Galatians 3:10-24

But if you rely on works of keeping the law for salvation, you live under the law’s curse. For it is clearly written: “Utterly cursed is everyone who fails to practice every detail and requirement that is written in this law!” It is obvious that no one achieves the righteousness of God by attempting to keep the law, for it is written: “The one who is in a right relationship with God will live by faith!” But keeping the law does not require faith, but self-effort. For the law teaches, “If you practice the principles of law, you must follow all of them.” Yet, Christ paid the full price to set us free from the curse of the law. He absorbed the curse completely as he became a curse in our place. For it is written: “Everyone who is hung upon a tree is cursed.” Jesus Christ dissolved the curse from our lives, so that in him all the blessings of Abraham can be poured out upon gentiles. And now through faith we receive the promised Holy Spirit who lives in us. Beloved friends, let me use an illustration that we can all understand. Technically, when a contract is signed, it can’t be changed after it has been put into effect; it’s too late to alter the agreement. Remember the royal proclamation God spoke over Abraham and to Abraham’s child? God said that his promises were made to pass on to Abraham’s “Child,” not children. And who is this “Child?” It’s the Son of promise, Christ himself! This means that the covenant between God and Abraham was fulfilled in Messiah and cannot be altered. Yet the written law was not even given to Moses until 430 years after God had “signed” his contract with Abraham! The law, then, doesn’t supersede the promise since the royal proclamation was given before the law. If that were the case, it would have nullified what God said to Abraham. We receive all the promises because of the Promised One—not because we keep the law! Why then was the law given at all? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the “Seed,” the child who was promised. When God gave the law, he gave it first to angels; they gave it to Moses, his mediator, who then gave it to the people. Now, a mediator does not represent just one party alone, but God fulfilled it all by himself! Since that’s true, should we consider the written law to be contrary to the promise of new life? How absurd! Truly, if there was a law that we could keep which would give us new life, then our salvation would have come by law-keeping. But the Scriptures make it clear that the whole world is imprisoned by sin! This was so the promise would be given through faith to people who believe in Jesus Christ. So until the revelation of faith for salvation was released, the law was a jailer, holding us as prisoners under lock and key until the “faith,” which was destined to be revealed, would set us free. The law was our guardian until Christ came so that we would be saved by faith.