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2 Timothy 2:15 |
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In the third chapter of Galatians the right division of the word is based on the
three grand divisions of the Bible, commonly called the patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian
dispensations, but Scripturally known as the promises, the law, and the gospel. The promises
were to Abraham. The law came 430 years after, through Moses, and was "added because of
transgressions" until Christ should come.
The law was not added to the promise God made to Abraham — it "came in besides" — that is, between the promise and its fulfillment. The promise was that Christ, the seed of Abraham, should come, and through Him all nations be blessed (Galatians 3:8-14, 17, 19). Since the law was added only until the seed should come, "which is Christ" (Galatians 3:16), it follows that the law automatically ended with the coming of Christ. "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24-25). Upon this plain and proper division of the word, Paul affirms the abrogation of the law in numerous references. We are not under the law (Romans 6:14); we are dead to the law and delivered from it (Romans 7:6); Christ is the end of the law (Romans 10:4). It is in obedience to the gospel, therefore, that men are saved today. The Acts of the Apostles plainly reveals the terms of our salvation. |