anywho,it is clear that paul is talking about the mosaic law in gal 3. note the references to "works of the law" (from the greek ergon nomos) and his reference to the "book of the law" (you know, the part of the law that moses wrote, hence, mosaic law. ex 24:5,7)
now, let's back up from gal 3:24 to gal 3:19,
Galatians 3:19 ( NKJV ) 19What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.
what purpose did the law serve? he actually answers this question in verse 24, but notice that the law was added because of transgressions. but what law or laws were being transgressed?
The meaning of "added because of transgressions" simply means that the law was added to define transgressions that would violate it, and those transgressions existed already.
(but of course it couldn't have been the ten comandments)
That is inconsistent, as the ten commandments was the covenant that was given through Moses, at the same time Moses received God's instructions that he later codified in the book of the law. The content of each have the same origin of time, as Moses testified in Deuteronomy 4:
11 "Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
12 "And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice.
13 "So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
14 "And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.
remember?
Romans 4:15 ( NKJV ) 15because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
since the law was added because of transgressions or sin, there had to be a law that existed so that "the law" could be addded!
That comes from rendering "added because of transgressions
or sin" from an incomplete definition of sin equating the two. If you're going to use Romans as a guide, you should also include Romans 5:13:
For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Sin existed before the law did, showing that sin and transgressions to a codified law are separate entities.
just too bad that we don't know what law or laws that was being transgressed, a pure shame.
well, we do know it wasn't the mosaic law.
That simply means that there was no transgression of law prior to the Mosaic covenant, since there was no law mediated through Moses before Moses came onto the historical scene.
also notice that "the law" was added until! until what?
...till the Seed should come!
so, this tells us that the law was to be added but that it would have a definite duration!
that's where:
Galatians 3:23-25 ( NKJV ) 23But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
comes into play.
the mosaic law fullfiled it purpose, came 430 years after abraham and taught the COI the habit of obedience.
but verse 25 says that we are no longer under a tutor, why?
You were doing fine until you decided to ask "why". Being kept under the law for a period of time you acknowledge was temporal also acknowledges that once faith in our Redeemer came, that ownership conveyed by "kept under the law" came to an end once the ownership of the purchased possession (us) was transferred via redemption. Galatians 4 addresses that as the reason Jesus Christ came:
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"
7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Redemption places being under the law in the past tense, and that is the reason that we are no longer under the tutelage of the law.
because:
Daniel 9:27 ( NKJV ) 27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week (and Christ literaly died on wednesday)
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.
I am among the minority who agrees that the crucifixion was on a Wednesday, followed by the High Sabbath on Thursday, Mary buying embalming spices on Friday, and the second sabbath of the week happening on Saturday. However, Daniel 9:27 refers to the midst of a
shabuwa, dividing the heptad of "seven" we commonly regard as "years", and it isn't a reference to a literal week. I don't think Daniel 9:27 is germane, and you're making a point from this verse that it doesn't really support.
mosaic law, and not the ten commandments, was added because of gal 3:19, and served its purpose per gal 3:24!
Here you do nothing short of displaying an open prejudice against the Mosaic covenant. The ten commandments
was every bit as much Mosaic law as the book of the law was. The tables of stone was the covenant handed to Moses on Mount Sinai, and the book of the law was the same covenant Moses wrote at Horeb, from orally dictated instructions directly from God. Galatians addresses the ten commandments itself in Galatians 4:
21 ¶ Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise,
24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar----
25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children----
26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written: "Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she who has a husband."
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman."
Here we have Paul's instruction to cast off the bondwoman, which he defines as the covenant from Mount Sinai: "
the one from Mount Sinai". There was only
one covenant that had Mount Sinai as its origin. Scroll back up in this post and review the testimony Moses gave us from Deuteronomy 4 for the proper noun naming the covenant from Mount Sinai - the Ten Commandments, written on tables of stone.
That is what Galatians is addressing with the same impact as the book of the law. The law was indivisible, and we are redeemed from the law as a unit that includes the covenant from Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments.