This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. For most people it just means that the Christmas buying season is in full swing. A common practice for advertisers to encourage people to buy before a particular time is to offer something with the phrase “for a limited time only”. I mentioned how it seems that I get a credit card offer from Capital One every week. Well their latest limited time only offer caused me to take notice. From “today in Eternity, the Daily Burn: Your news from all things hell” the headline reads “Hell still frozen. Continued cold nap caused by Capital one.”
Their “limited time offer” certainly fit into my mindset this week about time and the use of the law. In Galatians 3:19-22, the Apostle Paul talks about the law added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made.
In Galatia, Judaizing teachers; who wished to combine the Law with the Gospel as a permanent institution. In order to rectify their views, (Paul shows), that, if they would make their works, whether ceremonial or moral, in any degree the ground of their hopes, they must stand altogether on the footing of the law, which prescribed perfect obedience as the way to life; and must renounce all interest in the covenant which was made with their father Abraham, and which promised life to men by believing in the Promised Seed. Upon this, they naturally ask, “(what did the law do?)” that is, ‘If we are not to be saved by the law, for what end did Moses give us the law? What end can it answer?’(Simeon, C. (1832-63). Horae Homileticae Vol. 17: Galatians-Ephesians (77). London.)
Paul has shown the Law could not give the Holy Spirit (vv. 1-5); could not bring justification (vv. 6-9); could not alter the permanence of faith (vv. 15-18); but does bring a curse (vv. 10-12).
For us therefore, how are we to regard the law of God? Does it have any bearing for us today? What can we say God expects? The answers to these questions help us to know upon which basis we are saved and how then we should live.
After showing the superiority of the covenant of promise, Paul now shows the inferiority of the covenant of law-first in regard to 1) Its Purpose, then in regard to 2) Its Mediator, and finally in regard to 3) Its Accomplishment.
1) ITS PURPOSE: GALATIANS 3:19A
Galatians 3:19a [19]Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, (until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.) (ESV)
In light of Paul’s convincing argument up to this point, the obvious question would be, Why then the Law? Since salvation has always been by faith and never by works, and since the covenant of promise to Abraham was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, what purpose did or does the Law have?
In recognition to the sequence of events we see that it was added. It was added to the promises previously given to Abraham. It was added is intended to show the position of the law in relation to the covenant: it is both supplementary and subordinate to it (Arichea, D. C., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Originally published under title: A translator’s handbook on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. c1976. UBS handbook series; Helps for translators (74). New York: United Bible Societies.)
Please turn to Romans 3
Paul’s answer is direct and sobering: It was added because of transgressions (papabasis, stepping over the boundary). The concept of the law being added because of transgressions is an interesting one, rendered in various ways (some examples: JB “to specify crimes”; Knox “to make room for transgression”; NAB “in view of transgressions”; NEB “to make wrongdoing a legal offence”; Phps “to underline the existence and extent of sin”; Mft “for the purpose of producing transgressions”) (Arichea, D. C., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Originally published under title: A translator’s handbook on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. c1976. UBS handbook series; Helps for translators (74). New York: United Bible Societies.)
There are various functions of the law that can be seen in the description of what it did and the various ways the phrase “because of” can be translated. If we take cause as primary (because people were sinning), then the clause may mean that the Law’s function was to check, correct, or restrain transgressions. This meaning may be expressed in some languages as “to keep people from sinning (further),” or “to stop people from doing what was bad.” If “purpose” is primary, it could mean that the Law’s immediate function is to define transgression, to show its real nature, or even to produce and multiply it, by specifying the reality of guilt. This interpretation of purpose (which is far more common) may be expressed as “in order to show people what sin really is,” “in order to tell people that they were really doing wrong by doing certain things,” or “in order to show that the bad things people were doing were really sin.”( (Arichea, D. C., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Originally published under title: A translator’s handbook on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. c1976. UBS handbook series; Helps for translators (74). New York: United Bible Societies.)
Romans 3:9-20 [9]What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, [10]as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; [11]no one understands; no one seeks for God. [12]All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." [13]"Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips."[14]"Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."[15]"Their feet are swift to shed blood; [16]in their paths are ruin and misery,[17]and the way of peace they have not known."[18]"There is no fear of God before their eyes." [19]Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. [20]For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (ESV)
Think of the common example of pain. Pain indicates a problem. It is there to encourage us to deal with the problem. Should we ignore pain, or ignore the standards of God through the law, we find our situation worsening. Should we just try to deal with the pain, like trying to be perfectly righteous with the law, we still fail to deal with the underlying problem. Pain points to an underlying problem, the cause of the pain. The law points to an underlying problem, sin, thus the need of law to have the knowledge of sin.
• The law also acts like a magnifying glass. That device does not actually increase the number of filthy spots that defile a garment, but makes them stand out more clearly and reveals many more of them than one is able to see with the naked eye.
The law was given to a nation of sinners. Special instructions given to the Israelites in order to control their worship life and the laws regarding clean and unclean foods that controlled their eating patterns served to separate them from the pagan world. Thus these regulations served as a hedge and protected them as God’s special people (Panning, A. J. (1997). Galatians, Ephesians. The People’s Bible (67). Milwaukee, Wis.: Northwestern Pub. House.)
Yet, they could never obtain righteousness by keeping it because they did not have the power to obey it. The law was meant to show people what hopeless sinners they were, so they would cry out to God to save them by His grace. God’s covenant with Abraham was an unconditional promise of blessing; the law resulted only in cursing. The law demonstrated the unworthiness of (humanity) to receive free and unconditional blessing. If (people are) to be blessed, it must be by the grace of God (MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Ga 3:19). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
A good indication of how the law was intended to specifically show offense against God is in the use of the word “transgressions,” which means not simply wrongdoing (TEV), but wrongdoing as a result of willfully violating an existing law. If this is the case, before the Law was given there could not have been any transgressions. There were, of course, wrongdoings or evil deeds, but these were not in violation of any law, since the Law did not exist. The Law, therefore, made it possible for these wrongdoings to be recognized as “transgressions,” thereby exposing their sinful character (Arichea, D. C., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Originally published under title: A translator’s handbook on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. c1976. UBS handbook series; Helps for translators (74). New York: United Bible Societies.)
Please turn to 1 Timothy 1
The covenant of law is long past, but the moral demands of the law have not diminished, having neither begun nor ended with the Mosaic covenant.
• This is why we need to declare the moral, ethical standards of the law today to drive people to Christ.
1 Timothy 1:8-10 [8]Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, [9]understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, [10]the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, (ESV)
• Unless people realize they are living in violation of God’s law and therefore stand under His divine judgment, they will see no reason to be saved.
o The nature question to “are you saved” is saved from what?
• Grace is meaningless to a person who feels no inadequacy or need of help. Such a person sees no purpose in being saved if he or she does not realize they are lost. He is seen no need of forgiveness by God if one does not know they have offended God. There would be no need to seek God’s mercy if one is unaware they is under God’s wrath.
How are we to regard ourselves now to the law and what does it do to us?
Romans 7:1-6 [7:1]Or do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? [2]For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. [3]Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. [4]Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. [5]For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. [6]But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code
In describing how this awareness of sin is achieved through the Law, John Newton, the author of the hymn, Amazing Grace, wrote:
Illustration: Kite
Once on a time a paper kite
Was mounted to a wondrous height,
Where, giddy with its elevation,
It thus express’d self-admiration:
“See how yon crowds of gazing people
Admire my flight above the steeple;
How would they wonder if they knew
All that a kite like me can do!
Were I but free, I’d take a flight,
And pierce the clouds beyond their sight,
But, ah! like a poor pris’ner bound,
My string confines me near the ground;
I’d brave the eagle’s towring wing,
Might I but fly without a string.”
It tugg’d and pull’d, while thus it spoke,
To break the string—at last it broke.
Depriv’d at once of all its stay,
In vain it try’d to soar away;
Unable its own weight to bear,
It flutter’d downward through the air;
Unable is own course to guide,
The winds soon plung’d it in the tide.
Ah! foolish kite, thou hadst no wing,
How could’st thou fly without a string!
My heart reply’d, “O Lord, I see
How much this kite resembles me!
Forgetful that by thee I stand,
Impatient of thy ruling hand;
How oft I’ve wish’d to break the lines
Thy wisdom for my lot assigns?
How oft indulg’d a vain desire
For something more, or something high’r?
And, but for grace and love divine,
A fall thus dreadful had been mine.”
(Galaxie Software. (2002; 2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.
cf. confer (Lat.), compare)
Paul now shows the inferiority of the covenant of law-first in regard to 1) Its Purpose, and now in regard to:
2) ITS MEDIATORS: GALATIANS 3:19B-20
Galatians 3:19b-20 [19](Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions), until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [20]Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. (ESV)
Second, the covenant of law was inferior to the covenant of promise because it was put in place/ordained (diatassô, a technical word for carrying out laws) through angels by an intermediary/ by the agency of a mediator.
God gave the covenant of law through two sets of mediators, first through angels and then by them through Moses to the people.
God was the Author and Giver of the covenant of law, and He was present with Moses on Mt. Sinai when it was given (Ex. 19:18–24) But in a way not fully explained, the law was given by God to Moses through angels (cf. Dt. 33:2).
Acts 7:53 [53]you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it." (ESV)
Hebrews 2:2 [2]For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, (ESV)
When God gave the law, the setting was awesome and forbidding. God warned the people not to come near the fiery mountain, “lest He break forth upon them” (Ex. 19:24). But God gave the covenant to Abraham as Friend to friend (see Gen. 12:1–3; 15:1–7; 18:1–33). The promise of salvation by faith was so precious to the heart of God that He gave it to Abraham in person.
As we saw last week the Offspring/Seed is Christ. Therefore, the law was given as a temporary measure until the coming of Christ. The promised Abrahamic blessing was to come through Him (MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Ga 3:19). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
Colossians 2:14 [14]by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (ESV)
• To say therefore that the law was in place until the offspring/promise came is in regards to the punishment of the law. When Christ came he fulfilled the requirements of the law. In His own words He said that he did not come to abolish but to fulfill the law (Mt. 5:17).
o Since the people of God don’t live under a civil theocracy, the civil functions of the law have been fulfilled. Since Christ acts as our high priest and being the sacrifice one and for all for the redemption of sins, the ceremonial functions of the law have been fulfilled. But since God does not change, His moral character does not change, his moral expectations continue, the Law continues to speak to us today as a moral guide, hedge to sin, and driver to Christ.
Moses was great and the angels were great; but they were only mediators. Paul warned the Galatian believers not to exalt Moses or angels over God Himself as the Judaizers were doing.
The Greek text of Galatians 3:20 is difficult to translate and interpret, but Paul seems to be pointing out that an intermediary/mediator (literally one who stands between two parties) is needed only when more than one party is involved.
• God gave the covenant of Promise directly to Abraham without an intermediary /a mediator because God is one, He was the only one involved in making the covenant.
o Recall from our covenant ratification that we saw last week from Genesis 15:12-17, that God alone passed between the pieces. Abraham was a witness to the covenant and was a beneficiary, but he was not a party to it. Abraham had no part in establishing or keeping the covenant. That responsibility was God’s alone.
• Recall that this was the defense of Paul’s message in Galatians 1:1. Paul received the message directly from God and not a third party.
• Since Christ is our intermediary/mediator, our high priest we have the blessing of coming to God directly through Christ, with our prayers, offerings and worship.
The covenant of law, however, not only involved mediators (angels and Moses) but mutual obligations on the two parties (God and Israel). The stipulation of that covenant was, “You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live” (Deut. 5:33). Man’s part was to obey and God’s part was to give life, to save. The problem was that man could not keep His part, and therefore: God would not grant salvation through the covenant of law, because perfect obedience was required to fulfill the stipulations.
Illustration: The aspect of perfect obedience has perplexed and troubled many. Why is it that the one who sins greatly is condemned like the one who is much less sinful? Take a situation of three workmen on a building. One workman got so engrossed in his work that he wasn’t paying attention, stepped back and with that one extra step, fell to his death. His co-worker who was welding, seeing his friend stepping back that one step called out and accidentally put his torch to his acetylene tank and caused a great explosion that killed him. The last worker who was the foreman, was so distressed at seeing the two deaths that he purposefully took his own life. Looking at the end of these three: One died intentionally one was grossly careless and one just took one step too many. What was the result of each of them? Death. So is the eternal result of just one failure to uphold the perfect standard of God’s moral law without a perfect mediator.
Paul now shows the inferiority of the covenant of law-first in regard to 1) Its Purpose, then in regard to 2) Its Mediator, and finally in regard to:
3) ITS ACCOMPLISHMENTS: GALATIANS 3:21-22
Galatians 3:21-22 [21]Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [22]But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. (ESV)
Finally, the covenant of law was inferior to the covenant of promise because of its accomplishments.
Again anticipating his readers’ likely response, Paul asks rhetorically, Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? In using the preposition kata (contrary to) Paul is putting forward the question if the Law is “against” (KJV) or “opposed to” (NIV ) the promises of God?
As with other such questions (see 2:17; Rom. 6:1–2: 7:13), Paul immediately gives the strong negative answer himself: Certainly not!/May it never be! The idea was unthinkable.
Paul uses the strongest Gr. negative to disdain the idea that the law and the promise are at opposite purposes.
Since God gave them both and does not work against Himself, law and promise work in harmony; the law reveals man’s sinfulness and need for the salvation freely offered in the promise. If the law could have provided righteousness and eternal life, there would be no gracious promise (MacArthur, J. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible : New American Standard Bible. (Ga 3:21). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
The two covenants did not have opposite or conflicting goals but the same goals, righteousness. If the law covenant could have furnished divine life for the keeping of its divine precepts, then it could have produced righteousness. Since it could not produce righteousness, its function was to show the Jews their need of, and point them to, the faith covenant (of promise) which could give them righteousness (Gingrich, R. E. (2005). The Book of Galatians (20). Memphis, TN.: Riverside Printing.)
Please return to Romans 7
There is another interesting factor of what the Law of God does: Not only does it show sin, but working through sin, actually provokes it. This does not mean that God causes people to sin, he does not. Look at Romans 7 to see how this happens
Romans 7:7-11 [7]What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." [8]But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. [9]I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. [10]The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. [11]For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. (ESV) Hold your place here.
• Like Adam and Eve, we believe lies when we sin. We think that sin will bring happiness, but desire deceives us.
• The problem is not with God and His law, but with us.
Romans 7:12-24 [12]So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. [13]Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. [14]For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. [15]For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. [16]Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. [17]So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [18]For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. [19]For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. [20]Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [21]So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. [22]For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, [23]but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. [24]Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (ESV)
• Since our flesh wars against our mind in the desire to do what is right. Based on the standards of the law, we come to recognize our moral bankruptcy, and the inability of the law to produce life.
Quote: John Stott said: “No man has ever appreciated the gospel until the law has first revealed him to himself. It is only against the inky blackness of the night sky that the stars begin to appear, and it is only against the dark background of sin and judgment that the gospel shines forth” (Barton, B. B. (1994). Galatians. Life application Bible commentary (111). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.)
This is what Paul then deals with in Galatians 3:21b
For if a law had been given which could/was able to give/impart life, then righteousness would indeed be by/have been based on law. In other words, the Law was inferior because it could not save, it was not able to give/impart life. If it could have done so, it would have been against and contrary to the promises of God, because it would have provided an alternate and conflicting way of salvation. It would have made the death of Christ tragically unnecessary (Galatians 2:21). God’s grace, Christ’s sacrifice, and man’s faith would be not required, or at best, an optional means of salvation.
• Some charge Christians and by implication, God Himself as being unfair that He provided only one means of salvation. If you review the history of what God has done in accommodating sin, which is rebellion against Him, and provide His one and only son as a complete and satisfactory atonement for sin, how can anyone say that God has not done enough or is unfair in not providing another way?
• Through the covenant of Promise, God has provided a means of salvation and even enables people to believe apart from any of their works.
• The so called other means of salvation desired or claimed, including try to be good enough and obey the law, are really slaps in the face of God: They flaunt rebellion in His face saying you have not done enough, you are not tolerant enough, you do not accommodate my lifestyle enough (ie my sin) if indeed you even do exist.
• God was not obligated to provide any means of salvation. He was perfectly within His rights, as creator to annihilate Adam and Eve from the first sin. But to provide a love offering to His son, he holds to His promise, in the covenant of Promise, to redeem.
This is the problem, and the solution in Galatians 3:22. The Scripture, through the law, imprisoned everything under sin. The phrase imprisoned everything translates sunkleiô, a strong term meaning to lock up securely, to enclose on all sides with no way of escape.
Please turn to Romans 8
Paul portrays all humankind as hopelessly trapped in sin, like a school of fish caught in a net: all people are sinners (Ro 3:19; cf. 1Ki 8:46; Ps 143:2; Pr 20:9; Ecc 7:20; Is 53:6; Ro 3:9–19, 23; 11:32) (MacArthur, J. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible : New American Standard Bible. (Ga 3:22). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
Romans 8:1-8 [8:1]There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [2]For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. [3]For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, [4]in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. [5]For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. [6]For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. [7]For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. [8]Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (ESV)
God does what the law cannot.
• Not until a person smashes himself against the demands of the law and the accusations of conscience does he recognize their helplessness and see their need for a Savior. Not until the law has arrested and imprisoned and sentenced to death will one be driven to despair in oneself and turn to Jesus Christ.
The ultimate purpose of the law to show people the consequence of sin and death was that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
The law was given to imprison everything under sin to the point people realizing the direness of the situation. We left Romans 7:24 with this realization:
Romans 7:24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (ESV)
The answer is in the next verse:
Romans 7:25 [25]Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (ESV)
(Format note: Outline and some base commentary from: MacArthur, J. (1996, c1987). Galatians. Includes indexes. (86). Chicago: Moody Press.)
