Historiographical Revisionism about Butler and Galatians
1. Butler and EGW speak of two different sets of chapters in Galatians. 2. Butler speaks of chapters 3-4 (Butler 1886: 76); EGW speaks of chapters
5-6 (see E. Seaton 1964 Sabbath School Quarterly on Galatians page 3) 3. Both Butler and EGW acknowledge that Galatians is talking about the moral
law and ceremonial law. Butler feels that Paul speaks of the ceremonial law
more in chapters 3-4 and EGW feels that Paul is speaking about the moral law
more in chapters 5-6. 4. Butler has very good arguments for his case on the ceremonial law especially
in chapter 3:19-29 (Butler 1886: 65-66).
Contemporary
Issue on the Law in Galatians
Galatians
3:19-29. C. P. Cosaert
2017: 75 talks about the purpose of the law and discussed this passage of
Galatians 3:19-29. He emphasized that it is mainly the moral law although the
ceremonial law is thought of by some.
“While
the ceremonial laws pointed to the Messiah and emphasized holiness and the need
of a Savior, it is the moral law, with its “Thou shall nots,” that reveals sin…….” Butler (1886:
65-66) argued for the ceremonial law. If it is the moral law, says Butler, then
it would imply that the moral law came 430 years after the promise to the seed “until
the seed of the promise would come” meaning then that the moral law stopped
when Christ came in 31 A.D.! The 1900
Sabbath School Quarterly on Galatians page 17 point 6, answered: "Until the seed should come to whom the promise was made." The seed "to whom the promise was made" is not yet come. Remember that Abraham is the father of all them that believe, so that the seed will not be fully come until all who will believe shall have conic to the possession of the inheritance. Then will the promise be fulfilled. There will then be no more need of a law to remind men of their sins, for the law will be in the heart of each one, so that there will be no sin. The name of Christ the King will be "THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS."
Question: But
was the law not written on the heart of the believer of the Old Testament? Answer: The writer
of 1900 does not speak of the First Coming of Christ but the Second Coming,
just like Butler in 1886. Cosaert 2017: 76 has in mind the First Coming of
Christ just like Protestantism at large thinks about the passage. Cosaert wants
to play with the semantics of “until” biblically to mean a-temporarily
something else than the end of period. “For
how long a time will the law stand as the revealer and condemner of sin ? Why not longer? Because after the
coming of the Lord and the restoration of all things, there will be no sin to be found in the universe.”
Cosaert found
inspiration with W. Hendriksen (1968) for his view on the moral law here.