Monday 24 March 2025
For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed. (v. 9)
Background
Who belongs to God’s family? Paul thought he had convinced the Gentile (non-Jew) church in Galatia that it was enough to believe in Jesus Christ, who was crucified for us. He was horrified to learn that they were now being influenced by teachers who seem to think that Gentile Christians should also keep the Jewish law.
Paul's counter-argument goes all the way back to Abraham.
Right at the beginning of their relationship, God made three promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). The first two had been fulfilled long ago: land for a landless wanderer, a son for a childless couple. The third promise foretold that in him, all the families of the earth would be blessed. Paul understood this to mean that one day, God’s blessing would extend beyond the people of Israel to encompass the whole world. Those who shared God’s blessing through Abraham depended not on physical descent from him but on shared faith.
For Paul, the sequence of events around Abraham was important. When the patriarch encountered God for the first time, it must have seemed vanishingly likely that these promises would come true. Yet he trusted God and this was "reckoned to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). This righteousness was later linked to circumcision as a sign of commitment and a symbol of the whole law (Genesis 17:24). So for Paul, it is faith that identifies someone as a descendant of Abraham, not keeping the law.
The way to that faith for Jews and Gentiles alike is through Jesus. Paul pushed back against the claim that the law was ever intended to be the way to righteousness, quoting Habakkuk 2:4 "The righteous shall live by faith". He also argued on the basis of Scripture (Deuteronomy 27:26) that the law brings curse, not blessing, but that Christ encountered the curse head-on in his crucifixion and created a way through it.
At the heart of Paul’s teaching here is the belief that all people enter God’s family and remain part of it through their faith, and their choices about how to live flow from that faith.
To Ponder:
- DNA-testing can reveal unexpected family relationships through descent from a shared ancestor. Paul suggests that everyone who trusts in God shares ‘the DNA of faith’ which takes us all the way back to Abraham. How far is this a helpful image for understanding the bonds that hold Christians together?
- Our thinking about blessing can be generic and vague – we say ‘bless you’ but don’t have anything particular in mind. God’s promises to Abraham, on the other hand, are very specific. What specific things would you name if someone asked you how God has blessed you?
Prayer
God who delights to bring blessing to your people, help us to put our trust in you, that we may live with confidence in your generosity as members of your family of faith, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Bible notes author: The Revd Dr Caroline Wickens
Caroline Wickens is the Superintendent of the Manchester Circuit. She has taught biblical studies in Africa and the UK, and continues to be fascinated by this amazing book.