Galatians: The Life I Now LiveSample

Last time, we saw how humanity was imprisoned under the law, hopelessly unable to find relationship with a holy God. Everyone was held captive under the law until faith in the promised Seed could be revealed. 

Paul then adds another image to reinforce the same point. We were also under the guardianship of a tutor – the law – for the same purpose. The guardian would raise a child during the immature years of life, but ‘in Christ Jesus’ we are now grown ‘children of God through faith’ (v. 26). Instead of being under external compulsion (a tutor), we are baptised into Christ and have put on Christ (v. 27 ESV). We no longer need to live under the guardian, because now we have Christ (vv. 24–25). 

How can we be immersed in Christ and be ‘wearing’ Christ? This is another place where Paul is thinking of the Holy Spirit. We are baptised into Christ by the Spirit, which means that we are united to Him and have Him living in us (remember 2:20: ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God’). At the same time, by the Spirit’s work in our lives, the character of Christ becomes our character. Paul will develop this further in chapter 5. 

One last thought before we leave the chapter. Since the gospel is not about what we bring to God, this means that Christianity is a truly inclusive faith. The result of salvation is that we are not differentiated based on nationality, status, or gender ... we are all equally lost, and we can all be equally saved as we simply trust in Christ (vv. 28–29). 

We live in a culture that panics at the thought of anyone being excluded from anything. Often Christianity is the target of criticism because Christianity claims that Jesus is the exclusive way to come into relationship with God. Yet only Christianity is a truly inclusive faith! Whoever we are, irrespective of what we have done, or our nationality, or our social status, or our gender ... whoever we are, by faith we can be heirs of God’s great promise in the person of Jesus Christ. 

Reflection

Where do you find your own heart straying into illegitimate prejudice toward others? Is it race, colour, class, gender?