The emphasis must not be placed on "given", for assuredly a law had been given, and

life was attached to complete obedience thereto (Gen. 2: 16, 17), but the emphasis must

be placed on "could have given" for the failure of all men to render such obedience

turned the commandment which had been ordained unto life, into an instrument of

condemnation and death (Rom. 7: 10). This passage is in structural correspondence

with Gal. 2: 21, where the Apostle wrote "if righteousness come by the law, then

Christ is dead in vain". We proceed therefore to the next step in his argument, where

once more the Scriptures are spoken of as though they themselves spoke and thought.

Gal. 3: 22, 23 is in correspondence with Gal. 3: 8-13, and the following extract from

the complete structure exhibits this feature quite clearly.

C | 3: 8-12. |

f | The SCRIPTURE preached beforehand.

g | Justification by faith. Ek pisteos.

h | Hupo. Under a curse.

C | 3: 22, 23. |

f | The SCRIPTURE concluded.

g | Promise by faith. Ek pisteos.

h | Hupo. Under sin. Under Law.

The word "concluded" is a compound of kleito "to shut", which in its turn is

connected with kleis "a key". The Apostle uses ekkleio in Gal. 4: 17 where the A.V.

translate it "exclude", and it is this same word that he emphasized in Rom. 3: 27 when

he said "where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by

the law of faith".

The word sugkleio "conclude" is used once again in Gal. 3: 23 "shut up" unto the

faith, and to ignore its presence while attempting an interpretation of the same word in

verse twenty-two is of course fatal. In verse twenty-two the Scripture is said to have

"shut up" all under sin, in order that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given

to them that believe; and in verse twenty-three we learn that before faith came we were

kept under the law, "shut up" unto the faith which should afterward be revealed. The

words "shut up unto" are found in the Septuagint, as in Psa. 78: 50 "He gave their

life over to the pestilence"--shut them up with no way of escape, and Bengel sites

Polybius "he was shut up unto the very hopes which his own slaves and friends

"possessed", and Irenaeus, "the sons of God are shut up to the belief of His coming".

The Apostle, therefore, when writing  Gal. 3: 22, 23  does not stress the

condemnation that is associated with being "shut up" in prison, so much as that mankind

by reason of sin were "shut up" to but one way of escape, and that way by faith in Christ,

as distinct from works of law. The same truth is expressed in John's Gospel and by Peter

in different words, but with the same intent: