Last week, we began looking at how the law complements the Gospel, the first way being that it arrived after Christ was promised - over four centuries after the promise made to Abraham and his offspring. Let’s look at two more ways the law complements the gospel:
2. Because It Combatted Sin until Christ Arrived (19-20)
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
The second way the law complements the gospel is that it combatted sin until Christ arrived. The Galatians—and the false teachers amongst them—would likely have wondered, "Why then the law?" (19). If it is all about believing the same promise God made to Abraham—if he was justified by looking forward to Jesus and we are justified by looking back to him—then why did God give Israel the law?
There is scholarly confusion about how to interpret portions of this passage, but the generalities of Paul's answer seem clear enough. [1] Why was the law given? Because of transgressions (19).
When I was a boy, one of my favorite games on a rainy day was the floor-is-hot-lava game. Because we imagined the floor was deadly, we did everything possible to avoid it. And the law became like that for the emerging Israelite nation. They had to know what would kill them as a people, and the law helped them discover it. What will happen if adultery is rampant among us? It will kill us; avoid it. What will happen if children do not obey their parents? It will kill us; avoid it. What will happen if we worship other gods? It will kill us; avoid it. What will happen if we are greedy? It will kill us; avoid it. What will happen if we obey any sexual impulse? It will kill us; avoid it. What will happen if we abuse the poor or the foreigner? It will kill us; avoid it.
The law helped them see what was good and bad for them. Like the nutrition facts on the side of food packaging, the law showed them the healthy (and not-so-healthy) forms of life. And you see this throughout the historical books of the Old Testament (Judges, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, Ezra, or Nehemiah). When they obeyed the law, they flourished. When they disobeyed, it hurt them. When Samson worshiped God, refrained from uncleanness, and kept himself from foreign women, he was strong and mighty. But as he succumbed to temptation and increasingly walked away from a law-guided life, he lost his strength. When David walked with God, kept himself pure, and wrote his songs of worship, he excelled. But when he caved to his baser impulses, he lost his strength. And when the nation as a whole trusted God, he expanded their borders and gave them peace. But when they rejected God's ways and adopted the ungodly ways of the nations around them, they suffered.
Paul's point is that the law did not negate the promise. As he had already said, "If the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise" (18). And that promise was an entirely one-sided affair. When Abraham believed God, they made a covenant. In those days, a contract was often made by cutting an animal sacrifice in two and passing through it. It was a way of saying, "May I be torn asunder if I break my vow to you." God and Abraham even went to that length, but the thing is, Abraham was asleep for the whole event (Genesis 15:7-21). He was a mere recipient. God was the active party. God was the promiser. And God is a man of his word.
When the law arrived, it could not negate Abraham's covenant with God because it was all based on God's promise. But it added rules for daily life until the Christ God promised Abraham should come (19). And the law was not one-sided—or God-sided—like the promise to Abraham was. The law was two-sided. When the law came, angels brought it to Moses, who brought it to the people—intermediaries (19-20). It was contractual, negotiated, and legal—sign here, please.
It came, as Paul said, because of transgressions (19). Left to their own devices, Israel would have devolved and assimilated into the nations around them. They would have lost their distinction. They would not have been known as a God-fearing people. Once they lost their national identity and the people of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were dissolved into the nations, the promised line would be lost! So they had to remain intact as a people—at least until Christ came! And to remain intact, God gave them the law to supervise and keep their sin in check. Through all those centuries, the law combatted sin in Israel, urging the people on until the promised offspring arrived (19).
3. Because It Reveals Our Need for Christ (21-22)
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
The final way our text shows us the law complements the gospel is that it reveals our need for Christ. It does not contradict the promises of God because it could never give life or righteousness before God (21). In the previous chapter, we thought about how there are technically two ways to God—law or faith. But here we see that the way of works-righteousness is so impossible that it is considered a non-way—it could not give life (21).
What it did was imprison everything under sin (22). We do not often focus on this aspect of the law (or Scripture). We usually come to the Bible for something to affirm or encourage us, but sometimes, the good news cannot be appreciated until we know the bad news. The law teaches us how morally helpless we are. It was given to Moses to show us what sin is and to make us aware of our need for a Savior. Paul says that the law has “imprisoned” us because it reveals our sin and shows us that we cannot attain righteousness on our own. The only way to be free from the power of sin is to accept the promise of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Prison! What powerful imagery. We are locked up, shackled, behind bars, without freedom—not only because, when we break the law, we become guilty, but because we cannot not break the law in our natural state. Without Jesus, we are unable to obey!
The law complements the gospel because it points us to our need for it. The law of God, as revealed through Moses, nature, and conscience, is to the gospel as baking powder is to a chocolate chip cookie. Without baking powder, the cookie will not become light and airy; instead, it will be flat and dense. And without the law, the gospel might seem flat and uninspiring to you. But once the law does its work by showing you your limitations and the impossibility of keeping it in its entirety, the gracious gift of the gospel begins to rise. As Paul said, "The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Christ Jesus might be given to those who believe" (22). The law helps us see our sin problem and our need for Jesus. As Paul wrote in Romans, "If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin" (Romans 7:7a).
In the Star Wars show Andor, young Cassian Andor finds himself wrongly jailed in an imperial prison. When he realizes he is never going to get out alive, he pitches an escape attempt to an experienced older inmate who knows the prison inside and out and can devise an escape plan. And, on the big day—spoiler alert—he leads Cassian and hundreds of other inmates to freedom. But when they all finally work their way to freedom, a tall jump into a large body of water is required. The older inmate hesitates. He will not jump because he cannot swim. It is here that his story ends. [2] He could lead everyone else to freedom, but he could not be free. This is the way of the law—it can point you to freedom, but it is not the way. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
To again quote Paul in Romans, "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). And that knowledge of sin should cause us to turn away from the law as a path to being accepted by God, and toward Jesus!
[1] Dr. Douglas Moo is widely considered one of the great, modern experts on the book of Galatians. And in his class on this book, he says he is puzzled by Paul's answer in these verses. He estimates there are over 200 possible interpretations scholars have put forward about this text—and, remember, there is only one accurate interpretation. [2] Caron, Toby Haynes Susanna White. 2022. Andor. USA: Lucas Film. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9253284/.