Note: Here's another excerpt from my notes for the sermon I did on Galatians 3:15-22, focusing on Paul's model exegesis of Genesis 22:18 in Galatians 3:16:
"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as one, And to thy seed, which is Christ" (Galatians 3:16).
In v. 16 a Paul reminds us that covenant promises were made
to Abraham (cf. Gen 12:1-3; 22:18: “And
in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed.”). Underneath all this is the implied question:
Will God keep his promise to Abraham?
The answer, of course, is, “Yes, yes, he will.”
Paul then engages in
an exegetical examination of Genesis 22:18.
Actually, his focus is on a single word.
He makes the point that in the original text, the Lord does not say to
Abraham, “And in thy seeds (plural)” but “in thy seed (singular).”
Notice here:
First, Paul’s concern is for every word of Scripture. Jesus taught that the Lord would not allow
one jot or tittle to pass from his written word till all was fulfilled (Matt
5:18). We call this the plenary verbal
inspiration of Scripture. Paul’s concern
here is over whether a single word (“seed”) should be singular or plural. That distinction makes all the difference in
interpretation.
Second, Paul is modeling the importance of studying and
expositing the Scriptures.
Third, Paul is making a sophisticated logical argument
against the Judaizers. They had wanted
to go back to Moses and law. But he
trumps them by going back even farther to God’s covenant with Abraham. Furthermore, the promise to Abraham was not
that his seeds (plural) would be blessed but his seed (singular). Not all the physical offspring of Abraham
would be blessed but one from his line.
And that one of which Genesis 22:18 is Christ. Compare the genealogies of Matthew 1 (vv. 1-2)
and Luke 3 (v. 34), both of which show Jesus as having descended through the
line of Abraham. The still further
implication that Paul will draw later in chapter 3 as the argument unfolds is
that all those who are in Christ as the seed of Abraham will also be blessed by
virtue of the fact that they are in him (in union with him; see Galatians 3:29). What matters then is not whether or not you
are of the physical descendents of Abraham, but whether or not you are in
Christ.
JTR
2 comments:
Paul's arguments here really seem to do much harm to the hermeneutic of a classical dispensationalist. I've always wondered how they deal with this 3rd chapter.
Yes, I'd say it demolishes it. I wonder why even so-called "progressive dispensationalists" want to hang on to any part of that misguided system. Along these lines the T. Johnson illustration is also helpful to understand who is a "true Israelite."
JTR
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