The Purpose of the Law!
Pastor Bill Nichols - October 11, 2009Introduction
Who can tell me what a covenant is? The dictionary defines it as "a formal binding agreement". In Biblical practice, a covenant is an agreement or a contract between two or more parties, that has terms or conditions, along with promises or penalties that incur depending on whether or not the terms or conditions are met.
There was a time in our country that a deal could be made and a covenant sealed with a handshake. Today however, there is usually a lot of paper and ink involved. When Becky and I closed the loan on the house we built we entered into a contract and signed on the dotted line. This contract had about 40 pages including the many attachments to this contract. Our hands got numb from signing and initialing on all of those pages.
In Old Testament times covenants came in various forms. Some covenants were sealed with salt. Others involved trading sandals. But the most serious contracts were sealed with blood. God made such a covenant with Abraham in Genesis chapter 15. God promised Abraham that he would have a son and that his offspring would be so numerous that he wouldn't be able to count them. In verse six it says that "Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness."
Then God promised Abram the land which would eventually become Israel, and Abram asked God how he could know that he would take possession of it. What follows in verses 9-21 is what we call the Abrahamic covenant.
Genesis 15:9-21
9 So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates- 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."
There is one unusual thing about this covenant. Normally, to ratify this kind of covenant, both parties would pass between the animals. As each party touched blood, the covenant became binding to them. But here we find that only God passed through. The implication is that this covenant was never dependant on Abram's obedience, but was dependent on God's promise to Abram alone. This is the covenant that is spoken of in Galatians 3. Please turn with me there, beginning with verse 15.
Galatians 3:15-25
15 "Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
19 "What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.
21 "Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 "Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law."
There are three things I want you to see this morning, that Paul was trying to get his readers to understand concerning the law.
I. The Law Did Not Supersede God's Promise to Abraham.
Verses: 15-18
The first thing is found in verses 15-18. In these verses Paul is saying that the covenant that God made with Abraham was also made with his seed, who is Christ. God was referring to Christ as the seed who would bless all peoples through this covenant, and not through the law. The law, which came 430 years after the promise, could not, and did not cancel out the promise that God made to Abraham and his seed through the Abrahamic covenant. The promise of an inheritance was never given through the law. It was given to Abraham through God's grace.
If this is true then why was the law later given? Paul gives us two reasons in verses 19-22.
II. To Reveal Sin
Verses: 19-22
First, Paul says that the law was added because of transgressions, waiting for the promise of the seed. The New English version says that it was added "to make wrongdoing a legal offense."
John F MacArthur states that it was "given to show that man was willfully in rebellion against the holiness of God." He further states that, "The law was given to bring about an awakened sense of guilt before God as judge."
This reminds me of a time in my past when I was not living for God. I became a Christian at an early age. I later drifted away from the church and away from God. Although I believed that I knew the difference between right and wrong, I had never read the Bible. My conscience bothered me when I did wrong, but not to the degree that it changed my life very much. Then, one day I was reading in the living Bible. I began to read in Romans chapter one about the things that God calls sin. And although I had known I was sinning all along, as I read about these things that I was doing that God's word called sin, my sin suddenly became personal between me and God. I was humbled and I repented and rededicated my life to God. The word "repent" means to turn around and go the other way. I became aware of how awful sin was in the eyes of God when I read about the things that God called sin. That is one of the purposes of the law, to reveal to us the sinfulness of sin. To show us how awful sin is to God, and to create in us a desire to repent, to turn around from living a life of sin to living a life for God.
The one thing that the law was never intended to do was to bring about righteousness. Verse: 21b. That was the purpose of God's promise to Abraham. Verse: 22.
III. To Lead Us to Christ
Verses: 23-25
Paul gives us a second purpose for the law in verses 23-25. The law was put in charge over us, or held us prisoner, until the promise could be revealed. In verse 24 there is a word which is difficult to translate smoothly into the English. It is translated schoolmaster in the KJV and Tutor in the NAS Bible. My NIV Bible says, the law was "put in charge" over us to lead us to Christ.
The Greek word is "paidagogos". (pahee dag o gos) In both the Roman and Greek culture, a paidagogos was a personal slave-attendant who was put in charge over a boy until he reached adulthood. He would accompany him to school. It was his responsibility to teach the boy obedience and self-discipline. He carried with him a rod and used it to make the boy conform when he got out of line.Of course, the paidagogos would eventually be dismissed and no longer have control over the boy once he reached adulthood, and I am sure that the boy longed for this freedom from his paidagogos.
The Law of Moses was intended to do the same for us. It was designed to be our paidagogos. It was designed to lead us to the teacher, who is Jesus Christ. Once we obtain the promise of salvation through faith in Jesus, the law no longer has supervision over us.
And while the precepts of the law are good, we need to be reminded that the Law was never intended to give to us salvation or righteousness, but was only given to lead us to the one who could save us, Christ.
Conclusion
Finally, Paul reminds the Galatians, and he reminds those of us who have called on the name of Christ for salvation, that we are sons of God through faith.
We do not inherit eternal life by the works of the law. We are not saved by circumcision. There is nothing that we can do to make us worthy of salvation. We become sons of God only through faith in Jesus Christ.
As the Galatian believers were immersed into Christ and clothed with Christ, so are you today. What's more, all class distinctions disappear in Jesus Christ.
In the Jewish mind set, there were three classes of people that they despised. Gentiles, slaves, and women. Paul says in verse 28 that all distinctions dissolve in the spiritual realm. We are all one in Christ Jesus, children of Abraham's seed, and heirs with Jesus Christ, according to the promise.
I wonder this morning, if any of you are counting on something other than a personal relationship with Jesus Christ to get you to heaven? Let me remind you that someday, everyone will stand before God in judgment. When the book of life is opened your name will either be in the book of life or it will not. What determines whether or not your name is written in the book of life?
Jesus told His disciples, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father but by Me."
Paul says in Galatians that obedience to the law makes you a prisoner to that law, but faith in Christ set's you free from the law.