SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:19
¶ ¿Pues de qu sirve la ley? Fue puesta por causa de las rebeliones, hasta que viniese la Simiente a quien fue hecha la promesa; y fue ordenada por los Angeles en la mano de un Mediador.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Galatians 3:19
Verse 19. Wherefore then serveth the law?] If the law does not annul the Abrahamic covenant, and cannot confer salvation on its votaries, why did God give it? This was a very natural objection, and must arise in the mind of any Jew who had paid attention to the apostle's reasoning. It was added because of transgressions] It was given that we might know our sinfulness, and the need we stood in of the mercy of God. The law is the right line, the straight edge, that determines the obliquity of our conduct. See the notes on Rom. iv. 15; and especially on Rom. v. 20, where this subject is largely discussed, and the figure explained.
Till the seed should come] The law was to be in force till the advent of the Messiah. After that it was to cease.
It was ordained by angels] The ministry of angels was certainly used in giving the law; see Psa. lxviii. 17; Acts vii. 53; and Hebrews ii. 2; but they were only instruments for transmitting; Moses was the mediator between God and the people, Deut. v. 5.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 19. Wherefore why then serveth the law ? etc..] If this be the case, might an objector say, why was the law given? what ends and purposes are to be served by it? of what use can it be? there had as good been no law at all, if the inheritance is not of it, and there is no justification by it. To which it is answered, it was added because of transgressions ; four hundred and thirty years after the covenant made with Abraham; it did not succeed it, nor take the place of it, and so make it null and void; but was over and above added unto it, for the sake of restraining transgressions; which had there been no law, men would not have been accountable for them; and they would have gone into them without fear, and with impunity; but the law was given, to lay a restraint on men, by forbidding such and such things, on pain of death; and also for the detecting, discovering, and making known transgressions, what they are, their nature and consequences; these the law charges men with, sets them before them, in their true light and proper colours; and convicts them of them, stops their mouths, and pronounces them guilty before God: moreover, this law entered in, over and above any other revelation God was pleased to make, that the offence might abound, ( Romans 5:20) either that particular offence, the sin of Adam, the apostle is there speaking of; the heinous nature of which, its aggravated circumstances, and the justness of its imputation to his posterity, were more clearly discerned by this law; and so the Syriac version here renders it in the singular number, atwnyjsm ljm , because of transgression; or all other offences and transgressions, which are increased through the multiplicity of precepts, and attended with more aggravating circumstances, than if no law was given, and more eagerly pursued after, through the prohibition of them; such being the corrupt nature of man, that the more anything is forbidden, the more desirous it is of it: add to all this, that the law was given for the punishing of transgressions, for which it curses, and threatens with death, and inflicts it on Christless sinners: hence it is clear there can be no justification by it, and yet it is not useless and insignificant: till the seed should come , to whom the promise was made; either Christ the seed of the woman, and of Abraham, who was to come in the flesh, and is come; and to whom the grand promise of life, and all the promises of the covenant were made; not for himself, but for those he represented, and in whom they are all secure: until whose coming to finish transgression, and bring in everlasting righteousness, the law was to continue in the form in which, and the use for which it was added, and then to cease as the ministration of Moses; for through the coming of Christ it received its full accomplishment, and came to an end; the ceremonial law was utterly abolished, and the moral law ceased to be a covenant of works, though it continues a rule of walk and conversation; and the whole Mosaic economy was no more: or else the seed here intends the spiritual seed of Abraham; particularly among the Gentiles, to whom the promise of blessedness, of justification, and eternal life was made; and the sense be, that till such time that a generation of faithful men, of believers in Christ, should arise among the Gentiles, the law was to continue with the Jews; but when they should spring up, the middle wall of partition should be broken down, and Abraham's spiritual seed among Jews and Gentiles make up one body, one people, and be fellow heirs and partakers of the promise of God in Christ, through the Gospel: and it was ordained by angels ; not Moses and Aaron, and Joshua, as some say; for though Moses was concerned in the giving of the law, yet not Aaron nor Joshua, nor are any of them ever called angels; but the holy elect angels are here meant, the ten thousands of saints, or holy ones, God came to Mount Sinai with, and the Lord was among, in the holy place; (see Deuteronomy 33:2 Psalm 68:17) and so the Jews say that the Lord appeared on Mount Sinai gloriously, aykalmd hytyk [ , with companies, or troops of angels, to give the law to his people: and this may be said to be ordained by them, inasmuch as it might be written and spoken by them, as the instruments and ministers God made use of; for though the tables are said to be the work of God, and the writing the writing of God, and to be written with the finger of God, and he is said to speak all the words of it, yet this hinders not, but that all this might be done by the means of angels; who might be employed in disposing and fitting the stones in the form they were, and in writing the law upon them; hence it is said to be given by the disposition of angels, ( Acts 7:53) and certain it is, that it was spoken by them, ( Hebrews 2:2) they forming in the air those articulate and audible sounds, when the law was delivered; who were also concerned in the thunderings and lightnings, and in the blowing of the trumpet, that waxed louder and louder at that time: in the hand of a mediator ; not Christ, as many interpreters, ancient and modern, have thought; for though he was present at the giving of the law, as appears from ( Acts 7:38 Psalm 68:17,18) and is the Mediator between God and man, and had the law in his hand, out of which it went forth as the lawgiver; and as the surety of his people has fulfilled it, and by so doing put an end to it, and delivered them from the curse and condemnation of it; yet he is the Mediator of the new and better covenant, not the ministration of death, but of life; and so Moses and Christ, the law and Gospel, the old and the new covenant, are continually opposed to each other; besides, the mediator here seems to be represented as inferior to the angels, and as receiving the law into his hands from them, by whom it was ordained; which to conceive of Christ, is very much to the demeaning and lessening of him. Moses is the mediator here meant, who stood between God and the people of Israel; not to make peace between them, but to show the word of God from him to them, and this at their own request; (see Deuteronomy 5:5,23-27), and in his hand the tables of the law were, when he came down from the mount, and was a typical mediator of Christ. So the Jews say of him, that he was y[xma , a mediator between them and God f60 .
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 19-22 - If that promise was enough for salvation, wherefore then serveth the law? The Israelites, though chosen to be God's peculiar people, wer sinners as well as others. The law was not intended to discover a wa of justification, different from that made known by the promise, but to lead men to see their need of the promise, by showing the sinfulness of sin, and to point to Christ, through whom alone they could be pardone and justified. The promise was given by God himself; the law was give by the ministry of angels, and the hand of a mediator, even Moses Hence the law could not be designed to set aside the promise. mediator, as the very term signifies, is a friend that comes betwee two parties, and is not to act merely with and for one of them. The great design of the law was, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those that believe; that, being convinced of their guilt, and the insufficiency of the law to effect a righteousness for them, they might be persuaded to believe on Christ, and so obtain the benefit of the promise. And it is not possible that the holy, just, an good law of God, the standard of duty to all, should be contrary to the gospel of Christ. It tends every way to promote it.
Greek Textus Receptus
τι 5101 ουν 3767 ο 3588 νομος 3551 των 3588 παραβασεων 3847 χαριν 5484 προσετεθη 4369 5681 αχρις 891 ου 3739 ελθη 2064 5632 το 3588 σπερμα 4690 ω 3739 επηγγελται 1861 5766 διαταγεις 1299 5651 δι 1223 αγγελων 32 εν 1722 χειρι 5495 μεσιτου 3316
Vincent's NT Word Studies
19. Wherefore then serveth the law? (ti oun o nomov). Lit. what then is the law, or, why then the law? What is its meaning and object? A natural question of an objector, since, according to Paul's reasoning, salvation is of promise and not of law.
It was added (proseteqh). Comp. pareishlqen came in beside, Rom. v. 20. Not as an addition to the promise, which is contrary to verse 18, but as a temporary, intermediate institution, in which only a subordinate purpose of God was expressed.
Because of transgressions (twn parabasewn carin). In order to set upon already existing sins the stamp of positive transgression of law. Comp. Rom. iv. 5; v. 13. Note the article, the transgressions, summing them up in one mass. Not, in order to give the knowledge of sins. This, it is true, would follow the revelation of sins as transgressions of law (Rom. iii. 20; vii. 13); but,
1. the phrase because of transgressions does not express that thought with sufficient definiteness. If that had been his meaning, Paul would probably have written thv ajpignwsewv twn parabasewn carin on account of the knowledge of transgressions.
2. He meant to describe the office of the law as more than giving the knowledge of sins. Its office was, in revealing sin as positive transgression, to emphasize the objective, actual, contrary fact of righteousness according to the divine ideal, and to throw sin into contrast with that grand ideal. The seed. Christ, whose advent was to introduce the fulfillment of the promise (verse 16).
Ordained (diatageiv). The verb means to arrange, appoint, prescribe. Of appointing the twelve, Matt. xi. 1; of enjoining certain acts, Luke viii. 55; xvii. 10; 1 Cor. vii. 17; of the decree of Claudius, Acts xviii. 2. Here, describing the form or mode in which the law was added; the arrangement made for giving it.
By angels (di aggelwn). Better, through angels as agents and intermediaries. Comp. eijv diatagav ajggelwn with reference to arrangements of angels; or as it was ordained by angels, Acts vii. 53. The tradition of the giving of the law through angels appears first in Deut. xxxiii. 2 (but comp. LXX and the Hebrew). See Hebrew ii. 2; Acts vii. 53. In the later rabbinical schools great importance was attached to this tradition, and it was not without influence in shaping the doctrine of angelic mediation which formed one of the elements of the Colossian heresy. Josephus (Ant. xv. 5, 3) relates that Herod excited the Jews to battle by a speech, in which he said that they had learned the holiest of laws from God through angels. It is a general O.T. idea that in great theophanies God appears surrounded with a heavenly host. See Habakkuk iii. 8; Isa. lxvi. 15; Zech. xiv. 5; Joel iii. 11. The idea of an angelic administration is also familiar. See Exod. xxiii. 20; xxxii. 34; xxxiii. 14; Isa. lxiii. 9; Josh. v. 14. The agency of angels indicates the limitations of the older dispensation; its character as a dispensation of the flesh.
In the hand of a mediator (en ceiri mesitou). En ceiri by the agency of. A Hebraism. In this sense, not elsewhere in N.T. See LXX, Genesis xxxviii. 20 Lev. xvi. 21. In the hand of Moses, Lev. xxvi. 46; Numbers iv. 37, 41, 45, 49. Comp. sun ceiri ajggelou with the hand of the angel, Acts vii. 35. For mesithv mediator, see on 1 Tim. ii. 5, and comp. Hebrew viii. 6; ix. 15; xii. 24. It is a later Greek word signifying also umpire, arbitrator, and appears in LXX only in Job ix. 33. The mediator here is Moses, who is often so designated by rabbinical writers. The object is not (as Meyer) to enable the reader to realize the glory of the law in the dignity and formal solemnity of its ordination, but to indicate the inferior, subordinate position held by the law in comparison with the promise, not the gospel. A glorification of the law cannot be intended, since if that were contemplated in the mention of angels and the mediator, the statement would tend to the disparagement of the promise which was given without a mediator. Paul, in the section iii. 6-9, 7, aims to show that the law does not, as the Judaisers assume, stand in a relation to the divine plan of salvation as direct and positive as does the promise, and that it has not, like the promise and its fulfillment, an eternal significance. On the contrary, it has only a transitory value. This estimate of the law does not contradict Paul's assertions in Rom. vii. 12-25. In representing the law as subordinate and temporary he does not impugn it as a divine institution.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
3:19 {What qen is the law?} (ti oun ho nomos?). Or, why qen the law? A pertinent question if the Abrahamic promise antedates it and holds on afterwards. {It was added because of transgressions} (twn parabasewn carin proseteqe). First aorist passive of prostiqemi, old verb to add to. It is only in apparent contradiction to verses #15ff., because in Paul's mind the law is no part of the covenant, but a thing apart "in no way modifying its provisions" (Burton). carin is the adverbial accusative of caris which was used as a preposition with the genitive as early as Homer, in favor of, for the sake of. Except in #1Jo 3:12 it is post-positive in the N.T. as in ancient Greek. It may be causal (#Lu 7:47; 1Jo 3:12) or telic (#Tit 1:5,11; Jude 1:16). It is probably also telic here, not in order to create transgressions, but rather "to make transgressions perceptible" (Ellicott), "thereby pronouncing them to be from that time forward transgressions of the law" (Rendall). parabasis, from parabainw, is in this sense a late word (Plutarch on), originally a slight deviation, qen a wilful disregarding of known regulations or prohibitions as in #Ro 2:23. {Till the seed should come} (acris an elqei to sperma). Future time with acris an and aorist subjunctive (usual construction). Christ he means by to sperma as in verse #16. {The promise hath been made} (epeggeltai). Probably impersonal perfect passive rather than middle of epaggellomai as in II Macc. 4:27. {Ordained through angels} (diatageis di' aggelwn). Second aorist passive participle of diatassw (see on Mt 11:1). About angels and the giving of the law see on #De 33:2 (LXX); #Ac 7:38,52; Heb 2:2; Josephus (_Ant_. XV. 5. 3). {By the hand of a mediator} (en ceiri mesitou). En ceiri is a manifest Aramaism or Hebraism and only here in the N.T. It is common in the LXX. mesites, from mesos is middle or midst, is a late word (Polybius, Diodorus, Philo, Josephus) and common in the papyri in legal transactions for arbiter, surety, etc. Here of Moses, but also of Christ (#1Ti 2:5; Heb 8:6; 9:15; 12:24).
