Prison Break (Part II)

The Intervention of Christ

Paul continues his description of our spiritual prison break in Galatians 3:26: “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” With the incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, the time of “the Custodian,” the Law, is concluded. The Law has performed its task, bringing us to the reality of our situation (guilty, sinner) and humbling us, disabusing us of any notion that we are fine on our own and not in need of help. Having been laid to waste, we are fertile ground to receive Christ as he radically intervenes in our plight. This reception — by faith — is not a new law to answer the old Law, as Luther says: “faith is neither a Law nor a work; it is a sure confidence that takes hold of Christ, who ‘is the end of the Law’ (Rom. 10:4)” (Lectures on Galatians). Christ doesn’t bring a new law to lord over us, nor does He sit as ruler who needs to be appeased by works. No, Jesus is the end of the Law.

By faith, we are free from the Law, our custodian and jailer, because the Law can no longer speak; it is bound and gagged. “But now that the Law has been [ended], we are no longer held in custody under its tyranny; but we live securely and happily with Christ, who now reigns sweetly in us by His spirit. But where the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17)” (Luther).  Instead of “guilty,” spoken by the Law, we hear “not-guilty,” spoken by a Savior. By faith, we are united to the one who is the perfect Law-keeper, and have his perfection credited to our account. The Law can no longer accuse us of failure. In that it is silenced, it is no longer the Custodian — the warden is unemployed!

This whole event occurs not only once and for all, but daily. Even as believers, we cannot so perfectly take hold of Christ as to never be troubled again.  Even though the Law has been ended by Christ, its voice silenced and its judging eye blinded, we, the imperfect, are still troubled by sin, judgment, and condemnation. We stumble and fall; we are solicited by and succumb to temptation, and we hear the echoes of that Warden’s voice. “So far as we are concerned, then, we are partly free of the Law and partly under the Law” (Luther). Every day, we convince ourselves that we remain imprisoned, despite the truth of Christ’s Golgothan claim: “It is finished.” Every day, we must hear again the Good News of Christ’s Gospel, that we need never pay the price he paid for us.

Christ rules in our hearts and minds and the Custodian “[can]not menace [us] with his terrors, threats, and captivity” (Luther).  As often as we are brought back into captivity by the fading reverberations of the voice of Law, we are restored to freedom by faith.  As Luther said, “Christ comes spiritually every day; through the Word of the Gospel faith also comes every day; and when faith is present, our custodian, with his gloomy and grievous task, is also forced to yield.”

Christ has intervened, invaded our prison cells, and silenced our Warden, the Law. Our prison break is real, and the prison is demolished. This is ours by faith alone, a faith by which we are created anew and receive real freedom.