The Law Useful
Galatians 3:21
Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life…


No doubt the Jaw restrains us; but all chains are not fetters, nor are all walls the gloomy precincts of a gaol. It is a blessed chain by which the ship, now buried in the trough, and now rising on the top of the sea, rides at anchor, and outlives the storm. The condemned would give worlds to break his chain, but the sailor trembles lest his should snap; and when the grey morning breaks on the wild lee shore, all strewn with wrecks and corpses, he blesses God for the good iron that stood the strain. The pale captive eyes his high prison wall, to curse the man who built it, and envies the little bird that, perched upon its summit, sings merrily, and flies away on wings of freedom; but were you travelling some Alpine pass, where the narrow road, cut out of the face of the rock, hung over a frightful gorge, it is with other eyes you would look on the wall that restrains your restive steed from backing into the gulf below. Such are the restraints God's law imposes — no other. It is a fence from evil — nothing else. I challenge the world to put its finger on any one of these Ten Commandments which is not meant and calculated to keep us from harming ourselves or hurting others.

(Dr. Guthrie.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

WEB: Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.




The Importance of the Law
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