Paul has been using the illustration of a Roman son, who's the heir of everything in the family, but has to wait until a fixed point in time until he can inherit it all. When that day dawns, everything will change. And the spiritual equivalent of that one moment that changes everything is that coming of Jesus Christ. Look at

How can Paul describe a law given by God as weak and worthless? Because it had served its purpose. As v10 makes clear he's thinking particularly here about the ceremonial law - sacrifice, holy days, new moons, festivals, and so on. Yes, they were instituted by God. But now they've served their purpose.He explains this in vs 1-3 with an

Paul makes a comparison between the once idol worshipping Gentiles, and the once outwardly religious Jews like himself and says - actually, we were both the same. Look at the connection between vs 8, 9 and 10. In v8 Paul reminds the Galatians that formerly when they didn't know God they were enslaved to those things that by nature are

In v23 Paul says that before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. Now that clearly doesn't mean that people in the Old Testament didn't have faith. Paul has just been arguing, especially back in v6, that Abraham was saved by faith. And so most commentators see 'before faith came'

As with many things, it's possible to go to two extremes when it comes to the law of God. One extreme, to which the false teachers in Galatia had gone, was to try and say it was necessary for salvation. The other extreme is to say that it isn't relevant at all. And that's an objection that Paul is clearly

Paul points out that Abraham was saved by faith 430 years before the law was given. But maybe the false teachers will grant him that and say that it's just everyone from Moses onwards who must be saved by keeping the law. That God added the law on to his promise to Abraham at a later date. And so to

God's curse falls on all who fail to keep his law perfectly. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, they experienced God's curse. And since then, to use the the words of the Catechism, all mankind have been born under God's wrath and curse. And this isn't a curse which will just disappear once a certain amount of time has

This isn't some new teaching in these verses. 'The righteous shall live by faith' is quoted 3 times in the New Testament - but it's originally from the Old Testament. So even in the Old Testament, believing Jews were those who lived by faith - not by works. Yes, v12 is still true: 'The one who does them shall live

If you were to ask someone on the street why they thought Christians hoped to get into Heaven, the answer would almost invariably be 'because of what they do'. Because they're decent people, because they live good lives, because they think they're better than those around them. And so in the face of all that, v10 is absolutely shocking. Paul

The second way Paul responds to the accusations that he's teaching some new doctrine is to show them that people have always been saved the same way. People are saved the same way in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.If we're saved by having the same faith that Abraham had, then it makes sense that we believe the