Paul the apostle has been
giving doctrine and instruction concerning the grace of God by
referring to the way people do not keep the law. If we could keep the
entire law of God, we would be perfect, however, no one keeps it.
Therein lies a problem, because without the keeping of the law, no
one will see God. Fortunately, Jesus Christ came to the Earth to live
as a man and He kept the entire law. But what happens when a person
doesn't keep the law? What happens to the person who tries to keep it
and fails? Paul gives us some insight into these questions today as
we read in Galatians chapter two and verse nineteen:
For I through the law
am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Basically
the law condemns us to death. “For
I through the law am dead to the law.”
The fact that there is a law divides people into two groups,
“law-keepers” and “law-breakers”. Those who keep the law
live, and those who break the law, die. This is where the problem
lie. No one keeps the law, so the law in effect only brings on death.
But one may argue, “I keep most of the law”, the apostle James
wrote in chapter two and verse ten of his book, “For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point], he
is guilty of all.” In other
words, if we violate the law of God in only one point, we have broken
all of it. It's kinda like an egg. No matter where you crack the
shell the entire egg has been cracked. Some may be better at keeping
one part of the law than another, but there is still that one place
where the person breaks the law and the whole law is broken because
of it.
Paul
emphasizes this point again in chapter three and verse ten of
Galatians where he wrote, “For as many as are of the
works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed [is]
every one that continues not in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them.”
If we continue under the law, it only brings upon us a curse, and
that curse produces death. Unless we have kept the entire law of God,
“in all things which are written in
the book of the law”, we are
in serious trouble. In other words, the law by itself brings us to
death and not alive unto God.
We are
blessed as we read this verse because Paul did not finish it with the
proclamation of death. He continued, “that I might live unto
God.” The law's affect upon all who read it is to realize there
is no hope that anyone will ever keep it completely. This
exasperation brings a person to recognize their need for God. There
must be a source outside themselves to help, and this help is from
God Himself through Jesus Christ who kept the law perfectly. So that
the Galatians may know the grace of God, there had to be a law of God
that condemned them, and so it is with us. We must realize that we
cannot keep the law of God which only results in death, and therefore
we need a Savior. The law produces death, but through the grace of
God, we may now live unto Him. As we ponder these things, we may for
the first time realize the significance of the law of God, it's
curse, and the wonderful grace of God who desires that we live unto
Him.
Next
time we will find how Paul lived once he experienced the grace of
God, so read ahead, and let us join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look for
the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation
to Generation” in all major
bookstore
sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to
e-books, and find it
locally
at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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