Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Faith Writes the Law of God In Our Hearts.


(Excerpt)

What Is the Use of the Law?

This is the question that the apostle Paul asks in verse 19,

Gal 3:19  Wherefore then serveth the law? …

both for the purpose of anticipating the objections of the Antinomians, 

((Definition- Antinomian- a Christian who believes that faith and divine grace bring about salvation and that it is therefore not necessary to accept established moral laws))

and also that he may the more emphatically show the place of the law in the Gospel. The question is a very natural one. Since the inheritance is wholly by promise, and a covenant confirmed can not be changed,--nothing can be taken from it, and nothing added to it,--why did the law come in four hundred and thirty years afterward? "Wherefore then serveth the law?" More literally, Why then the law? What business has it here? What part does it act? Of what use is it? 

The Question Answered

"It was added because of transgressions."

Gal 3:19  Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, …

 Let it be understood that "the entering of the law" at Sinai was not the beginning of its existence. The law of God existed in the days of Abraham, and was kept by him. Gen.26:5.

Gen 26:5  Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. 

God proved the children of Israel, as to whether they would keep His law or not, more than a month before the law was spoken upon Sinai. Ex.16:1-4,27,28. 

Exo 16:1  And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. 
Exo 16:2  And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: 
Exo 16:3  And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. 
Exo 16:4  Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. 

Exo 16:27  And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. 
Exo 16:28  And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? 

"It Was Added."

The word here rendered "added" is the same as that rendered "spoken" in Heb.12:19: "They that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more."

From G4314 and G5087; to place additionally, that is, lay beside, annex, repeat: - add, again, give more, increase, lay unto, proceed further, speak to any more.

Heb 12:19  And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more

 It is the same word that occurs in the Septuagint rendering of Deut.5:22, where we read that God spoke the ten commandments with a great voice; "and He added no more." So we may read the answer to the question, "Wherefore then the law?" thus: "It was spoken because of transgressions." It is the reprover of sin. 

Deu 5:22  These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. 

Gal 3:19  Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, …

Because of Transgressions

"Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound." Rom.5:20.

In other words, "that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." Rom.7:13.

It was given under circumstances of the most awful majesty, as a warning to the children of Israel that by their unbelief they were in danger of losing the promised inheritance.

They did not, like Abraham, believe the Lord; and "whatsoever is not of faith is sin."

Rom_14:23  And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

 But the inheritance was promised "through the righteousness of faith," and, therefore, the unbelieving Jews could not receive it. So the law was spoken to them, to convince them that they had not the righteousness that was necessary for the possession of the inheritance; for, although righteousness does not come by the law, it must be witnessed by the law. Rom.3:21.

Rom 3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets

 In short, the law was given to show them that they had not faith, and so were not true children of Abraham, and were therefore in a fair way to lose the inheritance. God would have put His law into their hearts, even as He put it into Abraham's heart, if they had believed; but when they disbelieved, yet still professed to be heirs of the promise, it was necessary to show them in the most marked manner that their unbelief was sin. The law was spoken because of transgression, or, what is the same thing, because of the unbelief of the people. 

Self-Confidence Is Sin

"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." Hab.2:4. The people of Israel were full of self-confidence and of unbelief in God, as is shown by their murmuring against God's leading, and by their assumption of ability to do anything that God required, or to fulfil His promises. They had the same spirit as their descendants, who asked, "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" John 6:28.

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 

They were so ignorant of God's righteousness that they thought that they could establish their own righteousness as an equivalent. Rom.10:3.

Rom 10:3  For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 

Unless they saw their sin, they could not avail themselves of the promise. Hence, the necessity of the speaking of the law. 


The Glad Tidings
By E. J. WAGGONER
(Excerpt-  To be continued)


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