“Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed”.
~ Galatians 3:23
Hi James and Ellen,
What have you learned about the Bible? Do you remember that the Bible is made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament? Do you remember what testament means? Testament means witness. The Old Testament was written to be a witness for God. The Old Testament is a witness as to how God made planet Earth and everything that is on planet Earth. The Old Testament is a witness to the promises that God made. The Old Testament is a witness to God selecting as His specially chosen guys, gals and kids the guys and gals who are born in Abraham’s extended family. The Old Testament is a witness of God giving His specially chosen guys and gals the Mosaic Law to obey. The Old Testament is a witness of God’s specially chosen guys and gals not keeping the Mosaic Law which God had given to them to obey. The Old Testament is a witness on how God punished His specially chosen guys and gals when they did not obey the Mosaic Law. The Old Testament is a witness for the coming of a Savior – Who would be Jesus Christ. The New Testament is a witness of the virgin birth, the impactful life and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. The New Testament is a witness of why and how God has given His specially chosen guys, gals and kids – who are now called the elect, an eternal hope. The New Testament is a witness to a guy, gal or kid being saved through internalizing a personalized faith in Jesus Christ instead of being saved by obediently obeying what the Mosaic Law told God’s specially chosen guys and gals to do. The New Testament is a witness to the growth of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is composed of all the Christ-follower guys, gals and kids who have made decisions of faith to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The New Testament is a witness to what all Christ-follower guys, gals and kids will face in the future. The Old Testament books were written before Jesus was born. The New Testament books were written after Jesus was born. You will understand as you grow older more and more about the Bible. Do you know why? When you come to believe that the words in the Bible are true – which means that you have come to believe that Jesus Christ died on a cross for you, God as the Holy Spirit will enter into your hearts. God as the Holy Spirit will help you understand what He had different guys write down in what is now an edited book called the Bible. The Bible is a book in which the words in it are alive.
Apostle Paul when he was a young guy did not believe that Jesus Christ had been crucified for him on a cross. Paul when he was a young guy hunted guys and gals who had made decisions of faith to believe in Jesus Christ – in order to put these guys and gals in prison and/or to have these guys and gals killed. Paul when he was a young guy was very misguided. Paul took very seriously finding early Christ-follower guys and gals in order to imprison them and/or to kill them. Paul was a fanatical Mosaic Law adherent. God changed Paul’s life one day. God using a very bright light blinded Paul. The bright light opened Paul’s heart to accept that Jesus Christ’s death on a cross was for him. After reshaping over a number of years his reputation to that of being a faithful Christ-follower, Paul was sent on trips to tell guys and gals about Jesus Christ. These trips that Paul made were called missionary trips. Missionary means a sent one. The region where Paul visited on his first missionary trip was called Galatia. The guys and gals in Galatia liked Paul. The guys and gals in Galatia listened to what Paul had to say. Some of the guys and gals who were living in the Galatia region acknowledged what Paul was teaching as true and became Christ-followers. Paul stopped back in Galatia on his next missionary journey. While in Galatia, Paul picked guys to be the elders of the Christ-follower community groups that he had helped to begin. Everything seemed to have been going quite well with the Galatia Christ-follower communities until . . . there always seems to be other guys – and sometimes gals, who think that they know more and are wiser and . . . some of these divisive type guys embedded themselves into the Galatia Christ-follower communities which gave them the opportunity to insist that the new Christ-follower guys and gals needed to follow the Old Testament Mosaic Law. By asserting something that was not true, these guys were getting Galatian guys and gals in the Galatia Christ-follower communities to reject what Paul had taught them.
When Paul heard what some nefarious guys where enforcing in the Galatia Christ-follower communities, Paul wrote the Christ-follower communities a letter. This letter is called Galatians. Paul – in Galatians 3, calls the guys and gals foolish who were acquiescing to the bogus assertions that had them again submitting to the Mosaic Law. Paul does not mince words. Paul pointedly explains why the Mosaic Law had been needed but now that Jesus had been crucified on a tree – which was the cross, the guys and gals have been redeemed by Jesus’ crucifixion. Paul tells the Galatia Christ-follower guys and gals that God had given them the Mosaic Law so that one day they might be led to know His Son – Jesus Christ. Paul explains all this in his letter to the Galatia region Christ-follower guys and gals. Verse 23 says “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed”. Guys and gals today still would like to have works instead of their faith identify their spirituality. Guys and gals will attend a church where guys and gals are expected to do things to confirm their salvation. Guys and gals will do things – just as the Christ-follower guys and gals in Galatia began doing, in order to try to please God. Paul reminds the Christ-follower guys and gals in Galatia that every guy, gal and kids is seen alike and equally by God. Paul’s letter to the Galatia Christ-follower guys and gals reasserts that they are saved through their faith in Jesus.
Galatians 3 (79)