No. 28 >> May I ask that you touch upon my question regarding the relationship of this material to Romans? >>DR. ARTHUR A. JUST, JR.: One of the great things about reading the epistles of Paul is to recognize that like all of us, he is a man who is in process. And if Galatians is his first epistle, there is a development in the way in which he argues his case throughout his missionary journeys over a period of ten years. I think all of us can identify with that. That we are all people who are maturing and growing and expanding. I also think it's important to recognize that there is a different context to the various letters. And I think you can see here that in the letter to the Galatians, these are people he knows extremely well. These are people that he has a deep relationship with and a love for, a passion for. That they are his children and he is their pastor. And this is -- I mean, I always say this is Paul unplugged. This is Paul, the authentic Paul. The Paul who is just brimming with pastoral love for this congregation. The letter to the Romans is totally different. He never met these folks. He's writing before he had ever gone there. And as you read Romans, you can see that he is writing it in a totally different way. But what's so interesting about comparing Galatians and Romans is that he introduces many of the things that he develops in Romans first in Galatians president and then Romans becomes a more systematic, a more detailed, a more doctrinal kind of explication of the things that he has said in Galatians. Now, with respect to this, you can see that in Romans, he spends a lot more time developing this relationship between Christ and Abraham. And I think what you can see in Romans -- and I'm not an expert in Romans so I don't want to presume here upon my colleagues who are. But I think it's fair to say that what you can see in Romans is that Paul is taking the Abraham material that Paul first refers to in Galatians. And he's showing very clearly that the promise and the law are completely separate things. And what he's trying to say here in Galatians he expands in Romans in such a way this it leads into the most profound and developed section on justification by grace through faith. Now, in a sense, they are very parallel. And you can see how as you -- I mean, I always find it so interesting to read Romans after knowing Galatians the way I do. Because a lot of what you were hoping that Paul might have said in Galatians to explain himself is found in Romans. So it's really important to read Galatians and Romans together. Now, when it comes to the Abraham covenant, it's very clear that that passage from Galatians 15, Abraham believed and it was reckoned to him as righteousness is what is the -- kind of the founding, you know, source of both Galatians and Romans in developing the significance of Abraham. And it's all about righteousness, God making right what has gone wrong, and faith. And what you can see is that in both Galatians and Romans, the reason why Abraham is highlighted is because the righteousness, the promise that is given to him, the way in which God is going to make right what has gone wrong, is something outside of Abraham. Abraham in no way contributes to it. In fact, as you read about Abraham in the Old Testament, you're really kind of shocked that somehow -- the way he deals with things. And you know the story. And we don't have time to go into it. But it really is. You can see he's a very human person. So God does act outside of Abraham. And yet when Abraham sees that promise -- and especially in his old age the promise that he's going to give birth to a son, to his wife who is beyond childbearing age. And that this son is going to be the one in whom all the nations are going to be blessed. And then when he's asked to give this son up as a sacrifice, and he's willing to do that. You can see that Abraham embodies the very thing that Christ is. A man of faith who is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice so that God's kingdom can come. Now, of course, Abraham doesn't have to make that sacrifice. Because he is not the Christ. He is not the Messiah. But you can see in the promise given to Abraham, the righteousness which is outside of him, which is one of the great Lutheran themes, and the faith that he has in that promise, willing even to go to the death of his son is the great model for what we see in Christ. And Paul here in Galatians does it very simply. You know, the seed. The singular. That singular seed who is Christ. Romans then takes that and expands it. To show you exactly what that means. And therefore, in a sense, this is what I would say is that Romans to use the language of the Jews is a Midrash on Galatians. And to understand Galatians fully, just read Romans. Because there Paul explicates it in it's fullness.