Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people.

这样说来，律法是为什么有的呢？原是为过犯添上的，等候那蒙应许的子孙来到，并且是藉天使经中保之手设立的。

这样说来，为什么要有律法呢？律法是为过犯的缘故而加上去的，等候那蒙应许的子孙来到才结束，是藉着天使经中保之手而设立的。

这样说来，为什么要有律法呢？律法是为过犯的缘故而加上去的，等候那蒙应许的子孙来到才结束，是藉着天使经中保之手而设立的。

那么，为什么会有律法呢？律法是为了使人知罪而颁布的，等那位承受应许的后裔来到后，律法的任务就完成了。律法是通过天使交给一位中间人颁布的。

那么，为什么要有律法呢？是为了过犯的缘故才加上的，直到那得应许的后裔来到。律法是藉着天使经中保的手设立的；

那么，为什么要有律法呢？律法是为了过犯的缘故被加上的，直到那蒙应许的后裔来临；律法是藉着天使，通过中保的手所规定的。

這樣說來，律法是為甚麼有的呢？原是為過犯添上的，等候那蒙應許的子孫來到，並且是藉天使經中保之手設立的。

這樣說來，為甚麼要有律法呢？律法是為過犯的緣故而加上去的，等候那蒙應許的子孫來到才結束，是藉着天使經中保之手而設立的。

這樣說來，為甚麼要有律法呢？律法是為過犯的緣故而加上去的，等候那蒙應許的子孫來到才結束，是藉着天使經中保之手而設立的。

那麼，為什麼會有律法呢？律法是為了使人知罪而頒佈的，等那位承受應許的後裔來到後，律法的任務就完成了。律法是通過天使交給一位中間人頒佈的。

那麼，為甚麼要有律法呢？是為了過犯的緣故才加上的，直到那得應許的後裔來到。律法是藉著天使經中保的手設立的；

那麼、律法怎麼樣呢？律法是為顯明犯法之事而增設的；是臨時的措施、等所應許的後裔來到的；是藉着天使經中間人之手規定的。

那麼，為什麼要有律法呢？律法是為了過犯的緣故被加上的，直到那蒙應許的後裔來臨；律法是藉著天使，通過中保的手所規定的。

然則律何為耶、乃為罪而設、待受許之裔至、又由天使於中保之手而訂、

然則律法何以、曰、律法為有罪者設、待所應許之裔至、且律法藉天使賜中保以傳、

然則律法何益、曰、為罪愆而設、待受應許之裔至焉、且律法傳授、藉天使、託中保之手、

然則律法何為而作乎？蓋人多為非作惡、乃有律法之添設、以俟承受嗣業者之來臨。且律法之制、乃由主之使者授之於居間人之手。

Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator.

Then why was the law given at all? It was added because of human sin. And it was supposed to control us until the promised Seed had come. The law was given through angels, and a go- between was put in charge of it.

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.

Why, then, was the law given? It was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.

Why the Law then? It was added on account of the violations, having been ordered through angels at the hand of a mediator, until the Seed would come to whom the promise had been made.

What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.

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.

Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator.

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.

Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the descendant to whom the promise had been made. It was administered through angels by an intermediary.

Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.

You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”

Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said,“ You must not covet.”But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power.At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life,and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead.Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me.But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.

God gave the promises to Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say“ to his children,” as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says“ to his child”— and that, of course, means Christ.

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished.

I stood as an intermediary between you and the Lord, for you were afraid of the fire and did not want to approach the mountain. He spoke to me, and I passed his words on to you. This is what he said:

For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it.( The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)

For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.

Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life giving words to pass on to us.

They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

We know that the law is good when used correctly.For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders.

Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.

And furthermore, it is not angels who will control the future world we are talking about.

“ The Lord came from Mount Sinai and dawned upon us from Mount Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran and came from Meribah kadesh with flaming fire at his right hand.

Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises? Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it.But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.

Then what’s the advantage of being a Jew? Is there any value in the ceremony of circumcision?Yes, there are great benefits! First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God.

So he declared he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people. He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy them.

Then the Lord instructed Moses:“ Come up here to me, and bring along Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders. All of you must worship from a distance.Only Moses is allowed to come near to the Lord. The others must not come near, and none of the other people are allowed to climb up the mountain with him.”Then Moses went down to the people and repeated all the instructions and regulations the Lord had given him. All the people answered with one voice,“ We will do everything the Lord has commanded.”Then Moses carefully wrote down all the Lord’s instructions. Early the next morning Moses got up and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He also set up twelve pillars, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.Then he sent some of the young Israelite men to present burnt offerings and to sacrifice bulls as peace offerings to the Lord.Moses drained half the blood from these animals into basins. The other half he splattered against the altar.Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people. Again they all responded,“ We will do everything the Lord has commanded. We will obey.”Then Moses took the blood from the basins and splattered it over the people, declaring,“ Look, this blood confirms the covenant the Lord has made with you in giving you these instructions.”Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain.There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself.And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!Then the Lord said to Moses,“ Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone on which I have inscribed the instructions and commands so you can teach the people.”

“ Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes.If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

Moses continued,“ The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.For this is what you yourselves requested of the Lord your God when you were assembled at Mount Sinai. You said,‘ Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore or see this blazing fire, for we will die.’“ Then the Lord said to me,‘ What they have said is right.I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him.I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet proclaims on my behalf.

Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had.They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

“ But Abraham said,‘ If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

“ The Lord spoke these words to all of you assembled there at the foot of the mountain. He spoke with a loud voice from the heart of the fire, surrounded by clouds and deep darkness. This was all he said at that time, and he wrote his words on two stone tablets and gave them to me.“ But when you heard the voice from the heart of the darkness, while the mountain was blazing with fire, all your tribal leaders and elders came to me.They said,‘ Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the heart of the fire. Today we have seen that God can speak to us humans, and yet we live!But now, why should we risk death again? If the Lord our God speaks to us again, we will certainly die and be consumed by this awesome fire.Can any living thing hear the voice of the living God from the heart of the fire as we did and yet survive?Go yourself and listen to what the Lord our God says. Then come and tell us everything he tells you, and we will listen and obey.’“ The Lord heard the request you made to me. And he said,‘ I have heard what the people said to you, and they are right.Oh, that they would always have hearts like this, that they might fear me and obey all my commands! If they did, they and their descendants would prosper forever.Go and tell them,“ Return to your tents.”But you stand here with me so I can give you all my commands, decrees, and regulations. You must teach them to the people so they can obey them in the land I am giving them as their possession.’”So Moses told the people,“ You must be careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God, following his instructions in every detail.Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.

These are the instructions for dealing with anyone who has a bodily discharge— a man who is unclean because of an emission of semen

And they said to Moses,“ You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!”“ Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them,“ for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!”As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.And the Lord said to Moses,“ Say this to the people of Israel: You saw for yourselves that I spoke to you from heaven.

Then the Lord said to Moses,“ Write down all these instructions, for they represent the terms of the covenant I am making with you and with Israel.”Moses remained there on the mountain with the Lord forty days and forty nights. In all that time he ate no bread and drank no water. And the Lord wrote the terms of the covenant— the Ten Commandments— on the stone tablets.When Moses came down Mount Sinai carrying the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn’t aware that his face had become radiant because he had spoken to the Lord.So when Aaron and the people of Israel saw the radiance of Moses’ face, they were afraid to come near him.But Moses called out to them and asked Aaron and all the leaders of the community to come over, and he talked with them.Then all the people of Israel approached him, and Moses gave them all the instructions the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.When Moses finished speaking with them, he covered his face with a veil.But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord, he would remove the veil until he came out again. Then he would give the people whatever instructions the Lord had given him,and the people of Israel would see the radiant glow of his face. So he would put the veil over his face until he returned to speak with the Lord.

“ That is why I threw myself down before the Lord for forty days and nights— for the Lord said he would destroy you.I prayed to the Lord and said,‘ O Sovereign Lord, do not destroy them. They are your own people. They are your special possession, whom you redeemed from Egypt by your mighty power and your strong hand.Please overlook the stubbornness and the awful sin of these people, and remember instead your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.If you destroy these people, the Egyptians will say,“ The Israelites died because the Lord wasn’t able to bring them to the land he had promised to give them.” Or they might say,“ He destroyed them because he hated them; he deliberately took them into the wilderness to slaughter them.”But they are your people and your special possession, whom you brought out of Egypt by your great strength and powerful arm.’

“ The Lord also said to me,‘ I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are.Leave me alone so I may destroy them and erase their name from under heaven. Then I will make a mighty nation of your descendants, a nation larger and more powerful than they are.’“ So while the mountain was blazing with fire I turned and came down, holding in my hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant.There below me I could see that you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had melted gold and made a calf idol for yourselves. How quickly you had turned away from the path the Lord had commanded you to follow!So I took the stone tablets and threw them to the ground, smashing them before your eyes.“ Then, as before, I threw myself down before the Lord for forty days and nights. I ate no bread and drank no water because of the great sin you had committed by doing what the Lord hated, provoking him to anger.I feared that the furious anger of the Lord, which turned him against you, would drive him to destroy you. But again he listened to me.The Lord was so angry with Aaron that he wanted to destroy him, too. But I prayed for Aaron, and the Lord spared him.

And what great nation has decrees and regulations as righteous and fair as this body of instructions that I am giving you today?“ But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.

He has revealed his words to Jacob, his decrees and regulations to Israel.He has not done this for any other nation; they do not know his regulations. Praise the Lord!