The Law Covenant

What Was the Purpose of the Law?
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So that the Law served [to us Jews] as our trainer—our guardian, our guide to Christ.—Galatians 3:24, Amplified {FOOTNOTE: In this article words in square brackets are part of the Amplified Bible’s translation.}

Bill Dutka

According to modern Jewish tradition, birth status is derived from the mother. ...Consistent with this tradition, Paul built an argument in Galatians 4:22-31 that Abrahams’ two wives, Sarah and Hagar, represented two covenants. This account is allegorical and, as an allegory, is capable of expressing something more than the simple historical facts. The Scriptures represent Sarah as the mother of the covenant of promise, and Hagar as the mother of the legal (Law) covenant.

The children of the covenant of promise are represented by the children of Sarah and are born free; the children of the legal (Law) covenant of bondage are represented by the children of Hagar and are not born free, but are under bondage. As Paul put it, Ishmael was born in the ordinary way, but Isaac was born miraculously as the result of God’s promise.

Isaac was born free because his mother was a free woman; Ishmael was born in bondage because his mother was a servant. Paul identified the Law Covenant with Hagar, because it offered bondage and because its offspring, the Jewish nation, could not inherit the promised blessings and privileges while claiming justification under the Law.

As we examine the role of the Law for the nation of Israel, we see the hand of the Law guiding that nation. The Scriptures, both old and new, tell us that the Law was a guide, and would remain Israel’s guide, until they came into Christ and received the seal of circumcision in their heart—the holy spirit. Paul wrote: “The Law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being], has freed me from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:2, Amplified). Just what did Paul mean that he was freed from the “law of sin and of death?” He meant that the Law brought an understanding of the sinfulness of sin and, if judged by this perfect standard, it would bring death.

Paul continued: “No person will be justified, made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable, in his sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function] of the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin, [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character]” (Romans 3:20, Amplified).

The Law is a grand design for character development. It was a tutor of righteousness:  “It was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, You must not covet. But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. It is our imperfections, that make us guilty before the law, and the curse carries out its penalty.” (Romans 7:7-13, New Living Translation) “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

The Torah was given to the descendants of Jacob, the twelve tribes of Israel, not as a means to obtain eternal life, but to give them boundaries that would lead to a sanctified condition. More than a thousand years would pass before Messiah would be born from this nation. Just how could God keep them a dedicated and holy people (Exodus 19:6)? This is a key question. To keep the descendants of Abraham a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God, through the administration of angels, gave the nation of Israel the ordinances written in stone.

These ordinances—the Law—became the pedagogue or child-guide to this nation. It held their hand and kept them in the way. Paul’s argument, on the subject of the Law, is consistent throughout his writings. He reasoned that the law was not a justifier before God, but a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. In other words, its purpose was to train them in righteousness and keep them from becoming entangled with those outside of the covenant of God (Proverbs 22:6; 2 Timothy 3:15).

That is Paul’s point in Galatians. His words guide Christians in understanding why the Law was given to Israel. It tells us of the original oath made with Abraham, explains the purpose of the Law, and its role during the Christian dispensation, and that Messiah alone justifies and saves. The law could justify no one!

In Paul’s letter to the brethren at Rome, we are informed, “No person will be justified—made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable—in his sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law” (Romans 3:20, Amplified). “The Law served [to us Jews] as our trainer—our guardian, our guide to Christ, to lead us—until Christ [came], that we might be justified (declared righteous, put in right standing with God) by and through faith” (Galatians 3:24, Amplified).

Once again, “What was the purpose of the Law?” The apostle Paul stated that the Law gave him a consciousness of sin, and this is the heart and soul of the Law. Its purpose was to nurture and develop a tender conscience toward God and away from sin. It was established to keep them, the nation of Israel, “a holy people.” In fact, certain features of the Law, such as the yearly Day of Atonement sacrifices, were an annual reminder of personal and national sins, imperfections, and a need to be made right with God (Leviticus 23:27).

Thus the law, instituted 430 years after the promise or covenant made with Abraham, kept them as a holy people by keeping them separate, and insulated them from the foreigners around them (Exodus 19:6). Consider the benefits of the Law. As Paul stated in Romans, it gave them an advantage in every way. It was not only a method to keep their conscience tender toward God, it also gave them knowledge about nutrition, sanitation, and relationships; and it kept them and their families from participating in many vices that infected those outside the covenant of God.

Paul reasoned with the Galatian brethren that if righteousness could come from the Law, then there would be no necessity for Christ. He wrote to the Roman brethren that no one could perfectly keep the Law, that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” confirming that righteousness could not come from the Law (Romans 3:23). The nation was told by Jehovah that they were to be a special people: “A kingdom of priests, a holy nation [consecrated, set apart to the worship of God]. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites” (Exodus19:6, Amplified). It was these laws and rituals that kept them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, separated to God and apart from the world. These laws helped them remain consecrated to Jehovah.

With this understanding, we can see that the Law would cease its purpose when the Messiah came; the promise was fulfilled. The holy spirit became their new guide, and would be instrumental in teaching them and keeping them “in Christ.” No longer would they be a consecrated nation, for as a nation they lost exclusivity to the promises of God; but God would develop his bride for Christ from both the Jewish remnant and the Gentile nations.

The precepts of the law kept them a holy people and separated them from the Canaanites that lived by the sea, the Amalekites in the south, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites that lived in the mountains. What a mighty pagan force surrounded them! What a mighty Godly force—the Law of Moses—kept their faith from being completely overwhelmed by their worldly neighbors. Understanding the environment that shaped that nation helps us understand that there would be no Israel without the institution of the Law. It served its purpose in that it was a guardian, or tutor, that would ultimately bring a remnant to Christ and begin the Christian dispensation. The Law literally held their hand, keeping them God’s favored people.

Though it kept them his favored people, the Law could not give life. It was a mirror to them of their sinful state. Jesus’ own words tell us that he was to free the nation from the servitude of the Law which kept them slaves of sin. They needed the redemption that only the Messiah could give. He truly was the nation’s only way to come out from under the curse of the Law: “In [this] freedom Christ has made us free—completely liberated us; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery—which you have once put off” (Galatians 5:1, Amplified).

Martin Luther, remembered for his sermons about justification by faith, believed that understanding that the Law could justify no one was so vital, that he felt Paul personally penned not just the closing salutation, but the entire book of Galatians (see Galatians 6:11). He understood the Scriptures to teach that their life in Christ depended on their correct understanding of justification by faith, and by faith alone, and that continuance in the doctrinal error of justification by works would sever them forever from Christ (Galatians 5:2-4).

Luther fully understood Paul’s protests that those who receive circumcision are under obligation and bound to practice the whole Law and its ordinances. His argument to the brethren was that if you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing, and so separated (severed) from Christ and from God’s gracious favor and unmerited blessing. It is this faith in Jesus as Messiah, not observance of the Law, which gives us our standing with Jehovah.

As we reflect on the understanding set before us in Galatians, we can comprehend more fully the apostle Paul’s teaching regarding the Law and its purpose in and for the nation of Israel. Its function becomes transparent, its role as guardian to the nation is clear, and the result is visible in that it brought a remnant to Christ: “So that the Law served [to us Jews] as our trainer—our guardian, our guide to Christ, to lead us—until Christ [came], that we might be justified (declared righteous, put in a right standing with God) by and through faith” (Galatians 3:24, Amplified).