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Commentary on "The Priority of the Promise"
Day 4: Tuesday, November 1, 2011 - The Purpose of the Law
Overview
The detour ended and the study is back in Galatians 3, this time with the purpose of showing that the law that was “added” was not given with the intention of modifying the promise of the Abrahamic covenant, since a will is inviolable after the death of the person who made it. Instead the law made sin more clear in order for sinners to recognize that sin is not part of the intended order of their life.
Observations
The good part of this section is the acknowledgment of the inviolable status of the Abrahamic covenant’s promise, the fact that the law cannot alter the terms of inheritance established in the Abrahamic covenant, at least theoretically. As far as the covenant with Abraham is concerned, the law doesn’t modify or change anything. There really is no need to make a case that the law didn’t change anything. The lessons affirms:
“The law had been in existence long before Sinai,” and the author sees the Sinai event as merely a moment when what was always true became more clear; the law became a “magnifying glass” revealing people’s sin. While it is true that the law has the role of bringing sin which existed before the law to light, the coming of the law created a new situation and did not merely make a pre-existing reality evident.
“…sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law” (Romans 5:13)
Notice the two affirmations made in this text: sin pre-existed the law, but in the pre-law era sin was not counted. The law introduced a new way that God treated sin and sinners. Without disputing the meaning of this change, it is important to recognize that a change exists, and the law is not only working as a magnifying glass, passively, but it is actively bringing in a new era in the history of mankind.
Seeing the law as exclusively working as a magnifying glass is missing the change the law brought. Living before Sinai was not the same as living after Sinai. Sin was still sin, no doubt about it, but the way sin is treated was different. Looking ahead to the next day’s lesson, we note that the law ends with the cross, and living after the cross-moment is different from living before. Sin is still sin, salvation is still salvation through faith in God’s promise; there is continuation, but there is also a significant change.
There is another line of thought that leads to the same conclusions. While the Adventist author is right that the law was not added to the Abrahamic covenant in the sense that it is not a later addition updating and modifying the old agreement, the Mosaic covenant was made to work together with the Abrahamic covenant. One proof of this fact is that the entrance sign in the Mosaic covenant is the same as the entrance sign into the Abrahamic covenant, circumcision. The sacrifices and the rituals at the temple also enforce the promise made to Abraham, of a future inheritance received by faith. This means that the Mosaic covenant is related to the Abrahamic covenant, and the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham through Christ brings a change into the Abrahamic covenant that affects also the Mosaic covenant. Christ as the seed of Abraham, the heir of the promise, changes both the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic covenant. The promise was no longer an unfulfilled promise related to the future, but an accomplished, fulfilled promise that is in the past. The law which was added in order to have a role in sustaining the promise, the Abrahamic covenant, also accomplished its purpose. The fulfillment brought by Jesus touches both covenants, Abrahamic and Mosaic, and this leads to the same significant change brought by the cross.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised October 30, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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