What does God’s law do for us? As Paul says in verse 22, it imprisons us under sin, it shows us clearly just how sinful we are and thus how desperately we all need a Savior.

And any honest reading of the Old or New Testaments has to yield this conclusion. For can any of us honestly say that we really love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength? That’s not just what Jesus taught in Mark 12:30 – it’s also what Deuteronomy 6:5 says. Can any of us honestly say that we love our neighbors just as much and in the same way that we love ourselves? That’s not just what Jesus taught – it’s what Leviticus 19:18 says. It has always been impossible for human beings to keep the Law of God, as Paul says in verse 21. In fact, in verse 10 he goes so far as to say that everyone who relies on keeping the Law is actually under a curse, quoting from Deuteronomy 27:26.

But even in Old Testament times, God provided a way of salvation, accounting Abraham’s faith to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). And God promised that Abraham would have offspring, a Seed in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). Paul tells us that Christ is that Seed (v. 16), and in verse 22, he explains that faith in Christ, the Seed of Abraham, makes us the recipient of all the promises God made to Abraham.

So the good news is that it doesn’t matter who we are or what we’ve done. Verse 26 says that we are all the children of God through faith in Christ. Our ethnic group doesn’t matter. Our worldly condition doesn’t matter. Whether we are male or female doesn’t matter. No, God welcomes all kinds of people, for all who trust in Christ become one with Him. And because Christ has received all the promises God made to Abraham, we receive those gifts as well. We are declared righteous by the grace of God. And we will inherit not just the place we now call Israel, but the whole world.

So, stop trying to earn God’s forgiveness. Receive it through God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And as a child of God, live in the freedom He has given you to love Him and to love others as He has loved us.

Galatians 3:10-29 (ESV)

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us– for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”–
14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.
16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19 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.
20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.