The Seed of Abraham

"But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye 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 neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:23-29). It is just absolutely amazing how powerful and revealing one small passage of scripture can be. Thanks be to God! I’m not just talking about this particular passage, as this marvel can be seen all through the Bible if you are really looking for the truth. But let’s do take a moment to look at this passage because it certainly does give us some saving truth to ponder. The point that the apostle Paul was making to the Galatians here was the same point that he was making throughout the letter, and that is that under no circumstances is ANYONE justified by keeping the ceremonial works of the old covenant. In fact he instructed them that if we as Gentiles are made to believe that we DO need to keep ANY carnal ordinance in order to be right with God, that spiritual detriment is the result (Gal. 2:17.21; Gal. 3:2,3,10,11; Gal. 4:10,11,21,30,31; Gal. 5:2,4,18; Gal. 6:15,16). In making this point he drives home a really powerful message in this passage that I’ve used for the text here. Here is what he is saying in this passage in short order: The law along with its ceremonies was only intended to bring Israel to Christ, who by this time had already died, risen; and sent back the witness of his Spirit to all who had believed, including these people in Galatia (Gal. 3:2,3,23,24). So the ceremonies of the law had no more place or effect in the worship and service of God, and in fact had NEVER had anything to do with bringing the Gentiles to Christ to begin with, seeing they were apart from the law and the old covenant (Eph. 2:11-13; Gal. 3:25). Then he simply makes the plain statement that all of these people that he was writing to had become the children of God purely by faith in Jesus Christ, meaning that no ceremony had anything to do with that process, even as he stated in verses two and three of this same chapter (vs. 26). But unlike modern Christianity, the apostle does not leave this means of becoming the children of God by faith at some ‘think so’ faith, or some ‘told so’ faith.

He goes on to explain that the WAY that they became the children of God by faith in Jesus was that they were BAPTIZED INTO Christ, and had literally PUT ON Christ as a result (vs. 27). Now modern traditions of men want us to believe that verse 27 is talking about WATER baptism. But that can only be true if Christ is made up of WATER, and my Bible says something else: “Now the Lord is THAT SPIRIT!” (II Cor. 3:17). So Paul was most assuredly speaking of the SPIRIT baptism here, meaning the same one and the same kind of Spirit baptism that fell on the day of Pentecost, where every soul who received it “spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them the utterance” (Acts 2:4). This serves to reason, seeing that this same apostle said in another place that it is that same baptism of the holy Ghost that puts ANYONE and EVERYONE into the one body of Christ, if and when they receive it (I Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:4,5). So we can see unequivocally here that the baptism of the Spirit IS the one and only way ANYONE becomes a child of God, and this experience takes place ONLY by faith in Jesus; not by means of any ceremony, INCLUDING water baptism. He goes on to point out that there is no advantage of righteousness involved with being a Jew, or a male or female, or bond or free; or anything else when it’s all said and done. In other words God is not a respecter of persons, nationalities, genders, positions in this life, or anything else. He is a respecter of those who believe on, love, and obey his Son; and that is ALL he respects. The best we can be is true believers and followers of the Son of God, and that makes us one in him (vs. 28). To top it off, let’s quote the last verse again: “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Whooooooo!! Oh, I really LIKE that part!! That’s it my friend, those who are the true seed of Abraham are those who are baptized by the holy Ghost into Christ, and who continue to follow after that same Spirit in divine love and holiness till the end (Mat. 24:12,13; Heb. 12:14; Rev. 20:6). THAT is who will inherit the earth along with Abraham, the father of the faithful. And that is who will be the recipients of the following: “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:3,4). Amen!!