Curses and Blessings Part 6

We’re going through a very important study on God’s blessings and curses and how we fit. If you haven’t read the previous posts, it’s very important that you do so.
Last time we concluded that we as Christians are heirs of God’s promise of blessing to Abraham and his seed. This promise predates the law and the law cannot mitigate in anyway that promise.
An interesting question that Paul foresees then is what is the purpose of the law. He answers that question in verses 22-24 of Galatians 3. First he says that it confines all under sin. In other words, the law lays down the standard and no one lives up to it. Therefore all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.
Second, before faith came we were kept under guard by the law and kept for the faith that should be revealed afterward. Before faith came the law had a guardianship role to keep people under control. A question you should ask yourself is what is the timeline involved. In other words the law guarded before the faith came. When did the faith come? When did that guardianship end?
Third, the law was a tutor to bring us to Christ. Again he says that when faith came, the tutor relationship ended. When did that faith come? We’ll look at the timing of this more later. What I want us to see now is that the purpose of the law had nothing to do with giving salvation because it can’t do that. It doesn’t even have anything to do with spiritual growth. As you will recall, Paul asked that question in verse 3. His conclusion was that the law does not perfect us. The law’s responsibility was to confine all under sin and to guard and serve as tutor until the time that faith comes. Next time we’ll look at that timing more closely.