The True Gospel is Reaffirmed to the Galatians Volume 11

Paul Declares the Laws Purpose Part 2

Galatians 3:21-22 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. KJV

As we saw at the close of Part 1 confirmed by the Scripture, Moses (the mediator or mesites of God’s Law to Israel) knew that this Law was not meant to change the people, but only to hold them accountable for their transgressions. Paul takes the Galatians to task immediately with this very point by asking and answering the question of “God’s Law” verses “His Promise” and wants to bring back to their hearts and minds the method by which they received their salvation, unless they believed in vain (Galatians 3:4) and our Lord Jesus Christ death was in vain (Galatians 2:21). Paul’s purpose here is to continue to enlighten them so they can now clearly see the reason why God the Father gave His Law through Moses in the first place to Israel.

Therefore, Paul now expounds further on the limitations of the “Law” to man. The “Law” was external and it came down from the Mountain with lightning and thunder and the people of Israel were terrified and did not want to approach God because of that fear as Moses documented with these words, “All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.’” (Exodus 20:18-20). We see that at the reception of God’s Law to Israel the people were not motivated by the Law of God to draw near to Him, but instead they “stood at a distance”.

However, God’s Law was and is Holy and Perfect, but there was not and is not now any “life” in the Law of God. The English word “life” Paul uses here is from the Greek word zoopoieo which means to vitalize or re-vitalize literally or figuratively to make alive, give life, or quicken. Paul (under inspiration of God the Holy Spirit) understood both the goodness/purity of the Law of God at the same time the incompetence/ineffectual capacity of the Law of God to impart the supernatural “life” of God to its hearers. Paul confirmed this theological truth when he wrote in this manner to the believers in Rome, “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” (Romans 7:4-7).

It is solely and only by virtue of having “God’s Life” freely given to the sinner (upon believing God, “faith in Jesus Christ”) that he or she is made righteous before God. Paul declares that God’s Word has placed every person under sin or in an inferior position before Him because of their inherited “sin nature” from Adam and Eve, as we declared and documented in the previous study in Part 1. Therefore, since we have documented (through the Apostle Paul’s writings) that despite the Law of God’s goodness/purity that it has no power at all to impart, transmit, or provide the quality and character to the sinner that would make them acceptable to God, then the only conclusion for these Galatians and for us is to give up or renounce the usage of the Moral Law or the Jewish Ceremonial Law for any purpose of justification before God. What the “Law” could not do, God did by sending His Son our Lord Jesus Christ to take on Himself man’s sin and then die for those sins (Romans 8:3). The “life” or zoopoieo that Paul refers to here is then freely given to the true believer in Jesus Christ as he wrote in this manner to the Ephesian believers, “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1).

Here Paul meant to be made alive spiritually to God having the veil (that which obscures or conceals) over the continuously sinful heart removed by the “covenant of promise” to Abraham’s “Seed” and that is “faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” as Paul wrote so wonderfully to the Corinthian believers with these words, “But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the Old Covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (2 Corinthians 3:7-16).

My own Personal Note: God never intended for His Law to be so misused and misappropriated as the children of Israel had done. When God came to this earth “in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19), our Lord Jesus demonstrated His disdain for the way the Jewish Scribes and Pharisees had so despicably perverted His Law for profit with absolutely zero regard for spiritual truth and the spiritual well-being of the people of Israel (just read Matthew 23), but likewise we see His Heart broken at the end of that same chapter (Matthew 23:37-39) because of their spiritual blindness. 

“Is the law (which involves a mediator) against the promises of God (which are without a mediator, and rest on God alone and immediately)? God forbid.” life — The law, as an externally prescribed rule, can never internally impart spiritual life to men naturally dead in sin, and change the disposition. If the law had been a law capable of giving life, “verily (in very reality, and not in the mere fancy of legalists) righteousness would have been by the law (for where life is, there righteousness, its condition, must also be).” But the law does not pretend to give life, and therefore not righteousness; so there is no opposition between the law and the promise. Righteousness can only come through the promise to Abraham, and through its fulfillment in the Gospel of grace.” JFB Commentary

“Law shows the sinner his guilt, and grace shows him the forgiveness, he can have in Christ. The law is ‘holy, and just, and good’ (Romans 7:12), but we are unholy, unjust, and bad. The law does not make us sinners; it reveals to us that we already are sinners (see Romans 3:20). The law is a mirror that helps us see our ‘dirty faces’ (James 1:22-25), but you do not wash your face with the mirror! It is grace that provides the through the blood of Jesus Christ (see 1 John 1:7).” Warren W. Wiersbe

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…