October 4, 2018
Galatians 3:23-29 Contemporary English Version (CEV)
The Law of Moses was given to serve God’s people as a guard; but it was not a path to salvation. It was a way to protect and prepare God’s people for salvation through faith in Christ. The Law was given to keep people from straying into dangerous areas outside the will of God. Now, faith in Christ leads to salvation. Faith in his love. Faith in his sacrifice for our sin. Faith in his way of being born again. Faith in his instructions to our hearts. Faith to know if Jesus—the Word of God—calls for a change, it is necessary in order to live right before God. Faith to know we will be given power to accomplish what Christ asks us to do. Faith in God’s promise of blessing and eternal life. As children of faith, we do not live according to our own desires; rather, we live to please Christ because he is the good Shepherd guiding our new lives.
In our passage today, the early Christians in Galatia had trouble deciding how far the Law was to go now that Messiah had come. Paul reminded them Jesus paid the price for sin and now everyone was invited on the same journey of faith to follow the same Shepherd. No one was better than another; all were One by faith. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen” (Hebrews 11:1).