So is Paul saying that the Law was wrong, or is opposed to God's promises? Certainly not. We should remember this answer, for it means that any understanding of the Bible that that seems to put the Old Testament in opposition to the New Testament is wrong.
It wasn't the Law that was the problem, but the Judaisers use of the Law. The Law could not impart life, though they imagined that it could do. That was why they went to such lengths to produce all the regulations that were supposed to help prevent people from breaking the Law. Again we can draw a general principle from this. We have to run our churches in some way or other, we have to have a system of some sort. But if we find we are making an increasing number of rules to "make things work" then it is a sure sign that we have got things wrong somewhere.
Sin is the problem that made it impossible for the Law to bring life. We do well to remember that sin is the fundamental problem with the human race, with every individual, including you and me. Sin holds is prisoner, it is not just what we do wrong, but that we are by nature bound to do wrong and go wrong at some point.
God's solution to this problem was faith. The promise is given to those who believe. How does this work? Well through faith in Christ we are forgiven, we receive the Holy Spirit, and He can start undoing the twistedness inside of us. Do you never wonder why you seem incapable of getting some things right? Sometimes you know that there is something inside of you stopping you from seeing clearly, thinking straight, and acting right. Well the good news is that God is in the business of changing that. When we become aware of these blockages within ourselves we should not despair, but start to rejoice that this is another problem that the Lord will solve in our life. We need to believe!
It wasn't the Law that was the problem, but the Judaisers use of the Law. The Law could not impart life, though they imagined that it could do. That was why they went to such lengths to produce all the regulations that were supposed to help prevent people from breaking the Law. Again we can draw a general principle from this. We have to run our churches in some way or other, we have to have a system of some sort. But if we find we are making an increasing number of rules to "make things work" then it is a sure sign that we have got things wrong somewhere.
Sin is the problem that made it impossible for the Law to bring life. We do well to remember that sin is the fundamental problem with the human race, with every individual, including you and me. Sin holds is prisoner, it is not just what we do wrong, but that we are by nature bound to do wrong and go wrong at some point.
God's solution to this problem was faith. The promise is given to those who believe. How does this work? Well through faith in Christ we are forgiven, we receive the Holy Spirit, and He can start undoing the twistedness inside of us. Do you never wonder why you seem incapable of getting some things right? Sometimes you know that there is something inside of you stopping you from seeing clearly, thinking straight, and acting right. Well the good news is that God is in the business of changing that. When we become aware of these blockages within ourselves we should not despair, but start to rejoice that this is another problem that the Lord will solve in our life. We need to believe!
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