“And the Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” (Gal. 3:8)

The Jews believed that God would justify the Gentiles by making them follow the law of Moses and that included circumcision. To the Jew of Paul’s day, the Gentiles needed to be under the law even if they believed in Jesus and submitted to Him. They expected justification to occur by law in spite of the grace offered through Jesus.

Using Abraham as his example, Paul is showing that the gospel preceded the law and then was superseding the law after the resurrection of Jesus.

For God, the law was temporary, serving as a temporary covenant until the time came for redemption through Jesus, His Son. The gospel was before the law and after the law, thus indicating that God’s plan from the beginning was to be justification of the whole world through faith in Jesus rather than obedience to the law.

The law’s foundation was based on works, but faith’s foundation was based on grace. The law required perfection but grace provided perfection. Why?, Paul is asking, do you seek the old way when the new is obviously God’s plan for mankind, Jew, and Greek.

Task for Today: Rejoice in grace. Accept it with a glad heart. Let it fill you with faith in Jesus and lead you to follow him.