Paul explains this temporary nature of the law. First he shows that righteousness by faith preexisted the law as Abraham demonstrated. Then he goes on to say that the law was just a temporary teaching tool that came into effect with Moses and then ended when the object of the lesson arrived.

Gal 3:19 “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made…”

“Gal 3:24,25 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. “

Carrying this schoolmaster theme into the next chapter …

Gal 4:1 “Now I say, That the heir, … is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father … but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

You see how the law was not in effect, then it came into effect temporarily and then was then fulfilled, completed, finished by God’s son.

The feasts, land rights, the priesthood, the symbolism of the tabernacle, redemption, substitutionary sacrifice and on and on and on: IT WAS ALL ABOUT HIM. When HE came he FULFILLED all of those things. He became the Sacrificial Lamb, the High Priest, the Kinsman Redeemer, etc.

To reduce the whole book of Galatians to a treatise on circumcision is to miss the most magnificent letter ever written! Paul says circumcision doesn’t matter (Gal 5:6) so why would he write a whole letter about it?

Galatians is a treatise on the the law vs. grace. Martin Luther called the book ‘My Katherine’ after his wife. CH Spurgeon said that whenever he opened his Bible he was like a lamb who found his shepherd on every page. Galatians unlocks mysteries of the law and brings out the Messiah on every page.

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Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

Gal 5:16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Gal 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

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Blech!

This is why we don’t need a 2,000 year-old book of fables running a modern democracy.

Let’s just treat everyone equally under the law, and leave it at that. It’s so much simpler.

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FRANK: Paul is admonishing the Galatian Christians against adherence to the ceremonial Law for the purposes of inclusion in the covenant people, the Church.

Paul in no way repudiates God’s moral law as the true standard of moral behavior — neither in Galatians, nor in any of his other writings.

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… So do we now sift through the shards of law, categorizing as moral or ceremonial, and try to find pieces that we can keep?

FRANK: “Shards of law”? Do you believe Jesus’ own words — “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” — or not?

I agree with you and Steve that we are not saved by obeying the law. But that does not nullify the law as reflecting God’s holy, righteous and just character, or as a standard for our own behavior. (Note that I said “behavior,” and not our righteous standing before God, which is only through Christ’s righteousness, which is imputed to us by faith alone and not by keeping the works of the law.)

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Remember, I don’t believe the Bible is “God’s word.” You do, I acknowledge, but I do not and am not bound to honor everything that appears in its pages. I disagree with respect, but disagree nonetheless.

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FRANK: You cite with approval Paul’s letter to the Galatians, in which he warned them that Gentiles do not need to “become Jews” (by circumcision) in order to become Christians.

This very same apostle Paul teaches of God’s clear condemnation of homosexual relations:

In Romans 1, Paul describes homosexuality as “unclean,” “impure,” “dishonoring to the body,” “vile,” “degrading / disgraceful,” “contrary to nature,” “unseemly/ obscene,” “improper activity of a depraved mind,” “unrighteous” and “wicked.”

In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul speaks of homosexuals as “effeminate” and “abusers of themselves with mankind” who “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” The Greek terms there describe clearly the two roles in the homosexual relationship — ”effeminate” is the word malakos, and “abusers of themselves with mankind” is the word arsenokoites . In other words, both and “catchers” and “pitchers.” Paul says uch people are “unrighteous,” and if they remain in that practice they will be condemned.

So the question is this: How can a sexual relationship that God’s Word teaches is contrary to both His law and to nature, and that is thus worthy of His judgment, be “sanctified” somehow (and thus made socially acceptable) simply by the two people saying they “love” each other or by their “getting married”?

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But adultery and fornication are also misplaced affections, since God’s design is for a man and woman to be joined for life. (Mark 10:7-9). Jesus was not silent on the issue, since he explicitly declared what is acceptable to God.

On the other hand, I believe he would have treated homosexuals with kindness, just as he did every other sinner. The only people he ever got mad at were the religious legalists.

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