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By Van Sprague

No.

Nor was He an unfaithful Christian.

Understanding the answer to this question is a key element of interpreting the Bible.

Galatians 4:4 is referring to the Old Testament law when it says, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Unless otherwise stated: Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Used by permission. All rights reserved).

Jesus was born under the law and lived sinlessly (Heb 4:14-16). He was a faithful Jew. Christians were first identified as such in Antioch (Acts 11:26). They were the ones who were part of the New Covenant. A covenant can also be called a testament or a promise. This promise couldn’t be in effect until Jesus died. The author of Hebrews wrote about it as a testament, like the way we talk about a last will and testament. He said, “For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives” (Heb 9:16, 17).

The Old Law was put in place to bring the ultimate promise of God to pass, the coming of Jesus for the redemption of mankind from our sins (Gal 3:19-25). With that accomplished, the Old Law is fulfilled. That is what Jesus promised (Matt 5:17-20). It was nailed to the cross at His crucifixion so that we no longer judge by it (Col 2:11-17). Therefore, regarding judgments of faith, it is obsolete (Heb 8:7-13). Nonetheless, it is still useful (Rom 15:4).

Faithful Christians follow “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2). It’s the perfect Law of liberty (Jas 1:25). No one living today will be judged by a word in the Old Testament.

The New Covenant was purchased by the Blood of Christ. Jesus’ blood was, and is, the empowerment of every sacrifice to God (Heb 9:16-20; 10:4).

Seeing these truths, it is easy to understand that Jesus was not a Christian. This also illustrates the necessity of distinguishing between the teachings of the Old and New Testaments to interpret the Bible correctly. While this isn’t the “dividing” Paul meant when he wrote to Timothy, it is still part of what it takes to “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15).

Van Sprague is an evangelist at the Church of Christ at Houston Park. He has a wife and three children. Come Visit! Sunday morning Bible class is at 9, with worship at 10 am and 5 pm. Wednesday night Bible class is at 6.