ガラテヤの信徒への手紙3:15-18

ところで、アブラハムとその子孫に対して約束が告げられましたが、その際、多くの人を指して『子孫たちとに』とは言われず、一人の人を指して『あなたの子孫とに』と言われています。この『子孫』とは、キリストのことです。　　　 （ガラテヤ3:16）

創世記12章7節には「あなたの子孫にこの土地を与える」という神のアブラハムに対する約束の言葉が出てきます。「この土地」とは、後にアブラハムの子孫が受け継ぐことになるカナン地方の土地のことです。つまり、神様のアブラハムに対する祝福は、旧約聖書の文脈の中で具体的に言えば、アブラハムの子孫がカナン地方の土地を取得して受け継ぐという約束だったのです。これは、文字どおりに取れば、アブラハムの子孫であるユダヤ人たちがカナン地方を神様から与えられて所有するという意味になります。

ところが、パウロはそれとは違うユニークな解釈をしています。すなわち、16節には「多くの人を指して『子孫たちとに』とは言われず、一人の人を指して『あなたの子孫とに』と言われています。この『子孫』とは、キリストのことです」と記されています。確かに、創世記12章7節の「あなたの子孫にこの土地を与える」という約束の「子孫」はヘブライ語のゼラ、ギリシア語ではスペルマという単語の単数の形です。しかし、この単数形は普通「集合名詞」と言われて、単数形で複数の人たちの集合体を表すものと理解されています。たとえば、英語には「人々」という意味のピープルという言葉があります。ピープルは、形は単数形でも「人々」の集合体という複数の意味で用いられることがあります。それと同じように、「あなたの子孫にこの土地を与える」というときの「子孫」は、「子孫たち」という複数の意味だと考えるのが普通です。ところが、パウロは「子孫」を文字どおり単数にとって、アブラハムの子孫である一人の人のことを指していると理解します。そして、「この『子孫』とは、キリストのことです」と解釈するのです。

このユニークな解釈によって、パウロは「あなたの子孫にこの土地を与える」というアブラハムに与えられた約束を、とても広い意味に解釈しています。第一に「子孫」をキリストと解釈することによって、アブラハムに与えられた祝福は、キリストに与えられた祝福でもあるということになります。そうすると第二に、約束された「土地」というのは、単なる地上の「土地」ではなくて、「義とされて永遠の命を受ける」という天国の財産を指し示していることになります。第三に、キリストを信じてキリストと結ばれた人々も、キリストと同じように「義とされて永遠の命を受ける」という天国の財産を受け継ぐことが約束されていることになります。このようにパウロの解釈によって、「あなたの子孫にこの土地を与える」というアブラハムに与えられた約束は、もはやユダヤ人たちにカナンの土地を与えるという意味ではなく、キリストを信じる人たちに「義とされて永遠の命を受ける」という天国の財産を与えるという意味になるのです。　　　　　　　　　（10月22日の説教より）

There is a choral piece that is sung at school graduation ceremonies, called “Kawaranai Mono” (Unchanging Things), which was written and composed by Ms. YAMAZAKI Tomoko. Some of you may have heard of it. The world changes with the passage of time, and both you and the other person change. Therefore, it is natural that relationships between people change. Is there really such a thing as “unchanging” in this world?

The Bible tells us that there is a thing in the history of the world that do not change. That “unchanging thing” is Jesus Christ. And the blessing that comes from believing in Jesus Christ is also unchanging. In verse 14, just before today’s passage, Paul writes that Jesus Christ died on the cross “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

Abraham, who appears in Genesis in the Old Testament, lived in the city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, which is said to be one of the cradles of the oldest civilisation in the world. In today’s terms, this would be Iraq. Abraham moved with his family from there to a city called Haran in northern Mesopotamia. In Haran, he heard God’s call and set out on a further journey with his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot. From then on, Abraham’s life became that of a traveller who lived in one place for a period of time and then followed God’s voice to travel to another place. In the course of their nomadic life, moving with their livestock, Abraham and his wife Sarah grew old. As they grew old and childless, God promised Abraham that his offspring would increase in number like the stars in the sky. And Abraham believed this promise, which is hard to believe in common sense. And God counted Abraham’s believing as righteousness.

Prior to this event, when Abraham received God’s call and set out on his journey from the city of Haran, God gave Abraham the following promise: “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). Also, after Abraham entertained God’s messenger announcing the destruction of the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, God promised that “Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him” (Genesis 18:18). Based on these promises, Paul wrote in verse 14 that “in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles.” This means that those who believe in Jesus Christ are justified by faith in the same way as Abraham, and are blessed in the same way as Abraham.

The Jewish people held the teachings of God recorded in the five books of the Old Testament, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, to be God’s law. Paul, who wrote this letter, also lived strictly according to the teachings of the Old Testament law as a Jewish teacher before he believed in Christ. However, while travelling towards the city of Damascus to persecute Christians, Paul encountered the risen Christ in heaven. He was then rebuked by Christ, “Why do you persecute me?” and made aware of his sin. Paul then converted and was transformed into a way of life that believed in Jesus Christ and was guided by the Holy Spirit. He preached to many people the teaching that “one can be saved by believing in Christ.” However, there were evangelists who took Paul’s teaching lightly and taught that one could not be fully saved without not only believing in Christ but also undergoing the ritual of circumcision as required by the Old Testament law. This greatly upset the religious life of the believers in the churches in Galatia, which is now the south-eastern part of Turkey.

In this letter to the Galatians, Paul is trying to bring the believers to the right faith by pointing out the incorrectness of the teaching that full salvation can only be obtained by undergoing the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law. The supposed basis for the evangelists’ insistence on that false teaching was the life of Abraham, the ancestor of the Jewish people. The reason is that at the time of Abraham, the Jewish people were given the law that they had to undergo the ritual of circumcision. So Paul is teaching on the basis of the Old Testament that Abraham was counted as righteous by faith and received the promise of blessing before he underwent the ritual of circumcision. He is trying to show that, like Abraham, believers in Christ are justified and blessed by God without having to undergo the ritual of circumcision.

In the verse 15 of today’s passages, Paul says: “Brothers and sisters, I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it” (NRSV). Although this seems like a somewhat abrupt change of subject, Paul is using the parable of the “a person’s will” to argue that concerning the promise of the blessing received by Abraham, no “one adds to it or annuls it.” Paul’s words may raise the question for those of us living in modern times, “Can a will be annulled or added to by the person who made it, can’t it?” In fact, the Civil Code of Japan has a provision that stipulates that the person who made the will can annul or alter it (Articles 1022 and 1023). What was the law on will in New Testament times?

Biblical scholars have studied and debated the laws of New Testament times, which provided the background for Paul’s words that “once a person’s will has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it.” What has become clear is that in Greek and Roman law, which would have applied to the Galatian believers, a will could be annulled or altered by the person who made it. However, there was also a special system that could not be annulled or altered. This was a system whereby the ownership of property was transferred to the heirs, e.g., children, while the testator, e.g., the father, was still alive, but the father had the right to use the property until his death. As a rule, a “will” based on this system could not be annulled or altered. However, this type of “will” may be more appropriately described as a “gift contract,” as it transfers ownership before death. And the system of these two types of “wills” was also applied to Jews. Could it be, then, that Paul has the later special system in mind when he states that “once a person’s will has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it”? It could also be considered. However, the way Paul writes seems to have the general rather than the special institution in mind. If so, Paul may not have been very familiar with the real legal system, or biblical scholars have not yet discovered any legal material to support Paul’s description. In any case, Paul is trying to say here that the promise God gave to Abraham was one that could not be annulled or added to in later times.

Now, Paul continues in verse 16: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.” The promise to Abraham’s descendants does not appear in Genesis 2-3, which we have just read. However, a little later, in Genesis 12:7, the words “To your offspring I will give this land,” appear. This “land” refers to the land in Canaan that Abraham’s descendants would later inherit. In other words, God’s blessing on Abraham, specifically in the Old Testament context, was a promise that Abraham’s descendants would acquire and inherit land in the Canaan. Taken literally, this would mean that Abraham’s descendants, the Jews, would be given the Canaan region by God to possess.

However, Paul has a different and unique interpretation. Namely, in verse 16 he says: “It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.” Indeed, the “offspring” of the promise in Genesis 12:7 is the singular form of the word zera (זֶרַע) in Hebrew and sperma (σπέρμα) in Greek. However, this singular form is usually said to be a “collective noun” and is understood to denote a group of people in the singular form. For example, in English “people” is sometimes used in the plural sense of a group of people even though the form is singular. In the same way, it is common to think of “offspring” as having the plural meaning of descendants when it says, “To your offspring I will give this land.” Paul, however, takes “offspring” literally in the singular and understands it to refer to a single person who is a descendant of Abraham. He then interprets this “offspring” “is Christ.”

With this unique interpretation, Paul interprets the promise given to Abraham “To your offspring I will give this land” in a very broad sense. Firstly, by interpreting “offspring” as Christ, the blessing given to Abraham is also a blessing given to Christ. Then, secondly, the promised “land” is not just an earthly “land,” but refers to the heavenly estate where we are justified and receive eternal life. Thirdly, it means that those who believe in Christ and are united with him are also promised to inherit the same heavenly estate of being justified and receiving eternal life as Christ. Thus, according to Paul’s interpretation, the promise given to Abraham “To your offspring I will give this land” no longer means giving the land of Canaan to the Jews, but to those who believe in Christ the heavenly estate of “being justified and receiving eternal life.” This is the case of the Galatians.

The believers in the churches of Galatia had also become heirs of the heavenly estate of “being justified and receiving eternal life” by believing in Christ. However, they had been misled by the false teaching that they could not attain full salvation unless they underwent the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law. And they were inclined to believe that they could not receive the blessing of “being justified and receiving eternal life” if they did not keep the Old Testament law. Therefore, Paul argues that the promise given to Abraham that he would be justified and blessed through faith is God’s unchanging declaration of his intention. He then says that the law given through Moses does not annul or alter the original promise to be justified and blessed through faith. This is stated in verse 17: “This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.” “A covenant previously ratified by God” refers to the promise given to Abraham. And “the law, which came 430 years afterward” refers to the law given through Moses, including the provision of circumcision.

In verse 18 at the end of today’s passages, Paul says: “For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.” This means that inheriting the blessing of “being justified and receiving eternal life” is not by keeping the provisions of the law, but by the promise given to Abraham. Paul is trying to say that the promise was then extended to the people of the world through Jesus Christ, who promised that those who believe in Christ would inherit the blessing of “being justified and receiving eternal life.”

Today’s Bible passages are not easy to understand. Nevertheless, it teaches something very important. It tells us that the promises and blessing that God gave to Abraham at the beginning of human history will never change. And that those who believe in Christ inherit this promise and blessing through Christ, the offspring of Abraham. At the beginning of today’s sermon, I introduced the song “Unchanging Things.” The person who sings this song must be thinking: “What exactly is the ‘unchanging’?” The young people who sing this song must have their own image of “unchanging things.” And in the stormy seas of their lives, they will experience many things changing. Perhaps they will grow up and grow old, and at the end of their lives they may conclude that there is no such “unchanging things.” However, those who have met Jesus Christ during their journey of lives can say with certainty that the promise and blessing given through Christ are the “unchanging things.” And they can continue on their earthly journey with Christ, saying, “I will walk on, thinking over the happiness of having met you.” There are “unchanging things.” We believe and proclaim that “unchanging things.”