Since Paul has argued that salvation is by faith, he now turns in Galatians 3:15–4:7 to explain the purpose of the law—to point to our need for Christ. And in Christ we are sons (yes even women) and heirs of God.

Previous Posts: Gal 1:1–10; Gal 1:11–2:10; Gal 2:11–21; Gal 3:1–14

The Promise/covenant

Paul continues to prove his point that salvation comes by faith in Christ by using the illustration of a validated will (covenant) which can’t be changed or disregarded (3:15). Just like in a will, God made promises to Abraham and to Abraham’s offspring (“seed”), namely Christ (3:16; Gen 3:15). Paul’s point is that the law, which came 430 years after Abraham, did not invalidate the covenant God had already established and so cancel the promise (3:17). Paul wants his readers to know that their inheritance is not based on the law, but on God’s grace given to Abraham through a promise (3:18).

Paul already told his non-Jewish readers that any who have faith are Abraham’s sons and that God’s promise extended to all people groups (3:7–8). That includes me. I love how Paul points us back to Genesis and God’s promise to Eve that her descendant would crush Satan. Finding the threads of God’s redemption in the whole of Scripture encourages me when it feels like evil is winning.

How does learning that God planned for your salvation from the moment of Adam and Eve’s sin encourage you?

Why the Law?

Paul now explains the law was added “to show people their sins” until the coming of the promised seed—Christ (3:19). Paul’s next words are unclear (3:19–20). According to Timothy Keller, “Some commentators think Paul is saying that God spoke the law to the people through a mediator, namely, Moses, but that He spoke the promise directly to Abraham. But this is not at all certain. No one is sure what Paul means or how this fits into the argument. Fortunately, the thrust of Paul’s argument, and it’s other supporting points are clear, so it is not urgent that we decode the sentences to understand him.”¹

Paul reemphasizes that God’s law is not opposed to God’s promises. If the law could give life, then righteousness could be obtained by obeying it (3:21). Rather the law (scripture) locked us in the prison of sin. It convinced us of our sinfulness so that the promise (of freedom) through Jesus Christ “might be given to those who believe” (3:22). Paul writes that before faith in Christ arrived, “we were held in custody under the law, locked up” until this faith was revealed (3:23). The law was our guardian until Christ came to justify us by faith (3:24). Now that faith us come, we no longer need the law to guard us (3:25).

If there was no law telling me I have to drive 35 miles an hour in a residential area, I would not know I transgress when I drive 50. But just knowing the law does not give me the power to obey it. In the same way God’s laws show me that I am not capable of being righteous on my own. I need a savior. I understood this even a small child. But later as an adult, the law showed me that being proud and self-righteousness violated God’s law and convinced me of my need for his grace (Phil 3:4–9).

Which of God’s laws showed you that you needed a savior?

Sons of God

Paul says that through faith, we are all sons of God in Christ Jesus (3:27). All who are baptized into Christ are clothed with him (3:28). Now Paul explains what this means practically—we are all one in Christ Jesus! There is no difference between ethnicity, social class, or gender (3:28). If we belong to Christ, then we are Abraham’s descendants and heirs of the promise (3:29). In other words, we’re in God’s family.

I am intent on making sure that women know when they are included in the promises and commands of scripture. But this idea of being given the rights and inheritance of the firstborn son is unique. As a woman, “Paul says that I am a son of God” in the sense of being given the rights and inheritance given only to firstborn sons in the Jewish culture. Paul’s words are equally encouraging to believers in marginalized populations. The immigrant or the person of color in the pew beside me are fellow heirs and one with me in Christ.

Author Carolyn Custis James explains it this way: “Given the fact that in the first century patriarchal culture sons were prized above daughters—who didn’t inherit, didn’t show up in genealogies, and were married off to build another man’s family—the fact that Paul is telling a mixed audience that they are “all sons” is not diminishing women in the least. To the contrary, Paul’s words are elevating them to the same high status in God’s family as their brothers. Paul is telling women, Gentiles, and slaves that, in God’s family, they are all sons.”²

What does it look like for you, my sister, to be called “God’s son”?

Heirs, not Slaves

Paul focuses now on what it means to be an heir. When an heir is underage, he’s like a slave, even though he technically owns everything. But until the time set by his father, he’s dependent on the terms and trustees specified in the will (4:1–2). Paul says that, likewise, his readers were in slavery to the spiritual forces of the world (4:3). But when the time set by God arrived, God sent his Son to be born of a woman—Mary of Nazareth³—under the law (3:4) to redeem anyone under the law so that we might be adopted to sonship (3:5). Paul tells the Galatians they are God’s sons and so God has “sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father'” (4:6). This means they are no longer slaves, but God’s son and as such, they are heirs (4:7).

This mention of Jesus’s mother is the only reference to Mary not found in the Gospels or Acts. I discovered this verse when studying for and writing my devotional, Favored Blessed Pierced, about Mary. I love that Paul mentions her here, emphasizing that Jesus was fully human and acknowledging Mary’s unique and essential role.

Christ redeemed us, adopted us as a first-born son out of the slavery of sin into his family, sent his Spirit into our hearts, and made us his heir.⁴ Paul describes what we have inherited in other letters:

• For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Heb 9:15)
• Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you. (1 Peter 1:3-4)

What parts of your inheritance are most looking forward to?

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, thank you for showing me my need for your salvation and grace. Thank for adopting me as you son, bringing me into your family, and making me your heir.

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1. Timothy Keller, Galatians For You, 82. ↩︎
2. https://carolyncustisjames.com/2016/09/19/lost-in-translation/ ↩︎
3. I wrote a book about Mary of Nazareth. ↩︎
4. See https://biblehub.com/q/Galatians_3_29_Our_identity_as_heirs.htm for more on our identity as heirs. ↩︎