Ellet J. Waggoner
“Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe” (Gal. 3:21, 22)
"Is the law then against the promises of God?" Not at all. If it were, it would not be in the hands of the Mediator, Christ, for all the promises of God are in Him. (2 Cor. 1:20). We find the law and the promise combined in Christ. We may know that the law was not and is not against the promises of God from the fact that God gave both the promise and the law. We know also that the giving of the law introduced no new element into the "covenant," since, having been confirmed, nothing could be added to or taken from it. But the law is not useless; else God would not have given it. It is not a matter of indifference whether we keep it or not, for God commands it. But all the same it is not against the promise and brings no new element in. Why? Simply because the law is in the promise. The promise of the Spirit includes: "I will put My laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts" (Heb. 8:10). And this is what God had done for Abraham when He gave him the covenant of circumcision. (Read Rom. 4:11; 2:25-29; Phil. 3:3)
The Law Magnifies the Promise
The law is righteousness, as God says: "Hearken to Me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law" (Isa. 51:7). So, then, the righteousness, which the law demands, is the only righteousness that can inherit the Promised Land. It is obtained, not by the works of the law, but by faith. The righteousness of the law is not attained by human efforts at doing the law, but by faith. (See Rom. 9:30-32). Therefore, the greater the righteousness, which the law demands, the greater is seen to be the promise of God. For He has promised to give it to all who believe. Yes, He has sworn it. When, therefore, the law was spoken from Sinai "out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice" (Deut. 5:22), accompanied by the sounding of the trump of God and with the whole earth quaking at the presence of the Lord and His holy angels, the inconceivable greatness and majesty of the law of God was shown. To everyone who remembered the oath of God to Abraham it was a revelation of the wondrous greatness of God's promise; for all the righteousness, which the law demands He has sworn to give to everyone who trusts Him. The "loud voice" with which the law was spoken was the loud voice that from the mountaintops proclaims the glad tidings of the saving mercy of God. (See Isa. 40:9). God's precepts are promises; they must necessarily be such, because He knows that we have no power! All that God requires is what He gives. When He says, "Thou shalt not," we may take it as His assurance that if we but believe Him He will preserve us from the sin against which He warns us.