Why did God give the law if it was impossible for people to keep it?
God gave the law to show mankind that they could not measure up to His standard of holiness and righteousness. Its demands were impossible to keep, and it became a yoke that neither the forefathers nor the Jews of Peter's day could bear. The law could not bring a person out of sin; it could only convince him of sin.
Les explains that God had to show mankind there was no way they could measure up to His standard of holiness and righteousness. The law’s demands were almost impossible to keep, so it became a yoke that neither the Old Testament forefathers nor the Jews of Peter’s day were able to bear. The law could not do anything to bring a person out of his sin; all it could do was convince him of his sin. Israel came out of Egypt surrounded by pagan culture, and when God gave the law at Mount Sinai, He did not lift them out of the world. They still had to live and move and eat and sleep in the midst of that paganism, and the whole world system was still working even though Israel was now under the law. God did not suddenly transport them into a spiritual world all their own, and that is why they failed so often.