BRINGING US TO CHRIST....THE CORRECT USE OF THE - TopicsExpress

BRINGING US TO CHRIST....THE CORRECT USE OF THE LAW..... Galatians 3 22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christs, then are ye Abrahams seed, and heirs according to the promise. Notice verse 24: A schoolmaster as described in Galatians is not the same thing as a school teacher today. A schoolmaster, as Paul described him here in the book of Galatians, was a sort of tutor or governor to whom the individual child in the family was committed until he reached the age of maturity. The child was under the jurisdiction of that schoolmaster with the idea that he would be prepared for his freedom when he reached the age of maturity. Paul tells here in the Galatian letter that the law was given that our hearts might be prepared for the acceptance of Jesus Christ. If we were not convicted that we were sinners, utterly lost and undone, we would not turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. So the law was given, first of all, not for the purpose of conversion; it was given to provide the basis of condemnation for the human race. It was given to convict men of their need of Christ–first, by emphasizing the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and then by means of the very law itself emphasizing to man his utter inability to be saved by the keeping of the law.