Galatians 3:19-22 – What the Law is For
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 anticipating. He begins in v19 by saying that the law was added because of transgressions. Now this isn’t a straightforward verse. But thankfully we can get a bit of help in understanding it by turning to the book of Romans, where Paul writes some similar things. For example, in Romans 4:15 he says: ‘Where there is no law, there is no transgression’. So to put those two verses together. Where there is no law, there is no transgression. And the law was added because of transgressions – or as one version says, for the sake of defining transgressions.
And it’s perhaps easier to begin with what those verses aren’t saying. They’re not saying that before the giving of the law by Moses that there wasn’t such a thing as sin. Before the 10 commandments were given, Cain knew it was wrong to murder Abel, Joseph knew it would be wrong to commit adultery with Potiphar’s wife, and God’s people as a whole knew why it was wrong to gather manna on the Sabbath.
When God gave the 10 commandments through Moses, he didn’t bring in any new requirements – he simply showed the people how far they’d strayed from obeying him. The law doesn’t invent something that wasn’t already there. It just makes it clear so that people aren’t left in any doubt. And so Paul says in Romans 7.7: ‘For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet”‘. Had Paul coveted before? Of course! But it was only when the Spirit of God brought the law of God home to his heart that he was convicted about it.
The law doesn’t make us sinful. Instead, it exposes how sinful we really are. And so when Paul says in Romans 5:20 that ‘the law came in to increase the trespass’ – it means that the law came in to show us that we hadn’t just committed one or two little infringements here or there, but that we’d been living miles outside God’s law. Giving us the law is a loving thing for God to do because it stops us pretending that everything’s ok, and it drives us to Jesus.
Questions
- Was there sin before the giving of the law?
- What is the main purpose of the law?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks for the law showing us how sinful we really are and driving us to Christ.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.