Galatians 3:19
King James Version (KJV)
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
Translations
Galatians 3:19 - Amplified Bible
What then was the purpose of the Law? It was added [later on, after the promise, to disclose and expose to men their guilt] because of transgressions {and} [to make men more conscious of the sinfulness] of sin; and it was intended to be in effect until the Seed (the Descendant, the Heir) should come, to {and} concerning Whom the promise had been made. And it [the Law] was arranged {and} ordained {and} appointed through the instrumentality of angels [and was given] by the hand (in the person) of a go-between [Moses, an intermediary person between God and man].
Galatians 3:19 - American Standard Version
What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made; and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.
Galatians 3:19 - Bible in Basic English
What then is the law? It was an addition made because of sin, till the coming of the seed to whom the undertaking had been given; and it was ordered through angels by the hand of a go-between.
Galatians 3:19 - Darby Bible
Why then the law? It was added for the sake of transgressions, until the seed came to whom the promise was made, ordained through angels in [the] hand of a mediator.
Galatians 3:19 - English Standard Version
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
Galatians 3:19 - King James Version
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
Galatians 3:19 - La Biblia de las Americas
Entonces, ¿para qué fue dada la ley? Fue añadida a causa de las transgresiones, hasta que viniera la descendencia a la cual habìa sido hecha la promesa, ley que fue promulgada mediante ángeles por mano de un mediador.
Galatians 3:19 - The Message
Galatians 3:19 - New American Standard Bible
Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.
Galatians 3:19 - Nueva Biblia Latinoamericana de Hoy
Entonces, ¿para qué fue dada la Ley? Fue añadida a causa de las transgresiones, hasta que viniera la descendencia a la cual habìa sido hecha la promesa, Ley que fue promulgada mediante ángeles por mano de un mediador.
Galatians 3:19 - World English Bible
What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.
Galatians 3:19 - Young's Living Translation
Why, then, the law? on account of the transgressions it was added, till the seed might come to which the promise hath been made, having been set in order through messengers in the hand of a mediator --
Galatians 3:19 - Additional Comments
Paul's mind is more like Rudyard Kipling's "Elephant's Child" than Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade. " Tennyson said of his "noble six hundred,"
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Many of us are tempted to live like that. We understand so little and see such a small part of God's purpose in things that we want to give up thinking and say, "Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die." But not Paul. If I read Galatians and Romans correctly, Paul would have agreed more with Kipling when he wrote,
I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
In a universe created by a personal God who does all things according to his purpose, the most important of those two "serving men" are WHO and WHY. There was no question who gave the law to Israel. The question we see in this verse was why. "Why then the law?"
If you don't know why the traffic light is red you may get smashed in the intersection. If you don't know why danger is on the medicine bottle you may get poisoned. In many areas of life yours is to reason why lest you do and die. And that includes the law of God. If we don't understand why it was given we can kill ourselves with it. Paul said in Romans 9:32 that the reason Israel stumbled into destruction was not that they didn't pursue the law, but that they pursued it in the wrong way: from works and not from faith; in the effort of the flesh instead of the power of the Spirit. In other words, moral effort can be a mortal sin!
Legalism is subtle and destructive. As Romans 10:3 says, "In seeking to establish their own righteousness, they would not submit to the righteousness of God." The pursuit of righteousness can lead to destruction. So Galatians admonishes us: Know why the law was given and don't be bewitched into pursuing it in a way that leads to death but only in a way that leads to life.
We have here the answers to why the law was given to Israel and became part of our Holy Scripture, and both are listed twice. The first, to show that all have sinned and what their sin is. The second, that any inheritance we have with God would only come through the promised seed, Jesus Christ. Third (vs 24), to bring us to faith in Christ.
To the first - for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20), and the law entered that sin might increase (Rom 5:20). The law was given so sin would actually increase, for where there is no law there is no trespass - Rom 4:15. Sin doesn't just become visible; it increases.
Apart from the Holy Spirit our hearts are utterly self-centered and when such a heart sees that it is being called into question and criticized by the authority of the law it "seeks all the more furiously to defend itself" (Cranfield). And so the law increases sin by stirring up more self-assertion and by hardening people in their self-satisfaction. See Romans 7:5,8,13.
The law reveals sin and the law intensifies sin. But Paul insists that the law is not itself sinful or evil. On the contrary, the fact that the human heart could take something as pure and good as the law of God and make it a vehicle of pride and selfish passion and covetousness and death shows how dreadfully corrupt the human heart is.
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