Galatians Week 3 -- Redeemed from the Curse; Heir of the Blessing Because of Jesus Ministries BecauseofJesus.

.com Galatians 3:1-14 Before we begin to study Galatians chapter 3, lets read the last 3 verses of chapter 2 so we can clearly see the distinction the Apostle Paul is making between religion and relationship. Galatians 2: 19-21: 19 For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the lawI stopped trying to meet all its requirementsso that I might live for God. NLT 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. KJV In these verses the Apostle Paul explains that trying to keep the law to be acceptable and pleasing to God only produces condemnation. He said the way he became free from condemnation is he died to the law. He stopped trying to meet all its requirements so his life might truly glorify God. Instead of being defined by the law and his ability to obey it, he began identifying himself completely with Christ. His old sinful nature died with Jesus and now Jesus lives in him, and if Jesus lives in him, he has a new nature of righteousness that is just like Jesus! He is holy, righteous, accepted, approved, qualified, blessed and favored, not based on his ability to keep the law, but because of the grace given to him through Jesus. He then goes on to say that this life he lived on the earth, he lived by the faith of Jesus or what Jesus believes about him -- Jesus loved him and died and rose again to make him holy and without fault in the Fathers eyes. In verse 21, the phrase frustrate the grace of God literally means to devalue, to set aside, to reject the grace of God (Strongs G114). The Apostle Paul was saying if I continue to try to gain Gods approval and to define myself by how good I am at obeying the law, then I have rejected, devalued, and set aside the grace of God -- and what Jesus did for me was in vain. If I continue to allow the law to condemn me, then I have abandoned the free life of living by what Jesus believes about me for a rule-keeping, peerpleasing religion. Dont let religion blind you, keep Jesus in clear focus in your life! 1 Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christs death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. NLT 1 You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for its obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough. MSG In Galatians 2:21, the Apostle Paul, had just emphatically said, I do not count the grace of Christ as meaningless for if I could be made righteous through obeying the law than Jesus died for nothing! He had clearly taught the Galatian church the meaning of Jesus death -- that Jesus died to pay the penalty for their sin, relieving them of all guilt and shame before God, and he rose 11

again to secure their righteousness, completely qualifying them for all of Gods blessings. This was a gift of His grace, not something they could earn by their obedience to the law. Paul was astonished that they could be brainwashed into thinking they could add something to the finished work of Jesus! He shows us in this verse how rule-keeping religion makes you blind to what Jesus accomplished for you. He was bewildered that theyd want to give up the grace of Jesus for the legalism of the religious law. So in order to bring them back to their senses and help them see Jesus clearly again, he asked them some pointed questions: Religion = trust in self; Relationship = trust in Jesus Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 4 Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it? 5 I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. 6 In the same way, Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith. 7 The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. 8 Whats more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, All nations will be blessed through you. 9 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. NLT Verse 2-5: The Apostle Paul asked, How did you receive the power of the Holy Spirit? By obeying the law or by believing the message about Jesus? Is it your good works or Jesus finished work that makes you righteous before God? Are you really going to go back to your own human effort to try to please God when Jesus already made you acceptable in Gods sight? That would be absurd! Verses 6-9: Here the Apostle Paul gives Abraham as an example of how a person becomes righteous in Gods sight. He reminds them that it was by faith in Jesus that Abraham was made acceptable and qualified for Gods blessing. And in this same way we also become righteous through faith in Jesus! Note 10 at Galatians 3:6: Paul's statements about the grace of God were, of course, offensive to the legalistic Jews. No doubt they thought he was way off course and completely outside the truths of Scripture. Here, Paul cited scripture to show that it is those who trust in themselves instead of a savior who are unscriptural. (Andrew Wommack Ministries Bible Study Commentary, awmi.net) Religion says do; Jesus says done So then, those who are people of faith are blessed and made happy and favored by God with the believing and trusting Abraham. 10 And all who depend on the Law [who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals] are under a curse and doomed to disappointment and destruction, for it is written in the Scriptures, Cursed be everyone who does not continue to abide by all the precepts and commands written in the Book of the Law and to practice them. AMP 11 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, It is through faith that a righteous person has life. 12 This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, It is through obeying the law that a person has life.NLT
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Religion teaches do Obey the law and you will be qualified It is through obeying the law that you find life The result: under a curse: doomed to disappointment

Jesus says done Rely on Jesus; you are already qualified! Through faith in Jesus, you find true life! The result: blessed, happy, favored by God!

Verse 9-10: These verses show the difference in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Old Covenant said, If you obey the law youll be blessed, but if you disobey youll be cursed, but the New Covenant of grace says, If you rely upon Jesus, you are made blessed, happy, and favored by God, but if you depend on your obedience to the law to please God, you are under a curse and doomed to disappointment. The reason so many Christians live in disappointment and often feel like theyre just not good enough is because instead of living by faith in what Jesus has done for them, they depend on their obedience to the law to qualify themselves for the blessing and favor of God. Note 15 at Ga 3:10: Paul was bringing out a very important point that those who preach performance conveniently fail to mention. De 27:26 says, "Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them" (emphasis mine). Those who trust in the Law must keep every word of the Law perfectly or else they come under the curse (De 28:15-68) instead of the blessing (De 28:1-14). Since all have sinned (Ro 3:23), people can never attain to the blessing of the Law through their own efforts. They must put faith in the grace of God and receive the blessing as a gift (Ro 6:23). (Andrew Womack Ministries Bible Commentary, awmi.net) The True Gospel of Jesus
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Christ purchased our freedom [redeeming us] from the curse of the Law [and its condemnation] by [Himself] becoming a curse for us, for it is written [in the Scriptures], Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree; AMP 14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith. NLT Jesus redeemed you from the curse of the law. What is the curse? In Deuteronomy 28:1-66 there is a list of blessings that come from obedience to the law and a list of curses that come from disobeying the law. These were the terms of the Old Covenant. Without Jesus, we all fall under the curse (Romans 3:23) because none of us can keep the law perfectly. Thats why we needed a Savior; someone who would rescue us from the consequences of our failures. The Good News is that Jesus purchased our freedom from the curse of the law. Notice it doesnt say curses of the law, it says curse. The Amplified Bible describes the curse as condemnation. The curse of not obeying the law perfectly was condemnation. Like the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:19, For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. Condemnation produces guilt, shame, depression, fear, and anxiety in the heart of a person because they feel they just arent good enough and they define themselves by their past mistakes and their present circumstances. 13

Note on Galatians 3:13: There are three basic Greek words for "redeem": (1) "AGORAZO"--"to buy in the slave market" (we were slaves to the Law); (2) "EX-AGORAZO"--"to buy out of the slave market" (it would remove us out from under the principle of the Law); and (3) "LUTROO"-"to set free or release by a payment" (Wuest Word Studies from the Greek New Testament). Christ's death paid in full the justice the Law demanded. We are now free from the Law to be in union with another, Jesus Christ (Ro 7:4). (Andrew Wommack Ministries Bible Study Commentary, awmi.net) When Jesus died on the cross, He became a curse. He paid for your release from condemnation by becoming a curse for you. Hebrews 12:2 says that for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising its shame, and is now sitting at the right hand of God. The joy that was set before Jesus was you! Youre release from condemnation and shame so that you could live in Him as His bride, seated with Him in the highest place of honor, secure in His love and your new identity in Him!

Through Jesus, you receive the blessing of Abraham. What is the blessing? Verse 14: Not only were we released from condemnation, but through Jesus, God has blessed us with the same blessing He promised Abraham. Notice the verse says the same blessing not the same blessings. Galatians 3:6-9 clearly reveals that the blessing of Abraham was the gift of righteousness. What does it mean to be made righteous through faith in Jesus? Righteousness (Strongs 46): Innocent; free from guilt or blame; justified It is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law. In addition to the pardon of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law (Rom. 5:1-10). It proceeds on the crediting to the believer by God himself of the perfect righteousness, of Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:3-9). Justification is not the forgiveness of a man without righteousness, but a declaration that he possesses a righteousness which perfectly and forever satisfies the law, namely, Christ's righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 4:6-8). www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/justification.html: Bible Encyclopedia The gift of righteousness made you innocent and free from all guilt and blame before God. When God declared you righteous, He declared you entitled to all the blessings of perfect obedience to the law. He gave us a new identity: The perfect righteousness of Jesus! Now when we read Deuteronomy 28:1-14, we see that Jesus obeyed perfectly for us so that we could receive the promise of righteousness. Now we are blessed in every area of our lives, not because we obeyed the law perfectly, but because of Jesus. We receive the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and bringing out the fruit of righteousness in our lives, not by relying upon our own effort, but by daily relying upon Jesus! When we forsake religion and embrace relationship, we no longer live under the condemnation of our failures because we have our eyes focused on Jesus and the sacrifice He made to free us from all shame and guilt. We embrace the gift of righteousness by acknowledging that we are blessed because of Jesus! Jesus lives in us and we experience freedom from the curse of the law (condemnation) by living by what He believes about us! 14