"Therefore why the law? It was added for the sake of the transgressions, until the Seed the [one] who would come to the [one] having been promised, having been ordained through angels in [the] hand of a mediator.’
-The inheritance, justification by faith, comes not thru the law but thru the promise, which both precedes and supersedes the law. So the natural question then becomes, why the law? Why was it given in the first place if it wasn’t going to make a person right with God? Why bother with it? Why even pay any attention to it anymore - is there any use for it at this point? Paul addresses this question at greater length in his letter to the Romans - why the law (Romans 5.20, 7.13)? His simple answer here is that it was added for the sake of the transgressions. Generally speaking, laws are made in order to clarify what is not allowed, and secondarily what the consequences are for transgressing them. They mostly tell us what we mustn’t do (and sometimes what we must do, like pay our taxes), and what will happen if we do (or don’t) obey. Where there is no law (or awareness of it), there is no awareness of law-breaking, and thus there is (very likely) no awareness of guilt. Which is why God, in His love and faithfulness, gave the law to the nation Israel. Law-breakers need to know that they are breaking the law, so that they have a keen awareness of their guilt, and a clear opportunity to repent and reform their ways. Where there is no law, there is no repentance.
-Now, this law was ordained by angels. Officially ordered and decreed. The prevailing sense would probably be that God Himself chose Moses to be the mediator of His law and then gave Moses the entirety of what is fittingly refered to as the law of Moses. But there are multiple mentions in Scripture of angels playing a role in the delivery of said law - Acts 7.38, 7.53; Hebrews 2.2. Angels in fact are divine messengers, emissaries of the Most High God. They normally do what they do in the (unseen) spiritual realm (i.e. Revelation 12.7, Daniel 10.10-14), and if they happen to show up, you generally know that God is up to something big (cf Luke 1.19)(and when they DO show up, we observe that they are clearly rather frightening beings - Daniel 10.12; Luke 1.13, 1.30 2.10; Matthew 28.5). There's liable to be some kind of a glitch in the matrix, some kind of a change in the program, in the normal course of history. Of course, God's always up to something big, right? But we see that many of the more important events in all of creation have been entrusted to angels (guarding Eden, announcing Messiah, announcing resurrection, dispensing the plagues of God’s wrath in Revelation - to name a few). They were held in highest esteem by the ancients, mighty beings of great power, worshipped by some (Colossians 2.18) - suffice it to say, if there's an angel involved, you need to pay attention. Watch. Or watch out. And so when Paul points out here that this law was in fact spoken and ordained by angels, all the more reason that one would be wise to pay careful attention to it.
-But to clarify, the law was added for the sake of clarifying sin - until the Seed would come. We just read that the Seed is Christ. The Messiah. And when He came, something happened, something big. A big-time glitch in the matrix. Something changed. Everything changed, in fact. Read on...
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