3516-To What Law? by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 25, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 29.

3516—To What Law?

By Editor

To what law does Paul refer in Gal. 3:19, 24-26? Also in chapters 2:16-21; 3:2-5, 11-13; 4:4, 5? H. P. B.

It is impossible, in the space which we have and in justice to other querists, to attempt a detailed answer to all these questions, or a detailed explanation of all these texts. What will help our inquirers, we are sure, will be one or two preliminary considerations: First, what is the general subject of the epistle? We are sure that all will agree that it is justification by faith in Christ, with the emphasis on "in Christ," not justification by doing, not justification by any law whatsoever, but justification by faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is the enforcing of the same truth that is taught by Romans. If there could be any difference at all, Romans would simply be justification by faith. But there were conditions which led to an emphasis on "Christ," justification by faith in Christ, to the Galatians. Second, this point is also emphasized: that law can not justify; and in some cases it seems to us that the apostle is talking of law in general. No law can justify the sinner. It matters not what it is or what its nature is. Any law given by any authority which has been transgressed by any one subject to that authority, is by that law condemned. He can only be justified by the grace of the governor. But when the apostle brings it right down to the very sinner himself, the law which condemns must be the law which points out sin, and the only law which points out sin is the law of Ten Commandments.

In chapter 2:16, he could say to the Galatian brethren that they knew that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ; and that if one should go back and say, "I will be justified by works that I can do," whatever those works were, he was building again the things which he destroyed, he was making Christ a minister of sin, and that he could not do. Righteousness could not come to the sinner by the law; it must come through Christ. In Gal. 3:19 the question is asked, "Wherefore then serveth the law?" In other words, "What was purposed in speaking the law?" The only trouble to our inquirers, we apprehend, is the term "added;" but that expression seems to be clearly parallel with Rom. 5:20: "Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound," that sin might be exceeding sinful. The time had come when the consciences of men had become so perverted that they could not be trusted. The law which God wrote in man's very nature in the beginning had become so effaced by sin, that man's conscience must be brought to a standard which was unperverted and unpervertible. Consequently, when God brought His people out of Egypt He gave them the great moral standard, in order that they might know what sin was; and that moral standard was the Ten Commandments. It entered there in its written form, that the offense might abound, that sin might be seen to be exceeding sinful. It was to that people spoken. Heb. 12:19.

The Greek word rendered "added" in Gal. 3:19 is the same as the word rendered "spoken" in Heb. 12:19. It was spoken by God in order that sin might be more clearly seen. It was added because of transgressions; that is, that transgression might be known to be what it really is. It is the same Greek word in the Septuagint in Deut. 5:22, "He added no more," referring directly to the Ten Commandments. That Greek word is prostithemi. It is defined by Baxter: "To put to, or near to, lay with, or by the side of, to add, superadd, adjoin." What it refers to in these texts, is that God added it in its written form.

It was given in written form until a certain time, designated as "till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made." The promise is that of the inheritance, or the new earth. Rom. 4:13. That is the promise which was given to Abraham. In that new earth state there will be no prohibitive commandments, God's law will be written in the hearts of all His children. Every single precept will be an enabling act, in which they will find power, and grace, and pleasure to do God's will. But until sinners are no more, the law is needed, and needed in the form in which God has given it.

Christ has not come yet as the Seed bringing the promise. He came as our sacrifice, came to give Himself for us. He came as the way, He is coming again as the life, as the king, and then He will say, "Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." That coming is set forth in Eze. 21:25-27. Referring to Zedekiah, whose throne was just overturned by Babylon, the prophet says: "And thou, O deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day is come, in the time of the iniquity of the end, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Remove the miter, and take off the crown; this shall be no more the same; exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: this also shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him."

After the overturning of the kingdom by Babylon came the overturning by Medo-Persia, by Grecia, by Rome; and succeeding Rome, in all the time before, I came to Lord Jesus Christ to take the kingdom and reign forever; and until that time come, God's law will still stand in its written, largely negative form, as a reproof to all sinners. Thus in Gal. 4:4 we read that God "sent forth His Son, . . . made under the law," condemned because a human, our Representative, and yet committing no sin, that He might redeem all others who are under the law. That law prescribes all duty, forbids all sin, and is in absolute harmony with His Holy Spirit. Consequently, in him in whom the fruits of the Spirit are manifest there is no condemnation; God's law is not against him. But if a man is doing that which is contrary to the Spirit, he is still under the law, condemned by it.