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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 IS PART 2, MAKE SURE YOU READ PART 1 FIRST) 1. There is an instruction of morality implicit to the gospel. 1Ti 1:8-11 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully ,realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. Lets examine this passage carefully. First, we see that Paul is specifically discussing the Law. Second, he says it is to restrain a variety of sins. Third, Paul states that these sins are contrary to sound teaching according to the glorious gospel. The law is used to restrain sins that are contrary to the gospel. Inherent to the gospel is a system of morality. This should not surprise us. The gospel is not merely about the means of salvation. The gospel also includes declaring the need for salvation. Inherent to the gospel message is that we are all sinners facing a coming day of judgment. And that we all stand guilty. We are guilty because we have gone against the Law of God. So inherent in the gospel message is the understanding that the moral Law of God, which is expressed in the Old Testament, is in fact something we should not transgress. We see this clearly because the Lawful use of the Law is to restrain sins that are contrary to the gospel. In other words, the sins that the Law restrains, are also sins that the gospel condemns. Lets see evidence of this from another passage. Eph 4:17-24 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Lets simplify this passage. Paul says: 1.) Do not continue to walk as the gentiles. 2.) You did not learn Christ this way. 3.) If you have been taught Christ, you were taught to put off the old self and put on the new. This is a powerful statement by Paul. It clearly states that there is an expectation of morality implicit in somebody learning Christ. Because the gospel is not only a means of salvation, it is also a statement of condemnation of all transgression against the Laws of God. Furthermore, the gospel is a call to repentance from transgressing the laws of God. What the Law forbids, the gospel condemns. To try and suggest that you can receive salvation and yet walk happily in the sin of the Gentiles is according to Paul “not to have learned Christ.” If you have learned Christ, you were also taught to put off such old sin and walk in a renewed life. Paul continues in this passage giving practical examples of putting off the old man and putting off the new. So let me summarize what we have found. The Gospel contains an implicit condemnation of sin, and instruction in morality. The notion of morality which the gospel forwards, is the morality of the Old Testament Law. 1.) What the law forbids, is what the Gospel itself condemns. 2.) The Law is not contrary to the Gospel. 3.) The moral Law of the Old Testament is still the expected morality of the New Testament. 4.) While the Law is not nor every will be a means to salvation, it is and will remain a means of instruction as to what is sin and what is righteousness. |
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