The Apostle Paul addresses the Galatians to clarify the role of God’s law in salvation. He emphasizes two key points:
- The superiority of God’s covenant promise through faith over the law.
- The law’s role as part of God’s salvation plan, not in opposition to faith.
Paul explains that although the law does not save, it serves an important purpose: it reveals sin and our need for salvation.
Paul asks, "Why then the law?" and answers, "It was added because of transgressions." The law defines the boundary of God’s holiness and shows how humanity has stepped beyond it. It reveals the depth of human depravity and the vast distance between us and God’s perfect nature.
The law was not created at Mount Sinai but existed before, revealed to Moses and Israel. It has always been a standard of God’s holiness.
Paul’s teaching aligns with Romans 5:12-14, which states that sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and death spread to all because all sinned. Sin existed before the law was given, but it was not counted where there was no law. Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who sinned differently than Adam.
Paul describes the law as a guardian or tutor that held people captive until the coming of Christ. The law’s purpose was to lead people to recognize their need for justification by faith.
Once faith in Christ arrives, believers are no longer under the law’s guardianship. Through faith, all are considered sons of God, united in Christ regardless of ethnicity, social status, or gender.
The law exposes our inability to meet God’s holy standards on our own, leading us to depend on Jesus Christ’s grace and the covenant promise.
