From the Pulpit...

Paul's audience may have been confused about the law and its purpose. The Pharisees and other pious Jews were careful to do everything they thought the law required, believing that keeping the law as they interpreted it would earn them God's favor. But Paul repeatedly opposed that idea, declaring that the law's purpose was to: demonstrate our weakness display our sinfulness, and drive us to Christ. Paul specifies the dimensions of the family of God: its height - the family reaches up to the very throne of God in heaven, its depth - the family reaches down into baptism in Christ, forever loved and accepted in Him; its width - the family is wide enough to bring natural enemies together.