Galatians 3:23 Commentary

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Galatians 3:23

Comments

Again, Paul looks at the entire period of redemptive history and explains God’s timetable in the giving of the promise, the law, and the coming of Christ, without reference to individuals living during each of those periods. Using shorthand, he identifies faith with the coming of Christ, the object of faith. Clearly faith was exercised before Christ came, for not only Abraham but many others believed the promises. However to keep matters simple, he speaks as if faith was tied to the incarnation. Speaking then of Israel as a whole, he says that before the coming of Jesus Christ into the world we were kept under guard or held in custody under the law. Who does he mean by ‘we’? Evidently he means Israel, but he writes to Gentiles, and they too were under the law. The law which was given verbally and in written form to Israel at Sinai is also written on every human heart since creation, and condemns both Jew and Gentile. Before the coming of Christ, the whole world was held captive by the law; it locked them up by denying them any hope of salvation from their own works. All are born under the law, and to reinforce their awareness of this, Israel was placed under the covenant of the Sinai in the time of Moses. God, the perfect teacher, made explicit at Sinai that, after the fall of Adam, the law has only one thing to say to members of the human race: they are condemned and without hope, for sin universally reigns over them. However, added to the moral law, which condemns all mankind universally, was the ceremonial law. Although this could not save anyone because it consisted in ‘meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances’ (Hebrews 9:10), yet these pointed to Christ who could deliver from the condemnation of the law. Sinai was therefore designed to remove all hope based on good works and show Israel the only place where hope could be found: in Christ. In essence it was a legal covenant, but in kindness it had symbols of grace attached to it. These pointed away from the law to Christ.

Application

So stubborn is the human heart that it will never abandon hope in its own ability to please God until the way is shut up and barred with an unmovable bar and every possible way round is blocked. For although men know that they have sinned in one area of their lives, they think that they can make up for it in another area of their lives, but the law condemns every part. But even though this is so clear, we refuse to recognise our state until the Spirit brings under conviction.

Questions

But why does Paul say that the law was in effect only until the coming of Christ? Don’t men still need the law to convict them of sin after the coming of Christ? Certainly, they do. Paul’s language is not intended to teach that the law of God is not operating today, but only that the covenant made at Sinai has ended. Since creation all have been under the law of God. For the covenant of works made with Adam is still in force as is evident from the fact that its penalty, death, is still operating. The ceremonial law is also done away with, for the things prefigured by those ceremonies have now all been fulfilled with the coming of the Son of God. He is the fulfilment of every symbol attached to the Mosaic law, and it would not be fitting for the symbol to continue when the reality has come to which the symbol points.

What was the relationship between the promise and the law of Moses prior to the coming of Christ? They coexisted, but in a state that always suggested that God had not finished the implementation of his plan. During that time the promise was to some extent eclipsed by the law. Those with faith longed for the coming of the Messiah who would fulfil the Abrahamic promises. It was therefore not right that this situation should go on forever, and the law had to come to an end as a formal covenant. It would have been confusing for both law and promised to continue to exist together. When the law came to an end and the promise arrived, it was clear that all that is essential is embodied in the promise.

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Galatians 3:23 Commentary and Bible Study