gal 03v19 Wherefore Then Serveth The Law

“WHEREFORE THEN SERVETH THE LAW?”….

Galatians 3:19

The law cannot save. Christ alone is our Savior. The law cannot justify. We are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus". The law cannot sanctify. Christ is our Sanctification. The law cannot make us more righteous. We are perfectly righteous already in Christ.

The law cannot make us more acceptable in the sight of God. We are "accepted in the Beloved". The law cannot get us a greater reward in heaven. All things are ours in Christ. The law cannot give us a rule of life. Christ is our Rule. The law cannot give us a motive for obedience. "The love of Christ constraineth us. As believers in Christ we are free from the law, Totally Free! We have no covenant with the law. We have no condemnation from the law. We have no curse by the law. And we have no commitment to the law.

Is the law therefore useless? Certainly not. It points men to Christ. The law is made not for a righteous man, but for an unrighteous man. When I see the righteousness of the law, I know that I need the righteousness of a Substitute. When I see the justice of the law, I know that I need the sacrifice of an all-sufficient Substitute to satisfy the law's claims against me. When I see the curse of the law, I know that I need a Substitute to remove the curse from me. And that Substitute is Jesus Christ the Lord. But now, believing on Christ, the law has no claim upon me. The law is a rough "schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."

Yes, the law is useful. It is holy, and just, and good. It exposes sin and condemns it. It shows the impossibility of self-salvation. It drives men to Christ by faith. But once we are in Christ by faith, we are free from the law. We have felt the iron fetters of the law's bondage. Having been set free by Christ, we are not so foolish as to desire bondage again. Slaves who have been set free cherish freedom. They would sooner die than be in bondage again.