This sermon was first preached by Marion H in June 2025 at St Denys. Through looking at this passage in Galatians 3:23-29 she reminds us 'we cannot earn our way to God, Jesus has done it all and we are saved by faith and the grace of God.  We live in the freedom of Christ, and not as those under law. We are beloved children of God, who are clothed in Christ.  Our social status, ethnic heritage, or gender make no difference to our Heavenly Father, he loves us because of who we are, his children, not because of what we are or what we might or might not achieve.  And finally, we stand as heirs of that promise made to Abraham.'

I feel  like I should give a bit of a disclaimer as we start to look at this morning's passage.  In no shape or form am I a linguistics expert.  If I tell you that I went to a school that specialized in French and I got nine percent in my O level French mocks, you will understand the scale of my language abilities!  To get the maximum meaning out of this reading relies on the careful translation of Ancient Greek.  You will therefore be pleased to hear that I have relied heavily on theologians and Greek scholars who are far more gifted than me!

The Galatian Problem

Before we start looking at this mornings passage, it would probably be helpful to have a little background.  Let's start with who were the Galatians, where did they live and where did they come from?  They were a group of mainly Gentiles, living in central Anatolia in what is now the northern area of modern day Turkey.  They were called Galatians because they were of Celtic origin and had originally come from Gaul, the ancient name for France, (fans of Asterix the Gaul will know this!). So their name meant people from Gaul.  They had invaded Greece in the third century BC and migrated to Anatolia.  

The letter to the Galatians was written by the Apostle Paul.  He wrote to the churches in that region following his missionary journeys there, in this case, accompanied by Barnabas. The letter was addressed to the churches of Galatia, so more than one.  He wrote this letter to address an issue that made Paul angry.  One commentary I read described Paul as very angry and another as livid.  When I say that at the beginning of Chapter 3 Paul addresses his readers as 'you foolish Galatians' I think we can get the picture that Paul was not just a  bit upset, he was proper angry!!  So what had caused this state of affairs?

Paul and Barnabas had previously travelled through this area preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead.  Many came to believe, put their trust in Jesus, decided to follow him and were baptized. A little later Paul heard that another Jewish missionary party had come, sometimes referred to as the Judaizers, who told the new converts that in order to follow Jesus, they also had to accept some of the law given to Moses, particularly regarding circumcision and the food regulations.  Now  I have been on many outreach missions and I can only imagine the effect these days, on a bunch of grown men, being told that circumcision was part of the deal!  I imagine it wasn't much better received 2000 years ago, before anaesthesia! In effect, these missionaries were saying that faith alone in Jesus was not enough for salvation, they also had to follow the law.

So let's turn to this mornings passage and see how Paul addresses this.  When I read this passage to prepare for this morning there were a few things that really stood out.  Firstly we are saved by faith and the grace of God not by our own works.  We are one big family, all our cultural and social divisions do not matter as through faith in Jesus Christ we are reconciled to God and one another as the Children of God, and we are clothed in Christ.  We are also heirs of the promise that God gave to Abraham.  So let's explore this a bit further.

#1 We are Saved By Faith (not by our own works)

At the beginning of this letter, in Galatians Chapter 1, Paul sounds incredulous that people would put themselves back under the constrictions of the law when they had been living in the freedom that faith in Christ had given them. In verse 24 of this passage Paul explains that living under the law was only a temporary measure that would lead people to Christ when he came to fulfill the law.  That following belief in Christ we are all able to live in the freedom that such faith brings.  In Matthew 5:17 Jesus said "I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it".  One of the Greek words Paul uses to describe the law means guardian, so he is saying that God gave the law to Moses as a way of keeping the people safe and by guiding them in the way to live their lives.  Remember guardians are usually given to those who are under age, so Paul was saying that the law was given until people could grow up in the fullness of Christ. The law  was not meant as a way to totally reconcile people to God, that could only come by faith.  I remember standing here a few months ago and quoting Genesis 15:6 "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness".  I said this was one of the most important verses in the Old Testament as it was the first example of salvation, that is being made righteous with God, by faith alone and not in keeping the law.

 I think it is important for us to remember that Jesus was not God's plan B when humankind had failed to keep the law.  Jesus was always God's plan A!  The law was simply there to point people in the right direction until the coming of Jesus the Messiah, when by the grace of God, those who came to believe in him would be saved. The famous Christian writer John Stott said"God gave the law in his grace in order to make the promise (that is Jesus,) more desirable".

Salvation by faith sometimes raises questions about good works, along the lines of well don't they matter any more?  Another name for good works is works of love.  If we love someone we often want to show our love in large or small  acts of kindness and it is the same in showing our love for God and those around us.  As Simon said last week there is nothing we can do to make God love us more, we cannot earn God's love and approval. This is all part of our freedom in Christ, as opposed to living under the law.  We do not need a list of good works so long that it would make Mother Teresa look lazy, God already loves us more than we can imagine, all we have to do is believe.

#2 We are One Big Family & Clothed in Christ

In verses 26 & 27 Paul goes on to describe all believers as Children of God, accepted and forgiven by the Father.  He is implying that we are grown up children as in verse 27 where he says that we are clothed in Christ, the Greek words used refer to the toga virilis which a boy would put on to show that he had entered manhood, a sign that he had grown up.  To be clothed in Christ is a call to believers to identify with Christ and live a life that reflects his character. So Paul is saying as God's grown up children we can enjoy the privilege and status of being heirs of his Kingdom.  

In verse 28 the words Paul use literally mean you are all one person in Christ. All the social, cultural and racial boundaries are not important to God, before him we are all his children, of equal worth and status. Of course the boundaries remained and still remain to a greater or lesser extent in society, and particularly at the time of Paul when we think of slave and free, but Paul is emphasizing that this is not the case in the Kingdom of God, we are all one in Christ.  We are reconciled with God and with each other.  

There is an old hymn that says  “In Christ there is no East or West, in him no South or North, but one great fellowship of love across the whole wide earth.” That is what the God given work of reconciliation is there to achieve, but for now, that is a work of faith, as it is not what we see when we look at the world.  Last week I found a quote on a Celtic Christian website that said "Faith is seeing light with your heart when all your eyes see is darkness." So we can pray that we are given the faith to hold the promise of peace from God in the light of our hearts, when our eyes see a lot of strife and darkness around us. This is truly what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. To concentrate on the promises of God and not on the circumstances that surround us.  We can look at our increasingly troubled world and remember that some of Jesus's final words to his disciples was a promise of peace 'My peace I leave with you' and it is that promise we need to hold by faith in violent circumstances.  God's truth is peace.  It doesn't mean that we can ignore the circumstances, but it means we can look at them and pray for them in the hope of God's promises.

#3 We are Heirs of A Promise

Paul finishes this morning's passage by telling his readers that they, and by implication us as well, are heirs of the promise given to Abraham.  If you want to read the full story can I suggest that you look at Genesis 15.  In short, God promised Abraham that from his seed, that is his descendents, would come a blessing for all nations.  Jesus was that seed and through him all nations have been blessed as he offers salvation to all who have faith in him.  As heirs of the promise it is not just that we are blessed by this grace, but it is our role to make sure others hear about the good news that Jesus brings.  As heirs of Abraham we gain an identity.  We cannot think of ourselves as being insignificant in history, we can take our place in the noble succession of people of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11.  This is our place in the unfolding purposes of God. In Christ we find our identity.  When we are in Christ we find our place in eternity, related to God as his sons and daughters.  We find our place in society, related to each other in one family and we find our place in history, related to the succession of God's people through the ages.

Jesus Has Made So Much Possible

So to recap, we cannot earn our way to God, Jesus has done it all and we are saved by faith and the grace of God.  We live in the freedom of Christ, and not as those under law. We are beloved children of God, who are clothed in Christ.  Our social status, ethnic heritage, or gender make no difference to our Heavenly Father, he loves us because of who we are, his children, not because of what we are or what we might or might not achieve.  And finally, we stand as heirs of that promise made to Abraham.  I find it incredible that a promise made over 4,000 years ago affects me today. That I am saved, put right with God, because of Jesus whom God said would come as a blessing to all humankind.  I shouldn't be surprised that the promise has lasted that long, this was not a promise made by humans but by the loving, faithful God we follow, worship and serve.   Amen.