Scripture Reading: Gal. 3:6-11, 14, 16-17; Gen. 12:7; Col. 1:12b; Eph. 3:6, 9, 11
When I first learned that long before Christ came the gospel was preached to Abraham, I was greatly surprised. Galatians 3:8 says, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham: In you all the nations shall be blessed.” According to Genesis 12:3, in Abraham all the nations would be blessed. In Genesis 12:7 the Lord went on to say to Abraham, “Unto thy seed will I give this land.” There are two main aspects of God’s word to Abraham in Genesis 12: the first is that in him all nations would be blessed; the second is that the land would be given to Abraham’s seed. In Christ, Abraham’s unique seed, the nations would be blessed. Furthermore, to this unique seed the land would be given. This was God’s word to Abraham.
In Galatians 3:16 Paul refers to God’s word to Abraham as a promise: “To Abraham were the promises spoken and to his seed.” Then in verse 17 Paul goes on to speak of a covenant ratified beforehand by God. This indicates that the promise God gave to Abraham became a covenant, which is more firm than a promise. The word, the promise, and the covenant are the gospel which was preached to Abraham. The gospel is the covenant, the covenant is the promise, and the promise is the word spoken by God.
It is important to see the difference between these four terms. A word is common or ordinary, whereas a promise is much more specific. If you give a promise to someone, your word is not common; it is specific. You promise to do certain things for that person. The word God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 12 was not common; it was a specific word in which God promised Abraham that in him and in his seed the nations would be blessed. We have pointed out that in this chapter God also promised Abraham that his seed would possess the land. Because the word spoken to Abraham in Genesis 12 is very specific, it is a word of promise.
In Genesis 15 this promise became a covenant. Here God appeared to Abraham, and Abraham offered a sacrifice to Him. The sacrifice was divided, and God passed through it. This was a custom in ancient times by which two parties ratified a covenant. By walking through the sacrifice, these parties ratified a covenant in an official and proper manner. In this way the promise given in Genesis 12 was ratified as a covenant in Genesis 15. Then in Genesis 17 the covenant was confirmed by the sign of circumcision.
In Galatians 3 Paul says that the word spoken to Abraham, the word which became a covenant confirmed by circumcision, was the gospel preached to Abraham. In Galatians 3 we are given Paul’s understanding and interpretation. Perhaps this interpretation came as a revelation to Paul during the years he was alone with the Lord. Paul came to see that what God had spoken to Abraham was not just a promise or merely a covenant ratified and confirmed, but that it was the very gospel. In this covenant, Paul learned, the main items of the new testament gospel were included. Thus, the covenant ratified with Abraham was a forerunner of the new covenant, of the new testament.
The new testament is a new covenant ratified by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. The Lord offered Himself up as a sacrifice to God. In a sense, God walked through the sacrifice offered to Him on the cross by Christ. This new covenant may be considered as either a repetition or a continuation of the covenant ratified with Abraham. The gospel we are preaching today is not merely a promise; it is also a covenant.
In message forty-one of the Life-study of Hebrews, we pointed out the difference between a covenant and a testament. A covenant refers to an agreement concerning things promised, but not yet accomplished. A testament denotes an agreement in which the promised items have been accomplished. When all the items of the promise are accomplished, the covenant becomes a testament. The modern term for testament is will. The new testament is the new will. A will is not an agreement in which the testator promises to do certain things for others. No, a will is a testament which says that the testator has already done certain things or given certain things to particular people. The gospel we preach is first a covenant. Ultimately, however, it is a testament. At the time of Abraham this gospel could not have been a testament. It could only have been a covenant in which God promised to bless all the nations in Abraham and to give the good land to Abraham’s seed. Later, in Genesis 15, this promise became a ratified covenant. But for us the new covenant is a new testament because all the promised things have been accomplished by Christ. All the nations have been blessed in Christ, and the good land has been given to Abraham’s seed. Therefore, what we receive today is not a new covenant; it is a new testament, a new will. This will is the gospel.
Paul received a marvelous understanding of spiritual things. Without the revelation given to him, we would not have the confidence to say that the covenant ratified with Abraham was the gospel preached to Abraham. But Paul boldly declares that the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham (3:8). Apart from Paul’s word in Galatians 3, we would not realize that God’s word to Abraham was the gospel. Although the gospel is a matter of the new testament, it is important for us to realize that the new testament is a continuation or repetition of God’s promise to Abraham.
In 3:6-9 we see that the gospel is by faith through man’s believing. This gospel was altogether by faith, not by works of law. In Genesis 12, 15, and 17 Abraham had the hearing of faith. This hearing stirred up a sense of appreciation within him. We are told that Abraham believed God and that God reckoned his believing as righteousness (Gen. 15:6). The preaching of the gospel was received by Abraham through the hearing of faith.
The gospel is not as the law, which is by works through man’s working. In 3:10 and 11 we see a contrast between the gospel by faith and the law by works. The one is through man’s believing; the other, through man’s working.
The gospel was preached not only before the accomplishing of redemption by Christ, but also before the giving of the law through Moses. In 3:17 Paul says, “And I say this, a covenant ratified beforehand by God, the law having come four hundred and thirty years after does not annul, so as to make the promise of none effect.” God’s promise to Abraham was given first. The law came four hundred thirty years later. The promise was permanent, but the law was temporary. The temporary law, which came later, cannot annul the permanent promise, which came first. The Galatians left the first and permanent promise and went back to the later and temporary law.
The four hundred thirty years mentioned in 3:17 are counted from the time God gave Abraham the promise in Genesis 12 to the time He gave the law through Moses in Exodus 20. This period was considered by God as the time of the children of Israel’s dwelling in Egypt (Exo. 12:40-41). The four hundred years mentioned in Genesis 15:13 and Acts 7:6 are counted from the time Ishmael mocked Isaac in Genesis 21 to the time the children of Israel came out of Egyptian tyranny in Exodus 12. This is the period when Abraham’s descendants suffered the persecution of the Gentiles.
Paul’s intention was to show that the law given through Moses was not God’s original intention, but something secondary and additional. Because the law is not like Sarah, the genuine wife, but like Hagar, the concubine, it does not have the proper position. It was given four hundred thirty years after the gospel was preached to Abraham. Since God does not change, how could He preach the gospel to Abraham and then, four hundred thirty years later, command the people to fulfill the law in order to satisfy Him? The law was given for the purpose of exposing God’s chosen people and keeping them in His custody.
The gospel was preached to Abraham as the promise that in him all nations would be blessed. The word blessed in Genesis 12:3 is of great significance. Through Adam’s fall, the human race was brought under the curse. But God promised Abraham that in him and because of him the nations, which had been brought under the curse, would be blessed. According to Galatians 3:13, the curse has been taken away. Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Him. Christ died a substitutionary death on the cross to deliver us from the curse brought in by Adam. Now in Christ all the nations will be blessed. Hence, the blessing promised to Abraham comes to us through Christ’s redemption. The curse has been taken away, and the blessing has come. All the nations have been blessed in Christ, Abraham’s unique seed.
This blessing has the good land as the center. The good land typifies the all-inclusive Christ realized by the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit to be the blessing of the gospel (Gen. 12:7; Col. 1:12b; Gal. 3:14). We have pointed out again and again that the good land is a complete type of the all-inclusive Christ. After His resurrection, Christ is realized as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Ultimately, this all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is our good land. Since the Spirit in Galatians denotes the processed Triune God, we may say that the good land is the very processed Triune God. In the gospel what God gives us is nothing less than Himself.
To children, their mother is everything. As long as children have their mother, they are happy. Using this as an illustration of our relationship to the Triune God, we can say that the processed Triune God is the all-inclusive One who is everything to us and that this One is our good land. When the children of Israel entered into the good land, they had no lack. Therefore, this good land is a type of the processed Triune God who is realized in full as the all-inclusive Spirit indwelling our spirit. The good land today is in our spirit.
When the all-inclusive Spirit comes into our spirit, a certain transaction takes place. This transaction is what we call the organic union. In his Word Studies in The New Testament, M. R. Vincent, commenting on Matthew 28:19, says that “baptizing into the name of the Holy Trinity implies a spiritual and mystical union with Him.” The Greek word for “into” in Matthew 28:19 indicates a union in life. Thus, baptism should not be a ritual; it should be the accomplishment of the organic union.
It is ridiculous to ask believers if they have received the Spirit. How could we have failed to receive the Spirit inasmuch as we have entered into an organic union with the Triune God? We have been grafted into Him. The process of grafting begins with appreciating the Lord, and it is accomplished by baptism. When you first heard the gospel, an appreciation for the Lord Jesus was awakened within you. Then you were willing to be baptized, at which time the organic union, the grafting, was accomplished. You were grafted into the Triune God. A sinner who believes in Jesus can then be baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The name denotes the Person. How marvelous that sinners can be baptized into the Triune God! The union accomplished through baptism is an intrinsic union, a union in life. If someone asks you if you have received the Holy Spirit, you may want to tell him that you have received the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
If we were to preach the gospel in a place where no one had heard the gospel before, those who heard our messages would immediately experience the organic union with the Triune God. Then we could easily help them to develop this union and not to live any longer by the self. To live by the organic union is to live by the Spirit, by the processed Triune God. There is no need for us to seek experiences such as speaking in tongues, for we can live by the Triune God in our spirit. In Taiwan we did not practice tongues-speaking, but within six years we increased from five hundred to twenty thousand. By contrast, many of those who emphasize the Pentecostal things have been fruitless. The organic union with the Triune God is much more powerful and prevailing than speaking in tongues. It is not necessary to practice tongues-speaking to have spiritual power. Through the organic union with the Triune God, I am energized and filled with power. The Lord’s recovery has spread to five continents, not through speaking in tongues, but through the organic union. Praise the Lord that this organic union is in us all! I have the confidence that the recovery will continue to spread by means of this union. Again and again we need to come back to our spirit to experience the hearing of faith. The more hearing we have, the more appreciation there will be and also more calling, receiving, accepting, joining, partaking, and enjoying.
Galatians 3:8 says that the nations are justified by faith. In verse 11 Paul goes on to say, “Now that by law no one is justified before God is evident, because, The just by faith shall live.” In verse 14 Paul points out that we receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Faith in Christ brings us into the blessing God promised to Abraham, which is the promise of the Spirit. The believing ones are justified by faith, and they have life and live by faith. As justified ones, we live by the organic union and participate in the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. This Spirit is the blessing of the gospel. What God promised to Abraham corresponds to what He accomplished by Christ. This accomplishment is the fulfillment of His promise to Abraham. Moreover, it is according to God’s eternal purpose and His new testament economy (Eph. 3:6, 9, 11).
