Law as temporary addition,
No possible escape—
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid! for if a law had been given which could have imparted life, then righteousness would have indeed been by the law.
Critical Notes |
(3:19) appended — The law came as an adjunct, as an addition..
because of trasngressions — literally, “for the sake of transgressions.” The law either restrained transgression or resulted in more transgressions. One thing is certain. Law did not solve the problem of sin. conveyed by angels— ordered or directed by angels. The word is often used in a forensic or legal sense. A law is ordered or enacted: the conditions of a will are directed or executed. Compare; Deut. 33:32 (LXX). Acts 7:53; Heb.2:2 (3:20) There have been over 300 interpretations of this verse, but the words are simple enough and the train of thought is hardly that obscure. (The sentence indeed may be an ellipsis, but the missing words do not disrupt the natural coherence and unity. The word mediator implies two things about the law — the law came indirectly from God, and the law was like a contract in that had stipulations contingencies. The law mutually depended on two parties. But the promise came directly from God, and was unconditionally given. God acted alone. (3:21) Now If a lay had been given — The law, of coruse, did not have this property. The sentence is conditional, and contrary to actual fact. (3:21) But— a small word but an important one. the strong adversative (alla) here is the actual fact. The law did not impart life, but his what it did do, consigned, shut in, enclosed. consigned— used of fish caught in a net (Lk. 5:6), of men confined in a prison with no possible escape. Compare: “Jericho was straitly shut up” (Josh. 6:1). |
Literary Summary |
James Sanders
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