Three Strong Witnesses
Galatians 3:6-14

When we’re trying to make a point, having powerful people behind us can be both a comfort and give strength to our position. Here are three mighty VIPs whose support is eternally vital!

1. Abraham (3:6-9)
2. Moses (3:10-12)
3. Jesus (3:13-14)

Galatians 3
⁶ Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
⁷ Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.
⁸ The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU."
⁹ So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
¹⁰ For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM."
¹¹ Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
¹² However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM."
¹³ Christ 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"--
¹⁴ in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

If you follow politics, particularly as lobbyists, politicians, attorneys, and others who would want to change the law of the land, frequently there’s an appeal made to the Constitution of the United States. Sometimes we hear those in our day speaking for the framers of the Constitution as if to comment on their intent. “Well, Thomas Jefferson said this. He therefore would support my position,” one might say.

George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and others, stood for a certain position perhaps and this was the intent of the framers, therefore we need to either keep things as they are or change them. We often try to rally witnesses in behalf of our position and the more powerful the witness, the stronger our position, correct?

Many years ago Edith Bunker had a fender bender. Much to Archie’s dismay it was Edith’s fault. An officer issued her a citation and she would need to go to court. Archie was in a tizzy. He wanted to know if there was a way he perhaps could escape the fine. Were there any witnesses? Edith said, “Only one other car was present -- it was a station wagon full of nuns.” Wrong witnesses for Archie. They‘re going to tell the truth.

These verses we read in Galatians 3 perhaps came across as a little bit difficult to follow. The apostle Paul is building an argument, making a case. He is saying that the only way to be right with God, or to be justified, is to put all your trust in Jesus only. It’s that simple.

His opponents, who are causing trouble among the Galatian churches are saying, “Well yes, that’s important but there’s more. Many call those opponents Judaisers. They’re trying to impose certain elements of the Jewish faith upon this new Christian belief. They’re saying, “Oh yes, believe in Jesus, but . . .  it’s probably important that you maintain distinctions between Jews and Gentiles, it’s very important that you be circumcised, as well as believe.”

What Paul is doing in these verses is anticipating three objections from these people and answering them in advance. It’s as if the Judaisers, the ones who would add some sort of works to faith, are saying, “What about what Abraham would say? We’re going to turn to Abraham to back us. After all, Abraham was a circumcised Jew; he was the father of circumcision. Then we’re going to turn to Moses, he’ll back us up.”

In these verses, three key players, three major league witnesses are listed for us, two by name -- Abraham and Jesus. Sandwiched between the two is much of the Mosaic law so we’re going to use Mose’s name. They’re saying, “This is what we’re going on, this is why we feel works needs to be added to faith.”

Paul is saying, “OK, let’s go there. Let’s see what the witnesses truly have to say.”

The first three verses, 6 through 9, concern Abraham. There is a city not many miles south of Jerusalem, south of Bethlehem; it’s the city of Hebron. It’s a very key city. You can’t go there right now; it’s a real hot spot for the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. In Hebron there is the most unique structure perhaps in the entire world, a huge compound originally built by Herod out of massive stones. It is built to commemorate the burial spot of Abraham. It was built before Jesus’ time.

What is unique about this place is that within its walls over the course of time, there have been constructed and to this day still used -- a mosque, a synagogue and a church, a chapel. That’s because Abraham is the father, the human father, of three major world religions; he is claimed by all three. The Muslims, Jews, and Christians all trace their roots to Abraham, humanly speaking.

We can understand, then, why Paul’s opponents would say, “Here’s a witness who will speak for us. You can’t argue with Abraham.” Paul would say then, “You need to understand him.”

In the 8^th chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus came up against the same type of problem that Paul would face a number of years later. Chapter 8 of John is emotionally charged. It’s a heated interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees. In part of their argument in John chapter 8, Jesus says in verse 37:

John 8
³⁷ "I know that you are Abraham's descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.
³⁸ "I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father."
³⁹ They answered and said to Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham.

“Don’t seek to kill Me. Do the deeds of Abraham if you truly are his children.” That’s what Paul says as well. Abraham’s tremendously colorful and rich personal history begins in the 12^th chapter of Genesis. In discussing Abraham, the Jews would favor the 17^th chapter of Genesis. They would say, “OK, this is where we’re coming from.” In Genesis 17 God instituted with Abraham the rite of circumcision, a bit of surgery that would mark the individual as a member of the covenant community of Abraham, God’s chosen people, an outward sign.

That was Genesis 17. What Paul would say, and certainly what Jesus had in mind, didn’t begin in Genesis 17. They would say that was superficial, surface, outward. The key to Abraham’s relationship with God wasn’t Genesis 17; the key to Abraham’s relationship with God is traceable to Genesis 15.

Genesis 15 is perhaps one of the most remarkable chapters in all of the Old Testament because there it is that Abraham, as he is advanced in age, is concerned about his heritage. He has no children. He has been told by God that in him all the nations of the world would be blessed. That’s Genesis 12. He’s wondering how this will happen since he has no heir. The closest kin is Eliezer of Damascus and he’s not really blood. So Lord, what am I to do?

God came to Abram in Genesis 15 and said, “Abram, a couple of   really important things are going to happen here. One is -- Abram, listen to me carefully -- the promise I made in Genesis 12 (I’m paraphrasing) I will fulfill literally through your offspring, not Eliezer of Damascus, not anyone else. You, Abram, will be the father of the nation.

The Bible says in the 6^th verse of Genesis 15, “And Abram believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Abram believed God and that made him right with God. He simply exercised faith. He just trusted and trusted only. God said, “I will do this.”

Next, in that chapter, God puts Abram to sleep and shows him a vision of an ancient rite of making a contract or covenant. Animals would be cut in two pieces, birds and critters, and the halves separated. The people who were making the treaty or the contract or the covenant to the promise would pass between the pieces, symbolically indicating that if I don’t honor my half of the deal may I become like one of these critters. It was a very, very serious covenant.

With Abram, though, the pieces were cut and laid separate from one another with a pathway between, but only God passed through saying, “I will do this. Abram, you stay asleep. I will do this.” 

The key to Genesis 15 in Paul’s mind is that Abram trusted God and simple faith made Abram, later Abraham, right with God.

In Galatians 3, that’s why that verse is quoted in verse 6. By the way, many quotes from the Old Testament are in those verses we read. Paul is using these as ammunition against those Judaisers who also would want the Old Testament on their side. Paul is going to use them properly.

He said, “You know then that the ones from faith -- these are the sons of Abram. Abram had a lot of sons. Isaac was the miracle son, the one through whom the nation came. Ishmael was the father of what we would call today the Arab nations. Abraham had six more sons because he had another wife after Sara died. Lots of sons of Abraham, but who are the true sons, spiritually speaking? Those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. Those who trust, regardless of their ethnicity.

The importance of Abraham -- was it merely that he was just the first circumcised Jew (Genesis 17). Is that really what marks him out as the outstanding figure in the history of that nation? No. Paul would say not Genesis 17, but Genesis 15. Abraham is the key. He set the standard for salvation to all nations. That’s what Paul’s next point is. Abraham wasn’t just key to the Jews getting right with God or being justified, Abraham was key to whoever would get right with God from any nation on earth. He set the standard for that as well. All nations by the grace of God. He says, personifying the Scripture here, “Knowing beforehand that God would make the nations right with Him by faith.” That is such good news because that’s us! We have our names in the Bible, sort of. It’s right here. Quoting Genesis 12:3, it was promised beforehand to Abraham. God preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham. That which you and I would embrace as the good news, salvation by faith through Jesus alone, came first to Abraham. “In you, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed“ (Genesis 12:3).

Genesis 12
³ And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

What’s exciting about that is when you go to the end of the book, Revelation, and we get a glimpse of glory. We see who walks the streets of gold. Not just the Jews who were of faith, but the nations, every tribe and tongue and nation and people because faith is the key and it cuts across the board evenly among all people.

The Scripture said that long ago. “All the nations of the world shall be blessed.” All the nations of the world shall know the focused favor of God. That word “blessing” is a loaded word theologically. It’s not just a trite thing we say. To be blessed of God is to know His focused favor. It’s extending to all the nations of the world, Abram is the founder, the first, and he was made right by faith. Judaisers -- He’s not your witness.

Moses (3:10-12)

If there’s a curveball in these verses (6 through 14), it’s right here. What Paul is going to do is to quote several Old Testament Scriptures in this text. He’s quoting them as his opponents would use them, not as Moses would use them, but as his opponents would, you might say, misuse them. “You want to go to the Old Testament, you want to go to Deuteronomy, you want to talk Leviticus, let’s go. This is what you say this means?” That’s what he’s doing as he quotes and we work our way beginning in verse 10.

There is a sharp contrast between verse 9 and 10. It says in verse 9, “Those who are of faith shall be blessed”. Verse 10 says, “Those who are of works are under a curse.” For the Scripture says cursed are all who don’t remain continually in all that is written in the book of the Law to do them. You want to work your way to heaven? Then you have to keep every rule. There are 613 that we can count. Do you really want to do that? Is that what you’re about?

He sets up two positions, one right and one wrong. One is Moses’ position and the other is the position of the Judaisers. Here’s what Moses believes, the same thing Abraham believes, the same thing Jesus believes, the same thing Paul believes, and the same thing I hope we all believe. Moses’ position was, “You’re fallen.” That means you cannot get yourself right with God. You cannot spiritually pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. You’re so marred by sin you can’t save yourself, so what does the Law do for you?

The Law is a mirror for Moses and it shows you and me what’s wrong so that we can go to God for mercy. That’s the correct view, that’s how Moses saw it. These Judaisers, these opponents, would go at it a little differently. They would say, “You are not fallen, you are chosen.”  The Bible would say, “You’re fallen.“ Most people today would say, “You are good.” So what is the Law for? If you’re good, what’s the point of the Law? It’s a way to further your rightness with God because “you’re not that bad.”

“You’re not fallen.” If you were a Jew you’d say, “Well, you’re chosen,” so now you have the Law so that you can have a whole bunch of rules to keep by which you can measure your own righteousness and rack up a whole gob of brownie points with God. That’s what the Law is for.

Moses is saying, “No, the Law is a mirror to show you’re wrong.” Judaisers say, “No, the Law is a guide to those who are right.” Paul is saying, “Do you really believe that? OK, then let’s look at the verses. Verse 10 says: For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; Curse is bad. You can go through life and be a lot of things, but one thing you don’t want to be is cursed.

A definition of curse is “bondage that leads to utter failure and condemnation.” You who are under the works of the Law, you think that you’re basically OK and all you have to do now is behave yourself and keep the rules. That leads to condemnation. You really go about trying to keep these rules in your own flesh you’re going to find you can’t do it, so you’ll just try harder. On the other hand, to the extent that you convince yourself that you have succeeded, that’s pride. And that’s wrong.

The rich young ruler had this problem (Mark 10). He came to Jesus and asked, “What do I have to do to inherit eternal life.” Jesus said, “Well, tell me about the commandments.” He listed a few and the guy said, “I’ve done them all.” Jesus, I think kindly, pointed out that he had missed a couple key ones like, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”

You want to be under the Law? If you are really good you shouldn’t have a problem with say, living perfectly and consistently.  If you’re basically a good person, why not? Why not be a perfect person? What’s to keep you from being perfect if you really are OK after all? Paul is saying this is absurd.

He goes on in verse 11 saying “no one.” In fact, no one shall be made right with God is obvious because the Bible says the righteous, or the just, shall live not by Law, but by faith. The righteous shall live not by keeping rules but by trusting God. It means, broadly, that if you want to go to heaven, you get accepted with God by trusting Him. All my trust in Jesus only. It means between the time you decide you want to go to heaven and you put all your trust in Jesus only and the time you actually get there, you live by putting all your trust in Jesus only.

It’s applicable for entrance into eternal life and whatever is left of this one. The just shall live -- shall come to life, shall live in this life, and shall go on beyond this life -- by putting all their trust in Jesus only. Very simple. Paul says that is how it works, but he says the Law is not of faith (verse 12). He’s drawing a contrast between verse 11 and verse 12. No one is right with God by working the Law because he says in verse 11, “The righteous shall live by faith.” The Law is not from faith. Those who choose to go the way of the Law have to do all of it. He says that doesn’t work. It will never work.

The one doing these things shall live by them, but you end up not living by them, you end up dying in them. It doesn’t work. It’s interesting how we end up, so very much depends on where we begin. In these cases we talk about Moses, or any believer, beginning with “I can’t do this. I’m spiritually bankrupt.” Blessed are the spiritually bankrupt (Matthew 5) because we’re the ones who will cast ourselves at the feet of God for mercy. But those who don’t declare bankruptcy, who say, “I’m doing OK, it’s just a matter of keeping some rules,” end up on the losing end because they can’t be kept consistently and perfectly.

Between verse 11 and verse 12, please understand this, it’s either-or. What Paul is saying here is that you can’t have it both ways. You can’t say you have to have faith and you have to add to faith. It’s an either/or issue. We cannot combine faith and works. If you study a number of modern cults, this figures prominently in their teaching. They say you needed to have Jesus, He needed to die on the cross for your sins, and you need to believe in Him, but you must also do these works.

They’re saying, in contrast to what Paul is saying, that you have to have both. That doesn’t work. For one, if in any part we must work our way -- let’s just say if it’s faith plus works equals heaven, how much of which? Ten percent faith, 90 percent works, 15/85, 40/60, 50/50 -- and what if you don’t make the cutoff? We end up back where we started. There’s no way to measure. There’s no way to tell.

Which is it? Where do you actually cross the line? Too much faith and not enough works, not enough faith, too many works. What a mess. That won’t work.

Secondly, the reason we can’t combine the two is because that would indicate that the human race is not fallen, only bruised. The Bible is very clear about the fallenness of the human race. It is very clear that we cannot save ourselves. Only God can save us. We don’t have what it takes. If we can combine faith and works, that’s a statement saying, “I’m not that bad.” The Bible says, “Oh yes you are.” I’m not as evil as I could be, but I’m not good enough to get merit with God.

It undermines the notion of the fallenness of the race, but the biggest reason why the faith and works combination will never pan out is because if it’s part faith and part works, God doesn’t get all the glory. The Bible is so clear on that -- God will get all the glory.

The Bible and heaven are all about God and his glory and He won’t share it. He can’t share it because He alone is God and He alone is worthy and He alone is holy. He’s not going to share it. It can’t be shared. It can’t be either/or. You see, Moses isn’t going to help you people either if you’re trying to work your way to heaven.

Jesus (3:13-14)

Abraham voted no, and now Moses has voted no, and finally these last two verses. How does Jesus weigh in? Everybody wants Jesus’ endorsement. Jesus is for the environment, Jesus is for the downtrodden, Jesus is for justice, Jesus is for peace. You can go anywhere you want, cross the spectrum of politics and social order in our world today and somebody will want Jesus’ endorsement.

What did Jesus say? What did He actually do? Where does Jesus weigh in on this? Did He simply enable us so we can do some good works and impress God?

Verse 13: Christ redeemed us. Christ bought us out. Christ paid the price. He purchased us. It is the word for ransomed. The Son of Man came not to be served, he said, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. He bought us out of slavery. He bought us away from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse in our behalf. God by His grace invaded our fallen state. We were helpless to help ourselves,  so Jesus stepped in and did the work. He paid the price and we know He paid it with His blood.

There’s a play on words here for us. He bought us out of the curse of the Law. We no longer have to feel as though we have to keep all these rules in order to please God. We’re not on that treadmill any longer, the treadmill that leads nowhere except to futility and doubt and despair and ultimate condemnation. We’re not there any more. He bought us off of that thing. How did He get us out of that curse? By becoming a curse, in a different sort of way. After all, it’s written, ”Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree.”

Paul reaches back into the book Deuteronomy and the imagery of a criminal who is condemned and, after having been stoned, is suspended from a tree as a mute testimony to anyone who would look on to say, “This is what a cursed person looks like.” He’s a violator of the law, he’s been found out and he has paid the ultimate penalty. He is hanging on a tree to mark the fact that he is cursed.

Paul picks up on that imagery and says, “A cross will do, and the one who hangs on the cross is the One who is bearing a curse in that He has taken on all the sins of all people of all time and paid their debt.” He who knew no sin became sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21). He took it on. He hung on the cross. He paid our bill. To say that is wonderful is hardly adequate.

Jesus therefore, having gone to the cross and in His own blood, on His own volition, paying the price for everyone to go to heaven, is not about to say, “Oh, yeah, since I did that, why don’t you go ahead and work your way too.” He’s not going to help these people. If they or anyone wants to make a case by working their way to heaven and keeping the rules to impress God, then you don’t have an ally in Moses, Abraham, or Jesus. It doesn’t work that way.

Christ made void the curse of the Law by becoming a curse. Paul goes on to say at the end of verse 14,

¹⁴ in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

He paid for that blessing; He became that blessing.

He’s talking about the fact that now that the debt has been paid, the way is clear for God to do in the hearts of people what He has intended to do by His Spirit, by His redemption. It’s here. Jesus is the key, He has paid it. Abraham saw it coming from far off; so did Moses. Jesus showed up and actually carried it out. He made available the blessing of Abraham both to the Gentiles and to the Jews.