Galatians Studies

Book of Galatians    Misunderstanding the law in Galatians V

Koot van Wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Visiting Professor

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint Lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

11 November 2011

On the Law in Galatians 3:24 as especially the ten commandments

           What we have found so far, is that if one interprets the faith that came in Galatians 3:25 as Christ coming to the cross to die in 31 CE, then the paidagogos/teacher stopped to exist and that the ceremonial law stopped to exist because Christ is then the Lamb of God. That is the logic of Galatians 3:23-25 provided one see the faith of verse 24 and 25 as Christ Himself and specifically coming at the date of the cross.

           This is the way we have expounded it in Lecture 1 of this series and this is the way that many of the pioneers understood it, including G. Butler and others. Since the Ten Commandments are eternal and not temporary, therefore only the ceremonial law could stop at the cross, the ten commandments could not. That is what we have also postulated in Lecture 1.

           Yet, despite this incredible logic of 1 + 1 = 2, as we have said here, Ellen White said before 1900 that it is especially the Ten Commandments or moral law that is the paidagogos or teacher in Galatians 3:24. In 1900 she said that it is both the moral and ceremonial laws. Shortly after E. Waggoner’s presentations, Uriah Smith said that Ellen White told him that he cannot be right to say that the book of Galatians do not speak of the ceremonial laws. And yet, she said that the law as paidagogos or teacher is especially the moral law.

           Let us reflect, using Butler's argument and others including our own in Lecture 1. How can Ellen White say that it is especially the moral law when verse 25 says that when the Faith (Christ) came, we are no longer under a paidagogos or teacher, thus under the moral law? It appears that she did not make a comment on Galatians 3:25. This is the most important verse.

           However, a fine reading of the original text of Paul is necessary to appreciate Ellen White properly. A literal translation of the original in English will show the same result. Look at Galatians 3:21-29. Look especially not at the law, not at faith, not at anything else but the pronouns. Notice that in vv. 21-22 Paul is using he, it, they. In vv. 23-25 Paul is using we, us, our. In vv. 26-29 he is using you (plural). Here lies the key to a proper understanding of the law in Galatians 3:21-29. It is here that Ellen White is absolutely correct in her exegesis. Why?

           Look at the diagram of Paul's life that we have attached here. The argument is as logical as 1 + 1 = 2. Jesus came in 31 CE. Paul is using in vv. 23-25 the pronouns we, us, our thus, Paul is including himself as faithful. Faith came for Paul. But when did faith came for Paul? In 34 CE. Three years after the ceremonial laws were fused and transformed in the body, life, death and resurrection life, function in heaven of Christ. The ceremonial laws stopped to function at 31 CE but Paul was only getting his proper faith and Faith-appearance of Christ in 34 CE. How can the ceremonial law as paidagogos keep Paul until his faith came to him in 34 CE when the ceremonial laws stopped functioning for the earthly ministry in 31 CE already? It can thus be only the ten commandments that continued to function until Paul found faith in Christ four years after the ceremonial laws stopped functioning.

           But why did the ten commandments serve as paidagogos or teacher to Christ and stop doing so after Paul found Christ the true Faith in 34 CE? Because Christ is the law, the Holy Spirit is the law, the Father is the law. Law-revelation to a sinner is a pointing function, since there is a problem to be solved. God does not overlook it. He does not compromise. There is no place for antinomianism in God's salvation economy. It is unheard of. Liberation is not from the law but from sin. A forgiven person is as if they have never sinned, thus perfect in the Perfection of Christ's life and works and thus, when the law lives in the heart of the person, the paidagogos, the Holy Spirit is in the heart, serving as the law function. If one keeps it, there is no need for the voice or teaching of the Holy Spirit to prompt the person to keep the law. If one breaks the law, the Holy Spirit will plead with the person to come in line and thus the person will have the Holy Spirit functioning as a paidagogos or teacher or guide. That includes the seventh-day Sabbath and its keeping.

           What separate Adventists and other Protestants on Galatians 3:21-25, is that they see it that we are no longer under the ten commandments, it was also terminated at the cross in 31 CE when Christ came [a position that is nowhere in the Old or New Testaments] and furthermore, the Sabbath is in no need of been kept any longer, so that a substitution as Sunday is perfectly acceptable. This is non-biblical. This is not what Galatians says.

           Galatians 3:21 ask the question whether the law is against the promises of God? Absolutely not. There is life in the law-keeping. But that keeping was done by Christ and our faith is to bring us into a faith-relationship that will put Christ in our hearts, the Holy Spirit as well, law written on our hearts as Jeremiah 31:30-34.

           So what is the result of our investigation? A closer reading of the original text of Paul makes it imperative that we see the law of Galatians 3:23-25 as the ten commandments especially, since the ceremonial laws were no longer functioning when Paul became a Christian in 34 CE.

           If we compare this conclusion with the one in Lecture 1, it is a 180 degree turn from that position. However, this one is based on a fine reading of the Greek text with care to the role of the pronouns in vv. 23-25 and the implications in the history and life of Paul as his conversion as opposed to the date of the death of Christ.

Paul is speaking of especially the ten commandments in Galatians 3:24