Have you ever wondered about this? I mean if the law is of works, and the promise is of faith, and we are saved by grace through faith and not by works as Paul said in Eph.2:8,9. Wouldn’t that mean the law is in fact against the promises of God?
Paul addressed this question specifically because of confusion those were having who believed they must keep the law for righteousness. They were confused by his teaching in regard to the law’s true purpose. If indeed we are not under law but under grace as Paul said in Rom.6:14.
In this Gal.3 passage we see Paul giving an explanation about the purpose of the law that few if any realize or teach today. You’ll hear things like “We are not under law but we must still keep it.” And “the law is there to show you are a sinner so that you’ll know you need Jesus. Because if men could keep the law perfectly then they would not need Jesus. And that’s the reason God gave the law.”
This comes from a misinterpretation of Gal.3:22,23 where Paul says, ‘But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.”
But, the fact is that these people have completely adulterated the true purpose for which God gave the law to Israel. And that because of its true purpose the law can never give life or make one righteous. They do not teach or understand this(1Tim.1:7) because they have been deceived to read the scriptures through the lens of the doctrines of sin nature and original sin for so long that they can’t see this truth anymore. If they ever did.
Truth that in this passage Paul speaks about the real reason the law was given to Israel. The reason for which in Rom.7:12 Paul said “the commandment is holy, and just, and good”. While also saying we are not under law but under grace. A reason that if rightly understood would force the reader to reject the pagan gnostic sin nature doctrine. As well as the perverted doctrine of original sin.
Truth that would show them that naughty behavior as defined by the law has never had any bearing on whether a man, whether Jew or gentile, is saved or not. And that even for the Jew who was under the law from Moses till Jesus’ death(Heb.9:15) righteousness has always come by faith without works.
This is why Jesus told Israel in Mt.5:20 that “except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.“ Because the righteousness that gives men access to heaven can not be attained by works as the Pharisees taught.
In Gal.3:19 Paul asks “Wherefore then serveth the law?” And then explains that “It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.”
Please note first that Paul does not say it was added so that men would realize they are sinners and that realizing this is what showed their need for Jesus. He said it was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made…”
After an explanation about Jesus our mediator he follows this up asking if this means the law is against the promises of God. Paul’s answer, “God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”
Many will say that Paul said this because no man can keep the law perfectly. And that this is why men can not have eternal life by keeping it. Hal Lindsey said this often on his program. So did Spurgeon and Sproul and others.
But, if that were true then what Luke said about Zachariah and Elizabeth in Luke1:5,6 would be a lie. And so would what Paul said of himself in Phil.3:6 be a lie. And what God said about Job.
This is why what Paul is saying here is to show us that under no circumstances was the law ever given to show whether or not an Israelite was trusting in God. But, only that in obeying it the law would serve its true purpose of preserving Israel as a nation until the one to whom the promise was given should come.
So Paul has said plainly here that keeping of the law was never to be a means to show they were righteous. As righteousness is our relationship with Jesus when we trust in Him. And law keeping only shows their relationship with it and its administering or avoidance of the penalties it prescribed.
So eternal life, which we know is righteousness because Jesus said in John17:3 that eternal life is knowing Him, could and was never meant to be attained through law keeping.
Law keeping with its rituals for forgiveness if ever it was not kept was never meant to show the Jew was right with God. But, only where he stood in relation to the law and its ability to preserve them as a people through whose bloodline the messiah was to come.
Which is why even though Paul killed Christian’s he could say in Phil.3:6 that touching the righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless.
This is why Paul said in Gal.3:17,18 that “the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”
This shows the true purpose of the law was as a preservative. And also that God had 2 covenants running side by side with Israel while they were under the law. The covenant of promise through which eternal life comes that He made with them through Abraham. Which was signified by circumcision. And the covenant of works through which their preservation as a people came that He made with them through Moses.
Through Abaraham the covenant that brought righteousness which is eternal life when the seed(Jesus) for whom the promise was made would come. And through Moses the covenant of curses and blessings by the law that kept them from destroying each other until that seed should come to whom the promise was made.
In the law there was a provision made for forgiveness of sins by sacrifices to be done year by year. In Heb.10:1,2 Paul says these sacrifices were only “a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.”
This is the opposite from what grace does. Because the law produced the consciousness of sins. While grace does the opposite by “purging your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Heb.9:14
Now when we translate this idea of forgiveness of sins Israel satisfied by the sacrifices to the New Covenant, we need to keep in mind why God said someone needs forgiveness of sins. First the need for forgiveness of sins defined by the law would only apply to those who are under the law.
This is why Paul says in Rom.3:19, “Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.”
And since we know that the law was only ever given to Israel(Lev.26:46). This means that for those who have never been under the law, which is everyone who is not an Israelite, there is no need for forgiveness of those sins defined by the law. Because those sins are only imputed to them that are under the law.
Paul is saying this plainly in Rom.3:19. And in Rom.4:15 and Rom.5:12 saying “The law works wrath. For where there is no law there is no transgression.” And “For until the law sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed when there is no law.” And again in Rom.6:12 helping the Jew to realize why sin no longer has dominion over them is because “ye are not under law but under grace.”
But, like I said the church can not see this truth. Because it sees scripture only through the lens of sin nature and original sin doctrines. Both gnostic and legalistic in their origins. Doctrines that teach a salvation that is needed because Adam broke God’s law. And that all men are under the law. And are therefore in need of a salvation that is had by works of the law.
Because in these doctrines all men are condemned by Adam’s law breaking. Whose remedy can only be law keeping. And can only be justified by works of the law. Whether done by themselves and Jesus. Or by Jesus only. It doesn’t matter though which of these modes of salvation you have believed. Because in either case condemnation or salvation is attained through someone’s works.
But, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying the law has no place at all anymore. It does. But, not in any way with how we are saved or how we stay saved.
Rather, even in these days of the New Covenant Paul says there is still a place for the law. Even though that purpose has nothing to do with salvation. Paul speaks of this in 1Tim.1 where he says, “8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.”
Here Paul is making the case that, with the exception of its use to preserve Israel as a purely human bloodline through which the messiah could come, the purpose of the law has not changed from the time it was given through Moses till now.
That purpose was and still is to be used as the means to force men under penalty of law to behave as they would if they really did love each other. Without them having to actually love each other.
Because really loving each other requires a change of heart that comes only through faith in Jesus for eternal life. As it is only then that Paul says in Rom.5:1-5 that God’s love is shed abroad in our heart. Through the hope we have, because of the experience gained, by patience we learn, through seeing God’s deliverance from and through tribulation.
So through its penalty aspect the law forces men to do what is right even when they don’t want to. Because to do otherwise would bring a punishment they do not want to suffer.
This is what Paul meant when he said, “the law is good when it is used lawfully.” And what he meant when he said in Rom.7 that “the law is holy and just and good.”
Because when the law is used as God intended it forces men who might do otherwise to behave in a way they would if they in the words of Jesus truly “love one another as I have loved you”.
As far as forgiveness for men who were never under the law, so that their sins are not those defined by the law, the only need for it comes from Jesus’ teaching in John16:7-11. Here Jesus teaches His disciples saying, “7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment”.
Now here we are going to hear Jesus’ definition of the only sin God now holds all men accountable for during this dispensation. Jesus says,
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me”.
Then He adds,
“10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”
The point here is that in this dispensation the only sin we need forgiveness for is the sin of unbelief. We have never been nor ever will be under the law. So for us there is no need for forgiveness of sins defined by it.
And for Israel Paul says in 2Cor.5:19 that those sins were forgiven, being ended by Jesus’ death as the once for all sacrifice for sins under the law, when Jesus died on the cross. This is the reason that just before He died on the cross Jesus said “It is finished”.
The law and all its sacrifices and penalties were brought to an end by His once for all sacrifice for those sins. Never to be imputed to anyone again during the dispensation of the New Covenant.
This is what makes Jesus “the way, the truth, and the life” for all men. So that “no man comes to the Father except through Him”. It is why only the sin of unbelief in Jesus is imputed now.
When thinking about the law we must understand this so that we do not mistake its purpose to be for something it was never intended. This is why Paul says righteousness for eternal life can never be attained through law keeping. And why Paul said Israel, the only people who were ever under the law and held accountable to keep it, must be dead to the law to be able to be joined with Jesus. Rom.7:4
Even saying in Gal.3:23-26 that “23 before faith came, we(Israel) were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore (or for this reason) the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto (or to bring us to the time when Christ came) Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Why? Because “26 ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
Paul’s gospel taught the Jews that they were no longer under the law. And since they are not under the law none of its penalties apply to them any longer. They stand forgiven even if they have not believed in Jesus because the law and its penalties no longer apply to them. For where there is no law there is no transgression.
But, we also find that in this dispensation all men are now accountable for what they do with Jesus. If they do not come to a saving faith in Him they will go with the false god they chose. For the religious Jew who made the law their idol they will go with the false god who deceived them by it. And for everyone else the false god behind their idol.
But, if the Jew or gentile will trust in Jesus he will know the truth and will be set free. For the Jew Paul says in Rom.8:2 he will be set free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus. For the gentile Paul says in 1Thes.1:9 he is set free from his idols to serve the true and living God.
It is in Rom.10:9,10 that we find the way to express our belief in Jesus. Paul says here that it is when you “shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
And in John3 Jesus said that when we do this we are born again. And that we must be born again to enter the kingdom of God. Because it is through a spirit that is created in us when we are born of the Spirit as Jesus said we must be that we are made children of God. And as His children we are made heirs to His kingdom.
No longer only natural, flesh and blood, creations of God. But, now made to be His children by trusting in Jesus and His resurrection. Because by joining with mankind in our mortality Jesus’ death is our death. And by raising from the dead conquering it Jesus’ life is our life.
The law plays no role in any of this. Because it was never given for that purpose. But, only to preserve Israel by keeping them from destroying each other. And so that when they hear the gospel and believe they will be made children of God and heirs to His kingdom.
This is why the law is not against the promises of God. Because there was never a law given that could give life under any circumstances. The life Jesus came to give us only comes by faith in Him and His resurrection.
If you will confess with your mouth and believe in your heart as Paul said in Rom.10:9,10 then you too will be made a child of God. If you will do this then you too will have eternal life now. And immortality at the resurrection. If you will do this… then I will see you there or in the air!
