Calvary At Sinai

Paul Penno, Jr.

Chapter 5

Waggoner on Galatians (final page)

A parallel passage to which Waggoner referred was Romans 5:20: “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.” Explained Waggoner: “The ‘entering’ of the law was at Sinai. Why did it enter?—That the offense (sin) which previously existed might abound.”18 This was Luther’s first use of the law. The law was emblazoned at Sinai so that they would recognize their utter sinfulness. “. . . It was necessary for men to see the real nature of sin, in order that they might seek the grace that is in Christ, which alone can take away sin.”19

D. M. Canright represented the brethren in the East when he wrote about the “added law.”

. . . The second law was added to point to the promised seed till he should come. . . . Why was this law given? . . . . “It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come.” Then it was not the moral law; for that does not point to Christ, nor say anything about the coming of the seed, while the law of sacrifices, types, and shadows, related wholly to that promised seed.20

So Canright viewed the law in Galatians 3 as the ceremonial law. In addition, he interpreted the coming of the seed to be Christ’s first advent anticipated by the sacrifices and types. In doing this, he denied the function of the moral law in pointing us to Christ as the only means of solving the sin problem.
However, Waggoner kept in view the full scope of God’s promise to Abraham. The cross was of strategic importance in ratifying the covenant, but its ultimate fulfillment would not be complete “. . . till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. . . .” (Galatians 3:19b).

What is the coming of the seed? Certainly, not ultimately, the first advent of Christ, Waggoner replied. God promised Abraham, “And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies” (Genesis 22:17). Christ’s enemies as well as Satan would not be removed until the second coming (Revelation 19:11-21).21

The Apostle Paul continued: “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed” (Galatians 3:23). Waggoner observed: “The idea of bondage is everywhere connected with sin. It is a cruel master.”22 The law “shuts up” its violator. He was kept “in ward.” The only way of escape was “the faith” of Jesus which brought sweet release from certain death. Waggoner saw the movement of this passage in Galatians 3 as descriptive of the law’s action upon the heart of the individual sinner. He did not see this passage through the paradigm of a typological old covenant succeeded by the new covenant dispensationalism; however biblical that might be (see for example, 2 Cor. 3; Heb. 9:1).

Waggoner asserted that the law did not refer to the ceremonies because they never preceded faith in Christ. The sinner believed in Christ first as his Saviour from sin, and then by faith in his Substitute brought the prescribed sacrifice. The ceremonial law never locked up the sinner, but it was possible to be locked up by the moral law before it drove the sinner to the faith of Christ.23

Next, Waggoner gave attention to verse 24. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). He explained: The law served as a correctional officer in prison. It locked up its violator. Plus the law, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, literally drove the sinner to Christ. The law hemmed the sinner in through personal guilt. It provided no recourse for freedom. The sinner only learned from Christ, who was the perfect embodiment of the law, how to walk in righteousness and consequent liberty.

The Apostle Paul spoke of the coming of “faith.” “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Galatians 3:25). In Christ was the perfect law of liberty. The forgiven sinner walked free in Him. Therefore, the believer was no longer under law, but under grace. He walked in perfect harmony with the law because of Christ. When the forgiven and cleansed sinner walked in harmony with the law through Christ he was “no longer under a school master.” The law had nothing against one who was in harmony with it.

Referring to the “law was our schoolmaster,” Waggoner commented:

The past tense can be used here only by those who have come to Christ and have been justified by faith, as Paul shows in the next verse. Since the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, it must still be the schoolmaster (pedagogue) to those who are not in Christ, and must retain that office until every one who will accept Christ is brought to him. Therefore the law will be a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ, as long as probation lasts. But the Levitical law passed away hundreds of years ago; therefore it cannot be the law referred to here.24

In Waggoner’s view, Galatians 3:24 was not a typological covenant dispensational text. It did not say the law was abolished at the cross. What Galatians 3:24 did say was that for the Christian, the law’s function as a correctional officer ended when he was released by Christ the Saviour from sin. So the “schoolmaster” had a role in every sinner’s life no matter whether they lived in the old dispensation or in the new dispensation.

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