What then was the purpose of the Law? Paul now comes to this vital question. The Judaisers saw it as the means of salvation, them means by which someone becomes part of the family of God. Paul says that this is not the case. It was added until Christ came because of our sins. Saw the Law had a temporary purpose. Now this does not mean that the Law is no longer relevant, for it points out what is right and what is wrong. It establishes many general principles (mercy, justice, concern for the poor etc). The Law is good in as much as it shows what is right and what is wrong, but it was never intended as a means of salvation.
We can draw some general lessons from this. One is that we have an enormous tendency today, both in society as a whole and in work situations, to try and solve problems by introducing new laws or systems. Look at the last tragedy that occurred that is reported in the news (eg medical failure, social work failure etc). What is the response? Set up an inquiry, follow this with new laws, systems, codes of practice etc. Now there may be some good things about the new systems, sometimes they may even make things a little better, but they never actually solve the root of the problem. We will never tackle problems if systems are all that we change.
The second lesson is that God is perfectly happy to put a "temporary fix" in place. God always knew that He was going to send His Son, and that Jesus was the focus of the solution and His plan. However, He put the law in place to bring some order in the meantime. We can sometimes be too fixated on achieving the perfect solution, when we need to adopt a less than ideal solution as a means of keeping things going or making some progress.
We can draw some general lessons from this. One is that we have an enormous tendency today, both in society as a whole and in work situations, to try and solve problems by introducing new laws or systems. Look at the last tragedy that occurred that is reported in the news (eg medical failure, social work failure etc). What is the response? Set up an inquiry, follow this with new laws, systems, codes of practice etc. Now there may be some good things about the new systems, sometimes they may even make things a little better, but they never actually solve the root of the problem. We will never tackle problems if systems are all that we change.
The second lesson is that God is perfectly happy to put a "temporary fix" in place. God always knew that He was going to send His Son, and that Jesus was the focus of the solution and His plan. However, He put the law in place to bring some order in the meantime. We can sometimes be too fixated on achieving the perfect solution, when we need to adopt a less than ideal solution as a means of keeping things going or making some progress.
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