The Purpose of the Law Galatians 3:19-21.
Dear Holy Nation,
By now, anyone who has been following Paul’s reasoning must be asking, why did God bother with the law at all? If it cannot save, what was it for, in the first place? Paul both preempts the question and gives us an explanation. Our passage deals with the first part of this explanation.
Bilateral(v. 19a). The law was given, Paul says, because of transgression. God has a standard of right and wrong, good and bad, which standard the law declares so that we will know it when we transgress it. There is no expectation here that we will be able to keep the standard. It is an interim measure to make us aware of our shortcomings until the “Seed” on whom the promise of salvation is based should come – that is Christ. Once Christ came, the law was relegated to history. It had done its work.
Unilateral (vv. 19b-20). Whereas the law was negotiated by a mediator, namely, Moses, acting between Israel and God, the covenant with Abraham was by God alone. Abraham was in it only as a beneficiary, not as a “signatory.”
Non-Lateral (v. 21).So the resultant question, then. Is the law contrary to the promises of God? Paul’s answer is very simple and also very insightful. The law did not fail because it was bad or contrary to God’s promises. It failed because no one (save for Christ – Hebrews 4:15) could attain its requirements. Failure to keep the law amounts to sin and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). For this reason, no law could be given that would have given life. The end result is always death.
The point is that by abolishing the requirements of the law in Christ, God rescued us from an impossible situation. That is why dabbling in the law is courting death!
In a sense, Paul is saying that the law is an “inferior” covenant because it was between God and Israel, and Israel was unable to fulfill its end of the negotiated agreement, whereas the contract with Abraham obligated only God and he never fails.
Your Loving Pastor Chris.