Continuing in Galatians this week, we’ll be looking at Paul’s continued efforts to teach the churches of Galatia why they should stop believing the Law was required for them to receive salvation. In this next portion of his letter, Paul uses multiple scriptural passages and an explanation of what the Law was really for to try and help the Galatians understand the truth and free them from thinking their salvation was dependent on compliance with the Law. So, let’s get into it!
Starting at verse ten of the third chapter, we see Paul start into his references of the Old Testament scripture (the only scripture they had at the time to reference, by the way). The first verse he references talks about a curse on those who don’t continue to do everything in the Law (Galatians 3:10, Deuteronomy 27:26). There’s something interesting that we find when we actually look at the verse he was quoting.
What we find is that there are three different versions of this statement. There’s the Hebrew version, the Septuagint version (which is what Paul was quoting from), and Paul’s version. Paul’s version and the Septuagint version have very minor, nuanced differences, which is why we know Paul was quoting from that version.
In the Hebrew version however, we get a much different statement. The curse is on those who do not put the Law into practice, rather than those who do not continue to follow the Law. This difference may seem minor, but there are a couple different things to recognize from it.
First, the original Hebrew words, and therefore the original intention, made the curse applicable to everyone rather than what the Septuagint suggests, which is that it only applies to those who started following the Law and then stopped for whatever reason. The other thing to recognize, and in my opinion the more important point, is that whatever you believe about the origin of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, it’s clear that at times it includes interpretation, to some extent, rather than being a purely literal translation of the Hebrew. We see that again in the next verse, where the Septuagint version adds “in Me,” to the Hebrew text (Galatians 3:11, Habakkuk 2:4).
Just to close that thought out, in my opinion, these types of differences seem to prove that the traditional Jewish view of the origin of the Septuagint version is likely at least exaggerated, if not completely fabricated. Namely, out of 70 Jewish scholars independently translating the Hebrew text to Greek there had to be at least one that produced a purely literal translation, meaning no additional words or incorporation of interpretation. Especially given the sacredness of which they held their Torah! There’s no way every one of the 70 scholars added the exact same words to the exact same verses in their own, isolated rooms they were doing the translating.
Either way, back in Galatians, Paul was just trying to make a point and, to an extent, the difference between the Septuagint and Hebrew versions of this verse don’t undermine that point. He’s talking about those who are relying on their practice of the Law to be righteous, or justified, in the sight of YHWH. We find that aspect in the next verse, where he quotes another Old Testament verse, which we alluded to earlier.
In this verse, Paul quotes Habakkuk, where it says the righteous will live by faith, and in the Septuagint version it adds “in Me,” meaning faith in YHWH. Using this verse, Paul shows that even after the giving of the Law those who were called righteous were those who lived by faith, not those who conducted themselves perfectly in accordance with the Law. To drive the point home, Paul quotes yet another Old Testament verse.
Paul moves on to a verse that’s actually reiterated three other times in scripture (Galatians 3:12, Leviticus 18:5, Ezekiel 20:11, 13, 20). This verse seems slightly confusing at first, and needs some meditation on it in order to gain some clarity. It seems to be redundant, since it says those who do the commandment of the Law live by them.
Again, Paul is quoting the Septuagint version, but unfortunately the Hebrew text doesn’t shed any light on the intention behind the verse. Additional confusion is present when we read that Paul quotes this verse when talking about how the Law is not based on faith. Isn’t it faith to believe that YHWH will provide the blessings stated in the Law?
What we need to understand is that there’s a reason YHWH uses two different ways of saying "do the commandments." In the first way, He describes an action: “Keep My statutes and My judgments.” In the second way, He describes the result of that action: “the man…will live by [My statutes and My judgments].” In other words, He’s saying that as long as you perform the action in your life, you will receive the results of that action in your life, the blessings. To Paul’s point, there’s no faith required there. It’s a purely transactional, “works=blessings” process.
Paul goes on to point out the way Yeshua redeemed us by quoting another Old Testament verse, but we need context for this verse in order to get an accurate picture (Galatians 3:13-14, Deuteronomy 21:23). If you only read Paul’s letter, you might get the impression that literally everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed. If you go over to Deuteronomy, you see that the context is those being hung on the tree were already guilty of a sin worthy of death. That’s why they were hung to begin with.
When we look elsewhere in Deuteronomy, we see that the curse of YHWH was actually given to anyone who didn’t follow the Law (Deuteronomy 28:15-44). So really, when we start from the broad aspect and then narrow it down, a person that didn’t follow the Law, no matter what the commandment, was cursed. Therefore, those that transgressed a commandment that required the death penalty were also cursed. The death required was one by hanging, and subsequently all those who were hung for this reason were cursed.
It’s all well and good to understand that context, but what is Paul saying when using this verse in reference to Yeshua? He’s saying that by being crucified on the cross, despite the fact that He committed no transgression against the Law, Yeshua suffered all the curses of transgressing the Law. And therefore, we are redeemed because we don’t have to receive the consequences of our transgression of the Law. Yeshua received them for us.
He closes out that thought by again bringing it back to YHWH’s promise to Abraham, which was made prior to giving the Law. He links the faith in Yeshua to this promise of blessing and the promise of receiving the Holy Spirit. Not only that, he linked it to the fact that the Gentiles are able to receive that blessing as well.
So, to summarize, what is Paul’s point in this section of the letter? The Law is not what makes someone righteous. Faith does that. And specifically, faith in Yeshua as the redeemer of our souls by way of His sacrifice for us when He had committed no transgression against the Law.
The next portion of this letter is Paul’s effort to help the Galatians understand why the Law was even given. As a reminder of what we learned in a previous week, this letter was intended to help the Galatians understand why the Law is not required for salvation. They had been convinced by pharisaical believers that it was. Up to this point, Paul’s statements may have caused the Galatians to start thinking, “well, if the Law doesn’t make one righteous, then why did YHWH even give it in the first place? Why impose all those restrictions?”
In the first few verses, Paul uses an everyday example the reader would be familiar with to help them understand the relationship between YHWH’s promise to Abraham and the Law (Galatians 3:15-18). He explains that even in a covenant between two men, the terms are not changed, by either adding to or removing from, once the covenant is agreed upon. Since YHWH operates at an even more righteous level than man, He does not add conditions to promises once He has promised them. The Law came hundreds of years after YHWH’s promise to Abraham, therefore it has no bearing on the fulfillment of that promise. Paul points out that if the inheritance promised to Abraham was dependent on the Law, then it wouldn’t have been given by YHWH freely through such a promise.
An interesting note in this explanation is how Paul focuses on the word used in the promise and the fact that it was a singular seed vice plural. It’s difficult to find, but there actually are plural versions of seed in scripture (Leviticus 26:16, 1 Samuel 8:15), so this is a very insightful identification by Paul. YHWH very well could have inspired the writer of Genesis to use the plural version, however He didn’t. So, it stands to reason that one of the meanings behind this is that YHWH intended it to be a reference to Yeshua.
If the Law has no bearing on the promise, then what was its purpose? Paul explains that it was to identify transgression until Yeshua came. Messengers of YHWH administered the Law by the hand of the mediator, the priest (Galatians 3:19-20).
Think about it this way. The chosen people of YHWH, Israel, who were chosen to be the lineage of Yeshua and fulfill prophecy about the Messiah, had been living in, and influenced heavily by, those that worshipped false gods. And the rest of the world had their own false gods they were worshipping (although they all were essentially the same: fallen angels). By the time the Law was given, no one knew what all were sins, so YHWH had to reset the bar and identify what they were. This was the only way to re-establish YHWH’s standards for man, and the only way to give an authoritative measure by which to identify Yeshua when He came. Had the Law not been given, Yeshua could have lived completely without sin and no one would have been able to say one way or the other if He did.
One of the key words to hone in on in this portion of Paul’s writing is what he calls the Law at the end of it (Galatians 3:21-25). Some versions use guardian, some tutor, and others schoolmaster. The Greek word is paidagogos, and these are ok words to use as a translation. Unfortunately, we don’t really have an example of the true meaning of this word in our society today.
In the culture of the time, this word was used to refer to a man who not only taught young boys (girls were not instructed at that time) but acted as moral and social guides for them. They shaped their character and behavior to prepare them for adult responsibilities and were expected to instill discipline and ensure adherence to societal norms and values. That’s a far cry from what we have turned teachers into today!
In the context of YHWH’s Law, it was therefore given to shape man’s character and guide man in the social and moral requirements of YHWH’s kingdom. Once Yeshua was present, He showed us in person how to act in His kingdom. The Law was no longer required to do that.
That’s it for this week, but keep in mind that just because the Law is no longer required to be our primary instructor, it doesn’t mean it is useless. It still helps to remind us of that authoritative measure of right and wrong in the event we need help figuring that out. We hope you have a wonderful week! Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!
-Rob and Sara Gene
コメント