Basic HTML Version
The Amish Voice 5
3:20).
A CLOSER LOOK:
(3:10-12)
The Law
: Chapter 3 gives an excellent study of the law.
1. The law carries with it a curse (Ga.3:10). The curse is the mark
of death and the mark of condemnation or guilt: alienation from God
both in this life and throughout all eternity (see De.27:1f; 28:15;
Ro.6:23; 2 Co.3:7, 9).
2. There is a righteousness which is of the law (Ro.10:5-10;
Ga.3:12). That righteousness promises life to any man who can obey
the law perfectly. If a man can meet every requirement of the law
during his lifetime and never once fall below God’s holy standard,
then that man can escape the penalty of sin which is death.
3. Jesus Christ delivers man from the curse of the law (Ga.3:13).
What does this mean? Jesus Christ kept the law in every single de-
tail. Therefore, He bore no guilt; and He bore no penalty, no mark of
death. He had the right to stand before God and claim eternal life,
the right to never experience death. He was perfect; He had secured
incorruptible righteousness. The glorious gospel is that instead of
claiming this right for Himself, He offered to give His perfection and
righteousness to the people of the earth and to take their sins upon
Himself. He offered to swap His righteousness for man’s unright-
eousness, to swap His life for man’s life. This glorious expression of
substitutionary love was the very purpose for which God had created
the earth. God willed to show His great and unsearchable love that
gave itself so perfectly (Ep.1:5f). The great tragedy is that man has
so much difficulty accepting so great a love (1 Co.1:18).
It also means another thing. Jesus Christ accomplishes the same
purpose that God intended for the law, except much more. He not
only sets the same ideals and standards before us, but He also relates
Himself to us. Whereas the law is a set of cold letters with no power
to give life (Ga.3:21), Jesus Christ is a living person possessing the
power to raise the dead to life again. He sets the standards and gives
the power to keep the standards. He has replaced the law in showing
men the awfulness of their sin (through His death), and He adds the
extra dimension of strength to live as He lived (Ga.5:22f; Ep.1:19f;
3:20).
4. The law was only meant to be a temporary arrangement be-
tween God and man (Ga.3:16). It was to extend only from Moses to
Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ is “the seed” to whom the promise of
righteousness was given (see Mt.5:17). God never intended the law
to be the way of salvation. It was for the temporary purpose of show-
ing men their sin and its awfulness. Since Jesus Christ has come, He
(His perfect life and righteousness) is to be the standard for men.
5. The law was given to show men their sin and to instill within
them a personal guilt for disobeying God and His law (Ro.3:19-20;
7:7; Ga.3:19). This guilt was to lead men to seek and trust God for
salvation. Thus, the law stops every mouth from claiming self-
righteousness and makes all the world guilty before God.
6. The law is inferior to God’s promise of grace (Ga.3:19c-20).
Three arguments show this.
First, the law was not given directly by God. The law
was given by angels to men through Moses (Ga.3:19;
Ac.7:53; He.2:2). Moses was a mediator. But God and
God alone gave the promise of grace and righteousness
to Abraham.
Second, the law was between two parties—man and
God. If man kept the law, he would receive the reward
of righteousness. The gift of righteousness was condi-
tional under the law. But the promise of grace is given
by God alone. No one can break that promise. If man
simply believes, he receives the promise of righteous-
ness.
Third, the giving of the law came after the promise to
Abraham—four hundred and thirty years after. The
promise of grace was given first before the law. There-
fore, the law cannot void the promise. The promise of
God stands.
7. The law has no power to give life (Ga.3:21). The law demands
that each commandment be kept and obeyed. But it is mere words,
cold and lifeless. It is entirely external to man; it sets outside the be-
ing of man. It has no energy whatever to help in keeping the law.
8. The Scripture is conclusive: all men are lawbreakers and under
sin (Ga.3:22).
9. The believer is no longer under the law but under grace
(Ro.6:14; 7:4; Ga.3:22). Man is unable to participate in the right-
eousness of the law, for he is totally incapable of fulfilling the law.
But he can experience the grace of God by trusting the righteousness
which Jesus Christ has secured. When a man believes in Jesus Christ,
Jesus Christ judges that man righteous. That man becomes a
“partaker of the divine nature of God” (2 Pe.1:4).
10. The law shuts man up under sin (Ga.3:23). Man is a perma-
nent prisoner under the law. Under the law he is put in bondage and
held captive all the days of his life. The only avenue of escape is Je-
sus Christ, that is, faith in Him. If Christ fails to deliver, then there is
no escape, for the law does not free man; it enslaves.
11. The law was man’s guardian to lead him to see his need for
Christ (Ga.3:24). The schoolmaster was usually a trusted slave who
was in charge of a child’s moral welfare, but he had one particular
duty to which Paul was referring. Every day the guardian took the
child to school and delivered him to the teacher. And then at the end
of the day, he returned for the child and brought him safely back
home. This was what the law was to do. The law was to lead man to
Christ, the true Teacher. The law does this by showing man that he
QUESTIONS
:
1. Do you believe that men are under a curse? What is a curse?
What steps have you taken to escape this curse?
2. What are some of the logical results of a man who lives under
the curse?
3. Why do you think God wants you to approach Him by faith?