That would be, arguably, Galatians 3:28. I’ve read it hundreds of times, not exaggerating, in commentary after commentary. Especially the more recently written ones! The complementarian ones, for sure!

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Again, Galatians 3:28, the chapter’s penultimate (next-to-last) verse.

Oh, How Paul loves that term, that phrase, “in Christ!”

He uses it 10 times in Romans!

Then 12 more times in First Corinthians!

Add 9 times for Second Corinthians.

Plus 6 times for Galatians!

And, as you might suspect, 10 times in (relatively short) Ephesians.

Seven (7) times in Philippians, shorter yet.

Plus 4 more in Colossians, Twin Epistle to Philippians.

The “T” Books, Thessalonians and Timothy and Titus … 13 times … with Second Timothy having the “lion’s share,” 7 of them).

Philemon … 3 times!

But (a surprise to me) none in Hebrews. Not a single “in Christ!” 

Yes, very Paul-like (“Pauline” the teachers call it) to the core … “Therefore if any man be IN CHRIST, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Second Corinthians 5:17

When a sinner is saved, he is no longer “alone.”

No longer “apart” or “separated” from God, from  the family of God! 

He has been “brought in,” as old British Preacher Guy King used to preach and write!

Placed “into” the Sphere of Jesus Christ our Lord!

“Into” His Very Body! With the Body of Christ being the Church, according to Paul once again!

What a grand Place to be … “in Christ!”

But the point of today’s Lesson is that no matter who a person is … particularly (though Paul here expands his “field of contrast”) Jew or Gentile (Greek) … each is saved the same way! (By Grace through faith in the Blood of Jesus, in His atoning Death!)

And each person (anyone, “whosoever,” with no distinctions) who comes to Jesus so believing … ends up with the very same Status, “in Christ!”

Past conflicting identities are gone, vanished!

So … there is “neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female” … just saved, born-again Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

As I’ve said … all in the family … the same way … having been born again by sincere belief, by Holy Spirit power, by the grace of God!

Wow!

No wonder this great verse is used so much!

Relish it today.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

In Paul’s Churches, Jew and Greek could worship side by side, with no arguments! So could the slave and his (or her) owner! Even men and women enjoyed the privilege as well! (Certainly not in the synagogue, but YES, in the Church!)

Hallelujah!

 

Today we get another one of Paul’s beautiful “word pictures” about salvation. About salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus alone!

And this metaphor deals with “baptism,” as our Lesson heading (title) indicates.

“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” So wrote the Holy Spirit through Paul in Galatians 3:27.

To me … this verse is not only aesthetically balanced, grammatically pretty, it is ingenious! A theological Masterpiece!

Here, when a person is “saved” … he or she is instantly “baptized” into Jesus! Actually in Greek “baptizo” means “to dip, to immerse, to submerge!”

And I am sure … this “baptism” has NOTHING to do with water!

It is an Act (Action) of God the Holy Spirit as He “places” a repentant sinner (one just having believed in Jesus, trusting His Shed Blood on Calvary) “into” Jesus Christ, into His “Body!”

I think Romans 6:3 well illustrates this truth. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?”

Maybe 1 Corinthians 12:13 is even better. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

Wow!

The Holy Spirit does the baptizing, at the very second of salvation! The precise moment you were saved, believed!

Here’s the trajectory: (1) belief or trust in Jesus our Saviour … (2) Holy Spirit regeneration, baptizing us into the Body … (3) enjoyment of New Life in Christ forever thereafter!

Wow again!

But look at our Text once more. “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ HAVE PUT ON Christ.”

Paul here equates being “baptized” into Christ as also “putting on” Christ! Both are viable, as I said, “word pictures!”

This second verb is “enduo,” which indeed means “to sink down” into one’s clothes! To “wrap up” real snugly! Hence, “putting on” Christ Jesus!

Trust Jesus … and a bunch of miracles simultaneously occur!

Baptized into His Body!

Enrobed, putting on the Saviour!

Possessing Eternal Life!

Baptism … that saturated in Jesus!

Putting on … wearing Him forever!

Pursue that kind of “obsessed, drenched with Jesus” life today!

And “wear” Him consciously, nobly!

All to His Glory!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Oh yes, water baptism is a “picture” of that Spirit Baptism we experienced at the instant of salvation! A visible illustration of what happened when we were saved! But water Baptist itself does not save!

The Holy Spirit, God’s great Baptizer!

 

It’s Paul’s main (life) message, specifically to the Gentiles! (Though Gentiles are Jews are saved the same way!) And today’s Bible Text expresses that message perfectly, Galatians 3:26. (Galatians chapter 3 only has 29 verses. So early next week we will segue into chapter 4, with its 31 verses. Chapter 4 is also one of the main reasons I wanted to share this Galatians Series with you dear students, readers. Its classical “word pictures!”)

Anyway, that main message now: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26

Wow!

“Children of God!”

The noun used here is “huios,” which I think is the highest (in dignity and honor) word for “son” or “child” in the koine (belonging to the common man) Greek language. The other option, teknon,” does not have the “gravitas” of sonship that “huios” carries, again in my opinion. Oh, what “sonship” Paul has in mind here. It’s nearly ineffable: “Because ye are sons (huios, plural), God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son (Huios, singular) into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

Thrilling!

What an honor …”children” of God! (By the miracle of the new birth! By Holy Spirit adoption as well!)

And Paul makes this astounding statement to … half the Galatians?

Less than half?

To a mere remnant, say 10% of the little Church there?

No!

“For ye are ALL the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

Elsewhere in the Epistle, Paul “doubts” the salvation of these (or at least some of these) people! For example: “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” Or even stronger: “I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.” I’ve here used both Galatians 4:11 and 4:20.

Confused?

Maybe Paul is boldly saying that ALL people (anywhere) who have placed faith in Jesus as Saviour are born-again! Not simply that ALL the Galatians in his Churches there are saved. Still, it looks to me like Paul wants to believe their salvation stories! Pauline optimism, one might call it! (Though their unnecessary wavering on the Law of Moses worries him deeply!)

But the most important issue in today’s Text is this … HOW one becomes a child of God! “For ye are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

“By faith!” 

In Greek, “dia pistis.” With “dia” being a preposition suggesting “agency.” It means “through” faith! Or “by means of” faith! Faith is the gracious “vehicle” through which man comes to God! Having been drawn of the Holy Spirit.

One by faith “believes unto salvation!” Romans 10:10 … “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Yes!

And “pistis,” here translated “faith?” It means “belief.” Or even “confidence.” Accepting someone’s word as truth! Relying on that “trust” as a standard of behavior, believing that deeply!

And that, friends, is how a man or woman is saved!

If … that faith is placed in Jesus Christ, God’s Son! As in … “Believe on the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

We learned yesterday that the Law (of Moses) is like a “schoolmaster,” an “in-charge” person who virtually tells us every move to make. Nearly a “guardian” … for an under-aged minor, but certainly not for an adult!

And now today we learn even more!

Paul continues to write: “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Galatians 3:25

With the noun “faith” (“pisteuo” in Greek, meaning “trust, belief” … in Jesus as Saviour) meaning either (chronologically) the Virgin Birth, Jesus’ first Coming into the world or (experientially) the moment we were born-again (by accepting God’s Word as Truth and God’s Son as Salvation) by the Grace of God!

Either way … “faith” certainly did “come!”

How?

Best verse I know to answer this question … “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17

Point is … once a man or woman has been “saved” … has “believed” into Christ Jesus … has come to that “child of God” relationship … he or she no longer needs the Law, not in any “saving” sense!

The Law was a “Pointer” to Jesus, showing us how badly we needed Him to forgive us of our sins!

Paul illustrates this fact so well in Romans 7:7. “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Wow!)

The Law, as a stern schoolmaster, brought me to Jesus, God’s Means of Salvation!

But now maturing (even if slowly maturing) in Christ …. I no longer need a schoolmaster!

Praise God!

But then again, wait just a minute.

No law?

Then … will not a Christian live too loosely?

With no “taskmaster” guiding him or her?

Oh, not so!

We have a New Guide now?

God the Holy Spirit Who indwells every new believer in Jesus!

And He is our “Policeman!”

Our “Navigator!”

Our “Pointer” to living right!

Paul calls our so listening to the Spirit of God, letting Him “control” our lives … “walking in the Spirit!” (Not following the Law of Moses!)

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1

Better yet maybe: “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:4

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16, coming up soon in our Lessons, the Lord willing, eventually!

Yes, the LAW of the Spirit overrules the LAW of Moses … for a Christian living on earth today! “For THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2

Amen!

No longer needing a schoolmaster!

Because we now know (and love) the Holy Ghost of Almighty God! He’s not merely a “schoolmaster” (who in Roman times was, if you remember a “slave”) … but rather the “Teacher!” 

John 14:26, Jesus instructing His Disciples … “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, HE SHALL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” 

Yes, the Teacher!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

At least, I suspect this is the case.

And here is that metaphor, “schoolmaster!” 

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Galatians 3:24

Others can, no doubt, share this same testimony.

The Law made us fearful, Jesus set us at ease!

The Law harshly demanded, Jesus (though righteously) loved us!

The Law condemned, Jesus saved!

The verb “to bring” as in “to bring us … unto Christ” is completely italicized in our King James Bibles! Those wise translators were expressing the “intent” of Paul’s great statement, although this verb is not in the Greek sentence Paul wrote.

The Law (figuratively) is … “our schoolmaster … unto Christ!” That’s the Greek rendering, pure and simple.

So we learn that the Law serves a much higher purpose than just condemning lost mankind. As in “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4 and again in 18:20. The Law “points” us to Jesus, Jesus Who Alone can save!

But, what is a “schoolmaster?”

A slave!

One who was put in charge of a well-to-do Roman citizens children!

A full-time “babysitter,” or even a “nanny,” might be today’s analogy.

It was that schoolmaster’s (“paidagogos” in Greek, from which we get the English word “pedagogy”) job to get the child to school!

On time!

Fed, dressed, and eager to learn!

That that is exactly what the Law does, when working properly. When used the right way!

” … the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ ….”

Hallelujah!

And what does Jesus do, when we are brought (when we come, though under a heavy load of guilt) to Him realizing what sinners we are?

He “justifies us by faith!”

Look at our Text verse again: “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

Then, thank God for the Law!

Thank God for everything that ultimately reveals Jesus the Saviour!

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell