The Fullness Of Time

Introduction

Paul's Epistle to the churches of Galatia has often, in the history of the church, been the subject of theological controversy. In fact, Paul wrote the Epistle in the midst of the first major doctrinal dispute that the infant church faced. The main issue that he was concerned with was the relationship of Gentile believers to the Mosaic law.

During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, seeing "justification by faith alone" as the central theme of Galatians, wielded this Epistle as a sharp sword against the heresy of the Papacy.

The theology of this Epistle continues to be disputed. The modern issue no longer concerns whether justification before God is by faith or by works. There is general agreement on that point among present-day Protestant and Baptist theologians. Now, the disputed question concerns the believer's relationship to the law.

There is understandable apprehension, on the one hand, concerning the prevalent anarchistic climate in the world. If believers do not rigidly adhere to the "moral law of God" found in the Ten Commandments as a rule of life, how can a libertine society possibly be avoided? If believers are not anchored in the "moral law" how can we possibly avoid being left to drift aimlessly on the sea of moral and ethical relativity? The conventional answer to this question is that since the moral law of God is unchanging and definitively and objectively set forth in the Ten Commandments as the believer's rule of life, then Paul, in his Galatian Epistle, must be writing not about the "moral law", i.e., Ten Commandments, but about the "ceremonial" and "civil" laws that God gave to Israel, but which ceased with the institution of the new covenant.

There is concern on the other hand that, as a result of an honest and conscientious effort on the part of some to reassert the demands of the law of God, an authoritarian atmosphere has developed in many churches. Often God's people have been robbed of their joy because they have been led to focus on the law rather than on Christ. Because of their feelings of spiritual inferiority resulting from their pulpit-induced fixation on their vital signs, many have fallen prey to unscrupulous tyrants who are reminiscent of the Judaizers of Paul's day. Using irony, he wrote concerning the Corinthian's reaction to these overlords,

You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face (2 Cor 11:19-20).

Is there any way to resolve this dispute that will avoid the shoals of libertine antinomianism on the one hand and repressive legalism on the other? We contend that a proper understanding of Paul's Epistle to the Galatians will provide the answer.

On the one hand, Paul argues that the believer, under the new covenant, is free from the law (Mosaic covenant) as a whole--as a covenant rule of life. The historical purpose and proper effect of that law was to focus attention on the promised seed who alone would fulfill its conditions and remove its curse. The effect of continued attention to that holy instrument, now that "the seed" has come, is to draw attention away from Him who has "magnified the law and made it honorable."

On the other hand, Paul sets forth plain, objective criteria by which the new covenant believer can measure his progress in holiness and test the genuineness of his love for God. He argues that the believer is by no means without management under the new covenant. He is not free to do as he pleases, now that he is free from the Mosaic law; he is under new management. Every new covenant believer is led by the Holy Spirit.

There are many issues that must be addressed in a biblical-theological investigation of this Epistle. In the first section of this work we will seek to understand Paul's general approach to the subject. We will then identify the theme of the Epistle and the text in which that theme is most clearly articulated.

The second section is concerned with the relationship between the law and the redemptive-historical act of God in "sending forth His Son." In this section we will examine such issues as the relationship between the law and the covenants of promise, Paul's doctrine of "union with Christ" in the Galatian Epistle, the purpose of the law, the condition of Israel under the law in contrast to the freedom of the new covenant believer, and the Gentile's enjoyment of covenant blessings.

In the third section, we will consider the import of the redemptive-historical effusion of the Holy Spirit. What significance does His indwelling presence and current ministry have for the life of God's new covenant people? In this section, we will also consider whether or not freedom from the law really leaves the modern believer without an objective standard by which to judge righteousness.

This is not being offered as the last word in the "law/grace controversy." We do hope, however, that it will be used of God as a starting point to bring about quiet reflection on the issues at hand, diligent exegesis of the relevant texts, and meaningful dialogue between the opposing parties in the debate.