Dead to the Law
From a commentary ‘Free In Christ - The message of Galatians’. By Edgar H Andrews

Jews by nature (Galatians 2: 15)

Paul begins this new phase of his argument by drawing an important distinction. What does he mean when he uses the words, 'We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles'? (2:15).

This is Paul's way of introducing the subject of the law. 'Jews by nature', signifies 'Jews born and bred'. Paul is talking to Jewish believers, and reminds them that they are Jews both by birth and upbringing. To them, it was second nature to observe and revere the law of Moses. This was their heritage, their culture, their custom, their habit from child-hood. He emphasizes this profound psychological attachment to the law, to add weight to the statement that follows: 'Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified ' (2: 16).

Note the emphasis: 'even we' - we Jews, who might be expected to preserve this precious law at all costs, to stake our lives upon it, to defend it to our dying breath! Even we have had to accept that this law cannot save us; that we must, instead, flee to Christ for justification before God.

Paul' s point is clear. Against all their cultural instincts, Peter and his fellow Jewish believers had been compelled to abandon all hope of pleasing God by the works of the law, whether moral, civic or religious. Morality could not save them. Being citizens of a theocratic society could not save them. The outward rituals of priesthood and sacrifices could not save them. They were Christians just because they had seen this truth, had turned from self -effort and had trusted in Christ alone for forgiveness and justification. 'Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes' (Rom. 10:4).

Sinners from among the Gentiles (2:15)

Consider next what Paul means by 'sinners of', or 'from among', 'the Gentiles'. This expression is important because it holds the key to the interpretation of what follows in verses 17-18, which present all kinds of difficulty unless we under- stand what Paul is saying here.

Paul uses the word 'sinners' in this verse to mean 'transgressors of the law of Moses' .This must be so, since he says that those who are 'Jews by nature' are 'not sinners'. Now we know that all men are sinners in the primary sense of this word, whether they are Jews or Gentiles (see e.g. Rom. 3:9,23; Gal. 3:22). In what sense, then, can the Gentiles be called 'sinners' when the Jews are not? Clearly, only in regard to the Mosaic law, which the Jews obeyed ( albeit, in an external manner) and the Gentiles did not. This law of Moses had been given to the Jews alone, and meant nothing to the Gentiles. Thus the Jews despised the Gentiles, and disparaged them as 'sinners', that is, law-breakers or transgressors.

To summarize, therefore, both of these terms, 'Jews by nature' and 'sinners from among the Gentiles', direct our attention to Moses' law, which the Jews obeyed (after a fashion) and the Gentiles did not. There is a more basic law, written in the consciences of all men, which even the Gentiles obeyed as far as any man is able. Paul refers to this in Romans 2:14: 'When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things contained in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves. ' What the Gentiles did not have was the Mosaic law, and this is what Paul means by 'the law' , both in Romans 2: 14 and Galatians 2: 16. Let us consider this further.

The law of Moses

’A man is not justified by the works of the law,' declares the apostle (2:16). This is the first mention of 'the law' in Galatians, and we must spend a little time finding out what it means. The subject of 'the law' is not only central to the Galatian epistle, but also underlies some important modem controversies. Unless we are clear about the nature and purpose of the law, we shall find it very difficult to see where the truth lies in the debates which, even today, eddy around this subject.

One problem is that the word 'law' can be used in several different senses. This is true in English, and was equally true in New Testament Greek. Today we use 'law' to signify such diverse things as natural law (like the law of gravity ), the rules of a game (like the laws of football), and statute law (enacted by Parliament). Similarly, in the New Testament we find that 'the law' can mean:

1. Old Testament Scripture (1 Cor. 14:21), particularly the books of Moses (Matt. 11:13; Acts 13:15);
2. The law of Moses, given on Mount Sinai (Gal. 3:17);
3. Civil law, e.g. regarding marriage (Rom. 7:2);
4. Conscience, innate moral principles (Rom. 2:14);
5. An internal principle or power, such as the law of sin (Rom. 7:23);
6. The law (or principle) of faith (Rom. 3:27);
7. The law of Christ (Gal. 6:2); the law of liberty; the royal law (James 1:25; 2:8,12).

By far the largest number of references to 'law' in the New Testament, however, clearly relate to the law of Moses. This body of law was given to Israel at Mount Sinai through the mediation of Moses, the man of God (Deut. 5:5). The giving of the law is recorded in Exodus, chapters 19-31 and 34: 1-28, during which process Moses went up into the mountain to commune with God. However, further instructions, which also form part of the same law, were given to Moses later, in the tabernacle rather than in the mount (Lev. 1:1; Num. 15,18,19,28-30).

The law of Moses consists firstly of the Ten Commandments, which were written 'with the finger of God' (Exod. 31: 18) on stone tablets. The first set of tablets were broken by Moses in anger, when he saw how the people had sinned during his absence (Exod. 32: 19), but these were replaced by a second set, which were preserved in the Ark of the Covenant after completion of the tabernacle (Exod. 34: 1,28; 40:20). The breaking of the fIrst tablets is a clear picture of man's inability to keep these commandments. The preservation of the second set is an equally clear picture of the fact that Jesus Christ, our Ark, kept God's laws perfectly on behalf of his people.

Following the Ten Commandments came a variety of laws recorded in Exodus 20:22 -23:33. This section of the law is often called the 'civil law', to differentiate it from the Ten Commandments, which are called the 'moral law'. However, a careful reading of Exodus shows that there really is very little distinction between the two. The laws given in Exodus 20:22 onwards, during Moses' second visit to the mountain, repeat and amplify much that is found in the Ten Commandments.

Thus we find idolatry forbidden in the second commandment and again in Exodus 20:23, which goes on to give positive directions for the worship of God. The prohibition of murder in the sixth commandment is amplified, and penalties prescribed, in Exodus 21:12-21. Theft is the subject of the eighth commandment and of Exodus 22:1-15; immorality features in the seventh commandment and Exodus 22:16-19; false report in the ninth commandment and Exodus 23: 1- 9; the keeping of sabbaths in the fourth commandment and in Exodus 23:10-13. Nor can it be argued that the Ten Commandments lay down the moral principles, while Exodus 20- 23 specify the civic penalties for breaking those principles. For example, the passage in Exodus 23 on the sabbaths simply amplifies the fourth commandment without mentioning any punishment for non-observance. The same is true of false report and the perversion of justice in Exodus 23: 1-9.

There is, therefore, an essential unity between the so- called 'moral law' and 'civil law' (these terms are never, in fact, used in the Bible). The latter is better represented as an amplification of the former than as a different 'kind' of commandment. Alternatively, the Ten Commandments can be viewed as a summary of the whole body of law set out in Exodus 20- 23.

The law as a covenant

In Exodus 24 we are told that 'Moses wrote all the words of the Lord' and that he then 'took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people' (Eod. 24:4,7). This is important, for it establishes that the law given by God to Moses was a covenant between God and the Israelites. It was not simply a list of rules, but an arrangement, under which the nation agreed to live in obedience to God. The people' s response to the reading of the law was to declare, , All the words which the Lord has said, we will do' (Exod. 24:3).

That the law was a covenant is the key to its proper understanding. It means that the law stands or falls as a single entity. With a covenant, you cannot pick out the bits you like and ignore the rest. The parties to an agreement are bound to perform all their obligations under their contract, not just some of them. As Paul himself argues in Galatians 3:15, even a covenant between men, once it is confirmed, cannot be amended by addition or (he implies) subtraction. How much less the law, which was an arrangement between God and man! We shall consider the law as a covenant much more fully later, when Paul introduces a discussion of 'the two covenants , in Galatians 4. However, in anticipation of that passage, we note here further evidence that the Bible views the law of Moses as a covenant:

1. When the two broken stone tablets were replaced, God said to Moses, 'Behold I make a covenant' (Exod. 34: 10). He then rehearsed a number of laws, including several of the Ten Commandments along with certain ceremonial rules, and added, 'Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel' (Exod. 34:27). Here the covenant appears to be the whole law, exemplified by the random selection of regulations rehearsed in the passage.
2. Immediately following the above quotation, we read, ‘And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments' (Exod. 34:28). Here it is the Ten Commandments themselves that are referred to as a covenant (see also Deut. 4:13; 9:9-11; Heb. 9:4).
3. The stone tablets were placed in the 'ark', a wooden box, overlaid with gold, which had as its lid the golden 'mercy seat' .This ark was the central feature of the tabernacle (see Deut. 10:1-5; Heb. 9:1-5). The ark is commonly called 'the ark of the covenant', and this is because it contained the covenant documents, namely the Ten Commandments.

Another name for the tablets was 'the testimony' (Exod. 25: 16), and accordingly the ark was also known as the 'ark of the testimony' .The link between 'covenant' and 'testimony' is that a covenant document, by its very nature, 'testifies' against anyone who breaches the covenant.

These passages seem to leave no room for doubt that the law was a covenant, and that, specifically, the Ten Commandments were the covenant document, written by God himself}

The tabernacle, the priesthood and the sacrifices

God had not yet finished delivering the law. Moses was called up into the mountain a third time, remaining there for a further forty days (Exod. 24:15,18). This third phase of the giving of the law was somewhat different. It concerned the design and construction of the tabernacle, the institution of the priest- hood, the sacrifices and (again) the sabbath. This third aspect of the law is often referred to as the 'ceremonial law' , because it dealt with religious ceremonies. The most important thing about this part of the law is that it addressed the problem of how a sinful man may approach a holy God. Such an approach required: a meeting-place with God, the tabernacle; a priest hood, to mediate between man and God; sacrifices, to make atonement for human sins; and a sabbath, denoting rest from those sins. In all these respects, this part of the law pictured the person and work of the Christ who was yet to come.

'The law' in Galatians

Paul refers to the law twenty-nine times in this epistle. Most of these references, of course, occur in later passages, to which we shall come in due course. The questions we need to resolve here are these:

1. Does Paul, in this epistle, always use 'the law' to refer to the law of Moses?
2. When he does so, does he mean the law of Moses in its entirety?
3. Does he, specifically, ever use 'the law' to mean 'the civil and ceremonial law' without the 'moral law' ?

The reply to these questions is as follows. Paul does not always mean the law of Moses when he speaks of 'law' in Galatians. There is one place in which 'law' may have a general meaning, namely in Galatians 5:23 where, having listed the fruits of the Spirit, Paul declares, ' Against such there is no law. ' Of course, he may mean there is nothing against these things in the law of Moses. More probably, however, he means there is no law of any kind that can condemn such fruitful actions. In another place, Galatians 2:21(b), he uses 'the law' to mean the Pentateuch (the five Old Testament books attributed to Moses). In a third reference he speaks of 'the law of Christ' (6:2). Elsewhere, however, it is clear that the apostle is speaking only of the law of Moses. He tells us that the law came 430 years after Abraham; that it was 'appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator [i.e. Moses] , ; that the circumcised man 'is a debtor to keep the whole law' (3: 17, 19; 5:3). He speaks of the covenant 'from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage' (4:24).

Secondly, there is no indication in Galatians that Paul ever thinks of the law as being divided into different parts (moral, civil, ceremonial). He specifically states that any Gentiles who submit to circumcision become obliged to keep the whole law, not just parts of it (5:3). This clearly implies that Paul sees the law as indivisible}

Thirdly, it is also clear that when Paul refers to the law of Moses in Galatians, he specifically includes the Ten Commandments. He says, ' All the law is fulfilled in this: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (5:14). If we compare this with Romans 13:8-10 we see that Paul must be thinking specifically of the Ten Commandments. The passage in Ro- mans states: 'He who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery", "You shall not murder", "You shall not steal", "You shall not bear false witness", "You shall not covet" ...are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbour as your- self."' Romans 13:8-10, therefore, is simply an amplified version of Galatians 5:14, and shows that Paul specifically includes the Ten Commandments when he talks about 'the law'.

We can conclude, then, that 'the law' in Galatians normally signifies the law of Moses, unless the context indicates some different meaning. Further, there is no evidence that Paul ever thought of the law as being divided into separate parts; he speaks explicitly about 'the whole law'. Finally, the law includes the Ten Commandments, and never refers merely to the 'civil and ceremonial' aspects of Moses' law.

The works of the law (2:16)
We know, declares the apostle, 'that a man is not justified by the works of the law ...for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified' (2: 16). This may be a quotation from the psalms: 'Enter not into judgement with thy servant; for in thy sight shall no man living be justified' (ps. 143:2, A V). David had seen clearly what Paul now restates: even the most diligent servant of God cannot be justified before a holy God by his devotion or his works.

The 'works of the law' are, of course, acts of obedience to the things commanded in the law. By such works, says Paul, we can never be justified (that is, made or declared righteous ). Is this because the law is somehow faulty? Not at all, replies Paul. 'The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good' (Rom. 7:12). The problem lies not in the law, but in man's inability to keep it. Obedience to the law cannot justify a man before God, simply because man is not capable of such obedience. The law, Paul says elsewhere, 'was weak [i.e. unable to save] through [i.e. on account of] the flesh' (Rom. 8:3).

The law, in its first aspect ('moral/civil'), shows something of what God requires of human kind. I say 'something' ; we must not forget that the New Testament often goes beyond the Ten Commandments in indicating what pleases God. To give just one example, in Matthew 5:44 Jesus says, 'Love your enemies', a concept not found anywhere in Moses' law. Man's Creator demands man's exclusive love, service and worship. He also requires that we should honour him by loving our fellow men, for they are made in his image. But man is innately sinful, incapable of such obedience. Try as we may, we fail to meet God's standards. In the majestic simplicity of Toplady's hymn,

Not the labour of my hands
Can fulfil thy law's demands:
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears for ever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and thou alone.

What the law could not do, therefore, because of the sinfulness of human nature ('the flesh'), God has done, by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to make atonement for sin (paraphrase of Rom. 8:3). This work of atonement was prefigured in the second aspect of the law of Moses, namely in the tabernacle, the priesthood and the sacrifices. But it was only prefigured. Even this aspect of the law could not save. As the writer to the Hebrews argues, 'The law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of those things, can never with these same sacrifices ...make those who approach [God] perfect ...for it is impossible by the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin' (Heb. 10:1-4).

Christ is the fulfilment of the law, the reality which the law could only picture. 'For by one offering he has perfected for ever those who are being sanctified' (Heb. 10:14). A new covenant has been established between God and his redeemed people, a covenant foreseen by Old Testament prophets. 'This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them ...their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more' (Heb.10:16-17;citedfromJer.31:33-34).

How may we enter this new covenant? Through faith in Christ's atonement. By believing that he has 'perfected for ever' those that he has set apart ('sanctified') for himself, namely, his elect people. We must consider this further in the following chapter .

Summary

In Galatians 'the law' refers to the law of Moses unless the context indicates, explicitly, some other meaning. It refers to the whole Mosaic law, including the Ten Commandments.

The law is presented in Scripture as a covenant between God and Israel. The Ten Commandments, specifically, were the documents of this covenant.

The traditional idea is that the law of Moses is a three-part law- moral, civil and ceremonial. A clearer representation, however, is that of a two-part law. In the first part (or aspect), we see what a holy God required of his people, and what penalties were applied to those in Israel who broke his commandments. In the second aspect we see the provision God made for the forgiveness and reconciliation of those who sinned. This second aspect prefigured the work of Christ.

Obedience to the law can never make a man righteous in the sight of God. This is not because of any imperfection in the law, but because man, in his innate sinfulness, cannot keep it. He may succeed in part, but God requires perfection.