Thus the Law produces a qualitative intensifica- tion of sin : sin becomes guilt. The evil done by those who have not the Law is relatively blameless. But the Law, which invests sin with the character of guilt, evokes wrath, i.e. in God (Ro 4"). Sin, how- ever, is not only qnalitativelj' intensified, but also quantitatively increased, by the Law. For, accord- ing to Ro 7^''*, the Law tends to rouse the slumber- ing power of sin, which then breaks out in all kinds of appetites and passions. Just as an innocent youth, who has, say, listened to some explanation of sexual matters, may thus be wrought upon by sinful inclinations liitherto unfelt, so — the Apostle's idea would seem to have been something of this kind — the as yet relatively blameless man is brought under the influence of evil desires by the Law's very prohibition of such desires. This in no sense, however, proves that the Law is sinful, but simply shows the awful power of the sin that dwells in the flesh ; for man"s conscience, his better self, agrees with the Law, and cannot but attest its holiness (cf. 75. 7-13. 16. 22j_ Here the Apostle is probably not thinking of an outward multiplication of sins ; he rather assumes, indeed, that generally the Jews live on a higher moral level than the heathen (Gal 2^5; cf. Ph 3^), and his idea is in all likelihood that of an inward development — in the shape of sins of thought.
The Law, in thus aggravating the power of sin both qualitatively and quantitatively, brings man into a state of deeper misery than he ever experi- enced while still without the Law ; it works in him the apprehension of God's wrath and curse (Ro 415, Gal 3i»), and of death (Ro V^- ■^\ 2 Co 3«-9, 1 Co 15^*), and yet at the same time the most pro- found yearning for salvation. VOL. I. — 44
It is true that death, as a result of Adam's sin, reigned over mankind even before the Law (Ro 5", 1 Co 15-^'- )• Even so, however, the individual could live in relative unconcern (Ro 5'^ 7^) ; the Law written in his heart asserted itself but feebly. Accordingly, when God determined to institute salvation for the race of man, and chose a people as its depositary. He began by giving to Abraham, the father of tliat people, simply the Promise, the condition of which was faith alone ; subsequently, however. He added the Law, not indeed with the design of laying doA^Ti a new condition co-ordinate with, or as a substitute for, faith, but rather, as it were, for the purpose of keeping His people in ward and custody, the Law acting as a stimulus to tlie power and guilt of sin in such wise as to exclude every liope except that of justification by faith in Clirist as the medium of salvation (Gal 3^- -', Ro 4^^*^- ). Had Christ appeared without the pre- vious intervention of the Law, the misery of man would not have been so gi'eat ; but also tiie glory of Divine grace would have been less transcendent (Ro 5-"^-)- In the historical outworking of redemp- tion, therefore, the Law had merely a pedagogic function ; it was our moral guardian {iraLdaywyos) until Christ came, so that we might be justified through faith, and through faith alone (Gal 3-^"-^).
(c) The abolition of the Laiv. — If the function of the Law was, as we have just seen, merely pedagogic, it must also have been but temporary. ' Now that faith [or its object, Jesus Ciirist] is come, we are no longer under a tutor' (Gal 3-^ ; cf. 4''") ; ' Christ is the end of the law unto righteous- ness to every one that believeth' (Ro 10^). In Eph 2^^ St. Paul asserts that Christ has actually abolished the law of commandments contained in ordinances ; and, objectively, the Law, as a statu- tory system, was abrogated when Christ made satisfaction to it by His Death, or, as the Apostle puts it, bore its curse (Gal 4^ 3" ; cf. Col 2"). But this is not to be understood in the sense that from the time of Christ's Death every man, every Jew, is absolved from the Law ; .'iubjertivelij, the in- dividual is freed from its dominion only when he becomes a Christian, and is united to Christ by faith and baptism, .so as personally to appropriate His Death and Resurrection. Just as Christ Him- self was released from the Law's domain only through His Death on the Cross, in order that, as the Risen One, He might thereafter live a new life in immediate union with Goil, so His followers are loosed from the Law onlj' through their communion with their Crucified and Glorified liord (Ro 7^''^, Gal 2iyf-)- This is to be taken, first of all, in a legal sense : ' the law hath dominion over a man as long as he lives.' Just as, when a husband dies, a wife is loosed from the law which bound her to him, and may marry another, so, when Christ died. His communitj' became exempt from the Law, and was free to yield itself to anotlier, viz. the risen Christ (Ro 7^"*). Once the curse of the Law, which is death, has been carried out upon the transgressors of the Law, the Law can demand no more ; we are then redeemed not only from its penalty, but also from its obligation (Gal 3^^ 4-"-)- It is true that many interpreters refer this exemption from obliga- tion not to Christ's passive but to His active obedi- ence to the Law — an interpretation that may be right in so far as His active obedience was the jire- condition of the propitiatory significance of His passive obedience. But, taken all in all, the Apostle's view is that we have been made free from the Law by Christ's Death (cf. also Gal 2^^^-, Col 2"- -\ Eph 215).