Galatians 3:24

Context

This verse is part of Galatians, the letter Paul sent to the churches in the region of Galatia. Some people in these churches were teaching that Gentile believers also had to be circumcised and keep the law. In chapter 3, Paul says that Abraham was justified by faith. Because the law came 430 years after the promise, he argues, it cannot annul that promise (3:17), and he explains that the law "was added because of transgressions" (3:19). He goes on to say that before faith came, "we were kept under the law" (3:23), and in this verse he compares the law to a "schoolmaster": "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." The next verse concludes that "after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (3:25).

The Greek word rendered "schoolmaster," paidagōgos (παιδαγωγός), referred in Greco-Roman society to a slave who looked after the master's child. This slave escorted the child to school and supervised the child's daily conduct, and the role ended when the child grew up.

Interpretation

• The pedagogical use of the law: Since Martin Luther and John Calvin, the Lutheran and Reformed traditions have held that the law exposes sin and drives people to Christ, and they cite this verse in support. This is the so-called "second use" or "theological use" of the law. The reading is tied to accounts that distinguish law and gospel and emphasize justification by faith.
• Salvation history: A number of modern commentators read "unto Christ" (εἰς Χριστόν) in a temporal sense, as "until Christ came." On this reading, the verse speaks less of the process of individual conversion than of the temporary role the law played in Israel's history before Christ.
• The Wesleyan tradition: John Wesley and Wesleyan theology accept that the law brings people to Christ by convicting them of sin. At the same time, they are generally understood to hold that the law remains a standard that illuminates the believer's life.

Debates and Issues

• The relationship between believers and the law: One point of debate is whether "we are no longer under a schoolmaster" in 3:25 means that the law as a whole has been abolished. The Westminster Confession of Faith divides the law into moral, ceremonial, and judicial law and teaches that the moral law remains binding on believers. Dispensationalism places greater emphasis on the view that the era of the Mosaic law ended with Christ.
• Translation issues: Renderings that use the word "teacher" make it easy to read the verse as saying that the law teaches about Christ. Some commentators note that the Greek term refers less to someone who teaches than to someone who takes charge and supervises. In Korean Bible translation, the older Korean Revised Version's term mongak seonsaeng ("schoolmaster") is now rarely used; the New Korean Revised Version renders the word "elementary teacher," and the New Korean Standard Version renders it "private tutor," both of which raise this question.

Perspective: Korean Protestant practiceHow this idea is used in Korean churches, kept from the original Korean article.

In Korean Protestant churches, mongak seonsaeng is a familiar expression to members who have long read the Korean Revised Version. It is often cited in sermons on the theme that the law makes people aware of sin, while grace comes through Christ.

Related Passages

• Galatians 3:19
• Romans 10:4
• Romans 3:31
• Galatians 2:16