"But before of came the faith, under law we were being guarded, being shut up to the faith being about to be revealed.’
-An interesting verse, this. The law of course came thru Moses, but faith in fact came before that, since as Paul has just reminded us, Abraham had faith, and was made right with God thru his faith. BEFORE the law came. However, here Paul is talking about a time before faith came, and yet after the law had been put in. What HAS come more recently, of course, by Paul’s reckoning is the revealing of the fulness of faith and the fulfillment of the promise, now that Christ has fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law.
-Until this more recent time, we were actually shut up to the faith. The same Scripture which was shutting us up under sin was shutting us up to faith, keeping us under guard, under wraps, shutting us out to the freedom of faith which would never be found under the law. We were completely enslaved to futility trying to earn our way back into right standing with God. And sadly, such has been the lot of humanity, sentenced to stumble along in darkness, groping their way thru uncertainty and endless attempts to curry the favor of the Almighty. But Good News was on its way! Rescue was coming. And has indeed come - almighty God sent His only Son to fulfill the requirement of the law and to set us free us from the law. In that time before Christ did come, we could say (as Paul does here) that faith - this Good News - was about to be revealed, uncovered so that all could (hear and) see. And yet, therein lies the challenge, does it not? All have not heard, they are in fact still shut up. Vast swaths of humanity, countless millions have yet to hear about the promise of forgiveness thru faith in Christ. And how will they hear, how will they know unless someone tells them. Indeed...
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