I’ve been posting about Paul’s letter to the Galatians.  We’ve been looking at the covenant we have through Christ.  It all started with Abraham – the father of faith.

According to Scripture, the covenant of blessing that God made with Abraham is still in effect.  We have access to it in Christ.  In my last post, we saw that even the Law of Moses did not set aside the covenant!

For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
Galatians 3:18

This verse is a great summary of everything that we’ve learned so far.  The covenant of blessing that God gave to Abraham was passed down through his descendants.  Now, in Christ, all who believe become a part of Abraham’s family.

But there’s still a question in the back of many people’s minds.  It concerns the law.  What’s the place of the Law in the life of a believer?  Paul anticipates this question and deals with it for us.

What, then, was the purpose of the law?  It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.  The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator.  A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.
Galatians 3:19-20

Before we can understand our relationship to the Law, we need to know its true purpose.  According to Paul, it was added to the covenant.  This means that in legal terms, the law is an addendum to the covenant that God made with Abraham.

That begs the question; why was an addendum necessary?  Again, according to Paul, it was because of transgressions.  Transgressions required a temporary addendum until the promised Messiah arrived.

Of course, in order to understand this, you need to know what, specifically, a transgression is.  When you read the Bible, you’ll find many different words for the general word, sin.

Transgression is a word that means the particular sin of breaking the terms of a covenant.  Since Israel was the only nation in covenant with God, you’ll find that they’re the only ones ever accused of transgressions.

Abraham was the first one in a personal covenant with God.  He trusted God in a way that kept the covenant unbroken over a few generations.  Over time, the children of Israel neglected the covenant.  They didn’t live up to the faith that Abraham originally possessed.

The reason that the Law was given, was so that Israel could see, in writing, the things that Abraham did out of love for God.  It was because they didn’t live this way that they needed an addendum to explain it.

So what we see is that the law was not a covenant in and of itself.  It was a temporary addendum to the eternal covenant God made with Abraham.  That’s why Jesus said…

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”
Matthew 5:17-18

His purpose was not to do away with the Law, but to completely fulfill its requirements once and for all.  That’s the blessing of being in Christ.  We’ll continue to look at this over the next few posts.

Question: How does knowing that the Law is already fulfilled affect your walk with God?

© Nick Zaccardi 2017