Galatians 3:6 - Meaning and Application

After rebuking the Galatians for failing to obey the truth, the apostle now works to prove the doctrine they had rejected, justification by faith apart from the works of the law. He does this in several ways.

First, he points to Abraham's justification. Abraham believed God, and that faith was counted to him as righteousness (Galatians 3:6). In other words, Abraham trusted God's word and promise, and God accepted him as righteous because of that faith. Since Abraham is the father of all believers, Paul wants us to understand that those who belong to faith are Abraham's children (Galatians 3:7), not by physical descent, but by promise. So they are justified in the same way Abraham was, by faith.

Paul also says that the promise made to Abraham, "In you all nations will be blessed" (Genesis 12:3), pointed to this very truth (Galatians 3:8). Scripture is said to "foresee" because the God who inspired it knew ahead of time that he would justify the nations by faith. So in Abraham, that is, in Abraham's seed, which is Christ, not only the Jews but also the Gentiles would be blessed. They would not only be blessed through Abraham's family line, but blessed in the same way Abraham was, by being justified as he was. Paul calls this the gospel preached beforehand to Abraham, and from it he concludes that those who are of faith, true believers from every nation, are blessed with faithful Abraham (Galatians 3:9). They share in his blessing because they share his way of receiving it, through faith in God's promise.

Second, Paul shows that we cannot be justified except by faith in the gospel, because the law condemns us. If we place ourselves on trial in that court, we are certainly lost, because all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. Those who depend on their own deeds as their righteousness, and who stand on their own defense, will certainly lose the case. Scripture says, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things written in the book of the law, to do them" (Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26). The law demands perfect, personal, and lasting obedience. Its message is, "Do this and live," or, as Galatians 3:12 says, "The one who does them will live by them." For every failure, the law speaks a curse.

Unless our obedience is complete, continuing in all things written in the law, and unless it lasts all the way through, we fall under its curse. That curse is revealed wrath and threatened ruin. It sets a person apart for all evil, and it stands fully against all sinners, which means against all people, since all have sinned and become guilty before God. If we are under the curse as lawbreakers, then it is useless to look for justification through the law.

Yet Paul later shows that there is a way to escape this curse and recover God's favor, and that way is through faith in Christ, who redeemed us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). Christ used a surprising way to redeem us. He did it by being made a curse for us. He was made sin for us, and in that sense made a curse for us, not cut off from God in his divine nature, but for a time placed under that visible sign of God's displeasure that the law of Moses had marked out, as in Deuteronomy 21:23. The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, so that all who believe in him, whether Jews or Gentiles, might become heirs of Abraham's blessing, especially that great promise of the Spirit, which was kept for the gospel age. So it is clear that people become God's people and heirs of the promise, not by putting themselves under the law, but by faith in Christ.

Here we should notice four things. First, our misery as sinners, we are under the curse and condemnation of the law. Second, Christ's love and grace, since he submitted to be made a curse for us so he could redeem us from that curse. Third, our bright hope through him, not only escape from the curse, but also inheritance of the blessing. Fourth, this favor comes only through faith in him.

Third, Paul proves justification by faith from the plain witness of the Old Testament (Galatians 3:11). He refers to Habakkuk 2:4, "The righteous shall live by faith," a verse also quoted in Romans 1:17 and Hebrews 10:38. The point is that only those are truly righteous who truly live, that is, who are freed from death and wrath and brought back into life in God's favor. And this life and happiness come only through faith. Through faith people are accepted by God, enabled to live for him now, and given the right to eternal life with him later.

So Paul says it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law. A person may seem righteous to others, but not in God's sight. The law is not based on faith, so it says nothing about faith in the matter of justification, and it does not give life to believers. Instead, it says, "The one who does them will live by them" (Galatians 3:12; Leviticus 18:5). It requires perfect obedience as the condition of life, so it can no longer be the rule for our justification. This shows that justification by faith is not a new teaching. It was established and taught in God's church long before the gospel age. In fact, it is the only way any sinners have ever been, or can ever be, justified.

Fourth, Paul appeals to the lasting force of the covenant God made with Abraham, which was not canceled or set aside when the law was later given through Moses (Galatians 3:15 and following). Faith came before the law, because Abraham was justified by faith. He built on a promise, and promises are the proper object of faith. God entered into covenant with Abraham (Galatians 3:8), and that covenant was firm and steady. Human agreements are meant to stand, and God's covenant stands even more surely.

When a contract has been signed and sealed, both sides are bound by it. It is then too late to try to change the terms. So it should not be thought that God’s covenant could later be canceled by the law that came after it.

The original word, *diatheke*, can mean both a covenant and a testament, or will. The promise made to Abraham was more like a testament than an ordinary agreement. Once a will takes effect by the death of the one who made it, it cannot be changed. In the same way, the promise given to Abraham stands firm and cannot be altered.

Someone may object that a grant or will can fail if no one is alive to claim it, or if there is no proper heir (Galatians 3:16). But Paul shows that this is no danger here. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, but the covenant was made with Abraham and his seed. Paul explains this in a striking way. We might have thought this meant only the Jewish nation. Instead, he says the word is singular and points to one person, “that seed is Christ.”

So the covenant still stands, because Christ lives forever in his own person and in his spiritual seed, those who belong to him by faith. If someone objects that the law given by Moses canceled this covenant, because the law pressed works so strongly and said so little about faith or the promised Messiah, Paul answers that a later law could not cancel an earlier promise (Galatians 3:18). If the inheritance comes through the law, then it no longer comes through promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise, and that means it cannot be changed by a later act.

It would not fit with God’s holiness, wisdom, or faithfulness for him to set aside his own promise and change the way he had chosen to justify sinners, that is, to count them right with him. If the inheritance was given to Abraham by promise and passed on to his spiritual seed, we can be sure God will not take that promise back. He is not like a man, who changes his mind.