A Finished Work.
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,”—from sin and death. This He has done by “being made a curse for us,” and so we are freed from all necessity of sinning. Sin can have no dominionover us if we accept Christ in truth, and without reserve. This was just as much a present truth in the days of Abraham, Moses, David, and Isaiah, as it is to-day. More than seven hundred years before the cross was raised on Calvary, Isaiah, who testified of the things which he understood, because his own sin had been purged by a live coal from God’s altar, said: “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; ... He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.... The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isa. 53:4-6. “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins; return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee.” Isa. 44:22. Long before Isaiah’s time, David wrote: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” Ps. 103:10, 12.
“We which have believed do enter into rest,” because “the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” Heb. 4:3. The blessing that we received is “the blessing of Abraham.” We have no other foundation than that of the apostles and prophets. Eph. 2:20. It is a full and complete salvation that God has provided; it awaits us as we come into the world; and we do not relieve God of any burden by rejecting it, nor do we add to His labor by accepting it.
“The Promise of the Spirit.”
Christ hath redeemed us, “that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Do not make the mistake of reading this as though it were “that we might receive the promise of the gift of the Spirit.” It does not say that, and it does not mean that, as a little thought will show. Christ has redeemed us, and that fact proves the gift of the Spirit, for it was only “through the eternal Spirit” that He offered Himself without spot to God. Heb. 9:14. But for the Spirit, we should not know that we were sinners; much less should we know redemption. The Spirit convinces of sin and of righteousness. John 16:8. “It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.” 1 John 5:6. “He that believeth hath the witness in himself.” Christ is crucified in every man; that, as we have already seen, is shown in the fact that we are all under the curse, and Christ alone, on the cross, bears the curse. But it is through the Spirit that Christ dwells on earth among men. Faith enables us to receive the testimony of this witness, and rejoice in that which the possession of the Spirit assures.
Note further: The blessing of Abraham comes on us, in order that we may receive the promise of the Spirit. But it is only through the Spirit that the blessing comes; therefore, the blessing can not bring to us the promise that we shall receive the Spirit. We already have the Spirit with the blessing. But, having the blessing of the Spirit, namely, righteousness, we are sure of receiving that which the Spirit promises to the righteous, namely, an everlastinginheritance. In blessing Abraham God promised him an inheritance. The expression, “the promise of the Spirit,” is used, as is plainly to be seen, in the same sense as “the promise of God,” “the gift of God;” that is, the promise or the gift which God bestows. The Spirit is the pledge of all good.
The Spirit the Pledge of Inheritance.
All God’s gifts are in themselves promises of more. There is always much more to follow. God’s purpose in the Gospel is to gather together in one all things in Jesus Christ, “in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will; that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in whom also after that [or when] ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.” Eph. 1:10-14.
Of this inheritance we must speak further later on. Suffice it now to say that it is the inheritance promised to Abraham, whose children we become by faith. The inheritance belongs to all who are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus; and the Spirit that marks our sonship is the promise, the pledge, the first-fruits of that inheritance. Those who accept Christ’s glorious deliverance from the curse of the law,—redemption not from obedience to the law, for obedience is not a curse, but from disobedience to thelaw,—have in the Spirit a taste of the power and the blessing of the world to come.
The Promise Was Made to Abraham.
It will be seen that Abraham is the one about whom this chapter centers. He is the one to whom the Gospel of world-wide salvation was preached. He believed, and received the blessing, even the blessing of righteousness. All who believe are blessed with believing Abraham. They who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse, in order that the blessing of Abraham might come on us. “To Abraham and his seed were the promises made.” “If the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” Thus it is clear that the promise to us is the promise that was made to Abraham,—the promise of an inheritance,—and in which we share as his children. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse, that we might receive the inheritance of righteousness. Christ through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, to purge our consciences from dead works to serve the living God; because “He is the Mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death ... they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” Heb. 9:14, 15.
“And His Seed.”
“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one; and to thy Seed, which is Christ.” There ishere no play upon words; the issue is a vital one. The controversy is over the way of salvation, whether it is by Christ alone, or by something else, or by Christ and something or somebody else. Many people imagine that it is by them,—that they must save themselves by making themselves good. Many others think that Christ is a valuable adjunct, a good assistant to their efforts; while others still are willing to give Him the first place, but not the only place. They regard themselves as good seconds. It is the Lord and they who do the work. But our text shuts off all this assumption and self-assertion. Not seeds, but the seed. Not many, but one. “And to thy Seed, which is Christ.” Christ is the One.
Not Two Lines.
We hear much about the “spiritual seed” and the “literal seed” of Abraham. If that contrast meant anything at all, it would mean a fanciful seed as opposed to a real seed. The opposite ofspiritualisfleshly, and the fleshly seed, as we shall see later on, is not the real seed, but only a bond-servant, to be cast out, having no share whatever in the inheritance. So there is no fleshly seed of Abraham. The spiritual seed, however, is a literal, or real, seed, even as Christ is “a quickening Spirit,” and yet most real. It is possible for men walking about in the body, in this world, to be wholly spiritual, and such they must be, or else they are not children of Abraham. “They that are in the flesh can not please God.” “Flesh and blood doth not inherit the kingdom of God.” There is only one line of descendants from Abraham, only one set of real children, and they are those who areof faith,—those who, by receiving Christ by faith, receive power to become sons of God.
Many Promises in One.
But while the Seed is singular, the promises are plural. It is not merely one specific promise that was made to Abraham and his Seed, but promises. God has nothing for any man that was not promised to Abraham; and all the promises of God are conveyed in Christ, in whom Abraham believed. “For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea; wherefore also through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us.” 2 Cor. 1:20.
The Promised Inheritance.
That the thing promised, and the sum of all the promises, is an inheritance, is clearly seen from Gal. 3:15-18. The sixteenth verse has just been noted, and the seventeenth verse tells us that the law, coming in four hundred and thirty years after the promise was made and confirmed, can not make it of none effect; “for if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” Verse 18. What this promised inheritance is may be seen by comparing the verse just quoted with Rom. 4:13: “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” And so, although the heavens and the earth which are now are “reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men,” when “the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with ferventheat,” we, “according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:7, 12, 13. This is the heavenly country for which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob looked.
An Inheritance without Curse.
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse; ... that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” This “promise of the Spirit” we have seen to be the possession of the whole earth made new—redeemed from the curse; for “the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.” The earth, fresh and new from the hand of God, perfect in every respect, was given to man for a possession. Gen. 1:27, 28, 31. Man sinned, and brought the curse upon himself. Christ has taken the whole curse, both of man and of all creation, upon Himself. He redeems the earth from the curse, that it may be the everlasting possession that God originally designed it to be, and He also redeems man from the curse, that he may be fitted for the possession of such an inheritance. This is the sum of the Gospel. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23. This gift of eternal life is included in the promise of the inheritance, for God promised the land to Abraham and to his seed for “an everlasting possession.” Gen. 17:7, 8. It is an inheritance of righteousness, because the promise that Abraham should be heir of the world was through the righteousness of faith. Righteousness, eternal life, and a place in which to live eternally,—these are all in the promise, and theyare all that could possibly be desired or given. To redeem man, but to give him no place in which to live, would be an incomplete work; the two things are parts of one whole, for the power by which we are redeemed is the power of creation,—the power by which the heavens and the earth are made new. When all is accomplished, “there shall be no more curse.” Rev. 22:3.
The Covenants of Promise.
That the covenant and promise of God are one and the same thing, is clearly seen from Gal. 3:17, where it appears that to disannul the covenant would be to make void the promise. In Genesis 17 we read that God made a covenant with Abraham to give him the land of Canaan—and with it the whole world—for an everlasting possession; but Gal. 3:18 says that God gave it to him by promise. God’s covenants with men can be nothing else than promises to them: “Who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things.” Rom. 11:35, 36. It is so rare for men to do anything without expecting an equivalent, that theologians have taken it for granted that it is the same with God. So they begin their dissertations on God’s covenant with the statement that a covenant is “a mutual agreement between two or more persons, to do or refrain from doing certain things.” But God does not make bargains with men, because He knows that they could not fulfil their part. After the flood God made a covenant with every beast ofthe earth, and with every fowl; but the beasts and the birds did not promise anything in return. Gen. 9:9-16. They simply received the favor at the hand of God. That is all we can do. God promises us everything that we need, and more than we can ask or think, as a gift. We give Him ourselves, that is, nothing, and He gives us Himself, that is, everything. That which makes all the trouble is that even when men are willing to recognize the Lord at all, they want to make bargains with Him. They want it to be a “mutual” affair—a transaction in which they will be considered as on a par with God. But whoever deals with God must deal with Him on His own terms, that is, on a basis of fact—that we have nothing and are nothing, and He has everything and is everything, and gives everything.
The Covenant Confirmed.
The covenant, that is, the promise of God to give men the whole earth made new, after having made them free from the curse, was “confirmed before of God in Christ.” He is the Surety of the new covenant, even the everlasting covenant. “For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea; wherefore also through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us.” 2 Cor. 1:20, R. V. In Him we have obtained the inheritance (Eph. 1:11), for the Holy Spirit is the first-fruits of the inheritance, and the possession of the Holy Spirit is Christ Himself dwelling in the heart by faith. God blessed Abraham, saying, “In thy Seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed,” and this is fulfilled in Christ,whom God has sent to bless us in turning us away from our iniquities. Acts 3:25, 26.
Confirmed by an Oath of God.
“When God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself; ... for men verily swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Heb. 6:13-20. Compare Gen. 22:15-18.
It was the oath of God, therefore, that confirmed the covenant made to Abraham; that promise and oath to Abraham are our ground of hope, our strong consolation; they are “sure and steadfast,” because the oath sets forth Christ as the pledge, the surety, and “He ever liveth.” He upholds all things by the word of His power. Heb. 1:3. “In Him all things consist.” Col. 1:17, R. V. Therefore, when God “interposed Himself by an oath,” which is our consolation and hope in fleeing for refuge from sin, He pledged His own existence, and with it the entire universe, for our salvation. Surely a firm foundation for our hope is laid in His excellent Word.
The Law Can Not Make the Covenant Void.
Do not forget as we proceed that the covenant and the promise are the same thing, and that it conveys land, even the whole earth made new, to Abraham and his seed; and remember also that, since only righteousness is to dwell in the new heavens and the new earth promised to Abraham and his seed, the promise includes the making righteous of all who believe. This is done in Christ, in whom the promise is confirmed. Now, “though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.” Gal. 3:15. How much more must this be the case with God’s covenant! Therefore, since perfect and everlasting righteousness was assured by the covenant made with Abraham, which was also confirmed in Christ, by the oath of God, it is impossible that the law, which was spoken four hundred and thirty years later, could introduce any new feature. The inheritance was given to Abraham by promise, but if after four hundred and thirty years it should transpire that now the inheritance must be gained in some other way, then the promise would be of no effect, and the covenant would be made void. But that would involve the overthrow of God’s government, and the ending of His existence; for He pledged His own existence togiveAbraham and his seed the inheritance and the righteousness necessary for it. “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Rom. 4:13. The Gospel was as fulland complete in the days of Abraham as it has ever been or ever will be. No addition to it, or change in its provisions or conditions, could possibly be made after God’s oath to Abraham. Nothing can be taken away from it as it thus existed, and not one thing can ever be required from any man more than what was required of Abraham.
What Is the Use of the Law?
This is the question that the apostle Paul asks in verse 19, both for the purpose of anticipating the objections of the Antinomians, 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.” 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. 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.
“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.” 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.
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.” 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. 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 losethe 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. They were so ignorant of God’s righteousness that they thought that they could establish their own righteousness as an equivalent. Rom. 10:3. Unless they saw their sin, they could not avail themselves of the promise. Hence, the necessity of the speaking of the law.
The Ministration of Angels.
“Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation?” Heb. 1:14, R. V. Just what office the “thousands of angels” who were at Sinai had to perform, we can not know; but we do knowthat they have a close and deep interest in everything that concerns man, although the preaching of the Gospel is necessarily not committed to them. When the foundations of the earth were laid, “all the sons of God shouted for joy;” and a multitude of the heavenly host sang praises when the birth of the Saviour of mankind was announced. They are attendants upon the King of kings, waiting to “do His pleasure, harkening unto the voice of His word.” It would not be otherwise than that they should attend as a royal body-guard when the law was proclaimed, and, of course, they were not there merely for pomp and parade. Stephen said to the murderous Sanhedrim: “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers; who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.” Acts 7:51-53. Of him who is now the adversary, the devil, it was said, “Thou sealest up the sum,” measure, or pattern. Eze. 28:12. The French of Segond has it, “Thou puttest the seal to perfection,” and the Danish, “Thou stampest the seal upon the fit ordinance,” indicating that before his fall he was what might be termed the keeper of the seal, and that it was his duty to affix it to every ordinance passed. Angels “excel in strength,” and the fact that they were all present at the giving of the law shows that it was an event of the greatest magnitude and importance.
In the Hand of a Mediator.
For the present we may pass by the question of time involved in the phrase, “till the Seed should come, to whom the promise was made,” since our present study is the relation of the law to the promise. The law was given to the people from Sinai “in the hand of a Mediator.” Who was this Mediator?—There can be only one answer: “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” 1 Tim. 2:5. “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.” God is one, the people are the other, and Christ Jesus is the Mediator. Just as surely as God is one party to the transaction, Christ must be the Mediator, for there is no other mediator between God and men. “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12.
Christ’s Work as Mediator.
Man has wandered from God, and rebelled against Him. “All we like sheep have gone astray.” Our iniquities have separated between us and Him. Isa. 59:1, 2. “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7. Christ came that He might destroy the enmity, and reconcile us to God; for He is our peace. Eph. 2:14-16. Christ “suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” 1 Peter 3:18. Through Him we have access to God. Rom. 5:1, 2; Eph.2:18. In Him the carnal mind, the rebellious mind, is taken away, and the mind of the Spirit given in its stead, “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4. Christ’s work is to save that which was lost, to restore that which was broken, to reunite that which was separated. His name is “God with us;” and so with Him dwelling in us we are made “partakers of the Divine nature.” 2 Peter 1:4.
It should be understood that Christ’s work as Mediator is not limited either as to time or extent. To be Mediator means more than to be intercessor. Christ was Mediator before sin came into the world, and will be Mediator when no sin is in the universe, and no need for expiation. “In Him all things consist.” He is the very impress of the Father’s being. He is the life. Only in and through Him does the life of God flow to all creation. He is, then, the means, medium, mediator, the way, by which the light of life pervades the universe. He did not first become Mediator at the fall of man, but was such from eternity. No one, not simply no man, but no created being, comes to the Father but by Christ. No angel can stand in the Divine presence except in Christ. No new power was developed, no new machinery, so to speak, was required to be set in motion by the entering of sin into the world. The power that had created all things only continued in God’s infinite mercy, to work for the restoration of that which was lost. In Christ were all things created, and, therefore, in Him wehave redemption through His blood. Col. 1:14-17. The power that pervades and upholds the universe is the power that saves us. “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
The Law Not against the Promise.
“Is the law then against the promises of God?”—Not by any means. Far from it. If it were, it would not be in the hands of a Mediator, Christ; for all the promises of God are in Him. 2 Cor. 1:20. So we find the law and the promise combined in Christ. We may know that the law was not and is not against the promises of God, from the fact that God gave both the promise and the law. We know, also, that the giving of the law introduced no new element into the covenant, since, having been confirmed, nothing could be added to or taken from it. But the law is not useless, else God would not have given it. It is not a matter of indifference whether we keep it or not, for God commands it. But, all the same, it is not against the promise, and brings no new element in. Why?—Simply because the law is in the promise. The promise of the Spirit includes this: “I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.” Heb. 8:10. And this is what God indicated had been done for Abraham when “He gave him the covenant of circumcision.” Read Rom. 4:11; 2:25-29; Phil. 3:3.
The Law Magnifies the Promise.
The law, as already seen, is not against the promise, because it is in the promise. The promise that Abraham and his seed should inherit the world, was “through the righteousness of faith.” But the law is righteousness, as God says: “Harken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law.” Isa. 51:7. So, then, the righteousness which the law demands is the only righteousness that can inherit the promised land, but it is obtained, not by the works of the law, but by faith. The righteousness of the law is not attained by human efforts to do the law, but by faith. See Rom. 9:30-32. Therefore, the greater the righteousness which the law demands, the greater is seen to be the promise of God; for He has promised to give it to all who believe. Yea, He has sworn it. When, therefore, the law was spoken from Sinai, “out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice,” accompanied by the sounding of the trump of God, and with the whole earth quaking at the presence of the Lord and all His holy angels, thus indicating the inconceivable greatness and majesty of the law of God, it was, to every one who remembered the oath of God, but a revelation of the wondrous greatness of God’s promise; for all the righteousness which the law demands, He has sworn to give to every one who trusts Him. The “loud voice” with which the law was spoken, was the loud voice that from the mountain-tops proclaims the glad tidings of the saving mercy of God. See Isa. 40:9. God’s precepts are promises; theymust necessarily be such, because He knows that men have no power. All that God requires is what He gives. When He says, “Thou shalt not,” we may take it as His assurance that if we but trust Him He will preserve us from the sin against which He warns us. He will keep us from falling.
Conviction of Sin and of Righteousness.
Jesus said of the Comforter, “When He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” John 16:8. Of Himself He said, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Mark 2:17. “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick.” A man must feel his need before he will accept help; he must know his disease before he can apply the remedy. Even so the promise of righteousness will be utterly unheeded by one who does not realize that he is a sinner. The first part of the comforting work of the Holy Spirit, therefore, is to convince men of sin. So “the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20. He who knows that he is a sinner is in the way to acknowledge it; and “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Thus the law is in the hands of the Spirit an active agent in inducing men to accept the fulness of the promise. No one hates the man who has saved his life by pointing out to him an unknown peril; on the contrary, such an one is regarded as afriend, and is always remembered with gratitude. Even so will the law be regarded by the one who has been prompted by its warning voice to flee from the wrath to come. He will ever say, with the psalmist, “I hate vain thoughts, but Thy law do I love.”
Righteousness and Life.
“If there had been a law given which could make alive, verily righteousness would have been of the law.” This shows us that righteousness is life. It is no mere formula, no dead theory or dogma, but is living action. Christ is the life, and He is, therefore, our righteousness. “The Spirit is life because of righteousness.” The law written on two tables of stone, could not give life, any more than could the stones on which it was written. All its precepts are perfect, but the flinty characters can not transform themselves into action. He who receives only the law in letter, has a “ministration of condemnation,” and death. But “the Word was made flesh.” In Christ, the Living Stone, the law is life and peace. Receiving Him through the “ministration of the Spirit,” we have the life of righteousness, which the law approves.
This twenty-first verse shows that the giving of the law was to emphasize the importance of the promise. All the circumstances attending the giving of the law,—the trumpet tone, the awful voice, the quaking earth, the “fire, and blackness, and tempest,” the thunders and lightnings, the bounds about the mount, beyond which it was death to pass,—all these told that “the law worketh wrath” to “the children of disobedience.” But the very fact that the wrathwhich the law works comes only on the children of disobedience, proves that the law is good, and that “the man that doeth them shall live in them.” Did God wish to discourage the people?—Not by any means. The law must be kept, and the terrors of Sinai were designed to drive them back to the oath of God, which four hundred and thirty years before had been given to stand to all people in all ages as the assurance of righteousness through the crucified and ever-living Saviour.
All Shut Up in Prison.
Note the similarity between verses 8 and 22. “The Scripture hath concluded [that is, shut up] all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” We see that the Gospel is preached by the same thing—the Scripture—that shuts men up under sin. The word “conclude” means literally “shut up,” just as is given in verse 23. Of course, a person who is shut up by the law is in prison. In human governments a criminal is shut up as soon as the law can get hold of him; God’s law is everywhere present, and always active, and, therefore, the instant a man sins he is shut up. This is the condition of all the world, “for all have sinned,” and “there is none righteous, no, not one.”
Those disobedient ones to whom Christ preached in the days of Noah were “in prison.” 1 Peter 3:19, 20. But they, like all other sinners, were “prisonersof hope.” Zech. 9:12. God “hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.” Ps. 102:19, 20. Christ is given “for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” Isa. 42:6, 7.
Let me speak from personal experience to the sinner who does not yet know the joy and freedom of the Lord. Some day, if not already, you will be sharply convicted of sin by the Spirit of God. You may have been full of doubts and quibbles, of ready answers and self-defense, but then you will have nothing to say. You will then have no doubt about the reality of God and the Holy Spirit, and will need no argument to assure you of it; for you will know the voice of God speaking to your soul, and will feel, as did ancient Israel, “Let not God speak with us, lest we die.” Then you will know what it is to be shut up in prison,—in a prison whose walls seem to close on you, not only barring all escape, but seeming to suffocate you. The tales of people condemned to be buried alive with a heavy stone upon them, will seem very vivid and real to you, as you feel the tables of the law crushing out your life, and a hand of marble seems to be breaking your very heart. Then it will give you joy to remember that you are shut up for the sole purpose that “the promise by faith of Jesus Christ” might be accepted by you. As soon as you lay hold of that promise,—the key thatwill unlock any door in Doubting Castle,—the prison doors will fly open, and you can say, “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we are escaped.” Ps. 124:7.
Under the Law, Under Sin.
We have just read that the Scripture hath shut up all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. We know that whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Rom. 14:23); therefore, to be under the law is identical with being under sin. We are under the law solely because we are under sin. The grace of God brings salvation from sin, so that when we accept God’s grace we are no longer under the law, because we are freed from sin. Those who are under the law, therefore, are the transgressors of the law. The righteous are not under it, but are walking in it.
The Law a Jailer, a Taskmaster.
“So that the law hath been our tutor unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” The words “to bring us” are marked both in the old version and the new as having been added to the text, so we have dropped them out. It really makes no material difference with the sense whether they are retained or omitted. It will be noticed also that the new version has “tutor” in the place of “schoolmaster.” This is better, but the sense is still better conveyed by the word that is used in the German and Scandinavian translations, which signifies “master of a house of correction.” Thesingle word in our language corresponding to it would be jailer. The Greek word is the word which we have in English as “pedagogue.” Thepaidagogoswas the slave who accompanied the boys to school to see that they did not play truant. If they attempted to run away, he would bring them back, and had authority even to beat them to keep them in the way. The word has come to be used as meaning “schoolmaster,” although the Greek word has not at all the idea of a schoolmaster. “Taskmaster” would be better. The idea here is rather that of a guard who accompanies a prisoner who is allowed to walk about outside the prison walls. The prisoner, although nominally at large, is really deprived of his liberty just the same as though he were actually in a cell. The fact is that all who do not believe are “under sin,” “shut up” “under the law,” and that, therefore, the law acts as their jailer. It is that that shuts them in, and will not let them off; the guilty can not escape in their guilt. God is merciful and gracious, but He will not clear the guilty. Ex. 34:6, 7. That is, He will not lie, by calling evil good; but He provides a way by which the guilty may lose their guilt. Then the law will no longer be against them, will no longer shut them up, and they can walk at liberty.
Only One Door.
Christ says, “I am the door.” John 10:7, 9. He is also the sheepfold and the Shepherd. Men fancy that when they are outside the fold they are free, and that to come into the fold would mean a curtailing of their liberty; but it is exactly the reverse. The fold of Christ is “a large place,” while unbelief is a narrowprison. The sinner can have but a narrow range of thought; the true “free thinker” is the one who comprehends with all saints what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. Outside of Christ is bondage; in Him alone is there freedom. Outside of Christ, the man is in prison, “holden with the cords of his sins.” Prov. 5:22. “The strength of sin is the law.” It is the law that declares him to be a sinner, and makes him conscious of his condition. “By the law is the knowledge of sin;” and “sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Rom. 3:20; 5:13. The law really forms the sinner’s prison walls. They close in on him, making him feel uncomfortable, oppressing him with a sense of sin, as though they would press his life out. In vain he makes frantic efforts to escape. Those commandments stand as firm as the everlasting hills. Whichever way he turns he finds a commandment which says to him, “You can find no freedom by me, for you have sinned.” If he seeks to make friends with the law, and promises to keep it, he is no better off, for his sin still remains. It goads him and drives him to the only way of escape—“the promise by faith of Jesus Christ.” In Christ he is made “free indeed,” for in Christ he is made the righteousness of God. In Christ is “the perfect law of liberty.”
The Law Preaches the Gospel.
“But,” says one, “the law says nothing of Christ.” No; but all creation does speak of Christ, proclaiming the power of His salvation. We have seen that the cross of Christ, “Christ and Himcrucified,” is to be seen in every leaf of the forest, and, indeed, in everything that exists. Not only so, but every fiber of man’s being cries out for Christ. Men do not realize it, but Christ is “the Desire of all nations.” It is He alone that “satisfies the desire of every living thing.” Only in Him can relief be found for the world’s unrest and longing. Now since Christ, in whom is peace, “for He is our peace,” is seeking the weary and heavy-laden, and calling them to Himself, and every man has longings that nothing else in the world can satisfy, it is evident that if the man is awakened by the law to keener consciousness of his condition, and the law continues goading him, giving him no rest, and shutting up every other way of escape, the man must at last find the Door of Safety, for it always stands open. He is the City of Refuge, to which every one pursued by the avenger of blood may flee, sure of finding a welcome. In Christ alone will the sinner find release from the lash of the law, for in Christ the righteousness of the law is fulfilled, and by Him it is fulfilled in us. Rom. 8:4. The law is so far from requiring men to keep it in order to be saved, as some suppose, that it will not allow anybody to be saved unless he has “the righteousness which is of God by faith,”—the faith of Jesus Christ.
When Faith Is Come.
Strangely enough, many have supposed that there was a definite time fixed for faith to come. This passage has been “interpreted” to mean that men were under the law until a certain time in the history of the world, and that at that time faith came,and then they were henceforth free from the law. The coming of faith they make synonymous with the manifestation of Christ on earth. We can not say that anybody ever thought so, for such an “interpretation” indicates utter absence of thought about the matter. It would make men to be saved in bulk, regardless of any concurrence on their part. It would have it that up to a certain time all were in bondage under the law, and that from that time henceforth all were free from sin. A man’s salvation would, therefore, depend simply on the accident of birth, If he lived before a certain time, he would be lost; if after, he would be saved. Such an absurdity need not take more of our time than the statement of it. No one can seriously think of the idea that the apostle is here speaking of a fixed, definite point of time in the history of the world, dividing between two so-called “dispensations,” without at once abandoning it.
When, then, does faith come? “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Rom. 10:17. Whenever a man receives the Word of God, the word of promise, which brings with it the fulness of the law, and no longer fights against it, but yields to it, then faith comes to him. Read the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, and you will see that faith came from the beginning. Since the days of Abel, men have found freedom by faith. The only time fixed is “now,” “to-day.” “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”
Putting on Christ by Baptism.
“As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” Rom. 6:3. It is by His death that Christ redeems us from the curse of the law; but we must die with Him. Baptism is “the likeness of His death.” We rise to walk “in newness of life,” even Christ’s life. See Gal. 2:20. Having put on Christ, we are one in Him. We are completely identified with Him. Our identity is lost in His. It is often said of one who has been converted, “He is so changed you would not know him; he is not the same man.” No, he is not. God has turned him into “another man.” Therefore, being one with Christ, he has a right to whatever Christ has, and a right to “the heavenly places” where Christ sits. From the prison house of sin, he is exalted to the dwelling-place of God. This, of course, presupposes that baptism is with him a reality, not a mere outward form. It is not simply into the visible water that he is baptized, but “into Christ,” into His life.