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Reasons The Sinai Covenant Was Given: It Was Added Because Of Transgressions; It Was Our Guardian; It Kept Us In Custody; It Was Incapable Of Imparting Life; It Was Given Through A Mediator And Angels; We Are No Long Under Its Authority; We Have A New Faith; We Are Abraham’s Spiritual Children; We Are Mature Children Of God; All Of Us Are Spiritual Equals And Amazingly Wealthy Heirs
The Holy Spirit had used Paul and members of his team to bring the Gospel, the Good News, the Message about the salvation made possible by the Messiah – to Galatia, which would be part of present day Turkey. People responded to the message and the Lord’s representative started New Covenant Communities in Galatia. After he left, others showed up and told God’s people, probably mostly Gentile Christians along with some Messianic Jews, that Paul was wrong and hadn’t been giving them the full message.
These men told the Galatians that yes, they needed faith in the Three-In-One God, but they needed more. They had to observe all the laws of the Sinai Covenant. They undermined not only Paul’s message that faith alone in Yeshua was sufficient for salvation and for living; they also undermined Paul. Paul discovered that this had been going on and wrote this letter to defend himself, his authority and his message.
In the first part of this chapter, Paul continues defending himself using some shocking statements. He reminds the Galatians how they started their spiritual journey – it was based on faith, not on Torah-observance. He uses the Torah and the experience of Abraham to teach them that salvation always came by a faith-response to God and His Word, not by works or Sinai Covenant law-keeping. He informs them that the Abrahamic Covenant, which precedes the Sinai Covenant, offers salvation through a promise of the coming of the Messiah, not through Sinai Covenant law-keeping. The promise of salvation for the nations through the Messiah that was offered in the Abrahamic Covenant can’t be changed or annulled through the Sinai Covenant, which came centuries later. That raises a question: Why, then, was the law given at all? If the Sinai Covenant doesn’t offer salvation to the nations like the covenant made with Abraham does, why was it given? There are a number of answers Paul gives. But before we get to this, I want to mention other reasons why the Law was given that Paul doesn’t mention here, but reasons that are important for us to understand, so we can have a balanced understanding why the Sinai Covenant was given.
First, the Sinai Covenant was given as the constitution for the new, holy nation of Israel. Just as the United States has a constitution to govern our nation, the newly freed Israeli slaves, who had a unique relationship to the Living God, needed laws to govern our national life. We needed religious and moral laws, political and judicial and economic laws. The Sinai Covenant provided those laws. That was a necessary and useful and good purpose for the giving of the Sinai Covenant.
Second, a holy people needed laws to set them apart from the other nations. They needed a unique diet; they needed special clothing; they needed a holy land and a holy city and a holy house served by a holy priesthood offering holy sacrifices to a holy God. The laws of the Sinai Covenant helped keep the holy people set apart from an unholy world. The laws of the Sinai Covenant kept Israel close to a holy God.
Third: The laws of the Sinai Covenant showed the other nations how wise the Chosen People were, and that brought honor to the God we served. Moses said to us: I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
The set-apart identity of the holy nation, and a constitution that governed the life of the nation, and a witness to the nations about the wisdom and the greatness of the God of Israel were some of the reasons why the Sinai Covenant was given. And, let me say that, even though the Sinai Covenant is a broken covenant, some of these laws still help the Jewish people, including the Messianic Jewish Community, maintain our set-apart identity and help our national life and help us be a witness to the reality of God to the other nations of the world.
There are other reasons why the law was given which Paul gives here. But, note very well that the reasons Paul gives don’t involve giving salvation to the other nations or demanding they live a Sinai-Covenant keeping life. It (the Law, the Sinai Covenant) was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.
The Sinai Covenant was added because of transgressions. By putting into law specific dos and don’ts, the Sinai Covenant revealed transgressions. It clarified what was right and what was wrong. It reveal what was a transgression, a crossing of a boundary that shouldn’t be crossed, and what was not a transgression. It also revealed more about our fallen nature. Often, when we are confronted by a command, our natural reaction, which comes from our fallen nature, is to oppose that command. The laws of the Sinai Covenant helped reveal our rebellious tendency to transgress that is part of our sin nature.
The Sinai Covenant was added because of transgressions. Not only did it reveal transgressions, it restrained transgressions. When a good law is instituted with the enforcement mechanism ready and the penalty for violation known, it can have a deterrent effect. The Sinai Covenant was added because of transgressions to deter transgressions. But, Christians and Messianic Jews have a better way of restraining transgressions – which Paul will go into detail later.
And, the Law was given with the understanding that it would be a temporary covenant – not an eternal covenant: The Sinai Covenant was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The Sinai Covenant was designed to become obsolete when the ultimate descendant of Abraham arrived, fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant and instituting the New Covenant. It’s no coincidence that the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, and the sacrifices are no longer offered. That tells us that the Sinai Covenant is a broken covenant and an obsolete covenant. It was limited as to its time. So, if it was limited as to time, and it was designed to end with the arrival of the Messiah and the implementation of Messiah’s New Covenant, why did the Galatians think they were required to observe it?
And, the Sinai Covenant was limited in other ways. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one. The covenant made with Abraham had no mediator and angels were not involved in giving it. It was given directly by God to Abraham. In contrast, the Sinai Covenant was mediated by Moses. He was the representative of the Jewish people that God gave the law to, and Moses then gave the Sinai Covenant to us. In addition to being given through the mediation of Moses, the Sinai Covenant was given through angels, a truth which the New Testament affirms elsewhere.
But, the use of a mediator and angels implies that the Sinai Covenant came in an inferior way. It’s better if there is no mediator and no angels. That means that the unmediated Abrahamic Covenant is superior to the Sinai Covenant. So, why would the Galatians want to come under the authority of an inferior covenant when a better one was available?
The Sinai Covenant was given to reveal sin; and it was designed to be temporary; and it was inferior to the Abrahamic Covenant. Does it contradict the Abrahamic Covenant? Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? – and I understand the promises of God to mean the promises of salvation and other blessings that come through the Seed of Abraham which are part of the Abrahamic Covenant. Is the Sinai opposed to the Abrahamic Covenant? Paul answers his own question with a very strong and definitive: Absolutely not! The Sinai Covenant and the Abrahamic Covenant were designed to work together, not oppose each other.
Again, the Sinai Covenant was not designed to bring salvation to the nations of the world. Again, it was limited. Because it was our constitution, by necessity it contained many laws. It had a legal flavor to it. Laws are good. Laws are necessary. But, laws are inadequate to produce life, spiritual life, life with God, eternal life. For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. You can’t legislate a law that will restore life to those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. To impart life, to reconnect fallen human beings to the God who is the source of life, something other than legislation is needed. A faith-response to God and His Word is needed.
The Sinai Covenant could not legislate life. It could not command people to be saved so that they would be saved. But it did have other important purposes – like helping us understand that we are rebellious law-breakers, transgressors who need a radical spiritual transformation. But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Messiah Yeshua, might be given to those who believe. Scripture, and in particular the Sinai Covenant, locked up everything under the control of sin. It revealed our sinful nature and our propensity to sin and our inability to save ourselves. It revealed that all of us are law-breakers and sinners in desperate need of a Savior.
A related purpose for the Sinai Covenant was its function as a warden of a prison, restraining guilty people until a greater system arrived. Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. Again, law can have a restraining effect. Fallen human nature needs laws to restrain it from indulging its rebellious tendencies. The Sinai Covenant did that for the Jewish people. It revealed our sin nature and helped restrain our darker impulses until the arrival of the Messiah and His New Covenant and new Faith.
I like the way the Lord’s Representative refers to the New Covenant – as “this faith.” We have a faith, a set of beliefs that was not available to prior generations. Abraham had a faith. Abraham believed God and what God said to him. Moses also had a faith. God revealed even more truth to Moses, and Moses believed the Lord and the truths revealed to him. But God has revealed even more truth to us – about the incarnation of the Son of God, and His perfect life, His miracles and unparalleled teachings, His atoning death and resurrection, His ascension into Heaven, and the giving of His Spirit and the implementation of Messiah’s New Covenant. We have a faith, this faith, a unique and most holy faith.
The Sinai Covenant held us in custody, locked us up, restrained us until this new and superior faith arrived, which enables us to be saved and transformed and empowered from within for right living. So, why would the Galatians want to live under an older, inferior faith? That makes no sense.
Rabbi Paul uses another analogy to help us understand the limitations of the Sinai Covenant. It’s purpose is not that of savior of the nations, but guardian of an immature child. So the law was our guardian until Messiah came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. Guardian refers to the custodian of a child who has not reached maturity. The guardian was responsible for supervising the behavior of the child and taking him to and from school. The guardian’s responsibilities ended when the child reached maturity.
Christians and Messianic Jews are no longer immature children. We are adults – mature sons and daughters of God. Therefor our relationship to the Sinai Covenant must change. We are no longer under its authority in the same way that the Jewish people were under its authority before Messiah arrived. It’s no longer our custodian. The Sinai Covenant no longer needs to control our behavior with its emphasis on laws and dos and don’ts. We have a new faith system. And we have the Son of God as our example. And we have the Spirit of the Messiah living in us. And we have a new nature. And we have greater self-control that comes from a new nature and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment. Do we learn many things from the Sinai Covenant? Yes. Are we under its authority? No.
These principles of the way of salvation through Messiah and the New Covenant and this new faith; our changed relationship to the Sinai Covenant; our new relationship to God as mature adults; the emphasis on Holy Spirit-empowered living apply not just to the Chosen People, but to everyone. So in Messiah Yeshua you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua. If you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
So in Messiah Yeshua you are all children of God through faith. Everyone who is in Messiah, joined to Messiah, connected to the Son of God, Jewish people and people from the nations – and the only way that happens is by faith, not by Sinai Covenant law-keeping; by faith, by knowing the Three-In-One God and transferring our loyalties to the Father, Son and Spirit – all of us become children of God. We are not immature children, but mature sons and daughters who are to relate to God in a mature way – not because of external force imposed by laws or by threats of punishment for violation of those laws, but because we are loving children who want to please our Heavenly Father.
When we are saved, something radical and spiritually transformative takes place. For all of you who were baptized into Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. The faithful Jewish remnant and the remnant of the nations are not only united to Messiah, but we are immersed into Messiah, so that we are fully part of Him and He fully is part of us. He completely covers us and envelopes us and surrounds us and fills us.
Our union to Messiah and our immersion into Messiah transforms us. We develop a heart-felt desire to be like Messiah and to live like Messiah. This desire to be like Messiah and live like Messiah doesn’t come from external laws, but from within; and this inner desire to be like Messiah and live like Messiah expresses itself on the outside. It’s like we are putting on clothing, but the clothing is Messiah’s character; Messiah’s morality; the Son of God’s love for God and God’s Word and God’s people and God’s values. Our union to Messiah and immersion in Messiah results in us putting on His character, His values, His mission, His priorities.
Again, these principles of the way of salvation – by faith, not by law-keeping or human effort; right living due to our union to and immersion with Messiah and our new nature and the new indwelling and transforming power of the Holy-Spirit and our new relationship to God as mature sons and daughters; and the amazing rewards we will receive apply to everyone equally. Jewish status, other-nation status, family status; free versus slave status; economic status; gender status – as long as its one of the two genders that you were born into – are irrelevant. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua. All of us form one family of spiritual equals who are united to each other and united to Messiah who is united to God the Father.
If we know who Yeshua is and are loyal to Him, we are united to Him, and we belong to Him; and if we belong to Messiah, then all the amazing promises of salvation and inheritance that are part of the Abrahamic Covenant apply to each one of us. If you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Because of the ultimate Seed of Abraham, Jews and Gentiles become the seed of Abraham, Abraham’s faith children. We are Abraham’s spiritual children – and not just any kind of children; not poor children from an impoverished father, but rich children of Abraham the blessed – which makes us amazingly wealthy heirs. All of this is not based on Sinai-Covenant law-keeping or human effort, but on God’s grace based on magnificent promises that began with the Abrahamic Covenant and are fulfilled in Messiah’s New Covenant and that we receive by faith.
So, why should we focus on Sinai Covenant law-keeping? Even more now, since the Temple was destroyed and that covenant is broken? Shouldn’t we focus our thoughts on being like Messiah in character, in purpose? Shouldn’t we focus our minds, our hearts, our energies on Messiah and the New Covenant and this faith and Holy Spirit empowered living?
The purpose of the Sinai Covenant was not to impart salvation to the nations.
The Sinai Covenant was given as the constitution for the new, holy nation of Israel.
The Sinai Covenant helped keep the holy people set apart from an unholy world and kept Israel close to a holy God.
The Sinai Covenant showed the other nations how wise the Chosen People were, and that brought honor to the God we served.
The Sinai Covenant was added because of transgressions, to reveal transgressions and restrain transgressions.
The Sinai Covenant was designed to be a temporary agreement – not an eternal covenant.
The Sinai Covenant came in an inferior way, through a mediator and through angels.
The Sinai Covenant was incapable of imparting life.
The Sinai Covenant functioned as a warden of a prison, restraining guilty people until a greater system arrived.
The Sinai Covenant was like guardian during Israel’s time of spiritual immaturity.
Christians and Messianic Jews are no longer immature children, but mature sons and daughters of God.
Therefor we are no longer under the authority of the Sinai Covenant. Amen? Amen!
These principles of the way of salvation through Messiah and the New Covenant; our new faith; our changed relationship to the Sinai Covenant; our new relationship to God as mature adults; the emphasis on Holy Spirit-empowered living apply to everyone. Amen? Amen!
May God help our union to Messiah and immersion in Messiah result in us putting on His character, His values, His mission, His priorities. Amen? Amen!
May God encourage us by knowing that all those who belong to Messiah will receive the amazing promises of salvation and inheritance that are part of the Abrahamic Covenant. Amen? Amen!
May the good Lord enable us, and Christians and Messianic Jews everywhere, to focus our minds, our hearts, our energies – not on Sinai Covenant law keeping, but on Messiah and the New Covenant and this faith and Holy Spirit empowered living. Amen? Amen!