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NASB | Galatians 3:21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Galatians 3:21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a system of law had been given which could impart life, then righteousness (right standing with God) would actually have been based on law. |
Subject: Law and Gospel |
Bible Note: (this will be in multiple posts as replies) Are the Law and Gospel contrary to each other? Many would suggest that if we are saved by grace through faith, and by means of the gospel, then therefore we must be utterly done with the law. It is either Law or Gospel/Faith. The two are contrary to one another. If we are under grace, or if we are under the Gospel, then we are completely through with the Law. Is this true? Are they contrary to each other? Gal 3:21,22 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. The “promises” of the gospel stated here are clearly a reference to the “Gospel.” We can affirm this based on Galatians 3:8. Which clearly state that through the promises to Abraham, God was declaring the gospel. So then, according to Paul the gospel and the Law are not contrary to each other. But we must pay careful attention to why they are not. And the answer is, because the Law was not given to impart life. If it had been, then righteousness would have been through the law, but it was not, and therefore righteousness does not come through the law. But rather the Scripture containing the Law, had instead the explicit purpose of shutting up every person under sin. And it shut them up under sin SO THAT the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. So we see that the intentions of the Law were not to impart life and result in two possible paths towards right standing with God, rather it was to convict all of sin and press them towards the promises of the gospel in which are found the one and only means of life and righteousness. What do we mean by the term Law? When we speak of the Law in this discussion, we do not refer to every cultural practice of national Israel. Things such as dietary restrictions, ceremonies, yearly festivals or civil laws are not in view in this discussion. These are all picture foreshadowing Christ. Col 2:16, 17 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Rather, what we have in mind is the system of morality as depicted chiefly in the Ten Commandments. So then, the moral law of the old testament is not to be understood as contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the reason it is not to be understood as contrary, is that it is not offering itself as an alternative means to salvation, but rather a means of instructing and convicting us of our own sin and driving us to Christ. Once we stand under Grace, united to Christ by Faith, must we continue to live out the moral laws of the Old Testament? We can not treat this question fairly unless we divide it into two more clearly stated question. Question # 1: Must we follow the Old Testament Commands in order to receive justification? Question #2: Do the moral instructions of the Old Testament remain the expected conduct of believers? These are two totally different questions. And if we refuse to ask them as separate questions, we will continue to rush into error, and we will continue to struggle to understand scripture. Let question 1 be dealt with first. Must we follow the Old Testament Commands in order to receive justification? The answer to that is a firm no. Gal 2:16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. This is, of course, only one of many verses that can be quoted to affirm this. Question 2, “do the moral instructions of the Old Testament remain the expected conduct of believers?”, must be treated as a different question. One can not conclude that simply because something is not the means of justification that God does not in fact desire a believer to do it. I affirm, that the gospel implicitly instructs believers to follow righteousness as described in the moral laws of the Old Testament. |
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