Our church recently studied Galatians via our expositional preaching ministry on Sunday mornings. We engaged this study while in the middle of doing exposition on Deuteronomy which helped to clarify the nature and purposes of the law.

John MacArthur explains the often misunderstood idea that we are, “not under the law”

There is a popular notion afoot that assumes that the moral law is not binding on us. MacArthur writes,

“The phrase "under the law" occurs at least ten times in Paul's epistles, so we know it is a crucial concept in his theology. In Galatians 3:23, for example, He writes, "Before faith came, we were kept under the law" (Gal. 3:23). Now, however, he says as Christians we are "not under the law" (Gal. 5:18).

I often hear Christians recite the phrase "not under the law, but under grace" as if it meant no standard of law whatsoever is ever binding on believers. Grace is seen as a grand permissiveness, contrasting with the uncompromising moral standard of the law.”

John MacArthur further explains this in, “How Does Grace Free Us From the Law”