Law that helps but doesn't change

In the sermon last Sunday, Jack talked about Galatians. Much of the book is concerned with the idea of whether or not the gentile no-longer-pagan-now-Christian followers would be required to obey the Law or not.

I read last week that the word disciplinian in the Galatian text is missing some of its original meaning. In the Hebrew and Greek, is connotes a slave who guards the young children of the master -- maybe we would call this person a nanny.

The Law was the guardian of the Jews. It gave them a way to determine if their paths were straight -- if they were following God or not. Jack talked about how we are now, as Christians, more mature in the faith (not of our own doing, but of God's doing). We know more about God; we are closer to God because of Christ.

Law -- rules -- can "keep us in line." It can tell us what to do. Jack's point (or one of them) was that the Law can't make us love God. It can't transform us into people who love and care for each other. Christ can do that. God can make that transformation. I had never really thought of that before, but it's true.