by Angus Harley

Galatians 3 and 4 are the meatiest of chapters in Galatians. We’ll spend more time in them, therefore, as they have more to offer in terms of a hermeneutic. In this particular article, and the next, too, we’re going to look at Paul’s use of a redemptive-historical storyline. We will see that it clashes with the standard storyline taken up by many Evangelicals.

The standard storyline model

If you look at a standard definition of Biblical Theology, say from Vos, it will say that BT focuses upon God’s revelation in the OT and NT, starting in Genesis and working all the way along to the end in Revelation. It is along this historical timeline given in Scripture that theological data is collated and organized. A buzz word is ‘organic‘, indicating that themes are introduced in the early parts of biblical revelation, and then gradually developed as the bible goes on- thus ‘organic’. A modern version of this organic, historical approach is that of Progressive Covenantalism. If focuses on the theme of the covenant supposedly given in Genesis 1-2, and then works from this initial model to its development within Genesis, tracing its growth all the way to Revelation. This model requires, by its nature, a huge emphasis upon continuity. The Law and the Old Covenant in this organic, historical model is considered to be one positive stage in God’s covenantal plan for humanity (thus the continuity aspect).

So, when a follower of Progressive Covenantalism, or some from within the Reformed group, read Galatians, somewhere, somehow, they are going to introduce the theology that the Law of Moses and the Old Covenant were not entirely negative, but were given in grace and were in themselves a ‘positive’ in the redemptive-historical storyline, for the Law-Covenant was a necessary stage in the organic growth of the covenant concept.

The above model currently dominates Evangelical scholarship. How does it compare to Paul’s storyline in Galatians?

Paul’s storyline in Galatians

The first theme of Paul’s storyline method in Galatians 3 is that it is Abraham-centric.

Abraham-centric

Starting with the Abrahamic Covenant. Using only Galatians 3 as our measuring stick, it has to be said, first of all, that Paul does not begin with Genesis and the Garden, but with Genesis and Abraham and his promise (3:15-18).

The Abrahamic Covenant is a means to an end. Although the Abrahamic Covenant is mentioned, it is so in the context of containing the Gospel and its promise:

“15 Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s  covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. 17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.”

Paul is not at all interested in tracing out a ‘covenant’ storyline here. The sole relevance of the Abrahamic Covenant, here in Galatians 3, is that it contained and preserved the promise of the inheritance spoken to Abraham and to his Seed. It gave us a view of the Gospel to come in Christ. That is why I will, from now on in this article, refer to the Abrahamic Covenant-promise. The Abrahamic Covenant was not about ‘covenant’ but about the Gospel ‘promise’ to the Seed.

Chronology is used to separate, not unite organically, the Abrahamic Covenant-promise and the Law of Moses. It is no coincidence that Paul specifically refers to 430 years between the Abrahamic Covenant-promise and the Law of Moses. He does this, of course, to draw the sharpest of contrasts between them, not to underline a form of theological continuity.

It is plain, then, that the Abrahamic Covenant-promise is antithetical to the Law of Moses. The Law does not bring the inheritance, for the Abrahamic promise was antithetical to the very notion of ‘law’, “For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.” Promise and law, the Abrahamic Covenant and the Mosaic Law, are antithetical to one another, for the former guarantees the Abrahamic inheritance and the latter does not, nor could not.

A model of discontinuity. So, because there is no ‘organic’ growth of the concept of covenant- even if one takes the subsection from Abraham to Moses- then there is no positive line of continuity between Law and the Abrahamic Covenant-promise. Paul’s focus is clearly on the radical discontinuity between these two covenants and methods (one Abrahamic, the other Mosaic; one Law, the other promise).

The Christ-heir. The proper terminal point of fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant-promise is the Seed, Christ, “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ” (3:16). There has only ever been, properly speaking, one true heir of the Abrahamic Covenant-promise, namely, the Christ. It is commonly recognized that this alludes to Genesis 3:15 and to the seed of the woman (see Gal.4:4), confirming our reading that the Abrahamic Covenant-promise is highlighted for its promissory nature, not for its supposed ‘covenantal’ value as a thing in itself. Nor is it to a supposed Garden ‘covenant’ before the Fall that Paul goes, or even alludes to, but it is to Eve after the Fall and the promise of her Seed to come.

Out of the One, the many. Upon this Christ-foundation of the Seed, and through it, Abraham’s inheritance then spans outward, as it were, to “heirs”, plural. Amazingly, Paul does not remotely suggest, in Galatians 3, that Abraham’s heirs, via the Christ, are Israel of the flesh, are Jews as such. Instead, Paul goes to the Gentiles first and foremost:

“You foolish Galatians….the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” …n order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

I’m not suggesting for a moment that Jews were not part of the Abrahamic Covenant-promise. Far from it! Still, we must reflect back what Paul is saying, and not favor any presuppositions that we have.

Now, of course, it is not to the Gentiles in themselves that Paul goes, but to the Gentiles who have faith in Christ Jesus. This a vital distinction:

“…did you receive the Spirit by the works of  the Law, or by hearing with faith?….He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? ….Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer….in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith….For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus….For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

In other words, one of Paul’s main concerns with ethnic identity is to the end of establishing that true heirs of Abraham are not ethnically chosen, or derive the promise through some ethnic lineage, or earthly status, for the promise of the Gospel to Abraham and his Seed comes through faith, not through the flesh (3:1), to all the nations.

It is faith alone, not the Law, nor the flesh, that marks out Abraham’s true seed. It is on that basis, having scolded the Galatians for forgetting their faith-origins, that Paul then implies Jewish involvement in the Abrahamic Covenant-promise, and, as with the Gentiles, this union is based entirely on faith and not at all on ethnic, or even social, identities:

“But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a  tutor. …There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female….”

It is through faith in ‘the’ one true Heir, namely Jesus Christ, that believers in the Abrahamic Covenant-promise become heirs. Their union with him that comes through faith is the basis of their acceptance as sons of God. His singularity as the Heir and the Seed contains within itself the life of many as seed (plural) and heirs. One cannot use the Seed as a launching pad for Israel of the flesh, therefore, or to claim that Israel the nation is still precious to God; not unless we are going to then extend this same principle to the Gentiles of the flesh (aka, Gentile sinners (2:15) ), as ‘precious’ to God salvifically and subsume them as Gentile sinners and fleshly under the Abraham Covenant-promise!

Revisiting the Christ-heir. Dispensationalism cannot resist tying Christ to Abraham in a fleshly manner. It is argued that Christ did come from Abraham according to the flesh, even as the NT pronounces. Why mess with this, it is said? Of course, if Christ came in the flesh according to the fleshly lineage of Abraham, this necessarily puts Israel of the flesh front and center, in Paul’s general thinking.

I went out of my way in article two to say that we must allow Paul’s thoughts in Galatians to stand by themselves. We must not impose Romans on Galatians, or Matthew or Luke’s Gospel, for that matter.1 In Galatians, Jesus is never directly associated positively with Abraham as to the flesh. Certainly, there is not the slightest hint of this relationship here in Galatians 3 in particular. The Seed is the true heir; the heirs follow his example. The heirs, plural, conform to the Heir, singular. He came according to what? The promise!

“Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed….until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.”

No one is questioning that Jesus came as a man and was born of a woman (4:4), but he did so as the Son from above, who came according to the promise given to Abraham, and through Abraham, to the Son himself. So, it follows that Abraham’s heirs would come to share in the same heavenly origin and nature, even though their lives are somehow affected by the flesh (a theme for another chapter). By being justified by faith, the Gentiles and Jews of faith received the Spirit from above, who gave the power and life of the world to come (3:3-4). Jesus’ Christ-identity is promise-driven not flesh-derived, therefore. As such, he serves as the pattern for all of those in union with him. They are promise-sons, not sons whose ‘sons of God’ identity is in anyway tied to the earth, to the flesh, and to this fallen age.

Abraham himself. The final feature of the Abraham theme centers on Abraham himself. It is the logical extension of the previous point. Paul does not refer to Abraham as the father of Israel of the flesh- a monumental factor that I could have started with, but wanted to end with in this section. Abraham is father to his “sons” the Gentiles of faith, and, also, to Jews of faith in the Christ/Seed. These heavenly sons of Abraham are, consequently, sons of God via faith in the Son of God, Christ Jesus. They are Abraham’s promise-faith seed, and, through this, they are sons of God.

There is much more to be said on Galatians 3 and Paul’s storyline hermeneutical-method. The next article will explore the Christ-centric nature of Galatians 3 and how it radically contrasts to the Law of Moses.

1 Angus Harley, “Hermeneutics and Galatians 1”, All Things New Covenant, December 26, 2023, https://allthingsnewcovenant.com/2023/12/26/hermeneutics-and-galatians-1/.