Stuff like this makes me swallow hard:
“Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” (Exodus 25:7)
“Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’” (Deuteronomy 27:26, quoted in Galatians 3:10)
I wonder if these people really know what they were saying. I wonder, had I been there personally, would I have realized what I was getting into?
As my church’s care groups have been going through Galatians over the past few months, I’ve had lots of time to think about the law and its proper role. Even in New Testament times, the law was already being misunderstood. That still holds true today. Inevitably, Christians lean toward one of two extremes: they either deemphasize the law to the point where only their profession of faith is important, or they over-emphasize the law such that it becomes the means for earning favor with God.
When I think of what the peole of Israel said as the institution of the law at Sinai (Exodus 25), I see that word ALL and shudder. I know that it is within my sinful capacity to think that I can actually live up to this impossible condition. The Rich You Ruler’s words “All these things I have kept from my youth Luke 18:21.” ring in my ears.
Galatians 3:19 also chills my soul “Why the law then? It was added because of [for the sake of] transgressions…” and again, in 3:22: “But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin…” I see that God’s Word teaches that this very law which seemed an opportunity to prove my wroth has in fact stuffed a sock in my mouth., pouring my sin out in broad daylight for everyone to see.
Scripture teaches us the the law is something different entirely from grace. Though we usually focus on how grace is complemented by law,, law is still something separate from grace. Romans 5:20 tells us that the law “comes alongside” of grace. Romans 3 tells us that grace is the enduring currency of God’s covenant with Abraham. The law is instructional (Gal 3:24). It is only a means to and end, not the goal itself.
All the same, we Christians ought not dismiss the la. The law is good (Romans 7:12). Legalism is BAD. Don’t lose track of that distinction.
Law and Gospel is a great subject to be thinking through, and as you’ve said is something that so many Christians fail to understand properly.
A common mistake is to believe that “salvation is by grace through faith” but that you’re “sanctified by works.” It is only by the grace of God that we grow, through our abiding in Christ (the vine) that we produce fruit.
Nate,
It’s the essence of the Galatian heresy isn’t it? It’s an easy trap to fall into, not seeing that the way we pursue holiness undermines the gospel itself.