Gal 3:23

Christoffer · #1 (**permalink**) 04-23-2009, 05:05 AM

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor

Earlier on in Gal 3 we learn that Abraham was justified by faith. So faith existed before the law. The verses above however suggest that "before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith that was later to be revealed".

But faith existed before the law... right? What does the phrase "was later to be revealed" then mean?

the Internet · #2 (**permalink**) 04-23-2009, 07:10 AM

Dear Christoffer,

This is just my take for what its worth.

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law,
This section is written to believers. They were once captive to sin unable to find any remedy. The law is what pointed up their inability to meet its requirements.

23 … imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
Nothing they could do of themselves [that’s them, you, and I] could free them from the shackles. Sin was victorious.
The only escape is by faith through Christ. Faith is given to the believer; not earned, mysteriously imbibed, or acquired by any works or effort. God grants the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the proclivity to believe. Thus in a sense, the sinners eyes and ears are opened i.e. their faith is revealed to them – by the inner working of the Spirit of God.
Thus it is that historically all believers were blind to the existence of faith [like dry bones in the desert, incapable of believing], have subsequently been redeemed by faith, but that redemption comes chronologically to each as the Spirit so imparts. It may therefore be said that for a believer today, faith was unrevealed until the Spirit of God revealed it to them in time.

Dave Wood
Grace Community Bible Church
Melbourne, Victoria

Calvinist Cowboy · #3 (**permalink**) 04-23-2009, 11:36 PM

Excellently put, Mr. Wood! Faith is not revealed to a person until the Holy Spirit reveals it.

And Christoffer, I would say that faith did not exist before law. As soon as man fell, he came under the law. However, faith was present during this time too. Abel trusted God (Heb 11). However, neither Abel, nor Abraham, nor Paul, nor anyone else trusts in God until God gives them faith. In this regard, we are all under the curse and penalty of the Law, and we are shut up under the law until God, in His merciful timing, grants to us escape from the burden of the Law through faith in Christ.