23Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.
Sons of God
26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Dig Deeper
One of the great defining moments of my life when I was about twelve or thirteen was the day that I was finally able to stay at home by myself without a babysitter while my parents went out. For me it was a rite of passage of sorts, signaling that I had become a grown-up (at least in my own mind). When I was younger I needed a babysitter, I needed teachers, I needed supervision of all sorts. Now that I am an adult, however, I no longer need babysitters, teachers (not in the supervisory sense), nor supervisors of any sort (a different thing from leaders, which we all need). In fact, an adult with a babysitter would be a little strange to say the least. Babysitters and the sort are needed when someone is not capable of leading themselves, but once they are the babysitter is no longer necessary.
In verse 24, Paul says that the law was a paidogogos (‘put in charge’ in the NIV). The paidogogos in Paul’s day was a slave, usually an elderly one, who was put in charge of a young child. It was their job to lead the child to and from school and oversee their general education. It was similar to our idea of a nanny or live-in babysitter. Paul is continuing his thought that the law was a temporary addition to the covenant, not the covenant itself. It was given by God in order to keep Israel quarantined until the Messiah had come. It was a stipulation that was necessary while Israel was young and unable to lead themselves and uphold the covenant but now that Messiah was here, those who would enter into Him could become complete and no longer in need of the law.
For Paul it all comes down to faith, but we must keep in mind what that faith is in. Paul refers to faith in the life of Christ, faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Before faith in His life was available, we were, says Paul, held prisoners by the law. The word translated "held prisoners" would better be understood in the sense of a protective custody. In other words, Paul is saying that the law kept Israel pure (at least pure enough) until faith should be revealed, by which he means the Messiah. So, the law was given to Israel as a concession, a nanny until Christ came (the words translated "lead us to Christ" in the NIV can also be translated "until Christ came"). Once the Messiah had come, people could be the people of God through faith which was God’s original plan going back to Abraham.
The Messiah was the sign that a truly mature Israel had finally come to fulfill God’s promises. Those who enter into the Messiah and live by faith share in that maturity and are the true Israel. Thus, the faith of the believer is the sign that regardless of whether they were born Jew or Gentile, they are a full, complete, and mature member of God’s new family. This is precisely what Paul says in verse 26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Being a son of God no longer comes through being born a Jew or by keeping the law or by any other form of human effort. All those who enter into the life of Jesus Christ and die to their old lives through faith are now full members of God’s covenant family.
Although Paul’s primary point is not how one enters into God’s family but how to recognize who is part of that family, he will briefly mention here a reminder of their entrance into God’s family to demonstrate that if they have all entered in equally, then there is no criteria which can later separate them. Paul would certainly agree that one is saved by faith but not in the way that many American evangelicals would define that today. Notice that for Paul, being part of God’s family means entering into Christ. Yet he does not say that everyone who simply believed or said a grand prayer had entered into that life of faith in Christ. No, the way to enter into God’s family, the true Israel, is through a baptism that recognizes that one is dying to themselves and entering into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:3-4) and being forgiven of their law-breaking sin (Acts 2:38). This does not mean that Paul believed that baptism or water literally saved anyone. It is the doorway, however. It is the moment when we enter into faith in Christ and so it is indispensable. Paul does not mention here what happens when people are baptized without realizing or submitting to what it truly involves (as he does in 1 Cor. 10:1-12), but we should be clear that baptism is not a magic amulet, it is the submission of dying to our lives in Adam and entering by faith into the life of Christ that matters for Paul. Baptism is the door, not the destination.
Everyone who has been baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ so that when God looks upon us he sees Christ. In Colossians 3:3 Paul says that those who have been baptized have been hidden with Christ, meaning when we enter into Him we are truly part of the Messiah’s family. As a consequence of that new status there are none of the old distinctions that are relevant when it comes to our status or ability to enter into this family. When it comes to status or entry into God’s family there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. None of those distinctions matter anymore once we have entered into the Messiah’s life and family. Of course, Paul does not mean that once we enter into Christ we lose all human identity. There is no need to start building unisex bathrooms in our churches or changing all of last names to Christ so as to do away with any ethnic identifiers. Those distinctions still have a purpose and a place, but they are completely irrelevant when it comes to our status in Christ. There are no such things as advantages or disadvantages for those who would lay down their life and enter into Christ’s. There is no such thing as two-tier Christianity.
In verse 29, Paul sums all of this up very succinctly and powerfully. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Someone who belongs to Christ and is thus part of Abraham’s family already does not need anything else to enter in. Whether it be the law, circumcision, or anything else, the only thing that has any bearing on being part of God’s family is whether or not we belong to Christ. That was the question for the people of Paul’s day every bit as much as it is for us today.
Devotional Thought
The questions that we who are in Christ must always ask ourselves are, are we really mature. Do we really live by faith in the life of Christ or are you always secretly desiring the babysitter of some sort of law or rules that take away the responsibility of thinking and discerning through difficult situations?
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