190929 JUSTIFICATION AND ABRAHAM
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Argument ad absurdum: If Abraham was justified before God on the basis of works, circumcision or the Law, then Abraham himself would be excluded from God’s Righteousness.
If works were required Abraham is excluded because he was an ungodly sinner on enemy status before God and could offer no good works and therefore would be excluded from God’s Righteousness.
If circumcision was required then from the time God called Abram and for the next 25 years until God gave him circumcision, Abraham not to mention those associated with him in faith would be excluded from God’s Righteousness.
If having the Law was required then Abraham, who never had the Law, and all associated with him in faith, including Isaac, Jacob and his sons, the 12 Tribes of Israel, would be excluded from God’s Righteousness.
If keeping the Law was required, then Israel’s whole Prophetic Program, all the way back to Abraham, would self-destruct and crumble to the ground because Israel after 1500 years under the Law with all her privileges and advantages--the presence of God, the Word of God, the promises and covenants—she only fell under the curses of the Law not the blessings.
No, contrary to all these things, the Scriptures say Abraham believed God, and God counted his faith for righteousness—without works, before circumcision, apart from the Law, based solely on faith and grace rather than works and Law so that it could be sure to all the seed going all the way back from Paul himself to Abraham.
If it is for the circumcision only, how could the promise that he would be the father of many nations be fulfilled?
If it is for those who are under the Law only, how could the promise that he would inherit the earth be fulfilled?
If righteousness come
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and The Blessing of Abraham Gen. 12:3
In Gal. Paul goes back to the very first promise God gave to Abraham—before the Law, before the nation was formed, before circumcision and before the establishment of the Covenant, before all that—God said Abraham would be a blessing to the world.
Abraham would himself be a blessing to the world as the key example of FAITH. (; )
Believing Abraham—believers his children—blessing
Abraham would be a blessing to the world through his multiplied seed, the Nation Israel. (; )
Israel’s Prophetic Program: Believing Abraham—believers his children—multiplied seed/descendants —the nation Israel—blessing for the world.
Abraham would be a blessing to the world through his One Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. ()
The Body of Christ’s Heavenly Mystery Program: Believing Abraham—believers his children—One Seed/Descendant-- blessing to the world.
It is as though Abraham and Paul are the book ends that hold all the books of the Bible. Abraham the great example of faith. Paul the great example of Grace and it is between them that all the Scriptures stand.
Paul comes on the scene after the Law is abolished and Abraham is on the scene before it is given.
promise—for the Galatians, it is the promise of the Spirit (, , ; 4:6; 1-14; ). Also known as the promise of life in Christ Jesus ); )
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Foundations of Righteousness
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN SAVING HIS FRIENDS AND DESTROYING HIS ENEMIES
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN SAVING HIS ENEMIES BECAUSE HE HAS NO FRIENDS
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1.Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness ().
--Now we become the children of Abraham not by going back to the Law but by believing God.
--How can this be? How can a bunch of pagan Gentiles become the children of Abraham apart from
Israel and her Law?
3.God, foreseeing that a time when He would extend mercy to a world in unbelief apart from Abraham’s physical multiplied seed (Israel—) announced His Good News to Abraham and wrote: In thee shall ALL the nations be blessed and recorded it in .
-- before the Law, before the nation Israel, before circumcision, before the Abrahamic Covenant,
even before God writing that Abraham justified in . ()
-- And it is there that the Galatians stood when they were saved through the Gospel of Grace God
announced to them through the Apostle Paul.
4.God, foreseeing that Israel would enter into the Law and come under its curses unto death rather than its blessings unto life, wrote: The just shall live by faith. (3:10-12)
--just before destroying the nation of Israel and dispersing her people to their deaths among the
Gentiles (). Under the domination of the Gentiles, the Jews would have to live out Israel’s
Prophetic Program by faith.
--Now, through Christ, Paul explodes this phrase for the time when God has set aside Israel’s whole
Prophetic Program to carry out the Body of Christ’s Mystery Program. This too is lived out by faith.
5.God, foreseeing that Israel would need to be redeemed from the curses of the Law, added these strange words to the Law: Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree ().
--One of the reasons Christ went to the Cross was not only to redeem the world of sinners but to
redeem those under the Law from the curses of the Law.
--The Galatians needed to realize that today even the Jews (like Peter and Paul) when they partake
in the blessing of Abraham (Justification by faith), they receive the promise of the Spirit not
through Israel and her Law but directly through Jesus Christ and His Grace by faith.
6.God, foreseeing that He would bring the blessing of Abraham (Justification by faith) to the Gentiles apart from Israel (Abraham’s multiplied/many seed) and directly through Christ (Abraham’s ONE Seed) used specific word that could refer to both: SEED, which can refer to many “seed” or one “seed.”
7.Whereas in , Paul showed that if the promise to Abraham and His multiplied seed to inherit the earth was dependent on keeping the Law, then the promise would be nullified and Israel’s Prophetic Program would come crashing down.
8.Here, in , Paul showed that if the promise of the Spirit today was dependent on keeping the Law, then that promise would be nullified—the grace of God frustrated, the death of Christ would have been for nothing—and the Body of Christ’s Mystery Program would come crashing down as well! It is all just VANITY! (; , ,
In extending the blessing of Abraham (faith righteousness apart from works, circumcision and the Law) to the Gentiles directly through Jesus Christ Abraham’s One Seed (not through the nation of Israel Abraham’s many seed), and Christ hanging on the tree (Cross) to redeem the Jews (like Peter and Paul) from the curse of the Law, now all (Jew and Gentile alike) participate in the mercy God is now dispensing today through the Apostleship of Paul and receive the promise of the Spirit directly through Christ by faith (; ).
Because God foresaw He would justify the gentiles apart from Israel’s Prophetic Program and her Law, He wrote: Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness in .
---That’s how God justified the Galatians as well.
Because God foresaw preaching Good News to the Gentiles apart from Israel’s Good News of the Kingdom, He wrote of the Good News He gave to Abraham: In thee shall all the nations be blessed in .
---And God preached the Good News, the Gospel of Grace of Christ, to the Galatians.
Because God foresaw that the Law can only bring curses that would result in the destruction of the nation, city and Temple, and dispersing the people among the Gentiles He wrote: The just shall live by faith in , just before the Babylonian Captivity.
---The Galatians needed to realize that they must live by faith not the Law.
Because God foresaw the Jews would need not only redemption from sin and death but redemption from the curses of the Law as well, God wrote: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree in . In doing this for the Jews, Christ made it possible for Jews to receive the Holy Spirit today through the riches of salvation that God is dispensing through the Gentiles () on the basis of Grace—DIRECTLY THROUGH CHRIST!
Because God foresaw that He would bless the world directly through Christ, He wrote: And to thy “Seed” (of one) in .
---The Galatians needed to realize that today, God’s blessings do not come indirectly through
Israel, but directly through Christ.
Therefore, living the Christian life doesn’t come from going back to the Law and Israel’s Prophetic Program but by going on in Christ and the Body of Christ’s Mystery Program. (; )