Gal. 3:19-26; 1 Tim. 1:8-11, Limits and Value of the Law

One cannot be justified by keeping the Law.  Was there something wrong, therefore, with the Law?  No!  The Law fulfilled its purpose powerfully.  It’s just that the purpose of the Law was not to give life.  Instead, the Law was added:

·       Because of transgressions.  In 3:22 Paul says Scripture has confined all under sin.  The same word is in 3:23, that we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.  It is used in a similar context in Rom. 11:32: God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.  The Law demonstrates we are all sinners, in that no one can keep the Law, as we noted in a previous post.  It indicts us, convicts us, and imprisons us until the provision of mercy can be made so that we can be released from sin’s prison.  In 3:24 there is another picture to help us: Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  The Law is essential.  There is no saving faith without acknowledging one’s need, one’s sin and guilt.  That is the purpose of the Law.  It cannot give us eternal life.

·       Till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made.  Therefore, the Law has a limited purpose.  Once it has brought us to Christ, then it must step out of the way.  Christ is the One who gives life.  Christ is the Seed, who died and then was resurrected to life; in Him we have our life. 

o   This is seen in two ways.  First, the age of the Law ended once Christ came, fulfilled the Law, and paid the ransom to free sinners.  Second, it is seen personally.  As 3:23 puts it, before faith came we were confined.  Once we put our faith in Christ, we are free from the Law.  We are no longer under the tutor but are full sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (3:26).

·       Through a mediator.  The Mosaic Covenant was mediated by, of course, Moses.  But the Abrahamic Covenant with it’s promise of the Savior, was mediated by God alone.  Again, read Gen. 15 for the story.  Abraham was asleep when God confirmed the covenant He had made to Abraham.  Abraham received it by faith.

Thus the conclusion is: If there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law (3:21).  Rom. 8:3 puts it this way: What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh. 

Friends, this is huge.  The Law continues to serve the purpose today of pointing out the need in our lives (1 Tim. 1:8-11).  Use of the Ten Commandments in a gospel presentation can be helpful.  The danger will always be the human tendency to think we can please God by living up to the demands of the Law.  We can’t.  The Law must lead us to Christ, the only Savior from sin!