Being Clothed with Christ through Faith
for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus. 27 For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. 28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)
From verses 26 to 29, Paul’s next argument against the Judaizers is that through faith in Jesus Christ provides a connection between God and man, as well as other believers, that is not possible through the law. Max Anders states, “The law never brought this vertical and horizontal oneness. Therefore, grace is superior to the law.”
Starting with verses 26 to 27, it is by grace through faith that believers become children of God, “all sons of God in Christ Jesus.” This union, being “baptized into Christ [and] have been clothed with Christ,” is elaborated as through the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.” Verse 28 reiterates this unity that goes beyond human traits, that everyone who believes in Christ and has repented is now “all one in Christ Jesus.” At the human level, not all distinctions are erased, but in the eyes of God, those that have believed in His Son are all His children.
When believers believe in Christ as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes upon the believer and seals them, unifying them with other believers, all a part of God’s family. To give a bit of cultural conference, Max Anders shares, “In Roman society, when a youth became old enough to be considered an adult, he took off his children’s clothes and put on an adult’s toga. This switch indicated that he had adult citizenship and responsibilities. In the same way, the Galatians had laid aside the old clothes of the law and had put on Christ’s new robes of righteousness.”
Finally, in verse 29, believers that “belong to Christ…are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise,” meaning to say, they are unified together in God’s family and are fellow partakers in the covenant promise of righteousness through faith, all of which the law was unable to do.
Blessings,
Isaac De Guzman
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