+I. Was not intended to bestow spiritual life.+--"If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law" (ver. 21). The law was not against the promises. It was a Divine method in dealing with man, and one Divine method never conflicts with another. It was intended to mediate between the promise and its fulfilment. It is not the enemy but the minister of grace. It did not profess to bestow spiritual life; but in its sacrifices and oblations pointed to the coming Christ who is "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. x. 4). +II. Was to reveal the universal domination of sin.+--"The Scripture hath concluded all under sin" (ver. 22). The Bible from the beginning and throughout its course, in its unvarying teaching, makes the world one vast prison-house with the law for gaoler, and mankind held fast in chains of sin, condemned and waiting for the punishment of death. Its perpetual refrain is, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Its impeachment covers the whole realm of human life, thought, and desire. "Every human life," says Martensen, "that has not yet become a partaker of redemption is a life under the law, in opposition to the life under grace. The law hovers over his life as an unfulfilled requirement; and, in the depth of his own being, remains as an indismissible but unsatisfied and unexpiated claim on him, which characterises such a human existence as sinful and guilt-laden." +III. Was to teach the absolute necessity of faith in order to escape its condemnation.+--"But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed" (ver. 23). The law was all the while standing guard over its subjects, watching and checking every attempt to escape, but intending to hand them over in due time to the charge of faith. The law posts its ordinances, like so many sentinels, round the prisoner's cell. The cordon is complete. He tries again and again to break out; the iron circle will not yield. But deliverance will yet be his. The day of faith approaches. It dawned long ago in Abraham's promise. Even now its light shines into his dungeon, and he hears the word of Jesus, "Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace." Law, the stern gaoler, has after all been a good friend if it has reserved him for this. It prevents the sinner escaping to a futile and illusive freedom (_Findlay_).