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Pathways Through Paul, Vol 2
Daily Devotional
January 30
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Today's Pathway:
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Having shown that the Abrahamic Covenant was greater than the Mosaic Law, Paul now anticipates the argument of his opponents that would accuse him of saying that the Law that God gave to Israel was in opposition to the covenant given to Abraham. In other words, they will say that Paul is teaching that God contradicts Himself. Paul's answer is "God forbid". It is clear that God can never contradict Himself. Because He is holy and omniscient, His words and directives are always correct. The fact that we, with our sinful and finite minds, may not understand them does not mean that God is somehow mistaken. William Vine explains it this way:
"It is inconceivable that these two things could be in themselves inconsistent one with the other. They represent different elements in the character of God. One, the law, is the expression of His righteousness; the other, the promise, is the expression of His grace. God is not at war with Himself."
Paul gives the reason why this is not the case in the second half of verse 21. He was not teaching that the law contradicted the promises made to Abraham, but in fact it was the Judaizers who were doing so! The Law could never give eternal life to anyone because it was never designed to give salvation to anyone. The Judaizers were teaching that it was necessary for salvation. If that were the case, then it would indeed have contradicted the Abrahamic Covenant for then there would be two conflicting ways one could be saved, one way by works (keeping the Law of God) and the other by faith (believing the promises of God). However, the Law was incapable of justifying anyone because "it was weak through the flesh" (Romans 8:3), so it could never be used to impute righteousness to the sinner.
So what purpose did the Law serve? It showed men that they were sinners who needed a Savior. The word translated "concluded" in verse 22 carries the idea of being "shut up", and is translated that way in verse 23. Mankind was imprisoned by sin, and there was nothing that we could do to escape its consequences. If men did not know that they were sinners who could not save themselves, then they would never turn to Christ for justification. They would never choose to receive the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant because they would see themselves as being "good enough" to deserve Heaven. Paul put it this way in Romans 7:9,
"For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died."
Once a man realizes the hopelessness of his situation, he should then choose to believe and receive Christ. So before men were saved they were imprisoned ("kept under") by the Law, and this continued "unto the faith". Kenneth Wuest makes an important observation here:
"The word "unto" is not temporal in its significance, having the idea of "until"; but means here “with a view to.” That is, sinners were kept guarded under the law with a view to their exercising faith in Christ. The law shut them up to one avenue of escape, namely, faith in Christ, for during the 1500 years in which the law was in force, it was the means of convicting sinners of their sins and of causing them to look ahead in faith to the atonement God would some day offer which would pay for their sins. These sinners were saved by the blood of Christ just as surely and just as eternally as believing sinners since the Cross."
The Old Testament Jews obviously never saw the sacrifice of Jesus personally, but, because the law condemned them, they knew that a Redeemer was coming. James Boice adds,
"Even the Law flowed from God’s grace, because it prepared men and women to receive the Lord Jesus Christ when He came."
Paul concludes this section by stating that the Law was simply a schoolmaster with the responsibility of bringing men to faith in Christ. We will look at this further tomorrow.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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