relations chapter 3 verses

3 verses 23 to 29

now before faith came we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed,

so that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer

under a custodian. For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for

you are all one in Christ.

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring airs according to promise.

I see four steps now in this text that Paul takes to get to where he wants to be

and I'll list them for you and then we'll look at each one briefly.

The first step is this. Before faith came, Israel was confined under the law.

And the law functioned like a custodian or a tutor or governess or schoolmaster, and it therefore applied restraint and guidance, but it couldn't give the inheritance.

Second step, faith came or Christ came and with him a movement of faith. Third step.

Wherever men and women are united to Jesus Christ by faith, they are justified and they become

children of God airs according to the promise. And fourthly, the final step, and I think this is what Paul really

wants to drive home in the context of these false teaching Judaism,

therefore we are no longer under law.

Okay? So let's go back and look at those one at a time.

First step in verses 23 to 24.

Now before faith came, we were confined under the law,

kept under restraint until faith should be revealed so that the law was our custodian until Christ came.

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