To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Dr. Dale Meyer pulled a trick on us at a Lutheran church convention. He asked, “How many of you are lifelong Lutherans?” At least 50% of the people there raised their hands. “No you’re not,” he said. “We’re all converts.” A communal ugh arose from the crowd. We were all so busted – although I wasn’t, for I did not grow up attending a Lutheran church. I just didn’t take the bait.
I cannot remember a time when I did not believe in Jesus. My earliest memories are of standing on my parents’ bed singing Jesus Loves Me as we got ready to go to church and Sunday school. So I cannot really speak of life before faith. I realize there was a time when I did not believe in Jesus. For no one is born a believer. We are all converts.
So the idea that we were once captive under the law is difficult for us to believe – especially for those who were raised in a Christian home. Yet it is more true than we might imagine. And that’s part of the reason we are unaware of it. Time in erodes awareness of, the saying goes. So as believers who have been delivered from the tyranny and captivity of the law we can easily become unaware of how captive we are to it.
If we ever worry about our reputation, posture ourselves to be seen in the best light, or make excuses for bad decisions or behavior we are showing just how captive we are to the law. If we believe we need to prove that a request of another is justified or that our prayers are reasonable we give the lie to the claim that we are free.
What if we could simply ask God for anything and leave that request at the foot of the cross for him to do as he sees fit with it? What if we could apologize to our friend or family and make no excuse but ask for forgiveness? What if we could be certain of God’s love pure and without strings attached? What if we never had to make an excuse for a failure but could simply ask for forgiveness? We can do that because we are no longer under law, we are under grace. That is a freedom we must never take for granted nor abuse.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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