Galatians 3.11
“Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
I want to clear up a common misconception about the law of Moses. Many Christians incorrectly believe that in the Old Testament people were saved by obedience to the law. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the law in the life of the believer. In the book of Galatians, the apostle Paul makes it abundantly clear that the law in the OT was not intended to save people. The purpose of the law was to show Israel how to live, not how to be saved.
Salvation happens through believing and trusting God, not through obedience to a moral or legal code. This is not only a NT principle, it is also an OT principle. It is a biblical principle. A timeless and eternal principle. Jews in the OT were saved through faith in God’s grace and power, not through obedience to the law. Again, the purpose of the law was to show Israel how to live, not how to be saved.
It’s vitally important to understand that people (like the Judaizers) who teach that salvation is through obedience to the law are guilty of distorting both grace and law. God is loving and offers us grace. He is also righteous and gives us moral standards. These two attributes of God — his grace and righteousness — are not in opposition to each other, and both must be applied to our life.
The key to the application of both divine attributes is faith. It is through faith that we accept God’s grace for salvation, and it is through faith that we obey God’s standards for effective living.
The pattern of the people of Israel in the OT was a failure to trust God. It was a lack of faith. They did not obey the Law, and for that reason they came under the judgment of God. However, as we saw in our study of Hosea, the Lord repeatedly extended grace to the people of Israel. The Lord sent prophets to challenge Israel and call them to repentance. The prophets reminded Israel of God’s grace and love; they reminded Israel of the standards of the law; they warned Israel that continued disobedience and idolatry would eventually result in judgment.
But because they lacked faith and stubbornly refused to repent and obey, Israel suffered judgment. The mistake the Judaizers and other legalists make is claiming that God only grants salvation to those that obey the law and do works of righteousness. This is not true: not in the NT, and not in the OT.
“For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.”
The Lord’s standards of righteousness are extremely important, but they are not demands for how to be saved. They are directions for how to live because you are saved. In both cases, faith is necessary. Trust what Christ has done for you on the cross, and you will be saved. Trust what Christ is doing in you, and you will grow in your effectiveness as an agent of the kingdom. This is the Christian life.
“Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3.21-22)
More to come on this important topic.
