2.  Review:  Paul has-  1) Established his Apostleship.  2) Told us of his conversion/calling.  Thereby establishing his Apostolic authority.  3) Rebuked the Galatian church(es) for their departure from grace.  4) Addressed the issue and identified his opponents.  Spoken of the promises to Abraham, which are the start.  Spoken of the Law’s inability to grant righteousness.  Paul teaches “Free grace.” He teaches the doctrine of Sola Fide.  If it is all of grace then what’s the point of the Law? Why did Moses say of Law? “The person who does these things will live by them.” Leviticus 18:5.  Calvin says, “The Law would be opposed to the promises, if it had the power of justifying; for there would be two opposite methods of justifying a man, two separate roads towards the attainment of righteousness.”  But we know that it is evident that no one is justified in the sight of God by Law keeping, right?

3.  "Why, then, was the law given at all?”  A conclusion is supposed to already have been made by us. Have we made it? We are to have concluded the surety of the promise of grace! Blessed are we if…  He begins vs. 19, “Why, then…” It is a continuation of his previous discourse.  Always look for Connectives. They help you follow the train of thought. Words like, “So,” “Therefore,” “If then,” “And so,” etc.  What is the point of the law? Romans will help us tonight.  The point is so that we can all the more understand grace.

4. Promise 2090 B.C. Law 1445 B.C. A full grasp of God’s grace AbrahamMosesJesus  Remember Galatians 3:15? “Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case.”

5. Promise Faith Abraham Law Promise Moses Promise Law Jesus PromiseLaw A Gospel fully established sola fide Gospel is free 3:1-5 Abraham Gospel 3:6-9 Moses Law 3:10-15 Abraham’s Purpose 3:15-18 Moses’ Purpose 3:19-22 Gospel 3:23-29 “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:24-26.

6.  “…It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.”  It was “Added.” demands something before it to be added to.  We’ve already spoken of the “Seed” in Vs. 16. The Law gives primacy to Jesus!  The Law gives a structure to the people of God unlike the promise. Peculiarity.  Emphasis is another hermeneutical rule. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy are nearly all on Law and its administration.

7.  Paul gives another contrast here between the Law and the promise.  “The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.”  Jamieson, Fausset and Brown: “Now a mediator cannot be of one (but must be of two parties whom he mediates between); but God is one" (not two: owing to His essential unity not admitting of an intervening party between Him and those to be blessed; but as the ONE Sovereign, His own representative, giving the blessing directly by promise to Abraham, and, in its fulfillment, to Christ, "the Seed," without new condition, and without a mediator such as the law had). The conclusion understood is, Therefore a mediator cannot appertain to God; and consequently, the law, with its inseparable appendage of a mediator, cannot be the normal way of dealing of God, the one, and unchangeable God, who dealt with Abraham by direct promise, as a sovereign, not as one forming a compact with another party, with conditions and a mediator attached thereto. God would bring man into immediate communion with Him, and not have man separated from Him by a mediator that keeps back from access, as Moses and the legal priesthood did.”

8.  “Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.”  The Law comes to help our foolishness in forgetting the promise. The Gospel comes because, in our weakness, we could not fulfill the Law. One adds to the other, but is no renegotiation when we understand Christ.  Remember again, “No one is justified by the Law.”  Paul was often accused of being against the law, or antinomian.  He was not “Against” the law, per se, he just would not have men seeking salvation where God never intended it to be sought.

9.  “But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.”  To the Pharisee and the beggar, the king and the tax collector, to Jew and Gentile. God, as attested by Law, has leveled the playing field. Be sure, in Christ we are redeemed:  Sola gratia.  Solus Christos.

10.  Scriptura Scripturam. “Scripture interprets Scripture.”  Romans 3:19-31. Oh, the amazingly beautiful simplicity, and unsearchable genius of God!  Romans 5:12-21, particularly vv 20-21. This speaks of the relation of sin since Adam, the adding of Law in Moses, and the reality of the purpose in all.  Romans 7:13-8:2. It works in us as well even now in Christ.  This wisdom, consequently, is the advantage of the Jew! Romans 3:1. But we’re also Jewish by adoption.

11. TRUST II …

12. 13 “It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.” 17 “What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.”.