The Law and Our Faith

 

"Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." Galatians 3:24-25

The law, which God issued to Moses in the Old Testament, was necessary for God's people. In Paul's words to the Galatians, it was a tutor which helped lead God's people to Christ. I have heard it also compared to guardrails on a toddler's bed, or bumpers on a bowling lane. These are tools that guide us toward the correct place to be, to go, or a path of deeper understanding. I don't remember this tutor analogy from my previous studies. However, I love this even more, because it provides a better picture of our relationship with the law after we have found faith in Christ's promises. 

After all, a toddler does not keep the guardrails on their bed into adulthood. Nor do most adults use bumpers when they bowl. These analogies make it seem as if the law is a tool only used in childhood which can be ignored or forgotten once we grow out of them. God's laws are not like this at all. 

Think about a tutor, or a mentor even, who guides you with their wisdom. They lead you to a deeper understanding of the subject in which they are training you. At first, this might be a struggle - anyone who has ever tried to teach me math in their lifetime knows first hand -  the student may not be willing to, nor may they feel capable of, getting a grasp on the material at hand. God blesses us with strong, patient mentors and tutors, and praise Him for that! 

Once we have the deeper understanding of whatever topic our tutor was instructing us in, we are no longer under their authority on the matter. After a mentor has coached us to more wisdom on the matter, our relationship with them, and with their rules for approaching the topic, changes. However, unlike the toddler who discards their safety rails, or the bowler who abandons their bumpers, we don't dump our tutor into our past. 

Long after our tutors or mentors have guided us with their wisdom, we still respect them, and call upon their lessons we learned from them to help keep us going in the right direction. Many times, we will stay friends with our mentors, coming back to them for gentle, uplifting reminders that we are still going the right way, and doing the right thing. We are not dependent upon them for their praise to sustain us, however we still appreciate the insights they provide us. 

My friends, God is telling us this is how our relationship with the law changed after Christ's resurrection on that first Easter morn. His laws were our tutor, guiding us to gain a deeper understanding of the subject (life with God), until we came to the correct conclusion (faith in Christ, salvation through His cross). We no longer look to the law for our pat on the back telling us we are doing the right thing. However, we still use the law, in the new context of justification through faith, to help us know we are headed in the right direction, or staying on the correct path. 

The law was how God's people maintained a relationship with Him, and kept their hope for salvation to come. We already have salvation! Christ has already come! We now have a new hope, in Him! We don't need the law to grant us salvation, however, we don't abandon it. Our relationship with it changes. We now want to obey the law out of love and respect for our Savior - who delivered us from the law. 

God sent His Son to us because He knew we could never keep the law entirely. Not one person, from the beginning of time, has been sinless - except for Christ. Not one person had the capability of no longer needing the tutor (the law)...we had no hope for life eternal with God before Christ came. Like the student who aced all their tests no longer needs their tutor, we have won in Christ and no longer need the law. But as the student will always remember their tutor, changing their relationship to one now defined by love and respect, so we should always remember God's laws, viewing them through the love and sacrifice of the cross.