Paul in Galatians 3 – Part 3: So why do I have to try to be a good person when I already am?

My children are adults now but when they were children they lived by my rules and values. Those rules and values were preparing them for when they left my home and had the freedom to do whatever they chose to do. Now that they’re adults do they abandon those rules and values? They have freedom to do so but they don’t. They continue with them because they want to. They see it is a better way of life. But as a child it felt restricting. However, they came to love me and now out of that love they desire to do those things not to obey me but the joy it brings me when I see them do so.

“Before the coming of this faith,we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” (Galatians 3 v 23-25)

The Law of Moses locked us up but it also became our tutor.

So in one sense the Law leaves us not knowing if God is pleased with us. We are in custody. We are trying to please Him and it is wearying and it breeds anxiety because we know we are just not that good enough, we keep falling short of those expectations. But in another sense the Law points to the freedom of having a personal relationship with God through Jesus. This is the gospel we have encountered.

We try to be good because we are now free not to try for the wrong attitude. We have been freed from the place of gaining approval. We have His approval and so we now have this automatic desire to please the One who has saved us. If we fail that’s okay. The Law still exists and it goes hand in hand with grace otherwise if we think we are not all that guilty then the power of grace is diminished. The Law continually points to the Saviour who obeyed the Law, met the demands of the Law so that the promise of Abraham becomes ours.

Those who have understood the gospel don’t ask that question. They know. Those who were burdened by religious heavy burdens but who have had them lifted by grace don’t ask that question. They know. Those who still experience the conviction of sin which the Law brings don’t ask that question. They know.