Thursday | 16 July 2026

The Law was a tutor

Paul declared, ‘If the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away [temporal], how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.’ 2Co 3:7-9.

Despite the glory of the Law Covenant, the apostle Paul described it as ‘the ministry of death’ and ‘the ministry of condemnation’. In the same way that a person’s obedience to the Law resulted in blessing, a person’s disobedience to the Law resulted in cursing. Cursing is the judgement of the Law of God. Notably, the judgement of the Law Covenant was not limited to a person’s behaviour; it also extended to the judgement of a person’s heart. Moses said to the nation of Israel, ‘You shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.’ Deu 8:2.

Even though the heart of man was judged under the Law Covenant, the Law had no capacity to circumcise the other law that had been fathered in the heart of man through Adam’s disobedience. Similarly, even though the Law promised to impart a blessing for obedience, it did not give the capacity for obedience to the nation of Israel. Rather, the Law was a tutor, or a schoolmaster, that was intended to lead the nation of Israel to Christ. The offerings that were prescribed by the Law Covenant all foreshadowed the offering of Christ. The men and women who walked in the faith of Abraham, made offering under the Law Covenant, in faith for the coming of Christ and the inauguration of the New Covenant as the outcome of His death and resurrection.