The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 211

the normal object of Law-since that assertion would be opposed to the nrnin drit\ of the apostle's argument; nor can it signify simply that the Law was added to reveal transgressions, or this would be more directly stated; nor certainly can it mean that the Law was intended to produce transgressions, to serve as an instrument of sin- a purpose which would be more diabolical than Divine. Probably St. Paul's meaning is that the Law was intended to convert sins into transgressions; ~i.e. to give to amorphous and almost unconscions wickedness a definite form, so that it could be seen, handled, chastised, and cured (Rom. vii. 8, 9). I. Sm IS NATURALLY oBscURE. It spreads through the soul as a rank malaria felt In its e,il effects, but not clearly seen and known. We feel oursolves to be aili~g, but cannot lay our fingers upon the scat of the disease. Just in proportion to its internal character it is dangerous; yet in the same proportion it is vague and beyond our reach. It is darkness and death-things vast, shapeless, without definition, mere blank negations. Nothing is more erratic than an unenlightened conscience. A spiritually ignorant person cannot tell when he sins or how far his guilt extends. He is like a blind man groping among pathless wilds, stumbling and falling he knows not how or where. II. LAW CONVERTS VAGUE SIN INTO DEFINITE TRANSGRESSION. It does not simply reveal the hidden sin, as the acid develops the photograph and as the daylight lays bare the ugly ruin. It gives to sin a new form and character, as the chemical re-agent precipitates a solution. It compels the diffused sinfulness to crystallize into sharply defined offences. The force of the tide is not seen till the wave breaks against the shore. The current of evil is strong. but nnrecognized, till it meets a Law and dashes over it in wild assault. Sin lurks in our hearts and creeps through our lives as a formless spirit of evil. 'l'hen a Law is declared, "Thou shalt not steal,'' or, "Thon shalt not kill" Sin meeting this directly breaks the Law. Now, it is a clear offence, a definite, chargeable transgression, capable of being bronght home to the criminal. Ill. Tms CONVERSION OF SIN INTO TRANSGRESSION IS FOB OUB ULTIMATE GOOD. 'At first it looks cruel, if 11ot immor&L It seems like God tempting us. But God does not send the inducement to sin. He only sends the forbidding Law, which gives form to the sin already present. 1. Thus Law becomes an external conscience. By means of it we know how far we have fallen. 2. It becomes an occasion /0'1' the Divine chastise- ment which we need in order to be brought to repentance. 3. It prepares us to receive the gospel by rousing us from the slumber of indifference, making us see how evil and how helpless we are, and so urging us to seek redemption from the curse of Law in the grace of Christ.-W. F. A. Ver. 20.-Dired communiclZtion with God. The mediator here referred to is not Christ, but Moses, for St. Paul is describing the process through which the Law was given. This he contrasts with the direct flow of grace in the gospel. A mediator implies more than one party, and the gifts that come through mediation do not come immediately from the hand of the giver. But God is one person, and in Christ he immediately confers his grace upon us. • L A RELIGION OF LAW SEPARATES UB FBOM DIRECT COMMUNION WITH Go». The Levitical Law depended on an elaborate system of mediation., The Jew regarded it as given throngh angels. Moses received it for the people. When the Israelites saw the terrors of Sinai they shrank back and begged Moses to go alone for them into the presence of God, and thus they received the Divine message through their human leader (Exod. xx. ;18, 19). Subsequently it was administered through the priesthood. The consequence was that the people were not admitted to the sanctuary. The penalty of relyiDg on a human intercessor out of fear of God was separation from direct communion with Heaven. '!'his penalty is still paid by those who pursue the same course. 'l'he magnifying of human priesthood and the elaboration of cer~monial religion by one school ill the Church, and the over-dependence on human teachmg and preaching of another school, put new mediators between us and God, and so separate us from the privileo-es 0 of immediate Divine fellowship. The same result follows the slavish observance of rules and regulations laid down by the wise11t and holiest of te~chers. Those men come between us and God. TI. THE Hl(lHEST RELIGION OON8lliTI 1N DIBEOT OOMl'llllNION WITB Goo, " God is OH, III. 1-2U.] 'l'ilE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 177