No one is saved by the Law.

The apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Gentile believers in Galatia. The entire purpose of the letter is to teach Gentiles that they do not have to behave like the Jews or adopt Jewish traditions to be right before God. Throughout the OT and the gospels it was clear that the law was a burden to Israel. They couldn’t keep it. Paul in his masterpiece of Christian liberty, Romans, reveals that the law was never meant to, and could never make anyone, acceptable to God.

Rom 7:5-13  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.  (6)  But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

(When we accept Christ death on the cross we are freed from our debt to the law, He paid it.)   

(7)  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law.

(The law is like a mirror,it shows me I need a shave but it can’t shave me. I the same way the law showed we were sinners, but it does not save us.)

For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET."  (8)  But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.

(Without the law, we had no way of knowing that we were sinful.It reveals God’s standard and our inability to meet it. In the same way a highway with out speed limits signs has no speed limit and no one can be punished for driving too fast, but when the signs are put up, the standard is established and penalties for breaking the standard are now given. )

(9)  I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.  (10)  And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.

(Now that we know the standard, our gulit is apparent because none can keep all the law)

(11)  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.  (12)  Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.  (13)  Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

(And our need for a Savior revealed.)

Paul here in Galatians explains why Gentiles are no longer under the law but under grace.

Gal 3:1-29  O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?  (2)  This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— (3)  Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

(Paul is asking why having understood that no works of the law could save you but you were saved by believing what God said, in what Jesus did on th cross to pay for your sins.

(4)  Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?  (5)  Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, (NO) or by the hearing of faith? (YES)  (6)  just as Abraham "BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS."

 (Not by what he did but what he believed) 

(7)  Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. (Believing Jews and Gentiles)  (8)  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."  (9)  So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. (Believing Jews and Gentiles)   (10)  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, (Un-believing Jews and Gentiles)   "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT CONTINUE IN ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO DO THEM." 

(You may keep the Sabbath, but do you break any other Commandment, even once, the whole law is broken, It is like a chain, if one link in the chain is broken, the chain is broken)  

(11)  But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

 (12)  Yet the law is not of faith, but "THE MAN WHO DOES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM."

 (If you trust in the law to save you , you must keep all the the law to be saved.)   

(13)  Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"),  (14)  that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles (You and Me)   in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

(Paul is saying trying to keep the law, as a means of being acceptable to God, is a curse.)  

 (15)  Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: (Paul gives an example)  Though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.

  (If two men make a contract or covenant, once the contract is made, nothing changes it.)  

(16)  Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "AND TO YOUR SEED," who is Christ.  (17)  And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.

(God promised Abraham that he would bless all nations of the world through Abraham’s seed, Jesus Christ. He made him that promise 430 yrs before the law was given to Moses. If God made that promise to Abraham and the contract can’t be changed, then the law, received by Moses does not change the promise given by God. That all who believed like Abraham would be blessed and saved through Christ Jesus and not in keeping any law that was later given.)   

(18)  For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

 (If what we receive from Abraham is by keeping the law, then it is not an inheritance which God promised us (and He always keeps His promises). No rather it is an inheritance of grace. And we are saved just as Abraham was, faith.(see v6)    

(19)  What purpose then does the law serve? (Why then was the law given?)   It was added because of transgressions, (Study Romans 6 &7)  till the Seed (Jesus)  should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. (20)  Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.  (21)  Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.  (22)  But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.  (23)  But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.  (24)  Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  (25)  But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.  (26)  For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  (27)  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  (28)  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  (29)  And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

I could try to explain this but it is done so much better than I could ever do in the Believers Bible Commentary.

Galatians 3:19-29

C. The Purpose of the Law (3:19-29)

3:19   What purpose then does the law serve? If, as Paul contended, the law did not annul or add conditions to the promise God made to Abraham, what was the purpose of the law? The law was intended to reveal sin in its true character as transgression. Sin existed before the law, but man did not recognize it as transgression until the law came. Transgression is the violation of a known law.

The law was given to a nation of sinners. They could never obtain righteousness by keeping it because they did not have the power to obey it. The law was meant to show men what hopeless sinners they were, so they would cry out to God to save them by His grace. God's covenant with Abraham was an unconditional promise of blessing; the law resulted only in cursing. The law demonstrated the unworthiness of man to receive free and unconditional blessing. If man is to be blessed, it must be by the grace of God.

The Seed is Christ. Therefore, the law was given as a temporary measure until the coming of Christ. The promised Abrahamic blessing was to come through Him. A contract between two parties involves a mediator, a go-between. The law involved two contracting parties—God and Israel. Moses served as go-between (Deu_5:5). The angels were God's messengers in delivering the law to Moses (Deu_33:2; Psa_68:17; Act_7:53; Heb_2:2). The participation of Moses and the angels spoke of distance between God and His people, of a people unfit for His presence.

3:20   If there was only one contracting party, and he made an unconditional promise, requiring nothing from the other party, there would be no need of a mediator. The fact that the law required a mediator implied that man must keep his part of the agreement. This was the weakness of the law; it called for obedience from those who did not have the power to give it. When God made His promise to Abraham, He was the sole contracting Party. This was the strength of the promise: everything depended on God and nothing on man. No mediator was involved, because none was needed.

3:21   Did the law set aside the promises or take their place? Certainly not! If it were possible to give a law by which sinners could achieve the perfection required by God, then certainly salvation would have been by law-keeping. God would not have sent the Son of His love to die for sinners if He could have achieved the same result in some less costly way. But the law had plenty of both time and people to demonstrate that it could not save sinners. In this sense it was “weak through the flesh” (Rom_8:3). All the law could do was show men their hopelessness and impress on them that salvation could only be by the free grace of God.

3:22   The OT showed that all men are sinners, including those under the law. It was necessary that man should be thus thoroughly convinced of sin, in order that the promise of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. The key words in verse 22 are faith, given, and believe. There is no mention of “doing” or “law-keeping.”

3:23   Faith here is the Christian faith. It refers to the era ushered in by the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus, and the preaching of the gospel at Pentecost. Before that time, the Jews were kept under guard as if in a prison or in custody. They were fenced in by the law's requirements, and since they could not fulfill these, they were restricted to the way of faith for salvation. The people under law were thus confined until the glorious news of deliverance from the bondage of the law was announced in the gospel.

3:24   The law is pictured as a guardian and guide of children, or as a tutor. This emphasizes the thought of teaching; the law taught lessons concerning the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and the need for atonement. Here the word is used to describe one who exercises discipline and general supervision over minors, or the immature.

The words to bring us are not in the original, but were supplied by the translators of the King James tradition. If we leave them out, the verse teaches that the law was a Jewish guardian up to Christ, that is, until the coming of Christ, or with the coming of Christ in view. There is a sense in which the law preserved the people of Israel as a distinct nation by regulations concerning marriage, property, foods, etc. When “the faith” came, it was first announced to this nation that had been so miraculously kept in ward through the centuries. Justification by faith was promised on the basis of the finished work of Christ, the Redeemer.

3:25   The law is the tutor, but once the Christian faith has been received, believing Jews are no longer under the law. How much less Gentiles, such as the Galatians, who were never under the tutor! Verse 24 teaches that man is not justified by law; verse 25 teaches that the law is not the rule of life for one who is justified.

3:26   Notice the change in pronouns from “we” to you. In speaking of the Jews as “we”, Paul showed that they were kept under law until the coming of Christ. The law maintained them as a separate people to whom justification by faith might be preached. When they were justified, they ceased to be under law, and their distinctive character as Jews ceased. The pronoun “you” from here to the end of the chapter includes both saved Jews and saved Gentiles. Such people are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

3:27   Union with Christ, which takes place at the time of conversion, is confessed in water baptism. This baptism does not make a person a member of Christ or an inheritor of the kingdom of God. It is a public identification with Christ, which Paul speaks of as a “putting on” of Christ. Just as a soldier proclaims himself a member of the army by “putting on” his uniform, so a believer identifies himself as one who belongs to Christ by being baptized in water. By this act he publicly expresses submission to Christ's leadership and authority. He portrays visibly that he is a son of God.

It is certain that the apostle is not suggesting that water baptism unites a person to Christ. That would be a blatant repudiation of his basic thesis that salvation is by faith alone.

Nor is Paul likely referring here to Spirit baptism, which places a believer in the body of Christ (1Co_12:13). The baptism of the Holy Spirit is invisible. There is nothing about it that corresponds to a public “putting on” of Christ.

This is a baptism that is unto Christ (JND). Just as the Israelites were baptized unto Moses, identifying themselves with him as their leader, so believers today are baptized unto Christ, signifying their recognition of Him as rightful Lord.

By baptism the believer signifies also the burial of the flesh and its efforts to obtain righteousness. He signifies the end of the old way of life and the beginning of the new one. In water baptism the Galatians confessed that they had died with Christ and had been buried with Him. Just as Christ died to the law, so they were dead to the law, and should not therefore desire to be under it as a rule of life. Just as Christ has, by His death, broken down the distinction between Jew and Gentile, so they have died to such national differences. They have put on Christ in the sense that they now live a completely new life—the life of Christ.

3:28   The law made distinctions between these classes. For instance, the distinction between Jew and Gentile is insisted on in Deu_7:6; Deu_14:1-2. In his morning prayer, a Jewish man thanked God that He had not made him a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. In Christ Jesus these differences disappear, that is, as far as acceptance with God is concerned. A Jew is not preferred over a Gentile, a free man is not more favored than a slave, nor is a man more privileged than a woman. All are on the same level because they are in Christ Jesus.

This verse must not be pressed into meaning something it does not say. As far as everyday life is concerned (not to mention public ministry in the church), God does recognize the distinction between male and female. The NT contains instructions addressed to each; it also speaks separately to slaves and masters. But in obtaining blessing from God, these things do not matter. The great thing is to be in Christ Jesus. (This refers to our heavenly position, not to our earthly condition.) Before God the believing Jew is not a bit superior to the converted pagan! Govett says: “All the distinctions which the law made are swallowed up in the common grave which God has provided.” Therefore, how foolish it is for Christians to seek further holiness by setting up differences which Christ has abolished.

3:29   The Galatians were deluded into thinking that they could become Abraham's seed by keeping the law. Paul shows otherwise. Christ is the seed of Abraham; the inheritance promised to Abraham was fulfilled in Christ. When sinners believe on Him, they become one with Him. Thus they become Abraham's seed and, in Christ, they inherit all of God's blessings.