Why Then the Law?

If promise has priority, Paul anticipates the obvious question: why was the law given? He answers that it was added because of transgressions until the promised Seed came, and he describes its mediation through angels. The law is not evil and is not against God’s promises; rather, Scripture shuts all under sin, and the law functions as a paidagogos—a guardian or disciplinarian—until Christ. After the coming of faith, God’s people are no longer under that temporary custodian in the same way.