A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 26 March 2015
Read
Galatians 3:23-26
The
Galatians are at risk of being trapped again by the Law. Paul is desperately,
in this letter, trying to point them to freedom.
This
raises a question: If the Law is something that traps us, why did God give us
the Law? Why were God’s people expected to follow it for hundreds of years? Did
God want to trap us?
Paul
speaks of people being imprisoned and guarded by the Law. He says that the Law
was our disciplinarian, our custodian, or some translations even say our
schoolmaster. This is interesting because the word in vv. 24-25 that is
translated these different ways probably can best be rendered ‘tutor’ and
tutors –unlike guards or disciplinarians- were not considered bad people in
Galatia. They were good guys: servants protecting, teaching and helping
children.
I look
at the historical role of the Law like a storm cellar. It is a place to hide in
a storm. When Sin entered the world like a tornado bringing death and destruction
to everything in its path, the Law was given to us for protection (3:19, cf. Ro
5:20).
People
were dying in this storm so God built this storm cellar of the Law for our
protection. He gives it to Moses and says, “In there, take everyone. Quick.
Hurry!”
Moses
does and people remain in this safe, albeit somewhat cramped and confining,
shelter for a long time and then something happens… Jesus, through His death
and resurrection, defeats Sin. He calms the storm. It is finished.
The
storm is over; Jesus freed us from the cellar of the Law. It kept us safe
during the storm but it is of no use now that Sin and Death have been defeated.
Jesus rose from the dead offering us new life so let’s leave the storm cellar
now and experience the freedom of life with Christ.
With
that in mind, I have another question: are there times when, like the
Galatians, we are tempted to return to the confines of the Law or a
contemporary equivalent? Are their ways in which, even though life is carrying
on outside the storm cellar, we refuse to walk in the freedom of Christ? What
are some of the rules, special days, and traditions which we have that can –
like the Law or a storm cellar - cut us off from our freedom in Christ (4:10)?
[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Galatians 3:19-25:
Don't be a McChicken, Presented to Nipawin Corps of The Salvation
Army on 20 Jan 2008, Tisdale on 27 Jan 2008,and Swift Current on 26 Aug 2011
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