenged their superiority, they were challenging the social and economic structure of Israel.
In Galatians Paul addressed the same issue he later addressed in Romans. The community throughout Galatia consisted of Gentiles and Jews. During the dispersion, after Babylon conquered Judea in the Old Testament, the Jewish people were scattered throughout the near eastern world. Most did not return home after the decree by King Cyrus. They had established homes and businesses in the near eastern world. However, synagogues were allowed to be constructed, offering the Jewish people a place to worship and study the sacred texts of the Old Testament. More Jews lived in Syria than in Israel during Paul’s ministry. The reason Paul was on the Damascus Road when converted was because he was traveling to Syria to persecute Jewish Christians. Again, more lived in Syria than Israel. Therefore, a large community of Jews and Jewish Christians dwelled in the area of Galatia.
There was equally a large number of Gentiles and Greeks. The Greeks were responding powerfully to the Gospel of Jesus and were a vital part of early church membership. However, most Gentiles did not understand the Old Testament and Law, for it was not as available. They became Christians by responding to the preaching and teaching of the early disciples.
However, some of the Jewish Christians believed that since they had obeyed the Law of Moses most of their lives, and especially underwent circumcision, so should the Gentile Christians. In other words, they needed to obey the Law by attending the Jewish festivals, rites, and especially the rite of circumcision in order to be good Christians.
Paul had to prayerfully, with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, bind these two groups together as family. He could not disregard the Law for it was so meaningful for the Jewish people and had pointed toward the coming of Jesus as Messiah. Yet, he could not allow Law to recapture its former power of determining who would find favor with God and who would not.
Walking Through the Text
How did you start? How shall you end?
Verses 1-3: How did most Gentiles become Christians? Most heard the testimonies and preaching of the early Christians. They witnessed the great works God’s Spirit was doing among those in the early church. Thus, they began their journey through hearing the faith and witnessing the signs and wonders enacted through the apostles. Faith cometh by the preaching of the Word in Romans 10:17. They had not become Christians by becoming circumcised or keeping the Law.
However, there were those called Judaizers, men who taught one must become obedient to the Law to become a Christian, especially becoming circumcised. Thus, in the contentious struggle between Jew and Gentile in the early church, they were actually locked into a disagreement related to Law versus grace. Paul asks the pointed question, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by believing what you heard?’
Can you remember the most influential facets of Christianity that led to your decision to accept and follow Jesus? Can you recall a particular sermon, Sunday school lesson, confirmation series, etc. that moved your heart toward salvation in Jesus? Were there acts of mercy and compassion on the part of others that deeply touched you?
For Paul, the great sign and miracle God used to reveal the liberating truth in Jesus was the gift of the Holy Spirit. We do not know the specific manifestations of the Spirit that moved the hearers. For some, it was the gift of tongues on Pentecost and perhaps other places. For most, it seemed it was the hearing of the Gospel spoken in power and truth. The gift of prophecy Paul mentions in I Cor. 12-14 is actually the gift of the proclamation of the Gospel. In the Corinthian letter, Paul noted that many various gifts were witness that the Holy Spirit had indwelled their lives. The greatest gift of the Holy Spirit to us was the gift of God’s love as articulated in the Shema (Deut. 6:4). The Holy Spirit in one’s heart “sealed their relationship with God through Christ.” The Spirit was the spiritual equivalent of our modern wedding band; it was the outward sign of a permanent seal that made one a member of God’s family forever. Paul would write that the Holy Spirit is the blessed guarantee that we are God’s through Christ (Eph. 1: 13-14). For most, Paul affirmed that the Holy Spirit gave witness to our spirit that we are children of God.
Can you share how the Holy Spirit has worked in your life? What specific gifts do you believe God has given you through the Spirit that empowers you to serve Jesus in the church? Are you confident you are God’s child through the Spirit that indwells you? Can you list some of the ways the Holy Spirit works in your life, reminding you that you belong to Christ and are called to serve?
Since our relationship with Jesus started through grace and the gift of the Spirit, why would the Jewish Christians want to return to the futile dependence of keeping all facets of the Law? James, in 2:10, wrote that if we choose to live by being obedient to the Law, we are bound to keep all of them. For Paul, such a reversal means that all who received salvation through grace, all that learned about the liberating power of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, were choosing to live in vain. If we could be saved through the Law, what need was there of Jesus Christ? How can one experience forgiveness through grace and new life if we abandon grace and return to the futility of the Law?
Can you identify with the temptation to fall anew into legalism after experiencing Jesus through grace? How does legalism affect your walk in Christ in a destructive manner? What helps you most to walk in grace, living a moral life as a response to what God has done for you in Jesus?
Children of Abraham and Sarah
For the Jewish people and Jewish Christians, Abraham is the "THE" father of the faith. The Jews would add, “father of the faith and Law.” The phrase “scripture foresaw” implies to Paul that all Old Testament scripture is pointing toward Jesus the Messiah. We understand the Old Testament by looking backward through the life of Jesus, and we understand our future in faith through the living and risen Christ. The Old Testament was never intended to stand alone. It is more intimately related to Jesus and the Gospel than we can fully grasp. However, the Old Testament Law was not the means to salvation, but rather the teacher of moral life that we lived through a personal relationship with Jesus. It revealed our need for Jesus and liberated us to respond to Jesus by living a moral, righteous life.
How have you perceived the Old Testament and Law in the past apart from Jesus? How do you perceive the Mosaic Law now, after following Jesus? Since we cannot memorize or keep every law, how is it that we live in obedience to the Law through grace?
For the Jewish people, Abraham’s covenant with God was about them, the Israelites. It pointed to the coming of the Law and all rites and rituals of the Law that connect them with God. Thus, children of Abraham are Jews, and especially obedient Jews who have been marked by circumcision. In the Spirit, Paul recognized the all-important phrase, “All nations of the earth shall be blessed.” The Jews were chosen to become the instrument through which grace, forgiveness, morality, etc. would come to the whole world. All in the world were loved and cherished equally. Thus, Paul did not perceive the Mosaic Law as a life-affirming gift for God’s Jewish people alone. The Mosaic Law revealed to the entire world our failure to fully obey the Law without error. It revealed all of our need of grace and forgiveness through Jesus. Thus, we -everyone - are in need of grace and forgiveness.
Consequently, what was “foreseen” in the covenant with Abram and Sarai was the worldwide family of God through Christ, redeemed by the life, death, and resurrection and empowered for new life through the Holy Spirit in every believer’s heart. It isn’t just those who obeyed the Law and were circumcised who were members of the family of Abraham. The family included all who exercised faith in Jesus Christ, the giver of the new covenant written on our hearts. (Read Jer. 31). Faith marks us as children of God; love for all is the common behavior of the children of God, and the faithful walk in the Holy Spirit is our lifestyle, and eternity is our destiny.
If we choose Law we are required to live fully under the command and denamds of the Law.
The Law is perfect as a moral guide when lived in the love of God, a revelation of the ideal. However, the Law can only be fully obeyed by a heart that truly loves God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and thy neighbor as thyself. This expression of love was lived perfectly in Christ, yet we fall short. However, perfect love is the guiding star in the heavens that guides our spiritual journey. When we fail, the forgiving love of Christ eagerly forgives those who earnestly desire forgiveness. And grace raises us from our sin and restores us to the journey of love anew. The Mosaic Law is powerless to redeem us from our failure to live in perfect love, but the power of the Holy Spirit within us is not. Though not yet perfect, we are nevertheless walking that meaningful journey toward eternal life in the here and now and the life to come.
In verse 10 Paul writes “For all who rely on the works of the Law are under a curse.” He continues, “Cursed is everyone who does not do everything written in the Book of Law.” If we rely on the Law for righteousness and the favor of God we are cursed, not because God doesn’t love us, but because we have chosen a means of salvation that cannot save us. Only forgiveness can release us from the brokenness and sin we carry within ourselves having failed at keeping the Law. That forgiveness was given in Christ, given freely to those who receive this free gift as an act of grace. Jesus bore the curse of our sins on the pole, “the cross.” He became the curse of sin, isolation, and rejection. He because the source of mockery and was intentionally ignored and rejected. Nevertheless, he is the truth, and truth proclaims Jesus is the embodiment of God, the one who forgives all sin for those who seek new life and imparts new life through the Holy Spirit.
For you, what did Jesus accomplish that the Mosaic Law alone could not? How is the grace of God in Jesus liberating in contrast to the bondage of the Law?
We are all family with Abraham and made family in the deepest spiritual sense possible in Jesus Christ.
Abraham’s covenant with God, and the instrument through which he participated in the covenant, was the act of circumcision. Though he did not fully understand the grace that was to come in Jesus the Messiah, it was his faith in God in stilling the knife raised to take the life of his only son. There is no greater act of faith than to trust God with one we most love. The halting of the knife implied more than just a major testing of Abraham’s faith. It revealed that the Jewish people lived differently than their neighbors. Many of their neighbors offered living sacrifices to their gods. Many even sacrificed children. However, the God of the Hebrews asked for no human sacrifice. The only sacrifice given would later involve the giving of himself in Christ.
The covenant with Abraham and the act of faith that ratified such a covenant were for the entire world. Thus, the Gospel was and is for the entire world. The world is not saved through obedience to the strict Mosaic Law but rather through the loving grace and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
Where do you see grace at work in the covenant with Abraham and Sarah? What mistake did the Hebrews make in interpreting the covenant as only about them? How would this mistaken interpretation eventually enter into a relationship of contention? How did the grace and love of Jesus unite both Law and grace?
Started in Law, Ending in Grace
All of our Christian journey began in infancy, learning right from wrong as stated in the beautiful law. However, over time our human weakness and sin revealed repeatedly that we failed to live a righteous love. We heard the Gospel, witnessed the Gospel in the lives of others, and were exposed to the Gospel in worship and through reading the Gospel in Scripture. We heard, “We are saved by the grace through faith, it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast.” The Law taught us what it meant to live a moral life. Grace revealed we are forever sealed into the family of God because of our loving response to that grace.
Prayer
Almighty God, how easily we fall into the temptation of attempting to undo our wrongs or rationalization them. All you ask of is an earnest heart, passionately desiring forgiveness and a new beginning. Forgive us those we hurt, and illumine us through your Holy Spirit that we may seek to hurt none and love all. In Jesus name, Amen.
Dr. D. Craig Rikard is a South Georgia pastor. Email him at craigrikard169@yahoo.com.
