Gentiles Engrafted To The Olive Tree

by Larry Wishon


One of the topics that Paul deals with in Galatians, is the relationship of the Law and the Abrahamic Promise/Covenant.

He shows in chapter three, that the promise precedes the Law, and it, the Law, cannot annul the promise. The Promise of God to Abraham, that is, the Covenant God made with him, for seed and for land, stands apart from and independent of the Law. Then Paul adds in verse 19, Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come, to whom the promise was made; . . .

Paul says the law was "added". Added to what? Added to the promise. What does this mean? The term added, means "to put to or add to". The basic idea is to add a thing to another thing, as a supplement, to which the thing being added, the supplement, is not the focus, but adds force to the thing it is being added to. The Law was added to the Promise, in order to make the Promise the center of attention. The Law was added because of, or on account of, transgressions.

The Law was added to make transgressions multiply, so that the Promise would be sought for and anticipated with greater hunger.

The only thing that the Law can produce in sinful man is a compulsion to sin.

Thus what the Law is producing is the intense desire for redemption. Here is where the Promise enters.

We have learned two things to this point. First, the Law was not the central focus of all that God sought to do in His people. Second, that the Law was temporal. The Law was added, UNTIL THE SEED SHOULD COME. Once the Promised Seed came, the Law was fulfilled and should have accomplished its work.

That work being to make those who sought for the Promise, to recognize and step into its fulfillment. Paul says it another way, in chapter three, verse 24. There he says that the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Messiah. What was a schoolmaster? Paul uses this picture taken from everyday life, to show the plan and purpose of God for the Law.


The Law Our Schoolmaster

Paul uses a concept from his day, to illustrate the purpose and ministry of the Law. It was a concept that would have been very familiar to his readers. The concept is that of the paidagogos (pronounced, pie-dah-go-gos). The paidagogos was a house servant, whose main responsibility was the care and upbringing of the son, who was destined to become heir.

He would accompany the son to school and wait for him until school had finished for the day. He would then accompany the son back home, where he would go over the day's lessons with the child, helping him, and tutoring him. He would also be responsible for the discipline of the son, with the rod if necessary. He was given this authority by the father, to correct the son and teach him the morals needed to grow into a responsible adult.

The son was heir to all that the father had, but as long as he was a minor, he was under the authority of another. This is what Paul says, in chapter four, verses 1-2,

Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

The idea of this relationship between the heir and the paidagogos, was that the child was to learn in the restrictiveness of his minority, the morals and lessons necessary, so that when he came to the age of freedom and of his inheritance, he would have the moral and social tools necessary to live a productive and fulfilled life.

Paul says that the Law was our paidagogos, whose sole purpose was to bring us to our inheritance in Messiah.

The Law, as paidagogos, was to teach us to look for and long for Messiah.

According to Paul's thinking, once we come to Messiah, the Law has done its job. We then come into the inheritance, that the father has prepared for us, from the beginning. Make no mistake, this does not mean that the Law is deleted from influencing us. In the heir's life, after reaching maturity, he could still hear the voice of his tutor, echoing in his ears. The lessons learned from the schoolmaster, stay with us all our lives.

The Law is not done away with, but remains with us, continuing to point us to our inheritance, in Messiah. It is in this way, that the Law remains active in our lives. This is why, the observances of Shabbat, Pesach, and the other ordained feasts, are still of great importance. Because they, in shadows and pictures, all point to our Messiah, our Inheritance.


Subject Matter



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