Galatians 3:19 Why then serves the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made… 1. To show the people what actions were sins, that they might not fall into them without knowledge and without warning. 2. To restrain them from those sins against the law of nature and the covenant with God, through fear of the punishment which should follow, and thus root out from them those habits of wickedness which they had contracted in Egypt. In both these respects was the necessity of a mediator, a redeemer, kept before the eyes of the people. Their weakness taught them the need of a Saviour, who should strengthen them; the sight of their sinfulness directed them to a Redeemer, through whom they should obtain deliverance from present sin and forgiveness for the past. For the law is. not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners; and therefore, since the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.The inferiority of the law to the covenant of promise which was fulfilled by the gospel is considered in these particulars. 1. The law represses outward transgressions through the fear which it excites; the gospel effects an inward transformation in man by love. 2. Instead of justifying, which is the work of the gospel, the law condemns; instead of giving life, it does but kill. 3. The law was temporary; it was only to continue until the coming of the seed. 4. The law did not come to man directly from the mouth of God as the gospel does, but by the intervention of angels. Until Christ came, man indeed was not brought face to face with God, but the will of the Father was revealed to the world by the ministry of angels. Only in these last days hath He spoken unto us by His Son. The law depended for its fulfilment on the observance of its conditions by the two contracting parties, whilst the promise of God to Abraham is absolute. (W. Denton, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. |
    |