“The Holy and Perfect Covenant”

Scripture: Galatians 3:15-22

Up until now, Paul has been chastising the Galatians for deviating from the truth of Christ’s Gospel. They had begun to follow the advocates of “good works”, and had been slowly moving away from the concept of “salvation by grace through faith”. Paul wanted them to know that no one has ever gained the grace of God by the things that they have done, that no one can ever earn the joy and benevolence of God on their own.

Today, he begins to move from the inadequacy of their lives, those things that will, in the end, only bring them loss and heartbreak, and into the hope that is theirs in faith. Paul reminds them of just what their “covenant” with Almighty God is all about, and why it is the only way if they are to truly follow Christ.

For many people, the notion of “covenant” is comparable to that of “contract”, but the truth is that they aren’t even close. Even the dictionary would seem to imply a commonality, but some very important distinctions exist.
- A contract is generally an extensive and very legalistic document that, while it is intended to be binding, can usually be found to be breakable through loopholes. It is an agreement between two or more parties that provides for mutual benefits, and those benefits are spelled out in detail.
- A Covenant, on the other hand, is usually a much simpler and specific document that has no loopholes.
- Contracts can be modified and amended.
- Covenants cannot – they are established once and for all time until one of the parties breaks it.

Consider, for just a moment, the differences between a prenuptial agreement and the marriage covenant.
- A “pre-nup”, as a contract, is extensively one sided, and is based in establishing rights for both parties in the case that the relationship falls apart.
- The Covenant, however, is equal to all parties in both nature and word, and is based on the continuation of the relationship, not the destruction of it.
- Pre-nups are unique to the situation, the personalities, and the generosity of the one preparing the contract.
- The marriage covenant is identical for everyone who would enter into the marriage relationship.
- A prenuptial contract contains many contingencies and resulting actions.
- The marriage covenant contains only one contingency.

Let me remind you of the marriage vows that every bride and every groom take in United Methodism –
In the Name of God, I take you to be my wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish; until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.

We take the vow, make the covenant, in the name of God and the only “out” is through the death of the one who makes the promise.

As we begin our text today, keep in mind these differences as evidenced in the comparison between God’s covenant and the contract of law.

Read Galatians 3:15-16

God’s covenant, his promise, was made to Abraham and “his seed”. Paul writes that “seed” refers, not to the descendants of Abraham, but to Jesus. However, when we look to the passages in Genesis that describe the covenant, the word is translated as “offspring”. So what do we do about this apparent conflict?
Paul, I believe, is separating the inheritance that God has given to both the Jews and the Gentiles into two tracts. If Abraham received a legacy, his descendants, through Isaac and Jacob, would also benefit from it. But what about the Gentiles? Their genealogy was all wrong! It didn’t fit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Paul was telling them that Jesus Christ was also an inheritor of the gift of God, and through him, they would also be in line to receive the promise. (Genesis 15, 17:2-8, Ephesians 3:4-6)
Two different ways to look at it, and either way is a blessing for the Gentiles. Are we the “adopted” descendants of Abraham? If so, we are in line to receive the promise of the kingdom. Are we brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ? If so, as the children of Almighty God, how could we ever be excluded from our Father’s kingdom? The covenant that God has made is set and is firm for all time.

Read Galatians 3:17-20

Does the law play a part in the covenant? Certainly not, Paul says! The covenant was first, and God’s word can never be taken away, it can never be modified by a written word. Moses was called to the mountain to receive the law – twice – because of the people’s failure to follow the great Jehovah. In Exodus 24:8, the people are anointed and reminded of the covenant, and the 10 commandments would become a continuing confirmation of the covenant – not an exception to it.
A descendent of Abraham, a follower of Jesus Christ, a child of God – that is our covenant. Not that the law is excepted, not that the covenant discounts the law, but that the covenant is the word and promise of God, and keeping his law is our response to his great gift.
But Paul goes a step further – he talks about the implementation of the law versus that for the covenant. The law came through a “mediator”, or Moses, but the covenant comes directly to each person who claims Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The law needs interpretation and administration. The covenant is straight forward and simple – salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8), and nothing else.

Read Galatians 3:21-22

Does the law contradict God’s covenant? No. Is the law better than the covenant? Certainly not. Can we believe that they work on a equal basis? Never! He shows that the law was never intended to be the way to salvation, especially after Jesus came to us as Savior. If the law could in any way provide a means to righteousness, the covenant would be unnecessary, and Jesus sacrifice on the cross would have been meaningless.
But does the law have a specific purpose for our lives? And the answer is yes. It’s one main principle is that it gives us the knowledge of sin – of what is righteous and what is evil. (Romans 3:19-20) God uses the law to shine a light on our sinful condition, to give us a vision of what and how he sees our lives. Paul says that scripture, or in this context, the law, condemns the entire world as sinful, as a moral failure, as deviates from the truth of God. The law condemns us, and the condemnation can never restore us. The law is in no way a promise of hope – it can only be a condemnation of hope, it can only be a promise of death.
It is Christ, and only Christ, who is the fulfillment of God’s covenant – his promise of life eternal. John 3:16-17 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

The truth is that we already stand condemned – it is only in Christ Jesus that we can escape the sentence that is so rightly ours, because the contract of law can’t help us. Whether it is church canon, or the laws of our land – they only tell us what is right and wrong - law sets punishment for the times we fail, but never offers glory and righteousness when we do what is required. The law requires perfection; the Lord’s Covenant bathes us in perfection. The law demands that we earn forgiveness through punishment; the Covenant blesses with a forgiveness that has been earned by the Covenant. The law ends life; the Covenant is life.

Unlimited Spiritual gifts – the unfailing love of God – infinite grace and mercy – never ending hope – and all of it comes to us through the holy and perfect Covenant that we know as Jesus.