OLD TESTAMENT FAITH
Plays and skits of the crucifixion have been popular in churches and public venues for some time now. Passion plays depicting the final scenes of Christ’s trial and crucifixion. They are major productions with an individual portraying Christ—even on a wooden cross. Observers testify with much feeling—it was a tear jerker. Do such portrayals get us closer to the truth of the grand sacrifice of Christ?
In Gal. 3:1 Paul said to the Galatians, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched [spiritualism] you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth [openly and graphically], crucified among you?” Spiritualism is the worship of idols—whether they be objects of wood and stone or man-made doctrines of righteousness. The common denominator is that “man” controls the content that’s pleasing to him whether he is aware of that fact or not. With spiritualism what “I” want is firmly in place. It is spiritualism because Lucifer invented this religion with its many-headed forms (Isa. 14).
The Galatians were “bewitched” or spiritualized by the idea that believing in Christ the Messiah was not good enough for salvation, they must add to it the power of man’s obedience to be circumcised. If one drop of arsenic is added to a gourmet meal it becomes deadly. As a consequence the Galatians were behaving foolishly and it was divisive.
The word “obey” is hupokeo which means to “listen.” Hupo means underneath. The idea is to bend down low so that your ear can listen. Under Paul’s proclamation of they had “listened” to every syllable of the “good news.”
The apostle was moved by the Holy Spirit as he told the people the meaning of Christ’s dying on His cross. He told it so graphically that they forgot who they were and where they were: they were present at Calvary. Their ears had been turned into eyes. They saw the Son of God dying their second death, at the hands of people whose hard, hateful, revengeful hearts were the same as theirs. And the sight of that divine blood being shed “before their eyes” by what was in truth themselves, finally got through. Their hearts were broken, melted, subdued. For Moslems to murder their own is one thing; but it is another thing to watch yourself murder the Son of God! There is no awakening, no realization, in the universe that so moves a human heart as does that consciousness. Punishments, jail sentences, rebukes, are powerless to change such hearts. A wise writer has said: “The theme that attracts the heart of the sinner is Christ, and Him crucified. . . . Present Him thus to the hungering multitudes, and the light of His love will win people from darkness to light, from transgression to obedience and true holiness. Beholding Jesus upon the cross . . . arouses the conscience . . . as nothing else can do.”[1]
“This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing [listen with faith] of faith?” (Gal. 3:2). Now the most astute Bible student in the world is Satan himself; he fears the Bible. If people can learn to understand and love it, Satan knows his hold on them is broken. He does not like this Letter to the Galatians. So he has done his best to confuse the idea of faith. He doesn’t mind if Paul talks about it here 21 times and 37 times in Romans, and you read it for 100 years so long as you don’t know what Paul means by the word “faith.”
The key definition is found in chapter 3, where Paul links the experience of faith with the crucifixion of Christ (vss. 1, 2). He calls it “the hearing of faith,” the listening, the experience of understanding, perceiving, appreciating. Paul sees the cross as not only a legalistic maneuver on God’s part to satisfy the judicial claims of the broken law (it is that, for the law demands punishment). But Paul sees far more in the crucifixion of Christ than that. The idea behind all those 21 uses of the word “faith” is a heart-melting, heart-humbling, awe-inspiring appreciation for what led the Son of God to sacrifice Himself for us. There were many Roman crucifixions that went on all the time, but this was different. Paul was awe-struck that the infinite, divine Son of God had been murdered by humanity, and yet it was love for us that led Him to surrender to humanity’s bitter hatred like that. Christ was ascending the throne of His people’s hearts by the avenue of crucified love. Life can no longer be the same for Paul. He cries out, “I am crucified with Christ!” From now on, I am “crucified unto the world and the world is crucified unto me” (2:20; 6:14). That is what Paul means by his word “faith.” Unless your human heart is made of stone, it will be captivated by such love,—and such faith will be yours.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin and righteousness. He does this by means of the much more abounding grace of God’s love revealed at the cross. “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3). The Galatians were being seduced by the doctrine of “holy flesh”. By obedience to “the works of the law” they would become perfect. They were looking to the law for salvation. When man looks at the law to become perfect, his conceptions of righteousness are inferior to “the righteousness of God.” The law is a perfect description of God’s righteousness, but it cannot convert the heart of a sinner. The law has the power to condemn the sinner, but not to change him. The law is “spiritual” and must be interpreted by the Holy Spirit to the sinner’s heart through the prism of the cross of Christ who is the only “righteousness of God.”
“Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain” (Gal. 3:4). “Is your tremendous experience all for nothing? How could such a taste of true faith ever be in vain?” With the Holy Spirit come the fruits of the Spirit. All those who live the gospel will suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12). Having shared in the sufferings of Christ they are now departing from Him. They are insensibly pursuing the law for righteousness in their search for salvation while at the same time disobeying “the righteousness of God” which is Christ.
“He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Gal. 3:5). “Someone gave you the experience of receiving the Holy Spirit; you knew first-hand the mighty changes that faith produces in human hearts; was he a guru imposing on you a philosophy of do’s and don’ts? Or did you receive the glorious blessing by simply listening with contrite faith?”
“The faith of Jesus Christ, and that alone, saves the soul, at the beginning and at the end and all the way between.” “The power, the virtue, to fulfill the law is in the faith, which is received as the free gift of God through Jesus Christ. And this neither frustrates the grace of God nor makes void the law of God. On the contrary, it magnifies the grace of God, and establishes the law of God. It is the true righteousness by faith.”[2] “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6). It is not faith and works, but “faith which worketh by love.” And as love is the fulfilling of the law, then in Christ nothing avails but faith which fulfils the law—not faith and the fulfilling of the law, but faith which fulfils the law.
“Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Gal. 3:6).
Another time in history when the same “gospel preached” was “mixed with faith”; Abraham’s experience. All that God did was simply proclaim to him His marvelous promises known as the New Covenant, no threatened “curses” mixed in on pain of disobedience. Abraham simply “listened with faith” to this almost incredible Good News (just what Paul told the Galatians was “the hearing of faith”). He too, like the Galatians, “received the Spirit.” His faith was counted to him for righteousness (Gen. 15:6).
Abraham has won his undying fame not because of any “work” which he did, but because he believed that something that was obviously “dead” would live immediately (pre-day-of-resurrection) because of the promise of the Lord. And that was his “dead” sexual powers to sire offspring.
It was an effort of choice that Abraham made to believe what God had said when everything looked impossible.
And not only was Abraham called to believe that his own “dead” body could sire offspring; there was “the deadness of Sarah’s womb” (vs. 19) to be confronted. Abraham had to believe for himself and then he also had to believe for her! “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (vs. 20).
The entire unfallen universe marveled at his faith and glorified God because of it. They rejoiced that now it was proven for all to see, that fallen, sinful, naturally unbelieving man, can overcome and can think and believe in harmony with the mind of God.
“Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” (Gal. 3:7). Who are the true descendants of Abraham? Who receive the inheritance of the promises made to Abraham? Said the Judaizers, Those who are circumcised like Abraham and his whole family. Paul is trying to rob you who your inheritance.
But that argument is fallacious in that Abraham received that which makes sure the promised inheritance before he was circumcised by the faith of Jesus. That which makes sure the inheritance is the righteousness of Christ. So, then, all who are “of faith” are the children of Abraham.
“And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed” (Galatians 3:8). God preached the true and only gospel to Abraham. It was the faith of Jesus. It was the same gospel which Paul preached. Abraham was justified by faith while yet a heathen. Justification by faith is not faith and circumcision, but faith without circumcision. “So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham” (Galatians 3:9).
Well, the Judaizers said, even though Abraham was justified by faith, he was still circumcised afterward; so must the Gentiles be today in order to be saved. But circumcision was never part of God’s original plan.
After God had given Abraham His covenant and pledged His very life to honor it, Abraham believed the gospel. But afterward through unbelief of God’s promise Abraham “Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai” (Gen. 16:2), and had Ishmael with Hagar. After Mount Moriah when Abraham offered his son Isaac, by faith in the promise of God, he was circumsized as a reminder of his mistake of unbelief. And circumcision was a reminder to all his family and descendants not to make the same mistake.
If Abraham had been faithful to that which he received from God by faith, he never would have been circumcised. And it is equally certain that when any one, receiving by faith in Christ alone, as Abraham received it, that which Abraham received, he needs not to be circumcised. Since the faith of Jesus gives to the believer in Jesus, the perfect keeping of the law of God, the perfect righteousness of God, there is “no necessity for the ordinance of circumcision” (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 364).
“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10). All who are motivated by egocentric concern are under the curse which is legalism. Why, because the law is bad? No, because disobedience to the law is the curse. Sin means death. One would have to obey the law all of his life with the purest agape-motive in order to earn salvation. For this sinner this is an impossibility for he has not continued “in all things . . . written in . . . the law to do them.”
“But that no man [person, remember anthropos in Greek means man or woman in Greek] is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11).
Martin Luther was well on his way to being the Mother Theresa of his day, even climbing Pilate’s so-called staircase on his knees in order to earn merit toward being a saint. Then he suddenly remembered that the Bible says, “The just shall live by faith.”
To be “just” is to be made “righteous”. As Stephen declared Christ is “the Just One” (Acts 7:52). So the only faith that is righteous is Jesus faith. The one made righteous shall live by Jesus’ faith (Hab. 2:4).
As we near the end of earth’s history, the world will be confronted with two great systems of salvation: (a) by works, and (b) by faith. # (a) will be so wonderfully impressive that we read in Revelation 13 that “all the world [will] wonder after the beast.” Gaining merit by works is the secret that drives karma, the thinking of vast multitudes of Hindus, and Buddhists. It seems so reasonable. And multitudes of Christians are caught up in it, too. It’s the same as law-righteousness, “obey and live.” Your obedience becomes the focus of your attention. And in all the doing of your good works, you never get to know Jesus.
The problem with the “goats” in that final day when they meet Jesus will not be that they didn’t do enough “good works”—they insist that they had done all kinds of them. Jesus just has to say sadly, “Sorry, I never knew you.” It was something else that motivated you to do all those good works. Matthew 7:23. Let’s spend some time with the Lord, know Him; then let’s do all the good works His love inspires us to do.
“And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them” (Galatians 3:12). The law written on stone says “do” them and you shall live. The only condition on which the law as written can offer life is to “the doers of the law”. But for sinners this is an impossibility and therefore their only remedy is “faith.”
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).
You cannot understand what the cross means unless you understand verse 13. You say, Oh, I know what the cross means. It’s driving nails through your wrist bones and through your ankle bones and they take off all your clothes and they string you up naked there and people come by and they laugh at you. And kids get off school early and they come by and throw rotten eggs and tomatoes at you. It’s terrible. That’s not the death of the cross.
You could endure all of that including the physical pain. You could hang there on that cross and you could smile at the people if you knew that God was with you. Yes. And that is exactly what Jesus did not know. We’ve got to get to the reality of the cross. It wasn’t the physical pain. It wasn’t the shame. The Romans always strung them up naked. You can understand that from reading Psalm 22. There are two Hebrew words there for clothing. They parted my garments. It’s both His outer clothes and His underclothes. They took it all off. No artist has ever painted Christ on the cross correctly.
You can look it up in Deuteronomy. But what Moses said was. If you have been convicted of a capital crime and the punishment is death, and the judge says, I sentence you to die by having your head chopped off you can be so thankful. Thank you dear God. Because you can pray, O God, forgive me for my crime. And you can die happy that God has forgiven you. Or if the judge says, I sentence you to die by having a sword thrust through your heart you can be so happy.
But if the judge says, I sentence you to die by hanging on a tree. You cannot pray. God will not hear you. Moses said straight out, He that is hanged on a tree is cursed of God.
Do you remember when Absalom rebelled against David. Somebody saw when Absalom rode his mule under a tree. His head got caught in the branches of a tree. And the mule just kept on going and left Absalom hanging there in the tree. Somebody saw that and ran and told Joab.
He said, “Why didn’t you kill him?”
Joab grabbed his bow and arrow and ran pell mell. And he shot Absalom through the heart. Because he knew straight off that this was a sign from the God of heaven. Absalom was cursed of God. And according to Moses Absalom will never come up in the first resurrection.
Now that curse Christ took upon Himself not like you carry a bag on your back or you ladies carry a purse on your arm. He bore that curse in His own body. In His whole nervous system He felt Himself forsaken of God.
He was not a TV actor. Now he’s got a teleprompter and tells Him, Now’s the time to wail ‘My God, why have you forsaken me?’ Now’s the time to say that. No way.
From His own broken heart the Son of God cried out, “My God.” He couldn’t say, My Father. Because the connection between Him and the Father was gone. All talk of “Abba, Father” was gone. He was now a lost sinner. A goner.
Why? you say. Ellen White says, He could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present for Him His coming forth as a conqueror. He died the second death. That’s the length and breadth and height and depth of the agape of Christ.
“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:14). “That blessing of Abraham is the righteousness of God, which can come only from God as the free gift of God, received by faith.” “The promise of the Spirit” is the promised inheritance of the future life in righteousness dwelling on the earth made new. “We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13).
The Holy Spirit now is the down payment. “Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Eph. 1:13, 14).
