Galatians 3:16

Note to Newcomers: this is one in a series of short devotional thoughts on the “3:16s” of the New Testament. Feel free to go through the site archives to find devotions on the 3:16s from Matthew-2 Corinthians.

Another Note: If you're looking for this week's sermon, please note I'll post it this afternoon. Having issues with the file.

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say, “And to offsprings,” as of many; but it says, “And to your offspring,” that is, to one person, who is Christ.

I love Paul. But sometimes his arguments are tortured to a modern Western reader. That is not to say that he was not an amazing lawyer and arguer; it is to say that through my own lenses I sometimes have trouble understanding his rhetoric.

The scholars say that Paul is using a common Jewish technique here of isolating one word and building a case upon it. He does so in full knowledge that “offspring” can indeed be plural as well as singular, but he senses the Spirit’s guidance to build this case anyway.

I’m often glad the writers of Scripture were uniquely inspired by the Spirit because I don’t think I could use the same principles of interpretation in good conscience.

Anyway, on to the meaning of the verse: for Paul, it is important to draw a connection between Abraham and Jesus. The richness of the Jewish tradition is its sense of covenant with God, started through its patriarch Abraham. The Jewish sense of national identity was tied up with this idea that God had uniquely chosen them for a particular mission in the world. God had chosen them to be a witness to the world that there was one true God and had covenanted with them, promised them blessing, for this purpose.

Paul wants the Galatians to know that this sense of covenant does not just drift off disparately to all who would claim to be Jews ethnically. Instead, the covenant is sharpened, focused, to one man—Jesus. He embodies the covenant God had with his people Israel.

And after the covenant is narrowed to one man, it then can be given to all; not merely Jews, but to the whole world, to all who believe in him. Now all can receive the blessings of the covenant—and the responsibilities of the covenant. All can know the joy of a life lived in intimacy with God, and all can work together to spread his name throughout the world.