Our Schoolmaster

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. ” Galatians 3:24-25 

Preparatory to our faith was Law, it came by Moses. Then, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. With capacity lacking, Law showed us a need, created a hunger, brought to light an unresolved state of guilt. Necessary since evil may have taught us to cover or hide guilt; we learned to imagine it gone by denial. Adam and Eve used fig leaves to cover their nakedness, others used a “lie in their right hand.” Some developed a seared or “branded” conscience, destroying their hunger for God, and particularly His redemption with all of it’s many parts.

Iniquity, a rebellion against God’s authority, manifested in emotional usurping, develops in some as a defense mechanism for the removal of Law/pain. So, without Christ’s invitation to forgiveness and justification, men are left to their own devises such as this.

In Isaiah 6, a red hot coal removed with tongs from an altar, is placed on the lips of the “unclean” Isaiah. Iniquity extinguished, the Prophet finds amazing relief and his sin purged. This is none other than the effect of the blood of Christ spoken of in Hebrews 9:14. It purges conscience from it’s dead works.

“; …( all works which are not done from ‘the life’ are ) dead” MacLaren

So, the effect of God’s sanctifying work — it exposes and destroys the work of the flesh. Romans 8:2 teaches, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Galatians 5:24  follows, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. “

We must see that God’s work of redemption destroys a person’s counterfeit redemption, offered to men from hell. In our self-promotion, Satan encourages:

• Denial: Pretending a (disturbing) truth is not real.
• Repression: Forgetting a painful memory.
• Projection: Saying someone else has your bad trait or feeling.
• Displacement: Taking your anger out on a safer target.
• Rationalization: Making up a fake, logical excuse for a bad choice.
• Regression: Acting like a young child when you are stressed.

These traits and others operate in man’s fallen sin nature unconsciously, as the “ego” of the man assumes authority to govern. Notice their is no moral conscience at work as an external guide.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) Ephesians 2

Made alive in Christ, I was saved from myself, saved from my self-manifested godhood, saved from my fantasy, saved from the ultimate destruction of my “pretended” powers. I was an alien from the life of God, managing my soul with Satan’s subtle assistance, blind to the glorious grace of our Saving Savior.

Friends, thank God for the schoolmaster, guardian, tutor and guide that created a capacity for our introduction to Christ. With Jesus we reign in life with grace and His righteousness. No longer do we have to look to our own strengths or mourn in our weakness. No longer in need of a schoolmaster, we emerge a butterfly where we had only known our worm identity. All things have become new!