A TEN STAR CHAPTER

Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Justification by Faith

• Satan is the accuser of man. In court the accuser is called the prosecutor. The strength of the prosecutor is the law; breaking the law brings condemnation. However; the law is powerless when someone not under condemnation is willing to be the propitiation for the penalty.
  
  Jesus is not only man’s defender, but he took on Himself the penalty of the one condemned.
  
  Not only is the man released, but death itself is killed.

Galatians 3:¹ O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?

Galatians 3:² This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Galatians 3:³ Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Galatians 3:⁴ Have you suffered so many (Or: Great) things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

Galatians 3:⁵ Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—

Galatians 3:⁶ just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Galatians 3:⁷ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

Galatians 3:⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”

Galatians 3:⁹ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

The Law Brings a Curse

Galatians 3:¹⁰ For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

• The literal meaning of thorn is curse.
• When man sinned he took on earth’s thorns.

Galatians 3:¹¹ But that no one is (declared righteous) justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”

Galatians 3:¹² Yet the law is not of faith, but (rather) “the man who does them (the laws) shall (have to) live by (ALL of) them.”

• Man isn’t a sinner because he sins….(rather) man sins because he is a sinner. He was born a sinner with a propensity to sin.

Galatians 3:¹³ Christ has 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”),

• His crown of thorns represents the curse of man.

Galatians 3:¹⁴ that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The Changeless Promise

Galatians 3:¹⁵ Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.

Galatians 3:¹⁶ Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.

• Jesus is Abraham’s seed and while Isaac was the son of promise, so much more Jesus.
• Jesus created Abraham and He also created Himself as Abraham’s seed.

Galatians 3:¹⁷ And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.

• Exodus 12:40-41 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt (and Canaan according to the Greek Septuagint) was four hundred and thirty years. “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.”
  
• Four hundred and thirty years before the Exodus on Passover Day (The Jewish Month of Nisan and the 14th day) Abraham offered to sacrifice Isaac on the very place the temple will come to stand in Solomon’s day; Mount Mariah.
  
• The Law which Moses received on Mount Sinai was four hundred and thirty years after Abraham offered to sacrifice Isaac on that very same day which was Passover, the FIRST Passover.
  See: Topic: Critical Verses No One Should Miss #11 for more.
  
• God provided a ram in the place of Isaac, a ram with its horns (power) caught in a thicket of thorns. The thorns that are man’s curse and the crown of thorns that Jesus wore.
  
• According to Moses, the Passover lamb was to be selected on the 10th of Nisan. Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Mount Mariah on the 10th of Nisan. Abraham and Isaac left for Mount Mariah on the 10th of Nisan.
  
• According to Moses, the Passover lamb was to be slaughtered on the 14th of Nisan, the day of the Exodus which was the day of the death of the Pharaoh’s first born son as well as the day of God’s first born Son; Jesus who was crucified on the 14th of Nisan. Isaac also was offered on the altar on the 14th of Nisan.
  
• At Passover on the 14th of Nisan Moses took the Jews into the wilderness for a three day journey to worship God. Jesus spent three days in the heart of the earth before ascending to the Father. Abraham made the three day journey home with Isaac.
  
• Each incident, in their respective years happened on the exact same day of the week. Proof of a timeline only an eternal God could have determined thousands of years apart making the Covenant with Abraham through His promises.
  
• Galatians 3:¹⁸ For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Purpose of the Law

Galatians 3:¹⁹ What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.

Galatians 3:²⁰ Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

Galatians 3:²¹ Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.

Galatians 3:²² But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

• Man is not a sinner because he sinned, he sins because he is a sinner; born with a propensity to sin.

Galatians 3:²³ But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept (Lit. confined) for the faith which would afterward be revealed.

• Kept in prison by the law (confined) until Jesus made propitiation for the condemned.

Galatians 3:²⁴ Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

• In a household, the tutor is the guardian responsible for the care and discipline of the children.

Galatians 3:²⁵ But after faith has come, we are no longer (confined) under a tutor.

Sons and Heirs

Galatians 3:²⁶ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

• What does it mean to be baptized into Christ? Scripture touches on different types of baptism:
  
  • John the baptizer’s baptism by water is a baptism of repentance:
    
    Matthew 3:6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
    
  • There is the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Fire:
    
    Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
    
    Acts 2:3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
    
    John 1:33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
    
  • There is also the baptism of death to self:
    
    Matthew 3:16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.
    
    Matthew 20:22 But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.”
    
    Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!
    
    Romans 6:¹ Dead to Sin, Alive to God – What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

Galatians 3:²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

• Since we are co-heirs with Christ, then we also are seeds of the promise as Abraham’s children.
  
  Anyone can count the seeds in an apple
  But only God can count the apples in a seed.
  
  Anyone can count that One Seed provided by God
  But only God can count the children in His One Seed.

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• What happens when a condemned man refuses to believe he can be released from death? He continues in his captivity until the executioner calls for him.