A Great Escape

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE GALATIANS

A GREAT ESCAPE

Gal 3:19-20

19 What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.

NIV

Paul continues with his discourse about the law and Faith. He now gives the reason for the law which was given hundreds of years after the promise. The law was given to show the transgressions of the people until Jesus would come into the world. Here we have to come to a discussion about this law. We know we are not under the law, as we are children of the promise. We also have considered how the law has to be kept in full in order to attain justification which we also know is impossible to do. No one can be justified through the law, but only through the promised seed, Jesus. But Jesus said he did not come to cancel the law, but to fulfill the law. How does that work? The law is still in the Old Testament. What the law does for us is the same it did for the children of Israel. It shows us just what sin is. The law defines sin, it enumerates the transgressions which are against God. The law gives what God requires, and what is the duty. It is a straight rule of what is right, and to depart from that is a measure of wrong. It gives us the nature of sin, and how far we have departed from the law, or what is right. The law shows us the just penalty for sin. All that still exists, and ultimately the law shows us our need for Jesus, our redeemer, our mediator, or intercessor. Which brings us to the great debate among the scholars as to who this mediator is who Paul mentions. Many are of the opinion, and we should take note it is only an opinion, this mediator refers to Moses, as he was the one through God gave the Law. What we need to consider is the word mediator as in the Hebrew it does mean just that, an arbitrator between two parties. Was Moses an arbitrator between the people and God? Did Moses represent the interests of God and the interests of the people? Was he a go-between? How could a finite man represent the interests of an infinite God? How a sinful man could represent the interests of a sinless God? It is possible Moses could have acted as a representative of the people, to intercede for them, but he too was but a man, who was not without sin. So then our opinion, which agrees with a few of our scholars, would have to be that the mediator Paul speaks about would be Jesus. God is one, the three in one. Jesus is God. He is the only one who can represent God and the people. To be a true representative of man, as he is the son of man, and of God for he is the Son of God. He is the seed of the promise given before the law. So then, although we know the law and reveals the nature of sin and how we have departed from what is right and have sinned, we have Jesus as our mediator and thus we have escaped the just penalty of our transgressions. Jesus has provided us with a great escape.