"But the scripture has concluded all under sin." Yes, all, both those who were not under the law, and those who were under it, but who never kept it. All are concluded under sin, and there is no further need to test man. God hath announced in the scriptures His conclusion about all men. All are guilty, all are under sin. Is this, then, that all may be justly condemned? Oh, wondrous grace! the very opposite. " That the promise, by faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe." Man had failed, whether under law, or not, but the promise can never fail, as we have seen; that depends, not on man, but on God -yea, God hath confirmed the promise in Christ.
We must just here notice a very common mistake. Frequently this scripture is misquoted, as though it said that the law is our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ. (Gal. 3:23-25.) Bear in mind that the word "we" refers to the Jews; and " ye" is as distinctly applied to the Gentiles, who had never been under the law. Thus, as to the Jews, " before faith came we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore the law was [not is] our schoolmaster unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Now, to alter all this, and apply it now to us, the Gentiles, is to deny that faith is come—yea, in effect to deny that Christ is come, and to go back to the schoolmaster, as if Christ had still to come, and deliver us from him. It is to set aside the true gospel altogether; and yet how many do it! It was the state of the Jews before Christ came, and until He came; and after He came they could be no longer on that ground. There was no further need to be there, for the law had only proved them guilty, and now they were shown the need they had of redemption. Can we, then, as believers be in that condition of bondage and guilt? No! for, turning now to the believers in Galatia, and surely to us, he says, " For ye are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus." Children are not slaves in bondage.
Let us dwell a little on this part of the glad tidings: the relationship of children. We will take the scripture just as we find it. Mark, we are not children of God by baptism, but by faith in Christ Jesus. This is important, as men do so love to teach whatever is contrary to scripture. Never does the scripture teach that we are children of God by baptism, but by faith in Christ Jesus.
" For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." This is a remarkable confirmation of his doctrine. " As many of you”—that is, you Gentiles who are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus—"as have been baptized into [or unto] Christ.éé In baptism, Judaism or heathenism had been given up, and the eye of faith directed solely to the privileges in Christ, to Christ Himself. Did not this show the folly of going back to that which had been so solemnly given up? Take a case: a Jew, or say a Mohammedan, believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is baptized unto Christ. Would he not thus give up Mohammedanism? Could he be a Christian and a Mohammedan at the same time? No, as many believers as have been baptized, whether they were Jews, heathens, or Mohammedans, have left all behind, and " have put on Christ." All this shows the folly of going back to any of these; for " there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
This is the most wondrous conclusion possible. All believers are one in Him to whom the promise is confirmed, on the ground of His resurrection from the dead, as seen in the figure of Isaac received from the dead. Oh, then, let us forever renounce the great delusion that we are children of God by baptism, and hold fast the truth, that if we are believers, we are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; and that all believers have given up forever the religions of the flesh, whether as Jews or Gentiles, and are baptized unto Christ; that all believers are one in Christ Jesus. And further, as the promise was confirmed to Christ," if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
We must remember that nothing can change or set aside heirship according to promise, because the promise is entirely of God. This is wholly of grace, the free favor of God. But then there must be righteousness as well as grace, and the law had proved man a sinner, even those who were under it. Then could man, whilst under the law, and proved guilty, be brought into the relationship of heir of God? No, as is plainly said, "Even so we [Jews], when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world." They could not be brought to enjoy communion with the Father. Redemption was needed to bring them, as to bring us, into the enjoyment of sonship, as is now explained. " But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Here we get the very opposite of the law. The law demanded obedience from man; but here all is of, and from, God. Man under law required redemption, and God sent His Son to redeem them that were under the law. Then this proves that if man could be placed under law again, he would again require a Redeemer, or something to take that Redeemer's place: a human priesthood, with its oft-repeated sacrifices, that really cannot help man, if under law, for righteousness. Oh, that our hearts may be bowed to this stupendous fact, that " God sent his Son." How different this is from the law! Not in judgment enforcing the curse of the law, but to bear it in infinite love. It is altogether a new revelation of God. It is God's reply to Satan's lie in paradise. When man had listened to the woman's voice, when he had eaten of the forbidden tree—yea, when the whole world was sunk in sin, Jew and Gentile, through Adam's sin and their own—then what was the end of it all? " God sent forth His Son."
Had sin come in by the woman? He was made of a woman. Had man utterly failed to keep the law? He was made under the law. The, Holy One of God thus took the sinner's place, and as the sinless One, there He glorified God. For what did God send Him forth? " To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Thus the Jews, who had the law, and were under it, and were the natural seed of Abraham, needed the expiatory death of the Son of God as much as we Gentiles; and God sent forth His Son for that very purpose- to redeem them. They could by no other means receive the adoption of sons. Was not this wholly of God? And has not the Son accomplished the blessed, eternal will of the Father? Thus believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, are by redemption brought into this new but eternal relationship of sons of God.
" And because ye [believing Gentiles] are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Still all of God. God sent forth His Son to redeem. " God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Thus the new relationship is entirely of God. The poor blind heart of man will not believe this. No, it takes away all credit from man. He hopes to be able to do something, or that God will do something, to take away his sins, and make him His child, and he will pray for God to give him His Holy Spirit; but what is already done never enters his mind. The unbelief of Christendom is in direct contradiction of these two truths: God sent forth His Son; God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son. Yes, God hath sent forth His Son. That blessed One, as made of a woman, made under the law, has accomplished redemption. He has done the will of God in our eternal redemption. And God, having received Him up to glory, He hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts as believers, and hence the blessed cry, Abba, Father. Yes, " because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." And how did we become children? " By faith in Christ Jesus."
All is thus of God, and all so real. The Holy Ghost is sent forth into our hearts, the proof that God has accepted the redemption-price, and also the proof that we are the children of God: " because ye are sons." Yes, this is at once the relationship in which the believer stands—a relationship that never can end, because so entirely of God. " Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." Wherefore "thou art" that is, it is now a personal relationship in which the individual believer stands. Oh, reader, is it true that thou art no more a servant—no more on the ground of probation under law—but a son, an heir of God through Christ? Hath God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into thy heart? Canst thou say, Abba, Father? Do dwell on these two facts: God sent forth His Son; God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son. We surely had nothing to do with either of these acts. But what a revelation of God! Just when man was utterly lost, shut up under sin, no power to deliver himself, then God sent forth His Son to redeem the lost, and to bring us from bondage to the happy position of sons. And then, because sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
And are we to deny all this, and put ourselves under law or bondage? Are we to return back to the beggarly elements of the world, to do even as the heathen do, observe days, and months, and years? When the Galatians did this, it made the apostle stand in doubt whether they were Christians. And what shall we say in this day, when these very beggarly elements, these very heathen festive days, under new names, mingled with unbelief and doubts, and striving to get saved by works of law—when these things have taken the place of pure Christianity? Do not all these things leave the soul wretched and uncertain? It is then no longer the love of God in sending His Son to redeem us; no longer the sweet certainty that we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Instead of the Spirit of His Son sent down, and dwelling in our hearts, and the holy enjoyment of our known relation as sons, a long life is spent in unbelieving prayer for the Spirit, just as though He had not been sent; and instead of liberty, bondage and unbelief. Is not this the state of thousands? Header, is it yours?
This must be the case where law and grace are mingled together. Nay, it is not to mingle merely, it is to deny, to lose, the standing of one justified by Christ. As is shown in our chapter, the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. It cannot be both—of the flesh and of the Spirit. It must be either what we are to God (but then, all is lost, for man has been tested, and found guilty); or it must be entirely what God is to us in grace—grace that sent forth His Son to accomplish our eternal redemption. That redemption is accomplished; God hath sent forth the witness of it even into our hearts, the Spirit of His Son, crying, Abba, Father.
Oh, let us, then, hold fast the glad tidings of the gospel of Christ. There will be hatred and persecution, " as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so is it now"
In our next we hope to notice the importance of standing fast in this liberty, and its effect on our walk.