Geometry Proof {themes from Galatians 3}


I remember my first high school geometry class vividly.
I sat in the front row and eagerly listened to the teacher's opening lesson. "See this basketball? It takes up space!"
Got it!

"Now when I take the ball away, the volume of the space it was occupying is still there even though the basketball isn't!"
What?
I was lost already and thus began a difficult year of math. My mind struggled to comprehend the abstract concepts needed to process geometric proofs and solutions.

Imagine my surprise, when I began studying Galatians 3 and found a treatise from Paul that reminded me of one of those geometry calculations.


Feel free to stop and read Galatians 3:15-29 here, but here is Paul's basic argument:



*In the Old Testament, God made a promise, a covenant with Abraham in which he promises an inheritance to both Abraham and his offspring.

*Christ is the complete and perfect Offspring.

*430 years later, the Law was given to Moses and the people of Israel, but it did not nullify the previous promise to Abraham.  Paul notes that the inheritance was still to come through a Promise and the law was to "save a seat" for the fulfillment of the promise.

*We were born under the law but through faith have put on Christ's righteousness. Therefore, we are "in Christ".

*If we are in Christ, then we are also sons of Abraham and heirs to that promise from long ago!



Wow! We who were once enemies of God and slaves to sins are now recipients of the promise given to Abraham thousands of years ago.


Heirs. Sons. Daughters.



How often throughout the chaos and calamities of life, do we forget our eternal position? We live as though we are still in bondage to the despair and destruction of sin. We try to wear the rags of iniquity when Christ has purchased robes of righteousness for us.

Because of the riches we have in Jesus already contrasted with the sinful, broken world and bodies we still live in everyday, we may feel some conflict with our title as "heir".

We are forgetful people. That's why the Holy Spirit was given the job of testifying with our hearts each day reminding us of our place as God's children. (Romans 8:16)




In some ways, I'm left with the same feeling as when the bell rang at the end of that first geometry class. I don't get it. My mind simply can't comprehend it.



The author of Ephesians sums up this enigma,
"This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel."


It's a beautiful mystery and it's perplexity brings a reverence for the mind and heart of my God. One day the fog will be lifted and we will see the fullness of His promise.
Until then, I'm want to know my co-heir more each day. As Charles Spurgeon once preached,


"This joint heirship binds us faster to Jesus, since we are nothing and have nothing apart from him."