Galatians 3

Galatians 3 is serious meat. Paul is wrecking the idea that following rules or following the law brings about righteousness.

So what was the Law for then? It was a guardian. During this period, usually women were assigned and under a guardian. This guardian was responsible for basically telling them what to do in order to be safe. They would tell them what to wear, where they could go, who they could talk to. In doing this, it was assumed that one day they would grow up enough to understand what the guardian was teaching them with these rules and they’d be able to out grow needing a guardian.

The Law was there for the same reason. It was a set of rules for them to follow. These rules were designed to keep them safe until the Spirit came because without the Spirit they were incapable of knowing instinctively what God wanted.

Because of Christ coming and the Holy Spirit being with us, we no longer need the Law. Christ’s law tells us that we are to love God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:36–37). This Law was written on our hearts and because of the Spirit (John 14:26), He can guide us in how to do that without a list of rules to follow.

This isn’t nearly all of what I want to say about this topic, but this isn’t the last time Paul talks about this so I’m sure I’ll be diving deeper into this.