Being made right before God is never achieved by working at being right or good or the best you can be. Being made right before God is only by faith in the act of Christ on the cross and your daily trust in Jesus to follow Him.
If I don’t have to do anything because God has done it all why then do I have to be kind? Why do I have to love people? Don’t you ever just want to break the rules?
Paul is leading into the important answers to these questions. However, to a group of Jesus followers being tempted to return to the Law of Moses he is making sure they understand what they would be returning to.
“Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one. 21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3 v 19-22)
The Law of Moses declared sin not salvation. It tells us we are not good enough and never will be. It seems strange that a section of the Bible reveals how the Torah locked people into their sin. But it also shows us the need for salvation. The Torah was given to show us that we could not be good if we tried.
There was nothing wrong with the angels and Moses the mediator. A mediator between God and the Jews. But it was always God’s intent that ultimately there would be one single family which was never in Moses’ mind. God who is one has made the Jew and Gentile one family. There is no difference whether Jew or Gentile, it is the same for everyone in this world. The Law/the standard of God still convicts us of our sin and that we are not kind enough, not loving enough etc. It continues to point to the need for salvation. It points us to reach out and believe in Jesus for it is only when we tap into the same faith that Abraham had will we be free.
The answer to how we live our lives is found in this faith. The keys to living are in this faith. They are not in the rules. We are getting closer to the revelation!
Missions Paul 