Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian; for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:23–29 (RSV)
We have put on Christ. No, we haven't voted Jesus to be our Savior or added Him to our wardrobe for special occasions. Before Christ, we were under the law because we could not be trusted to follow God on our own. St. Paul calls the law a 'custodian', who has authority over us. It is an authority we must acknowledge and to which we must yield.
If God did not provide the law, the world would be even more chaotic and violent. Left to our own devices, we would make creation a wasteland where no one would be safe. Jesus was not speaking metaphorically in the Sermon on the Mount when He warned us that our thoughts are equal to murder and sexual violence. Left to ourselves, we would not put on Christ. We would put on cruelty, selfishness, anger, and hatred of others.
The Galatians had been duped into thinking that Jesus was the beginning of salvation. They were to gain the superior knowledge of God to complete the work Jesus began. The special knowledge came from keeping the law as Jew, finishing what Jesus had left undone.
We cannot make ourselves children of God. We cannot outdo Jesus in faithfulness to the Father. The law is not our ticket to heaven. The law is our custodian, our guardian, who keeps us from straying farther from God than we already have strayed.
We are baptized into Christ. God clothes us with Jesus' death and resurrection so our old self might be put to death, and we are raised a new creation. We are the Father's children through Christ and Him alone. There is no more excellent sign of this than when we baptized an infant.
What can a newborn bring to the font? Can they answer for themselves when comes the call to reject satan and all his lies? Can they confess the Apostle's Creed as a statement of faith into which we are baptized? No, they can do none of these. In truth, nor can we, apart from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is poured out on us in Holy Baptism, and He alone grants us saving faith.
As it has been from the beginning of the Church, Christ saves and redeems sinners. The law restrains us until we have been baptized into Christ. We are joined to all who have believed throughout the ages. Our mutual faith is rooted in Our Lord and no one else.
O most loving God, who by your mercy has joined all to salvation through our baptism into Jesus' death and resurrection. Do not let us deceive ourselves that we earn your grace. Fix our gaze upon Jesus and Him alone, for there is salvation in no other.