Galatians 3 - "The Difference Between the Law and the Promise"

The Law and the Promise

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. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 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.

In chapter 3, Paul compares and contrasts the promise given to Abraham with the law which was given to Moses.  The promise was first given to Abraham as a covenant God made with him in Genesis 12.  God made Abraham a promise that he would be the father of many nations, and he would be blessed to be a blessing to all nations, including the Gentiles.  And the key verse comes in Genesis 15:5 when the writer in Genesis says, "Abram believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Then, in chapter 3, Paul says the law was added 430 years later with the purpose of being a guardian to the Jewish people.  The law was meant to keep their sinful nature in check until the promise was fulfilled in Jesus.  But the law could never justify us with God because it had now power to justify us with God. Importantly the promise was a relationship started by God to draw people to trust in Him for salvation.

Paul is teaching this to the Jews because they had become legalistic.  They equated keeping the law with a relationship with God, which is why the Jews who became Christians wanted the Gentile Christians to be circumcised.  Paul realized this showed they had not yet been able to distinguish the law from the gospel.  Like the Old Testament covenant, the gospel promised a new relationship with God through faith in the promised Messiah which finally came for all people. 

Here might be a good analogy to illustrate the difference between the law and gospel.  Or, the law and the promise. When parents raise children there are usually rules established in the home.  The rules are designed to not only keep order in the home, but also restrain the bad behavior of the children.  But more important than the rules is the relationship between the kids and their parents.  Whereas the rules of the house are not unimportant, the trust kids have in their parents to trust and obey them is more important.  Importantly the kids need to know that their parents don't love them because they keep the rules.  They loved them before they even made the rules.  But they have lovingly given the kids the rules of the house to protect them and keep order in the house.   

Hopefully this helps to explain the difference between the law and the promise, or the law and the gospel.  When we get this wrong we can get off track very quickly as the Galatians did.