Law and Faith in the Bible

To understand Paul's arguments involving law and faith, it is first necessary to understand what these words meant in the first century B.C. In the New Testament, "law" or "the law" usually refers to the law of God that was given to the Jews in the Old Testament. The Jews believed that Abraham had obeyed the law through the covenant. They also believed, especially the Pharisees, that the law was "the perfect expression of God's will" (Buttrick 99). As a Pharisee himself, this was how Paul viewed the law before his conversion. After he saw Jesus, however, Paul's understanding changed. He realized that his passion for the law had blinded him to the truth; in fact, it had led him to persecute God rather than honor and obey him. With his new faith came a profound realization: those under the law are in slavery, while those who believe in Christ are free (Galatians 5:1). Paul believed that the law had been necessary at one point, to guide the Jews and keep them from wrong, but that necessity was abolished with the coming of Christ. It is important to note that Paul did not condemn the law; rather, he merely realized that it was no longer necessary because the promise had been fulfilled. In Galatians 4:1-3, he likens the law to a guardian of an heir, who has complete control until the heir comes of age, and no control afterwards. Now that Christ has come, we are no longer minors, but heirs of the promise fulfilled through Christ. Paul reiterates several times that salvation cannot now come through the law, but can only be found through faith in Christ. In fact, the law actually leads to sin- not because it is evil, but because it presents the option to sin. The law was created to be something good, but because of the sinful nature of man it merely led to more sin. Because of this situation, God sent Christ so that we can be saved from sin through faith. Deuteronomy 27:36, as quoted in Galatians 3:10, states that everyone who does not completely follow the law is cursed, which dooms us all as none of us is perfect. We were saved from this terrible fate when Christ, the only perfect human to ever live, died for us and took the curse upon Himself. We are saved from being under a curse if and only if we believe that Christ is the one who saved us.

The Hebrew word for "faith" was generally used as a synonym for Christians or for the members of a church, though it had other meanings as well. In the New Testament, in varying situations it meant "dependence on God," "trust," and "to give credence to a person or thing" (Buttrick 229). Paul uses the word in even more ways in Galatians. In Galatians 3:8-9 it is used to replace the word "believers," and in Galatians 2:16 and elsewhere Paul uses it to refer to faith in Christ as our savior. In this faith alone, not through the law, we can have a right relationship with God. As Galatians 3:25-26 explains, now that we have faith in Jesus we are children of God. All believers, verse 28 continues, are equal in God's eyes, for "all of [us] are one in Christ Jesus." It is through faith that we have become Abraham's descendants, enabling us to take part in what was promised to him. It is because of God's great love for us that we can have this faith, for "the only thing that counts is faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6). To have faith, however, does not mean that we should merely acknowledge that Christ is our savior. While this is the core of faithfulness, we are also commanded to act for our beliefs. This is something that begins the moment we become baptized, when we symbolically die to ourselves and start new lives of acting like Christ. Paul states in Galatians 5:13 that we should become slaves to one another, and that we should not think ourselves better than others or worthy of praise. The fruits of the Spirit, all of which call for being Christ-like towards others, come about naturally when faith occurs, as stated in Galatians 3:14. The fact that we "receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" shows that a right relationship with God can be found not through the law, but through belief in Christ as our savior.

Buttrick, George Arthur. The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (Volumes E-J, K-Q). Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1985.