The law is not based on faith
This phrase highlights a fundamental distinction between the law and faith. The Greek word for "law" here is "νόμος" (nomos), which refers to the Mosaic Law given to the Israelites. Historically, the law was a set of commandments and ordinances that required strict adherence. It was a covenant of works, where righteousness was pursued through human effort and obedience. In contrast, "faith" (πίστις, pistis) is about trust and belief in God's promises, particularly the promise of salvation through Jesus Christ. The law demands actions and compliance, while faith is about reliance on God's grace. This distinction is crucial in understanding the Apostle Paul's argument that righteousness and justification before God come through faith, not by the works of the law.

on the contrary
This phrase serves as a pivot, indicating a contrast or opposition to the previous statement. In the context of Paul's argument, it underscores the incompatibility between living by the law and living by faith. The Greek word "ἀλλά" (alla) is often used to introduce a strong contrast, emphasizing that the two systems—law and faith—operate on fundamentally different principles. This sets the stage for the following quotation from the Old Testament, which Paul uses to further illustrate his point.

“The man who does these things will live by them.”
This quotation is from Leviticus 18:5, where the original Hebrew text emphasizes the necessity of doing or performing the commandments to attain life. The Greek word for "does" is "ποιήσας" (poiēsas), which implies continuous action or practice. The phrase "will live by them" suggests that life, in the context of the law, is contingent upon perfect and ongoing obedience. Historically, this was understood as a promise of life and blessing for those who could fully comply with the law. However, Paul uses this to highlight the impossibility of achieving righteousness through the law, as no one can perfectly keep all its demands. This underscores the need for a different path to righteousness, which is found in faith in Jesus Christ. The law, therefore, points to the necessity of a Savior, as it reveals humanity's inability to achieve righteousness on its own.

(12) The law is not of faith.--The ruling principle of the Law is not faith, but something else--works.

The man that doeth them.--By "them" is meant the "statutes" and "judgments" mentioned immediately before in the verse (Leviticus 18:5) from which the quotation is taken. Just as the stress was upon "faith" in the last verse, so here it falls on the word "doeth:" it is a matter of works.

Shall live.--The idea of life receives an enlargement, corresponding to the fuller revelation of immortality in the New Testament as compared with the Old. In the Old Testament, "life is an existence upon earth, shortened by no judgment, reposing upon God, and delighting itself in God." On the other hand, "death is the sudden and dreadful end, the destruction of this existence through a judgment of some special kind" (Schultz, Theology of the Old Testament, 2:163). Such a judgment would be the Chaldean invasion; and when the prophet Habakkuk says that the "just shall live," he means that he should be saved from this calamity, and still continue to enjoy the divine favour and protection. The promise in Leviticus declares that he who keeps the Law shall be preserved from all judgments of this kind. With St. Paul, as in the Old Testament, the root idea is that of drawing support and sustenance from God; but with him this is not confined to the present life, or extended beyond the grave only in some dim and shadowy way: it begins in time and stretches on into eternity.

In them.--His life shall spring out of them and be nourished by them, just as a tree strikes its roots into the earth.

Verse 12. - And the Law is not of faith (ὁ δὲ νόμος οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ πίστεως); but the Law is not "by faith." This is closely connected with the latter part of the preceding verse, as forming another portion of the proof which is there introduced by "for." Ver. 11 should end with a semicolon, not with a full stop. The δὲ at the beginning of this verse is slightly adversative, setting "the Law" in contrast with the notion of "living by or from faith." These words, "by or from faith" (ἐκ πίστεως), are borrowed from the preceding citation. We may paraphrase thus: The Law does not put forward as its characteristic principle, "by faith;" the characteristic principle of the Law is rather that which we read in the third book of Moses (Leviticus 18:5)," The man who hath actually done them shall live by them." But, The man that doeth them shall live in them (ἀλλ Ὁ ποιήσασ αὐτὰ [ἄνθρωπος] ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς: (the word ἄνθρωπος is omitted by the recent editors, as having crept into the text from the Septuagint); but, He that doeth them shall live in them. The whole verse (Leviticus 18:5) in the Authorized Version, following the Hebrew, stands thus: "And ye shall keep my statutes and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord." The Septuagint runs thus: "And ye shall keep [or, 'and keep ye'] all my statutes and all my judgments, and ye shall do them [or, 'and do ye them']: the man that doeth them shall live in them (ὁ ποιήσας αὐτὰ ἄνθρωπος ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς) I am the Lord your God." It thus appears that the pronoun "them" recites "my statutes and my judgments." But this the apostle is not at present particularly concerned to specify; his main point here is that the Law requires such and such things to be actually done, before it holds out the prospect of life to be gained thereby. Those under the Law were bound to render strict obedience to all its requirements, whether moral or ceremonial; and whosoever set aside any of whichever class was constituted by the Law a "transgressor" and a man "accursed." As it stands in the passage of Leviticus referred to, the clause which is cited bears not so much the aspect of a promise as of a restrictive statement implying a threatening or warning, and is therefore its harmony with the commination quoted in ver. 10. The "doing" here spoken of differs essentially from evangelical obedience. Comprising as it did its very large proportion the observance of the ceremonial prescriptions (προστάγματα) of the Law, it points to a course of conduct in which a man, striving to earn pardon and acceptance by a meritorious life, had continually to be turning his eye, slavishly and under fear of the "curse" in case of failure, towards an external Law, whose detail of positive enactments, in addition to the regulation of his moral conduct and inward spirit, he was bound with scrupulous exactness to copy in his life. The spiritual obedience of "faith," on the other hand, evolves itself (in the apostle's view) freely and spontaneously from the inward teaching and prompting of God's Spirit, of which it is the natural product or "fruit" (ch. Galatians 5:22). Such are these two forms of religious life when viewed each in its idea. When, however, we compare the spiritual state of many even sincere believers in Christ, so far as we can estimate it, with the spiritual state of (say) the marvellous author of Psalm 119. or of David and other pious Israelites, as disclosed in the exercises of pious feeling garnered in that same devotional book, we cannot fail to perceive that an Israelite under the Law might yet be not "of the works of the Law," but in no small degree qualified to teach the Christian believer himself, even in the life which is "of faith." "Shall live in them;" that is, shall find in them a fountain, as it were, of life. The Targums, Bishop Lightfoot observes, define the meaning of "living" by "life eternal."

Parallel Commentaries ...


The
ὁ (ho)
Article - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

Law,
νόμος (nomos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3551: From a primary nemo; law, genitive case, specially, (including the volume); also of the Gospel), or figuratively.

however,
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

is
ἔστιν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

not
οὐκ (ouk)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

based
ἐκ (ek)
Preposition
Strong's 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.

on faith;
πίστεως (pisteōs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 4102: Faith, belief, trust, confidence; fidelity, faithfulness.

on the contrary,
ἀλλ’ (all’)
Conjunction
Strong's 235: But, except, however. Neuter plural of allos; properly, other things, i.e. contrariwise.

“The [man who]
Ὁ (Ho)
Article - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

does
ποιήσας (poiēsas)
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4160: (a) I make, manufacture, construct, (b) I do, act, cause. Apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary; to make or do.

these things
αὐτὰ (auta)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Neuter 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

will live
ζήσεται (zēsetai)
Verb - Future Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2198: To live, be alive. A primary verb; to live.

by
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

them.”
αὐτοῖς (autois)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Neuter 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.


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NT Letters: Galatians 3:12 The law is not of faith (Gal. Ga)