The Meaning of Galatians 3:24 Explained

Galatians 3:24

KJV: Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

YLT: so that the law became our child-conductor -- to Christ, that by faith we may be declared righteous,

Darby: So that the law has been our tutor up to Christ, that we might be justified on the principle of faith.

ASV: So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Wherefore  the law  was  our  schoolmaster  [to bring us] unto  Christ,  that  we might be justified  by  faith. 

What does Galatians 3:24 Mean?

Study Notes

to bring us Omit "to bring us."
unto up to, or until.
law
I. The law of Moses, Summary:
(1) The Mosaic Covenant was given to Israel in three parts: the commandments, expressing the righteous will of God Exodus 20:1-26 , the "judgments," governing the social life of Israel Exodus 21:1 to Exodus 24:11 , and the "ordinances," governing the religious life of Israel; Exodus 24:12 ; Exodus 31:18 .
(2) The commandments and ordinances were one complete and inseparable whole. When an Israelite sinned, he was held "blameless" if he brought the required offering Luke 1:6 ; Philippians 3:6 .
(3) Law, as a method of the divine dealing with man, characterized the dispensation extending from the giving of the law to the death of Jesus Christ Galatians 3:13 ; Galatians 3:14 ; Galatians 3:23 ; Galatians 3:24 .
(4) The attempt of legalistic teachers (e.g.) Acts 15:1-31 ; Galatians 2:1-5 , to mingle law with grace as the divine method for this present dispensation of grace, brought out the true relation of the law to the Christian, viz.
II. The Christian doctrine of the law:
(1) Law is in contrast with grace. Under the latter God bestows the righteousness which, under law, He demanded Exodus 19:5 ; John 1:17 .; Romans 10:3-10 ; 1 Corinthians 1:30 .
(2) The law is, in itself, holy, just, good, and spiritual Romans 7:12-14 .
(3) Before the law the whole world is guilty, and the law is therefore of necessity a ministry of condemnation, death, and the divine curse Romans 3:19 ; 2 Corinthians 3:7-9 ; Galatians 3:10 .
For Another Point of View: See Topic 301242
Other Factors to Consider: See Topic 301187
(4) Christ bore the curse of the law, and redeemed the believer both from the curse and from the dominion of the law Galatians 3:13 ; Galatians 4:5-7 .
(5) Law neither justifies a sinner nor sanctifies a believer Galatians 2:16 ; Galatians 3:2 ; Galatians 3:3 ; Galatians 3:11 ; Galatians 3:12 .
(6) The believer is both dead to the law and redeemed from it, so that he is "not under the law, but under grace" Romans 6:14 ; Romans 7:4 ; Galatians 2:19 ; Galatians 4:4-7 ; 1 Timothy 1:8 ; 1 Timothy 1:9 .
(7) Under the new covenant of grace the principle of obedience to the divine will is inwrought Hebrews 10:6 . So far is the life of the believer from the anarchy of self-will that he is "inlawed to Christ" 1 Corinthians 9:21 and the new "law of Christ"; Galatians 6:2 ; 2 John 1:5 is his delight; while, through the indwelling Spirit, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in him; Romans 8:2-4 ; Galatians 5:16-18 . The commandments are used in the distinctively Christian Scriptures as an instruction in righteousness; 2 Timothy 3:16 ; Romans 13:8-10 ; Ephesians 6:1-3 ; 1 Corinthians 9:8 ; 1 Corinthians 9:9 .
to bring us Omit "to bring us."
unto up to, or until.
righteousness of God
The righteousness of God is neither an attribute of God, not the changed character of the believer, but Christ Himself, who fully met in our stead and behalf every demand of the law, and who is, but the act of God called imputation Leviticus 25:50 ; James 2:23 , "made unto us. . righteousness" 1 Corinthians 1:30 .
"The believer in Christ is now, by grace, shrouded under so complete and blessed a righteousness that the law from Mt. Sinai can find neither fault nor diminution therein. This is that which is called the righteousness of God by faith."--Bunyan.
2 Corinthians 5:21 ; Romans 4:6 ; Romans 10:4 ; Philippians 3:9 ; Romans 3:26

Context Summary

Galatians 3:20-29 - The Law Leads To Christ
The Mosaic law was not designed to be the final code of the religious life, but to prepare the soil of the human heart to receive Jesus Christ in all the fullness of His salvation. It was the tutor of the Hebrew people, to enable them to become the religious teachers of mankind. It could not, therefore, take the place of the great covenant of grace, which had been initiated with Abraham before he had received the rite of circumcision, and when he thus stood for all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile. The mistake of those against whom Paul contended was that they treated as permanent a system which was temporary and parenthetic in its significance.
With many individuals now, as with the Hebrew race, there is often a period in which the conscience is confronted with the holy demands of God's law, which men cannot keep; but when they discover the full grace of God in Christ, they no longer suffer at the hand of the schoolmaster, but become as children in the Father's home. They put on Christ and stand accepted in the Beloved, and understand that they are in unity with all who believe. Theirs are all the promises that were made to Abraham, and as his spiritual children they claim their fulfillment. [source]

Chapter Summary: Galatians 3

1  He asks what moved them to leave the faith, and hold onto the law
6  Those who believe are justified,
9  and blessed with Abraham
10  And this he shows by many reasons
15  The purpose of the Law
26  You are sons of God

Greek Commentary for Galatians 3:24

Our tutor unto Christ [παιδαγωγος υμων εις Χριστον]
See note on 1 Corinthians 4:15 for the only other N.T. example of this old and common word for the slave employed in Greek and Roman families of the better class in charge of the boy from about six to sixteen. The paedagogue watched his behaviour at home and attended him when he went away from home as to school. Christ is our Schoolmaster and the law as paedagogue kept watch over us till we came to Christ. [source]
That we might be justified by faith [ινα εκ πιστεως δικαιωτωμεν]
This is the ultimate purpose of the law as paedagogue. Now that faith is come (ελτουσης της πιστεως — elthousēs tēs pisteōs). Genitive absolute, “the faith (the time of the faith spoken of in Galatians 3:23) having come.” Under a tutor The pedagogue is dismissed. We are in the school of the Master. [source]
Now that faith is come [ελτουσης της πιστεως]
Genitive absolute, “the faith (the time of the faith spoken of in Galatians 3:23) having come.” [source]
Under a tutor [υπο παιδαγωγον]
The pedagogue is dismissed. We are in the school of the Master. [source]
Wherefore [ὥστε]
Better, so that. Theological consequence of the previous statements. [source]
Our schoolmaster [παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν]
Our. Paul speaks as a Jew of Jews especially. Schoolmaster ( παιδαγωγὸς P) is an error. The word means an overseer or guardian. See on 1 Corinthians 4:15. Tutor (Rev.) is defensible on the ground of etymology, tueri to look upon, thence to guard. In civil law a tutor is a person legally appointed for the care of the person and property of a minor. So Bacon (Adv. of Learning, ii. 19): “the first six kings being in truth as tutors of the state of Rome in the infance thereof.” The later use of the word, however, in the sense of instructor, has so completely supplanted the earlier, that the propriety of the Revisers' rendering is questionable. The law is here represented, not as one who conducts to the school of Christ; for Christ is not represented here as a teacher, but as an atoner; but rather as an overseer or guardian, to keep watch of those committed to its care, to accompany them with its commands and prohibitions, and to keep them in a condition of dependence and restraint, thus continually bringing home to them the consciousness of being shut up in sins, and revealing sin as positive transgression. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Galatians 3:24

Romans 3:20 Be justified [δικαιωθήσεται]
For the kindred adjective δίκαιος righteoussee on Romans 1:17. 1. Classical usage. The primitive meaning is to make right. This may take place absolutely or relatively. The person or thing may be made right in itself, or with reference to circumstances or to the minds of those who have to do with them. Applied to things or acts, as distinguished from persons, it signifies to make right in one's judgment. Thus Thucydides, ii. 6,7. “The Athenians judged it right to retaliate on the Lacedaemonians.” Herodotus, i., 89, Croesus says to Cyrus: “I think it right to shew thee whatever I may see to thy advantage.”-DIVIDER-
A different shade of meaning is to judge to be the case. So Thucydides, iv., 122: “The truth concerning the revolt was rather as the Athenians, judged the case to be.” Again, it occurs simply in the sense to judge. Thucydides, v., 26: “If anyone agree that the interval of the truce should be excluded, he will not judge correctly “In both these latter cases the etymological idea of right is merged, and the judicial element predominates. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
In ecclesiastical usage, to judge to be right or to decide upon in ecclesiastical councils. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Applied to persons, the meaning is predominantly judicial, though Aristotle (“Nichomachaean Ethics,” v., 9) uses it in the sense of to treat one rightly. There is no reliable instance of the sense to make right intrinsically; but it means to make one right in some extrinsic or relative manner. Thus Aeschylus, “Agamemnon,” 390-393: Paris, subjected to the judgment of men, tested ( δικαιωθεὶς ) is compared to bad brass which turns black when subjected to friction. Thus tested or judged he stands in right relation to men's judgments. He is shown in the true baseness of his character. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Thus the verb acquires the meaning of condemn; adjudge to be bad. Thucydides, iii., 40: Cleon says to the Athenians, “If you do not deal with the Mitylenaeans as I advise, you will condemn yourselves.” From this readily arises the sense of punish; since the punishment of a guilty man is a setting him in right relation to the political or moral system which his conduct has infringed. Thus Herodotus, i., 100: “Deioces the Mede, if he heard of any act of oppression, sent for the guilty party and punished him according to his offense.” Compare Plato, “Laws,” ii., 934. Plato uses δικαιωτήρια to denote places of punishment or houses of correction (“Phaedrus,” 249). According to Cicero, δικαιόω was used by the Sicilians of capital punishment: “ Ἑδικαιώθησαν , that is, as the Sicilians say, they were visited with punishment and executed” (“Against Verres,” v., 57). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
To sum up the classical usage, the word has two main references: 1, to persons; 2, to things or acts. In both the judicial element is dominant. The primary sense, to make right, takes on the conventional meanings to judge a thing to be right, to judge, to right a person, to treat rightly, to condemn, punish, put to death. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
2. New Testament usage. This is not identical with the classical usage. In the New Testament the word is used of persons only. In Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35, of a quality, Wisdom, but the quality is personified. It occurs thirty-nine times in the New Testament; twenty-seven in Paul; eight in the Synoptists and Acts; three in James; one in the Revelation. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
A study of the Pauline passages shows that it is used by Paul according to the sense which attaches to the adjective δίκαιος , representing a state of the subject relatively to God. The verb therefore indicates the act or process by which a man is brought into a right state as related to God. In the A.V. confusion is likely to arise from the variations in translation, righteousness, just, justifier, justify. See Romans 3:24, Romans 3:26, Romans 3:28, Romans 3:30; Romans 4:2; Romans 5:1, Romans 5:9; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:8, Galatians 3:11, Galatians 3:24; Titus 3:7. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The word is not, however, to be construed as indicating a mere legal transaction or adjustment between God and man, though it preserves the idea of relativity, in that God is the absolute standard by which the new condition is estimated, whether we regard God's view of the justified man, or the man's moral condition when justified. The element of character must not only not be eliminated from it; it must be foremost in it. Justification is more than pardon. Pardon is an act which frees the offender from the penalty of the law, adjusts his outward relation to the law, but does not necessarily effect any change in him personally. It is necessary to justification, but not identical with it. Justification aims directly at character. It contemplates making the man himself right; that the new and right relation to God in which faith places him shall have its natural and legitimate issue in personal rightness. The phrase faith is counted for righteousness, does not mean that faith is a substitute for righteousness, but that faith is righteousness; righteousness in the germ indeed, but still bona fide righteousness. The act of faith inaugurates a righteous life and a righteous character. The man is not made inherently holy in himself, because his righteousness is derived from God; neither is he merely declared righteous by a legal fiction without reference to his personal character; but the justifying decree, the declaration of God which pronounces him righteous, is literally true to the fact in that he is in real, sympathetic relation with the eternal source and norm of holiness, and with the divine personal inspiration of character. Faith contains all the possibilities of personal holiness. It unites man to the holy God, and through this union he becomes a partaker of the divine nature, and escapes the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4). The intent of justification is expressly declared by Paul to be conformity to Christ's image (Romans 8:29, Romans 8:30). Justification which does not actually remove the wrong condition in man which is at the root of his enmity to God, is no justification. In the absence of this, a legal declaration that the man is right is a fiction. The declaration of righteousness must have its real and substantial basis in the man's actual moral condition. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Hence justification is called justification of life (Romans 5:18); it is linked with the saving operation of the life of the risen Christ (Romans 4:25; Romans 5:10); those who are in Christ Jesus “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1); they exhibit patience, approval, hope, love (Romans 5:4, Romans 5:5). Justification means the presentation of the self to God as a living sacrifice; non-conformity to the world; spiritual renewal; right self-estimate - all that range of right practice and feeling which is portrayed in the twelfth chapter of this Epistle. See, further, on Romans 4:5.Knowledge ( ἐπίγνωσις )Clear and exact knowledge. Always of a knowledge which powerfully influences the form of the religions life, and hence containing more of the element of personal sympathy than the simple γνῶσις knowledgewhich may be concerned with the intellect alone without affecting the character. See Romans 1:28; Romans 10:2; Ephesians 4:13. Also Philemon 1:9, where it is associated with the abounding of love; Colossians 3:10; Philemon 1:6, etc. Hence the knowledge of sin here is not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character. [source]

Romans 10:4 The end of the law [τέλος νόμου]
First in the sentence as the emphatic point of thought. Expositors differ as to the sense. 1. The aim. Either that the intent of the law was to make men righteous, which was accomplished in Christ, or that the law led to Him as a pedagogue (Galatians 3:24). 2. The fulfillment, as Matthew 5:17. 3. The termination. To believers in Christ the law has no longer legislative authority to say, “Do this and live; do this or die” (Morison). The last is preferable. Paul is discussing two materially exclusive systems, the one based on doing, the other on believing. The system of faith, represented by Christ, brings to an end and excludes the system of law; and the Jews, in holding by the system of law, fail of the righteousness which is by faith. Compare Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:2-14. [source]
Romans 10:4 The end of the law [τελος νομου]
Christ put a stop to the law as a means of salvation (Romans 6:14; Romans 9:31; Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:14) as in Luke 16:16. Christ is the goal or aim of the law (Galatians 3:24). Christ is the fulfilment of the law (Matthew 5:17; Romans 13:10; 1 Timothy 1:5). But here (Denney) Paul‘s main idea is that Christ ended the law as a method of salvation for “every one that believeth” whether Jew or Gentile. Christ wrote finis on law as a means of grace. [source]
1 Corinthians 4:15 Tutors [παιδαγωγοὺς]
From παῖς boyand ἀγωγός leaderThe Paedagogus was a slave to whom boys were entrusted on leaving the care of the females, which was somewhere about their sixteenth year. He was often a foreigner, sometimes educated and refined, but often otherwise; for Plutarch complains that seamen, traders, usurers, and farmers are engaged in this capacity. The office was one of general guardianship, not of instruction, though sometimes the paedagogus acted as teacher. He accompanied the boy to school, carrying his books, etc., and attended him to the gymnasium and elsewhere. See, further, on Galatians 3:24. [source]
1 Corinthians 4:15 For though ye should have [εαν γαρ εχητε]
Third-class condition undetermined, but with prospect of being determined This old word (παις — pais boy, αγωγος — agōgos leader) was used for the guide or attendant of the child who took him to school as in Galatians 3:24 (Christ being the schoolmaster) and also as a sort of tutor who had a care for the child when not in school. The papyri examples (Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary) illustrate both aspects of the paedagogue. Here it is the “tutor in Christ” who is the Teacher. These are the only two N.T. examples of the common word. I begot you Paul is their spiritual father in Christ, while Apollos and the rest are their tutors in Christ. [source]
1 Corinthians 4:15 Tutors [παιδαγωγους]
This old word (παις — pais boy, αγωγος — agōgos leader) was used for the guide or attendant of the child who took him to school as in Galatians 3:24 (Christ being the schoolmaster) and also as a sort of tutor who had a care for the child when not in school. The papyri examples (Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary) illustrate both aspects of the paedagogue. Here it is the “tutor in Christ” who is the Teacher. These are the only two N.T. examples of the common word. [source]
Galatians 4:2 Tutors [ἐπιτρόπους]
Better, guardians. See on Luke 8:3. Only here in Paul. A general term, covering all to whom supervision of the child is intrusted, and should not be limited to παιδαγωγός (Galatians 3:24). See 13:2; 14:2. [source]
Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God [πάντες γὰρ υἱοὶ θεοῦ ἐστὲ]
Better, ye are all sons of God. Note 1. The change of person, ye are. Comp. we, our, us, Galatians 3:23, Galatians 3:24, Galatians 3:25. He now addresses the Galatians, who were mostly Gentiles, and includes all Christians, Jewish and Gentile. 2. The emphasis is on sons of God rather than on all; for his object is to show that, after the coming of faith, they are no more under the care of a guardian. Ὑιοὶ signifies sons of full age (comp. Galatians 4:1) who have outgrown the surveillance of the guardian; so that sons is emphasized as against children. Paul describes Christians both as τέκνα θεοῦ childrenof God (Romans 8:16, Romans 8:21; Romans 9:8; Philemon 2:15), and υἱοὶ θεοῦ sonsof God (Romans 8:14, Romans 8:19; Romans 9:26). Both τέκνον and υἱός signify a relation based on parentage. The common distinction between τέκνον as emphasizing natural relationship, and υἱός as marking legal or ethical status, should not be pressed. In lxx both words are applied ethically to Israel as God's beloved people. See Isaiah 30:1; Wisd. 16:21; Joel 2:23; Zechariah 9:13; and Isaiah 63:6; Deuteronomy 14:1; Wisd. 9:7; 12:19. John never uses υἱός to describe the relation of Christians to God; but he attaches both the ethical relation and that of conferred privilege, as well as that of birth, to τέκνον . See John 1:12; 1 John 3:1, 1 John 3:10; John 1:13; John 3:3, John 3:7; 1 John 3:9; 1 John 4:7; 1 John 5:1, 1 John 5:4, 1 John 5:18. Paul often regards the Christian relation from a legal point of view as υἱοθεσία adoptiona word used only by him. See Romans 8:14, Romans 8:17, we have both υἱοὶ and τέκνα , and both in the ethical sense. In Romans 9:8; Ephesians 5:1, the ethical sense. 3. In Christ Jesus. Const. with faith. The article before πίστεως faithmay point back to the faith previously mentioned, or may have, as so often, a possessive force, your faith. [source]
Galatians 3:23 Under the law [ὑπὸ νόμον]
Const. with were kept in ward, not with shut up. We were shut up with the law as a warder, not for protection, but to guard against escape. Comp. Wisd. 17:15. The figure of the law as pedagogue (Galatians 3:24) is not anticipated. The law is conceived, not as the prison, but as the warder, the Lord or despot, the power of sin (see 1 Corinthians 15:56; Romans 7), by whom those who belong to sin are kept under lock and key - under moral captivity, without possibility of liberation except through faith. [source]

What do the individual words in Galatians 3:24 mean?

so that the Law trainer of us has become unto Christ so that by faith we might be justified
ὥστε νόμος παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν γέγονεν εἰς Χριστόν ἵνα ἐκ πίστεως δικαιωθῶμεν

ὥστε  so  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὥστε  
Sense: so that, insomuch that.
νόμος  Law 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: νόμος  
Sense: anything established, anything received by usage, a custom, a law, a command.
παιδαγωγὸς  trainer 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: παιδαγωγός  
Sense: a tutor i.
ἡμῶν  of  us 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive 1st Person Plural
Root: ἐγώ  
Sense: I, me, my.
γέγονεν  has  become 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: γίνομαι  
Sense: to become, i.
εἰς  unto 
Parse: Preposition
Root: εἰς  
Sense: into, unto, to, towards, for, among.
Χριστόν  Christ 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: Χριστός  
Sense: Christ was the Messiah, the Son of God.
ἵνα  so  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ἵνα  
Sense: that, in order that, so that.
πίστεως  faith 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: πίστις  
Sense: conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it.
δικαιωθῶμεν  we  might  be  justified 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Subjunctive Passive, 1st Person Plural
Root: δικαιόω  
Sense: to render righteous or such he ought to be.