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DA I LY D E V O T I O N A L
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S T U D Î E S IN T H E N E W T E S T A M E N T
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FOR INDIVIDUAL MEDITATION
AND FAMILY WORSHIP
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By R. A. TORREY
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19 is an entirely different word from the one so translated in' verse 15. The law was not added in the sense o f adding new conditions to the covenant, which is the thought in verse 15, but it was added in order to show man how dependent he was upon a covenant o f grace, such as God had made with Abraham, and which was fulfilled in Christ. The law was added only “until the seed should come, to whom the promise had been made.” That seed was Christ (v. 16), and He being now come the law had served its purpose and was come to an end and must not be imposed upon Christians (cf. Col. 2:14-17). The law belongs1 to the time intervening between the making o f the promise to Abraham and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Every turn o f Paul’s argument exposes the fallacy 'o f the position o f the Judaizers among the Galatians, and the fallacy o f the Seventh Day Adventists, and all other legalizers in our own day. Thursday, May 2 . Gal. 3 : 20 . Paul, in the closing part o f verse 19, brings forward another mark o f inferiority in the law, “ it was ordained through angels by. (in) ' the hand of a mediator.” God gave the promise directly to Abraham with out a mediator (Gen. 15:5, 6), but as the law was a secondary and incidental matter, not the main thing, it was given by a two fold mediation: first, o f angels ( “through angels” cf. Deut. 33:2; Ps. 68:17; Acts 7:53; Heb. 1:1, 2), and second, Moses ( “ in the hand o f a mediator,” cf. the frequent Old Testament phrase, “by the hand of Moses,” and also Deut. 5:5; Ex. 20:19). The Jews were proud o f the fact that the law was given through angels and through Moses, but Paul shows them how unwar ranted was this pride, that the covenant o f grace, given directly by God had thus
Wednesday, May i. Gal. 3 : 17 - 19 .
The law which came in four hundred and thirty long years after God’s covenant with Abraham could not render null and void this covenant confirmed before by God. God had confirmed this covenant with Abraham in a most remarkable way (Gen. 15:8-18). God’s covenant then must stand in spite o f this later-given law. But “ if the inheritance is o f (out o f) the law (as the Judaizers are teaching you), then the covenant of- God with Abraham is set aside, for “ it is no more o f (out o f) promise,” i. e., unconditional promise of God to be simply accepted by faith (cf. Rom. 4:14). But it must be o f promise for “ God hath granted it to Abraham by (rather, through) promise” (Gen. 15:5, 6), so it could not possibly be “out o f the law.” At this point a question arises: If the inheritance is not “out o f the law,” “what then is the law?” That is to say, what purpose does the law serve? Paul answers: “ It was added because of (rather, for the sake o f) transgressions.” There was sin in the world in man’s heart, and God gave the law to bring out the real character o f sin, to show it in all its sin fulness as transgression o f the law o f God (cf. Rom. 7:7-9, 13; 5:20), in order that man might see that he was a sinner against God (cf. Rom. 3:19, 20), and might thus see his need o f a Saviour. The law was given “till (better, until) the seed should come (i. e., Until Jesus Christ should come) to whom the promise hath been made.” O f course, how that the seed hath come the law gives way to the gospel and Christ becomes “the end o f the law unto righteous ness to every one that believeth” (cf. Rom. , 10:4 ). The law on its part becomes a “school-master to bring us unto Christ” (cf. v. 24). The word for “added” in verse
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