In fact, Abraham showed that grace, not works, was what God wanted and expected. God made it clear that the children of Abraham would be justified "by faith," (Galatians 3:8). Paul makes it clear that it is faith and grace, not works and law, that justifies a human being before God.
The connection between grace and works is therefore a highly complex one. On the one hand, it took the law and the work required to follow it to bring the Gentiles to Christ in the first place. "The law was a school master to lead them to Christ," (Henry 2010). An individual must come to Christ of his or her own volition, which can be described as works. That same individual must develop some kind of willingness to believe in Christ. Although not effort in the sense that Paul describes, this type of work is nevertheless a human step towards faith.
On the other hand, Paul emphasizes the absolute futility of works. In fact, work is akin to an insult to Christ because Christ absorbed the sins of humanity for the...
To work is to lack faith in Christ. "The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise," (Galatians 3:17). Furthermore, the relationship between grace and works is that the former replaces the latter. Works is the old and ineffective method of achieving salvation. Ironically, works represents a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of God's law. The gist of Paul's sermon is that "God saves people by grace, not on the grounds of their human achievement," (Morris, cited by Guzik 2001). Only by grace do we come to God.
References
Guzik, D. (2001). "Galatians 3 - the Christian, Law, and Living by Faith." Retrieved May 28, 2010 from http://www.enduringword.com/commentaries/4803.htm
Henry, M. (2010). "Galatials 3." Matthew Henry's Commentary. Retrieved May 28, 2010 from http://www.christnotes.org/commentary.php?com=mhc&b=48&c=3
