The Law Wasn’t Meant To Supplant, But Show The Need Of Grace, Galatians 3:15-28

Welcome back to our study of the book of Galatians with the late Dr. John Gerstner, we’ll continue witch chapter 3 and finish it today. In today’s section, we’ll see that the Law wasn’t meant to supplant, but show the need of grace. We’ll also talk about the function of the Law. I’ll invite you to check our last session in order to fully comprehend today’s lecture.

The Law Was Intended To Show The Need Of Grace

 

15 To give a human example, brothers:[f] even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

Paul is now going to use another rational argument to show that the law wasn’t meant to supplant but to show the need for grace (put into effect through faith). Basically Paul is going to prove to the Galatians that one doesn’t even need to be spiritually sound to understand this. He is going to use an analogy from everyday life: when someone swore an oath(in ancient times), no one else could  set it aside or add to it. We’ll understand why Paul is using this example in a moment. In Genesis 12:7, God made the following promise to Abraham,

 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

Then in Genesis 13:15, God added

“15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.”

In Genesis 17:7, The Lord said:

7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

In Genesis 24:7, we read

The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.

The promise was supposed to be given to Abraham and his  descendants but the person through whom that promise would come was the Messiah Christ.  Not through many descendants but through one and only one of his descendants, that is Christ. He was born under the Law but out of all of Abraham’s descendants, He ( Jesus) was the only one born without the Adamique nature, sinless and the one through whom the Galatians ( and all true children of Abraham) were made right before God. He was born under the law ( he was subjected to the rigorous demands of the Law, the Torah, the five books of Moses). While the Law exposed our sinfulness, it highlighted the Messiah ( Jesus) righteousness. 

To truly understand this, we need to look at Hebrews 2: 5-18. Paul’s argument makes so much more sense once you read the passage. This is why understanding the actual promise God gave to Abraham was so vital. While the promise had earthly ramifications ( land of Canan), the true promise was the heavenly city of God, where Abraham’s descendants ( those united with him through faith ) would dwell. And that promise was only possible by an alien righteousness granted to Abraham’s offsprings because of one of his offspring, that is Christ. See Hebrews 1: 3-4 and even Jesus makes mention of this in John 8:56

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

So what is Paul arguing in these verses? He already said at the outset that an oath could not be altered by humans. Now if a human oath cannot be altered once pronounced , how much more an oath from God Himself? God made the promises to Abraham 430 years before Moses was given the Law at Sinai, and God cannot lie and does not change ( because HE is GOD); therefore the promise of eternal life  is not dependent on the Galatians’ observance of the LAW but on God’s promises. The Law cannot nullify God’s oath ( promise given to Abraham), that would be a contradiction of God’s word ( an assault against His Holy Character). Paul is basically saying that the inheritance cannot be obtained by the observance of the LAW because God already swore to Abraham that He was going to give it to Him. It wasn’t contingent on anything Abraham would do but totally dependent on God. Now, the question is, what was the purpose of the Law, and Paul is now going to endeavor to clearly explain the function of the Law.

What Was The Function Of The Law Given To Moses?

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.

Galatians 3:19-20

God gave the people of Israel ( and those who would later believe) the Law to expose their sinful condition. As Paul explains it, the Law was given to create transgressions. We need to understand what this means. Paul isn’t saying that the Law is responsible for our sinful nature but what He is saying is that the Law exposes our sins. Romans 3 :9-20 explains the purpose of the Law of Moses. Actually verse 20 of Romans 3 is the climax of that chapter, it reads:

 “20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”

Romans 7 :7-25 also explains another main purpose of the Law. The Law was supposed to be put into effect so that the true children of Abraham would look forward to the offspring who would make the promise a reality. In other words, the more mankind would see their own wretchedness, the more they would long for the coming Messiah who would liberate them from the bondage of the sinful nature. Paul brings up another very important point. The Covenant of the Law was established through angels and by a mediator ( Moses). Moses was the mediator between Man and God. He brought the Law to the people and set it before the people. The covenant of the Law was a contract between God and the people and in it God’s favor was contingent on their obedience, this is why it involved a mediator. But God’s intention by giving the Law was never for them to attain righteousness through it. It was always to reduce mankind to absolute dependence on His grace for righteousness.  The promise God gave to Abraham only involved God, it was totally dependent on God. To sum this argument, I want to show you how it reads in the Amplified Bible 

“Now a go-between (intermediary) has to do with and implies more than one party [there can be no mediator with just one person]. Yet God is [only] one Person [and He was the sole party in giving that promise to Abraham. But the Law was a contract between two, God and Israel; its validity was dependent on both].”

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.

Galatians 3:21-22

Paul is anticipating what the Galatians and other people may say about the Law:it is a nuisance and  is diametrically opposed to the promises of God. And he refutes this notion. He is going to show the symbiotic relationship between the Law and the promises of God. First, as he already proved it, the Law( as given to the people of Israel) was never meant to be the way to attain life ( be made righteous before God). It was meant to  make men more conscious of their sinfulness, thus giving no one the false assumption that they were righteous. This is why Paul uses the phrase “Scripture imprisoned everything under sin” . The Scripture clearly says that there is none righteous, not even one, and the LAW was given to prove that. But also to point those who would understand it, their wretchedness and their desperate need of the grace of God, put into effect through faith in Christ’s work on the cross. 

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[g] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Galatians 3:23-29

Paul continues to explain the purpose of the Law. God put the law into effect to keep us under its custody in preparation for the faith that was destined to be revealed (unveiled, disclosed). So that the Law was supposed to serve [the Jews first and the gentiles ] as our trainer [our guardian, our guide to Christ, to lead us] until Christ [came], that we might be justified (declared righteous, put in right standing with God) by and through faith. But with the arrival of Christ, came the promise of the faith that God had given to Abraham and those who would believe like Abraham. And with the arrival of Christ, the guardian ( LAW) no longer had any authority over us. But let me explain what this means. Paul is saying that the function of the Law (as a covenant until the coming of Christ) is no longer needed. It means that certain stipulations no longer have any use. In this particular case ( with the Galatians), it had to do with “circumcision “. But  there are other stipulations i.e animal sacrifices and dietary laws that no longer had any use. It is imperative that one reads the book of Hebrews, especially chapter 10-12 to understand this aspect of the Law that Paul is referring to. God’s moral law is still binding on all of us, we must not think that we have no obligation to keep the moral law of God, this isn’t what Paul is communicating.  I want to add some very important things in this section that need to be understood correctly. When the Scripture tells us that those who are justified by faith are no longer under the Law but under grace, we need to understand what that means. It doesn’t mean that the Law of God no longer applies to us as some Christians want to be believe. It isn’t as if we are free to live however we want, that isn’t what Paul is communicating when he says that we aren’t any longer under a guardian. Let me explain. Not being under the Law means not being under bondage to sin. It isn’t the Law that  were slaves to, but slaves to the old, sinful nature. The sinful nature used the opportunity presented by the Law to cause our spiritual death. So when Paul says that the Law is no longer our guardian, what he is saying is this- we are no longer under the power of sin, so sin can no longer use the Law to condemn us. Because now, we are children of God, ( indwelled by His Spirit, the promise of God), therefore we are now slaves to righteousness. And if righteous, then the Law cannot condemn us anymore because the Spirit ofGod delights in the Law of God. I hope I’m making it clear enough for you. The Law of God was our enemy not because it  was bad but because the sinful nature hates the law of God and cannot submit to it. Now, that God has deposited His spirit in the born again believer, the Law is now our delight. This is why Romans 3 says in the following verses,

9 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Verses 31 clearly says that we don’t nullify the law by faith, but we uphold the Law. How do we uphold it? Jesus fulfilled the righteousness proclaimed by the law on our behalf, so now the believer by faith has fulfilled the Law of God and continues to fulfill it because it is his/her desire to delight in the Law of God. 

The Law only communicated one thing to us: ..you are a sinner, wretched and sin used the Law to keep us in bondage ( as told in Romans 7). But when Christ came, HE set us free from the power of the principle of sin and death ( the principle of the law). Earlier on in the chapter, Paul mentioned that those who would believe, would receive the promised Holy Spirit. And by virtue of the Holy spirit , those would be considered children of the Living God. As sons and daughters of the Living God, by nature , we are righteous because Christ has imputed us with His righteousness. And because we are righteous, the Law has now fulfilled its purpose. Do we disregard the LAW of God, not at all because now as promised in the Scriptures( Ezekiel 36:26-27), God has now written His laws on our hearts, by giving us a heart of flesh so the LAW becomes delightful to us. I don’t want to deviate from Paul’s argument so let’s get back to what Paul is conveying to the Galatians. It’s also important to mention that the Law’s authority rested on our inability to please God because of our sinful nature. When Christ came, He set us free from the bondage of the sinful nature that we might live to God, thus canceling the written code that stood against us. The Law condemned us and rightfully so, we were sinners by nature.

Paul also makes another dynamite statement about the grace of God, at the foot of the cross, the ground is leveled. Ethnicity, gender, language, social status don’t matter and don’t guarantee us righteousness or earn us anything before God. The inheritance is solely dependent on the grace of God who extends His favor to whomever He chooses, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or whatever other factors you may consider. But that doesn’t mean that we disregard our uniqueness. God is glorified through our diversity but our diversity gives us no special privilege before Him as far as being made right is concerned. 

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PS: All the videos series from RC Sproul and Dr John Gerstner added to the website have been thoroughly listened to by myself. And I highly recommend them to anyone looking to deepen his/her faith in Christ. We live in the age of relativism and now more than ever understanding what we believe, and why believe what believe is not optional.