Can the law save a person from sin or only convict them of it?
The law cannot save a person from sin; it only convicts them of sin. It had demands impossible to keep, demonstrating mankind cannot measure up to God's standard of holiness and righteousness. It was a yoke neither Old Testament forefathers nor Jews of Peter's day could bear.
Les explains that the law was given to show mankind there was no way they could measure up to God's standard of holiness and righteousness. The law could not do anything to bring a person out of his sin; all it could do was convince him of his sin, as has been pointed out back to Romans chapter 3. In Galatians, Paul refers to these elements as beggarly. Israel in the Old Testament economy was in bondage under the elements of the world, the whole world system. Even after God gave them the law at Mount Sinai, He did not lift them out of the world or transport them into a spiritual world all their own, so they still lived amid paganism and failed often.
More Questions
Can a person be justified by keeping the Law?
Les explains that by the keeping of the Law there is no justification, as stated in Romans chapter 3. The Law brings a curse, and Christ became the curse under God, fulfilling all the curse of the Law. He took the place of the rebel, sinful son of Israel, so that God could forgive every human being, reconcile them, and pardon them. This salvation is available to anyone and everyone who will simply believe it. It is not earned by Law-keeping but received by faith.