No Longer Under The Supervision Of The Law

Hello people. I am delighted to share another post this week as we continue viewing snapshots of God’s grace from Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. 

 

“Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law”. Galatians 3: 23 - 25 NIV

I have come to realize that one major hindrance to a lot of Christians in living in the fullness of all that God’s grace has made freely available to us is the issue of what purpose the law should serve in our lives. It appears the Galatian church also had many people who had the same dilemma and the verses I have highlighted this week are very essential in giving us the proper perspective to this.

Just like the Jews in Paul’s day, quite a lot of people now have a misunderstanding of the purpose of the law. The law contained more than 600 regulations that the people of Israel were commanded to live by. Some of them covered human conduct in the society while some were regulations on sacrificial offerings which related to cleansing from sin or impurity. There were rules concerning marriage, slaves and masters, and punishments for offences. There were also laws concerning sacrifices using bulls and goats, other animals like birds and even meal and drink offerings. They were related to cleansing sin or impurity. For further details, one will need to read the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

The Jews thought that the law could give righteousness and peace but they were very wrong. God has opened up to us the broad scope of His wisdom and knowledge. The law was given as a school master; a supervisor; to lead us to Christ. The law was given so that sin might appear sinful (Romans 7:13). The law convicts all men and sincere people everywhere when faced with the demands of the law recognize their need for a Saviour. That was the ministry of the law and in fact it does the job very well.

The verses in focus also affirm again the change in order- grace has replaced the law. Now that faith has come, the supervision of the law has ended (verse 25). God does not want us to still live our lives with an attitude of servitude to any set of regulations. The book of Hebrews deals exhaustively with the abolishment of the sacrificial system of the law but it also says a little about how we are to live in this new era of grace. “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant … it will not be like the covenant that I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt …I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people” Hebrews 8: 8-10 NIV.

 You see, in this new dawn of grace God does not expect the believer to live and relate from the standpoint of the Old Testament rules and regulations. It’s rather from a standpoint of the empowerment of God’s grace operating in the core of our beings. There is a new vista of life for believers in Christ Jesus. There is a new principle governing our new relationship with God. It is the principle of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus all made possible by God’s grace. We will have a chance to see more of this as we proceed in the series. 

My song for the week is “Love Came Down” by Kari Jobe. Fill your heart with thoughts of God’s overwhelming grace and have a great week.

"Love Came Down" by Kari Jobe