Galatians 3:21
If someone should ask, “When God gave his laws to Moses long after he told Abraham what he was promising to give to him, was he changing his mind?” I would reply that God certainly did not change his mind when he did that! If God had given a law that could enable people to live eternally, then it actually would be because of people obeying that law that God would erase the record of their sins.
Translation for Translators
In The King James Version
In Context
Cross References
Matthew 5:17“I came to earth, not to annul the laws that God gave Moses or what the prophets [MTY] wrote. Instead, I came to cause to happen what the authors of those books predicted would happen. So do not think any longer that I have come to earth in order that I might annul what they wrote.
Romans 3:6We should certainly not conclude that God should not judge us, because if God did not judge us Jews, ◄it would not possibly be right for him to judge anyone in the world [MTY]!/how could he judge anyone in the world?► [MTY, RHQ]
Romans 3:31So, if someone should ask concerning the laws that God gave Moses, “By saying that God erases the record of our sins because of our trusting in Christ, does that mean that those laws now are useless?”, I would reply, “Certainly not. Instead, we truly fulfill the laws that God gave Moses.”
Romans 9:31But although the people of Israel sought a basis by which God would erase the record of their sins, they did not succeed in fulfilling the true purpose of the laws that God gave to Moses.
Galatians 2:17Furthermore, because we (exc) Jews desired that God would erase the record of our sins because of our relationship with Christ, it means that we realized that we ourselves were sinners like non-Jews, whom we called sinners, because we(exc) also were not obeying the Jewish rituals and laws. But ◄ we(inc) certainly cannot conclude that it is Christ who causes us to sin./ should we conclude that it is Christ who causes us to sin?► [RHQ] No, Christ certainly does not cause anyone to sin.
Galatians 2:21I am not rejecting as useless what God did for me ◄ kindly/that I did not deserve►, as my opponents are doing. I fully accept that God saved me by acting kindly towards me. If it is because people obey the laws that God gave to Moses that God erases the record of their sins, then Christ died ◄for nothing/needlessly►.
Matthew Henry on Galatians 3:20-29
Design of the Law; The True Children of Abraham. ( a. d. 56.) 19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 22 But the scripture hath concluded… Read the whole commentary →