GALATIANS 3: 22-29-THE GLORIOUS GARMENT OF CHRIST
THE GLORIOUS GARMENT OF CHRIST
(Gal 3:22-29)
Preached by: Carolyn Sissom
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Gal 3:27: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ”
All are God’s sons through faith in Christ Jesus, for all who are baptized into Christ have clothed themselves with Him.
Jesus is the “son” and “sun” in the bible. We can be clothed (put on as a garment) with the light, the glory and the divine nature of Christ the Sun of Righteousness.
(Rev. 12:1) And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun and moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
This is the church in all her glory.
Paul says those in Christ are clothed with Him. Today, as the great Baptizer, the Lord is building His church by baptizing people into Himself. Inasmuch as we are in Him, we wear Him just as the Holy Spirit wears us. (1 Cor. 6:19) “Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?”
“Clothed” here may refer to the Roman custom of placing the “togar viriilus” on a youth the day he reached manhood. This is a white wool robe given to a Roman male at the age of 21.
We can take the teaching on the robe in to the Kingly robe of the Kingdom. We could also describe it as our “covering”. The major concepts are that of salvation, cleansing, anointing, callings, choosings, praise, prayer, refuge, security, glory and balance.
This can be the blood and the cloud, the garments of salvation, divine order of the family under Christ and the divine order of the local church under Christ. This is our covering for operation of the gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
This is the garments of priesthood, cleansing, calling of God, anointing, and measure of Faith.
This is our garments of praise for entering into the Presence of God through prayer, praise and worship.
This would be a study unto itself of the glorious garment of Christ
Starting with Verse 22, he explains to the Galatians how they came to this place of son-ship in the Lord and no longer under the law. He uses as his example that the law was our schoolmaster.
(Vs.22) ‘But the scripture has concluded all are under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus might be given to them that believe.”
Are law and grace opposites? Heaven forbid, says Paul. Suppose there could be a law which did give life. Then Law and grace would be competitors and hostile to each other, for each would offer a different way of salvation. The Mosaic Law didn’t even pretend to give life. Its purpose was to make people yearn for the promise. It was given to enhance God’s promise, to make it more desirable.
The written Word set forth by Moses is God’s requirements which no man could fulfill. Therefore, like the Law, it also condemned him, serving as an indictment against him.
Paul sees scripture as a jailer assigned to detain all sinners in a prison camp to await execution. The name of the camp is LAW. The O.T. declares every man to be a sinner and under the death sentence, which is further proof, says Paul that the Law is not a life-giver, but a prosecutor only.
I believe we can find some comparison here in the proposed health care bill by the House of Representatives. The law of the spirit of anti-christ declares a death penalty on those who are no longer productive to society. The Spirit of the Lord gives life and determines the day of birth and the day of death. The day of death is not death at all, but just moving to a new address in Heaven. As Christians we don’t need a death panel to counsel us as when to die.
The Judaizers were excluded from salvation. They did not have faith in Christ alone, but in their own works also.
(Vs. 23 & 24): “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up to the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Let us pray this kind of Faith will be released upon this nation that we will not come under the custody of the LAW.
The term schoolmaster is interpreted as guardian, “pedagogue” in some translations. This is a term for a worthy slave who exercised complete charge over the sons of Greek and Roman nobility. The boys were supervised constantly, led to and from school and assisted with their education. It was the guardians’ task to break their rebellious spirits and curb their impetuosity. Responsible only to the father, the pedagogue was very strict, using the rod freely, so that often the lad’s lot was no better than that of a slave.
The word of the guardian was law. This was Israel’s position. She was held in custody by the Law which had three aspects:
(1) Moral: showing a man what he ought to be but couldn’t’.
(2) Ceremonial: showing that sin had to be put away by a sacrifice.
(3) Judicial: showing the doom sinner deserved.
It was the task of the Law to guide the growth of Israel until she would secure righteousness through faith in Christ personally.
Paul has shown the Law to be a necessary preparation for the gospel. Without it, there would have been no consciousness of sin, and guilt. From Adam to Moses sin mushroomed in the world. It was not until the advent of the Law that man became fully conscious of his evil.
Sadly though Israel, instead of yearning for the grace promised to Abraham began tot rust in Law-keeping for righteousness. Even so, the Law remained in force until the coming of Christ. It served as a jailer with no authority to release anyone until someone with higher authority (Christ) arrived to deliver the prisoners from its custody.
(Vs.25) “But now that Faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
There is no difference between O.T. faith and N.T. faith. We receive something they didn’t receive---Jesus Christ via the Holy Spirit. Abraham had righteousness imputed to him by Faith. We have righteousness imparted to us. We actually receive it when we receive Christ. It is the same Faith in the O.T. heroes. We have Christ in us.
(1) Faith is a spiritual force. God is a spirit. He is a faith God who is only pleased by faith. (Heb. 11:6)
(2) Faith is the absence of doubt; the opposite of feat. (II Tim. 1:7)
(3) Faith is in the present tense. “NOW FAITH IS…” (Heb. 11:1)
(4) Faith is a gift. It is an impartation of the Lord. (Rom. 12:3)
(5) Faith is a fruit. It grows. (Gal. 5: 22-23; Rom 1:17)
(6) Faith comes by hearing of the Word of god. (Rom. 10:17)
(7) Faith speaks. (Rom. 10: 6-10)
(8) We live by His faith. (Gal. 2:20; Acts 17:28)
(Vs. 26 & 27) “For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is a difference in O.T. maturity and N.T. maturity. O.T. maturity is acquired the moment a Jew received Christ and emerges from under the Law’s dominion to function as a free son in Christ. N.T. maturity has to do with one’s progress in the likeness of Jesus Christ. It is called, “Christian growth,” and continues until we go to heaven.
Sons of God in its broadest sense refers to all those who know god as their Father (from those infants unto those who are mature). Whether we are infant sons (newly born--“neepios”) or adolescent sons (filled with the Spirit and moving in the in-part realm of the gifts of the Spirit), or mature sons (the adoption and the high calling and order of God), we are all sons. Son-ship denotes our becoming full-grown sons. (Jn. 1:12; 1 Jn. 1:1-3; Gal. 4: 1-7; Rom.8)
(Vs. 28 & 29): There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Two great truths are expressed here:
(1) No one is hindered from coming to Jesus because of his religious background, rank or sex.
(2) Those in Christ find such outward distinctions have nothing to do with how one is accepted by God. All true believers are regarded as equal members of one family with Christ at the head.
The Law on the other hand, created such distinctions. Circumcision for example excluded females, but in Christ water baptism (which answers to the rite of circumcision) is for all. Women participate equally with men. All the natural distinctions vanish fro the new life in Christ is spiritual. Paul is saying, what then can Judaism do for you? Do you wish to cover the glorious garment of Christ with the worn-out garments of Judaism?
All Christians are spiritually baptized into Christ to become “joint-heirs” with Him (Rom. 8:17). The entire unit (Christ and His own) receives the inheritance. Jesus was the literal seed and true Heir of Abraham. The physical line of David ended with Him, for Jesus died without any human posterity. Yet He has spiritual posterity, for he is the elder brother of all who are in Him. The promise cannot be secured by physical birth, but by spiritual birth only.
Paul has now proved the proposition he set forth in verse 7, i.e. those who are of faith are true sons of Abraham. You and I are the spiritual seed of Abraham because we are in Christ, the one true Heir.
Study the bible and find out what is His; then rejoice that it is yours!
Rom. 8:16-23: “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.”
Eph. 3:6: That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel.”
1 Pet. 3:7: “Likewise, you husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. Finally be you all of one mind having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.”
What then is our inheritance? The promise or the possession into which an heir enters upon the death of his ancestor. We are a partaker with the saints in light because Jesus has died and left us His Will (the New Testament or New covenant). He is raised from the dead to become the Executor of His own will! God has an inheritance in us and we have an inheritance in Him. The Lord Himself is the inheritance of the sons of Levi. Note that our inheritance is incorruptible.
Heb. 1:4: “Being made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”
Heb. 1:2: In these last days has spoken to us by His son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds: Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, say down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
This Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. I plan to be teaching on Spiritual Warfare. We will continue our study of Galatians on Sunday, August 30th. Next week Rev. Roger Teale will be ministering at the a.m. and p.m. services.
Preached by: Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
We stream our messages weekly
Scripture from K.J.V. Bibliography from C.S. Lovett’s Light on Galatians and The Tongue of the Learned by K.H. Varner with J.L.Dutton