what is the purpose of the law?

"...Thus the law serves a very important purpose, but we must be very clear as to what that purpose is. In Galatians 3:15-25, we read, the purpose of the law is to show us that we need a savior! The law is described as a stern tutor. The law holds us prisoner to sin until we embrace Christ through faith. The law accomplishes it purpose when we see how sinful we really are..."

"...First, it should be absolutely clear to everyone that there will be absolutely no one in heaven because they kept the law or somehow earned God’s favor through their good works or through their obedience. The law was not given to bring life, it was given to bring a curse and death. What this means is that when we die and stand before God in the judgement, God will not compare us to others, he will not inquire about our sincerity, nor will he cut us any slack if we tried our hardest to be good people.

God will measure us by his law. He will demand perfect obedience to every command. In this sense, the law is like a ten-link chain. Break but a single link and the whole chain is useless. Even a single infraction of that law means that we will hear these frightening words— “not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many will say to me on that day, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers” (cf. Matthew 7:21-23). God will not let us into heaven on the basis of our deeds, since all of them are tainted by sin. He will not let us in if we try our best, because anything not done from the perspective of faith is sin. And when did we ever, even for a second, try our best?

If your response to this is despair, “well then, who can go to heaven?” the law has done its work. This is why God gave the law in the first place, to show us that we cannot go to heaven on the basis of anything in us or because of anything that we have done. In the words of one old preacher, we must see the law like a mirror. We look in the mirror and we see we are dirty. The mirror shows us our true condition, driving us to the soap and water. We don’t take the mirror down off the wall and attempt to clean ourselves with the mirror! So it is with the law. The law shows us that we need Christ."

- excerpts from Kim Riddlebarger