“Is the law then against the promises of God?”
The full verse · Galatians 3:21 · KJV
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Asked by
Paul: the apostle writing to the churches of Galatia, explaining how the law relates to God's promise to Abraham (Galatians 3:16-19)
Asked to
Galatians: the members of the churches of Galatia, who had received the gospel from Paul but were now listening to teachers who would "pervert the gospel of Christ" (Galatians 1:7)
The Scene
Paul has just explained that the law was added "because of transgressions" until Christ, the promised seed, should come (Galatians 3:19-20).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionAfter Paul says the law cannot give the inheritance, someone could conclude that the law and the promise are enemies, as if God contradicted Himself. Paul raises that conclusion so he can reject it.
Barnes says the law was not against the promise; "It was an auxiliary to that," a helper serving the same purpose. Gill says the law and promises are distinct, with different work to do, but not contradictory, and the law serves the promises. Paul wants the Galatians to see one God with one plan, not two plans fighting each other.
The Response
What Scripture recordsPaul answers immediately: "God forbid." He explains why: "if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." No law can do that. Instead, "the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe" (Galatians 3:22).
Historical Context
The world behind the words"God forbid" translates the Greek mē genoito, literally "may it never be," Paul's strongest way of rejecting an idea. "Given life" is zōopoiēsai, to make alive. Paul has already quoted the law's own words: "The man that doeth them shall live in them" (Galatians 3:12; Leviticus 18:5). The law promised life to those who keep it, but it could not give anyone the power to keep it. Barnes explains that "no man has ever yielded perfect compliance with it," and so no one can be justified by it.
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyGod's law and God's promise come from the same God, and they do not compete. The law shows the problem; the promise gives the answer. Barnes says the law was "as good as a law could be," yet "law could not give life." Gill writes that "the law cannot give life, spiritual life to a dead sinner," and that "God makes use of the law to kill, but not to make alive."
That is why the next verse says Scripture "concluded all under sin" so that the promise might come by faith (Galatians 3:22). Matthew Henry says the law was given "to lead men to see their need of the promise, by showing the sinfulness of sin." Life comes from God's promise in Christ, received by faith, and the law serves that purpose rather than working against it.
Look Closer
Why can't righteousness come by the law, according to Galatians 3:21?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Father, where am I still hoping my own law-keeping will give me life, and how do You want me to receive life from You instead?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- Why do you think people hope rules can give them life, even when they keep failing them?
- How have God's commands and God's grace worked together in your story?
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
God is not divided. His commands and His promises fit together. If you have ever felt that God's holiness and His grace pull against each other, Paul's answer is "God forbid." The law shows you the need; Christ meets it.
So do not look to rule-keeping to give you life; it cannot. And do not throw God's commands away as if grace made them meaningless. Elsewhere Paul says the law "is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:12). Receive life through faith in Christ, and let His good commands show you how to live.
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Keep questioning
“Wherefore then serveth the law?”
“But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin?”
“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?”