Galatians 3:21
21 Is the law [nomos] then [oun] against [kata] the promises
[epaggelia] of God [theos]? God forbid [me]: [ginomai] for [gar] if [ei] there had been [didomi] a
law [nomos] given [didomi] which [ho] could [dunamai] have given life, [zoopoieo]
verily [ontos] righteousness [dikaiosune] should [an] have been [en] by [ek] the law. [nomos]
KJV-Interlinear
21 Is the Law then contrary to
the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was
able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. NASB
Against, ‘kata,’ means against, alone, apart,
aside, before, beyond, exceeding, more excellent and here the question is
asked, ‘Is the law better or in addition to the promise?’
And of course Paul states emphatically, ‘No.’
Now the Law of Moses is not condemned or even
derided as being somehow flawed.
The Law given to Moses is in fact perfect, or an
example of a perfect pattern of life.
Note that Adam had a perfect life when he was in
the Garden. But Adam and Eve had forever
life, not eternal life.
The Law even if someone could live by its
standards, cannot produce or provide eternal life.
Adam and Eve could have lived in the Garden
forever, and that would have been as good as it would ever get. But of course they faltered. And they
faltered with only a subtle suggestion from Satan issued through a talking
animal. Something that Eve should have
picked up on.
When you talk to your dog or cat or pet bird, they
do not engage in conscious conversation with you. If they did you would notice that probably
immediately. But Eve did not notice
that, and thus was led to her first sin.
It did not take much for both to commit their first
sin and as such they lost everything.
The Law is the same. It is a set pattern of perfection
of living by means of mans own works and efforts, but man cannot fulfill the
Law, because man is weak. Sooner or
later everyone will fail, and we all do.
The penalty of failure is eternal separation from God. It takes only one
single sin to fail permanently.
But again, even if you could live a perfect life,
you would never have eternal life, only forever life and forever gives you only
more time to eventually fail. Thus
failure and the Law go hand and hand in proving that man cannot gain eternal
life by his own means.
This also cancels out all religions. They are all
false.
There is no system of works, no system of coming
back to live a better and better life in order to somehow improve or
systematically advance oneself, no system of technology or better genetic
engineering, there is nothing by which a person can gain eternal life or
equality with God or eternal life for oneself in spite of God or whatever it is
that you think is out there.
If there were an alternate system, alternate to
faith, then it would or should provide eternal life.
But how many people alive in this world do you know
of, that have continued to live ever since they were born? As well as being able to travel back and
forth independently between heaven and earth or anywhere else? None.
So, you have but one choice to gain eternal life as
well as advance your spiritual life, and both are based on faith. The first is
by believing in Christ and the second is by believing in the things you learn
on a daily basis, but that assumes that you are indeed pursuing a daily study
in order to learn and will continue to do so for the rest of your life.
