Galatians 3:24
Have you ever heard someone mention the law being a schoolmaster? I’ve had countless people say that to me over the last twenty years, and they follow that up by saying we do not need to bother ourselves with obeying that old schoolmaster.
Paul is centering here on the time period in history before Yahweh sent His Son. “Before faith came” (Galatians 3:23) carries the meaning of before Yeshua’s first coming. It doesn’t mean that saints before Messiah didn’t have faith, or weren’t justified by faith, it means before the first coming of Messiah that Yahweh predestined to take place at the proper time. “Before that happened,” Paul says, “we (Israelites) were confined under the law. The law imprisoned all of us, because of our sins against it.”
The Greek word used in verse 24 (paidagogos) translated as "schoolmaster" literally means "to lead a child." Among the Greeks and Romans (the culture of the people in Galatia) there were trustworthy servants who had the job of supervising the life and practice of children who grew up in higher class families. This child-leader would make sure the boy or girl knew right from wrong in any given situation.
The paidagogos was not the teacher at the school, but was the servant who led the child to the school, and met the child after their schooling, to lead them back home. The translation “guardian” in the HCSB is a beautiful rendering. The guardian cared for the child, and kept the child safe, all the way up to adulthood.
Paul says that the law was our child-leader (specifically the child-leader of the Israelite people) until Messiah, so that we could be justified by faith. So there’s a direct reference to how faith in Messiah, and not the law, justifies the Israelite.
The law showed the Israelites right from wrong, leading and guiding them. The law sought to protect them from harm, and keep them from the immorality of heathen nations, but the law was leading them to something greater: their ultimate forgiveness in Messiah. The law was guarding them until one day when their Messiah would come.
Paul explained this to the Galatians, using a term and concept they could understand.
Think about this. When a Roman child was led by this guardian for their entire childhood, and then came into adulthood, did that mean everything the guardian had taught was now irrelevant? Of course not. It only meant that the child was now an adult, and capable of moving on to the next phase of their life.
When my children were all little, one way I protected them was by putting a fence around our property. I wanted them to play outside and have fun, but they were little, and little children do not understand certain dangers. I didn’t want a toy ball to roll outside the property into the road. My children may have walked right out into the road (had that happened), not realizing the danger of an oncoming vehicle.
My children are mostly grown now, but the fence is still up at my house. What the fence did and taught still remains true. But my adult children no longer need the fence, because they understand safety and caution in a way they didn’t as children.
The law then was the Israelites’ child-leader, until Messiah, so that they could be justified by faith. But since that faith has come - since Messiah has come and performed the works of Yahweh, and since they’re grown now and have a relationship with the Messiah that they used to not have - they are no longer under a child-leader. They realize now what the law was pointing them to, and live for (and like) Messiah
Those of us who were not raised in the Torah (pre-Messiah) do not have this exact same experience. Gentiles are often taught of Messiah straight out of heathenism. A Gentile who never knew the law still comes to Messiah by faith, and is forgiven of their sin, but they then have to be taught what Yahweh requires of them. They have to be guided by the child-leader of the law after Messiah, in the same way the Israelite was guided prior to Messiah.
This does not mean anyone is justified by the law, it simply means we need time to learn and grow before leaving the fenced in yard and living for Messiah.
Paul is centering here on the time period in history before Yahweh sent His Son. “Before faith came” (Galatians 3:23) carries the meaning of before Yeshua’s first coming. It doesn’t mean that saints before Messiah didn’t have faith, or weren’t justified by faith, it means before the first coming of Messiah that Yahweh predestined to take place at the proper time. “Before that happened,” Paul says, “we (Israelites) were confined under the law. The law imprisoned all of us, because of our sins against it.”
The Greek word used in verse 24 (paidagogos) translated as "schoolmaster" literally means "to lead a child." Among the Greeks and Romans (the culture of the people in Galatia) there were trustworthy servants who had the job of supervising the life and practice of children who grew up in higher class families. This child-leader would make sure the boy or girl knew right from wrong in any given situation.
The paidagogos was not the teacher at the school, but was the servant who led the child to the school, and met the child after their schooling, to lead them back home. The translation “guardian” in the HCSB is a beautiful rendering. The guardian cared for the child, and kept the child safe, all the way up to adulthood.
Paul says that the law was our child-leader (specifically the child-leader of the Israelite people) until Messiah, so that we could be justified by faith. So there’s a direct reference to how faith in Messiah, and not the law, justifies the Israelite.
The law showed the Israelites right from wrong, leading and guiding them. The law sought to protect them from harm, and keep them from the immorality of heathen nations, but the law was leading them to something greater: their ultimate forgiveness in Messiah. The law was guarding them until one day when their Messiah would come.
Paul explained this to the Galatians, using a term and concept they could understand.
Think about this. When a Roman child was led by this guardian for their entire childhood, and then came into adulthood, did that mean everything the guardian had taught was now irrelevant? Of course not. It only meant that the child was now an adult, and capable of moving on to the next phase of their life.
When my children were all little, one way I protected them was by putting a fence around our property. I wanted them to play outside and have fun, but they were little, and little children do not understand certain dangers. I didn’t want a toy ball to roll outside the property into the road. My children may have walked right out into the road (had that happened), not realizing the danger of an oncoming vehicle.
My children are mostly grown now, but the fence is still up at my house. What the fence did and taught still remains true. But my adult children no longer need the fence, because they understand safety and caution in a way they didn’t as children.
The law then was the Israelites’ child-leader, until Messiah, so that they could be justified by faith. But since that faith has come - since Messiah has come and performed the works of Yahweh, and since they’re grown now and have a relationship with the Messiah that they used to not have - they are no longer under a child-leader. They realize now what the law was pointing them to, and live for (and like) Messiah
Those of us who were not raised in the Torah (pre-Messiah) do not have this exact same experience. Gentiles are often taught of Messiah straight out of heathenism. A Gentile who never knew the law still comes to Messiah by faith, and is forgiven of their sin, but they then have to be taught what Yahweh requires of them. They have to be guided by the child-leader of the law after Messiah, in the same way the Israelite was guided prior to Messiah.
This does not mean anyone is justified by the law, it simply means we need time to learn and grow before leaving the fenced in yard and living for Messiah.