Exploring the Law’s Purpose in the Light of the Gospel

Written By Rev. Paul Lawler

How is a Christian supposed to view the law set in the Old Testament? Does it affect our faith if we have salvation in Christ? Discover how God’s promise to Abraham is fulfilled through faith in Christ, uniting all believers as equals in the promise of salvation.

  • The Law and the Promise

    15 To give a human example, brothers:[a] 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.

    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.

    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.

    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[b] 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.

How Does the Law Affect Our Faith?

If salvation was not based on the law, then why was the law given in the first place?

The Apostle Paul quoted from the law’s authority to prove the law’s insignificance to justify a believer (Galatians 3:1-14). In the flow of his letter to the Galatians, Paul has established that we’re saved, justified, and redeemed only by faith in Christ and not through any righteousness of our own.

As we explore the remainder of Galatians 3, Paul has reached the point where a careful reader will ask how the law fits the believer’s faith. Therefore, Paul addresses this crucial issue of the law and the life of the Gospel.

1) The Law Points to the Ultimate Promise

Paul shares that no one annuls or adds to a covenant/contract once it’s been ratified (Galatians 3:15). Once two parties conclude an agreement, a third party cannot come along years later and change that agreement. The only persons who can modify an original agreement are those who made it. To add anything to it or take anything from it would be illegal.

Previously, we’ve seen the Judaizers argue that it’s because of Abraham that the Galatian churches should observe specific laws, such as circumcision, to find righteousness with God. However, what Paul drives us toward is that because God Almighty established the covenant, we can’t change anything. He illustrates that in the following verses.

“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.’ 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.” Galatians 3:16-17

For some context, we need to return to the original covenant between God and Abraham (called Abram at the time) in Genesis 15. Abram asked God: “How can I know that I will gain possession” of the promised blessing (Genesis 15:8). In other words, “How do I know this promise is going to come true?” God tells him to get a cow, a goat, a ram, a dove, and a pigeon.

That may sound strange to us, but in Abram’s day, this was how a covenant was “signed.”

Abram knew what to do with them. He “cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other (Genesis 15:10).” Then each covenant-maker would pass between the halves of the animals as a (very!) graphic way for those entering a covenant to say: If I break this agreement, may I be cut up and cut off; I will deserve to die just like these animals did.

What’s astonishing in the covenant between God and Abram is that Abram never walked between the halves! “Abram fell into a deep sleep (Genesis 15:12),” and the only thing that passed through was “a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch (which) appeared and passed between the pieces” (Genesis 15:17). Verse 18 tells us, “on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram.”

What is this strange fire? It’s God.

We must remember that this wasn’t a covenant that relied on humans. God established this covenant with Abraham and humanity. He made this covenant that faith justifies men and women with Him. If the law of Moses was intended to be the means for salvation, then the promise to Abraham wouldn’t have been real.

The Judaizers argued to the Galatian churches that because Abraham was circumcised, that made him right with God, and therefore, they should, too. However, God made this covenant with Abraham through Christ, so the only person who can make any changes is God.

The covenant God made with Abraham was a covenant of Abraham being made right with God by faith. He wasn’t made right with God because he obeyed the law; rather, his obedience emanated from a relationship of love with God. It was Abraham’s obedience that justified him. The law itself points to the promise of Jesus.

2) The Law Has a Different Purpose

“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. Now, an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.” Galatians 3:19

The law did not come to tell us about salvation. The law came to tell us about sin. Its primary purpose is to show us the following:

  • Our problem.

  • That we’re lawbreakers.

  • That we cannot be the solution.

  • We are unable to be perfect lawkeepers.

3) The Law Isn’t Contrary to the Promise

“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. 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

God never intended for His law to “impart life”; otherwise, we could become righteous by keeping the law. It’s Jesus who imparts life, and then, our lives, out of love and relationship with Jesus, take on a different quality.

In John 14:15, Jesus said, “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments.” The fruit that’s later discussed in Galatians is what produces a godly life and lifestyle that’s actually life-giving.

The Greek in this passage is very vivid here. It literally says that “Scripture imprisoned all the world to sin.” The text reveals that God never intended for His law to impart life.

The Apostle Paul is a great poster child for what’s being addressed. At one point in his life, he was a self-satisfied Pharisee who kept all of the law. That is until the law against coveting and envy really hit him. In Romans 7:9, he said the “commandment came home.”

The law made Paul see and feel morally helpless. He realized he wasn’t merely a sinner but a prisoner of sin, helpless to free or cure himself. This is the purpose of the law: to show us that we don’t just “fall short” of God’s will but that we’re completely under sin’s power and require a rescue.

The law has the power to show us that we’re not righteous. It cannot give us the power to be righteous. As we see God’s standards and try (and fail) to keep them, the law shows us that we don’t have that power.

“Righteousness” cannot “come by the law” (vs. 21b). If we think we can be righteous (meaning right with God) by the law, we have missed the point of the law. The law, then, doesn’t oppose the promise of salvation by grace through Christ but instead supports it by pointing out our need of the law.

“Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.” Galatians 3:23 (emphasis added)

First, the law is a guard. The Greek words for “held captive” and “imprisoned” mean to be protected by military guards.

“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” Galatians 3:24-26 (emphasis added)

We were under guard or “held captive” by the law that produced a non-gospel-based religion. This looks like:

  • An impersonal relationship with the divine, motivated by a desire for rewards and a fear of punishment.

  • Anxiety about one’s standing with God.

  • A sense of bondage.

Contrast that with having the gift of a loving guardian:

  • Not an impersonal, but a personal relationship with God.

  • Not a life of confinement but a life of freedom.

  • Not a life of immaturity but a life of growing in maturity.

In his book, The Message of Galatians, John Stott wrote:

“After God gave the promise to Abraham, He gave the law to Moses. Why? He had to make things worse before He could make them better. The law exposed sin, provoked sin, condemned sin. The purpose of the law was to lift the lid off man’s respectability and disclose what he really is underneath—sinful, rebellious, guilty, under the judgment of God, and helpless to save himself.

And the law must still be allowed to do its God-given duty today. One of the great faults of the contemporary church is the tendency to soft-pedal sin and judgment…We must never bypass the law and come straight to the Gospel. To do so is to contradict the plan of God in biblical history…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.”

4) The Law Cannot Do What Jesus Christ Can Do

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3:27-29 (emphasis added)

The law could reveal sin and, to a certain extent, control behavior, but the law could not do for the sinner what Jesus Christ can do.

The law could never justify the guilty sinner. It could never give a person oneness with God; instead, it separated people from God. The phrase “put on Christ” refers to a change of garments. The believer has laid aside the dirty garments of sin and, by faith, received the robes of righteousness in Christ.

The phrase “changing garments” is a Roman cultural metaphor. When children reach adulthood, they put aside their childhood clothes and begin to wear the clothes of the Roman culture as a sign of adulthood.

Paul uses the metaphor to say if a believer is to grow in Christ, they need to put on the clothes of maturity, which isn’t the law that justifies you. No, these clothes of maturity are your faith in what Christ did on the cross. The law will only condemn you, but Christ saves you (John 3:17).

Paul wrote that in light of this work has implications for how we live in the culture. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).”

I’ve heard people attempt to pervert the Gospel by declaring that it somehow subjugates certain humans to one another. While we can recognize that the law created differences and distinctions between individuals, races, and other matters, the Gospel is the great equalizer.

Whether man, woman, African-American, white, Hispanic, or Asian, whatever the case may be, in Christ, we are equals because of the lamb’s blood. It’s because of this that all people are of sacred worth. As the Apostle Paul accentuates, this reality is because of the power of the shed blood of Christ. It demonstrates that he bled for all people and that all people are equal in God’s eyes.

The Gospel liberates us not only out of justification but into justification and liberation. It enables all people to flourish in their God-given abilities and grace. This is all rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you yield to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and move in faith so that God, through Jesus Christ, He will do what only He can do, which is forgive your sin, cleanse you, and reconcile you to God. Many of us overthink, outwork ourselves, and attempt to manipulate our circumstances to achieve righteousness. We hope our good will outweigh our bad. That’s not the Gospel. God’s grace brings new life. Only He can raise you from the deadness of religiosity and liberate you into a loving relationship with God.

TL;DR

  1. In Galatians 3:15-29, Paul clarifies that the law was given to highlight humanity’s sinfulness and need for a savior, not as a means of salvation.

  2. He explains that God’s promise to Abraham, which predates the law, is fulfilled through faith in Christ.

  3. The law reveals our inability to achieve righteousness on our own, pointing us to the necessity of faith in Jesus for justification.

  4. Paul emphasizes that in Christ, there is no distinction between individuals; all believers are equal and united, inheriting the promise given to Abraham through faith.

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Rev. Paul Lawler
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