Gal 3:23-29

I don't like to say the bible is difficult, with the help of the Holy Spirit God's children are well equipped to understand our Father's word. However, Gal 3 is quite a dense passage. With that thought we come to the final section.

Before and after - before faith came and after faith came. In v. 23 by 'faith' Paul means something like 'Christ upon whom we can depend to fulfil the law and remove its curse'. Only after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus was it possible for us to have faith in Christ and so be set free from the law. 'Faith' describes the possibility of life with Christ apart from the law.

To lead us to Christ - now in v. 24 Paul teaches a second use of the law. The law fulfils the function of a particular household slave, the one who took the family children to school. He wasn't the teacher, just the supervisor of the journey to school. So the law, once we realise that we can't obey it and that it won't make us right with God, leads us to Christ as the only one who has obeyed it and the only one who can make us right with God. Once we have been led to Christ the work of the slave (the law) is over, we are set free from the slave to learn from our new master Christ.

All sons of God - I passionately believe that v. 26 is not only for males, it is for females also. However, it is one of the few verses where it is important to retain the male term 'son'. Paul is moving to the climax of this chapter, namely, that in Christ we all become co-heirs. In the ancient world only the male child could inherit, so Paul is saying that in Christ we all become those who will inherit from our Father. (We do not all become male, but we do all enter into the rights of inheritance).
All - is such an important word. The many and various ways we humans have of dividing ourselves from one another become meaningless in Christ. As many as were baptised, as many as are clothed anew in Christ, as many as now belong by faith to Christ, so many are All. All these are one new people, one new humanity in Christ.
This remarkable unity in Christ for all people is the good news of the gospel. You are all one in Christ Jesus.

Heirs according to promise - promise has been a key theme of this chapter. We become co-heirs not by law, not by right, not by obedience, but by faith in Christ.

Since unity in Christ is the good news, what should we do to promote unity with other Christians?
How should Christian view the law and make use of the law in the light of what Paul teaches us here?