What does "guardian/tutor" mean in Galatians 3:24

Question

Galatians 3:24 reads in the ESV (and several modern translations)

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith._ESV

In the KJV it reads:

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

In the NASB it reads:

Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith._NASB

So what is the meaning of the actual greek? Does it mean one who stands in place of a parent (a Guardian), one who instructs (a Schoolmaster/Tutor), or both?

Answer 1

The NET Bible has something interesting to say about this word:

Or “disciplinarian,” “custodian,” or “guide.” According to BDAG 748 s.v. παιδαγωγός, “the man, usu. a slave…whose duty it was to conduct a boy or youth…to and from school and to superintend his conduct gener.; he was not a ‘teacher’ (despite the present mng. of the derivative ‘pedagogue’…When the young man became of age, the π. was no longer needed.” L&N 36.5 gives “guardian, leader, guide” here.

This is also reflected in Strongs G3807. Strongs said that this was applied to a trustworthy slave. Also, it mentions that the boys weren't even allowed to leave the house without the slave. Once the boy became a man, this slave was no longer useful and was released from that duty.

So, the translation of this word is a bit difficult since we don't have that concept in modern day. However, this word relates to being a guardian, a tutor, and a slave.

While the law was protecting and instructing us, and while the law was in charge of and over us, it wasn't something that was the ultimate authority. It was merely acting in behalf of the greater authority.

Answer 2

What the Law does :

The Law killed:

Galatians 2:19 NET For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God.

Romans 7:9-10 NET And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!

It also was a protector:

Galatians 3:24 NET Thus the law had become our guardian until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous by faith.

How does one harmonise the above?

The pedagogue was the trusted family servant who took the child to school. It was the school that fulfilled the potential of the child to be all he could possibly be, as a fully equipped adult, which is what the believer becomes, in Christ.

Before the Atonement (the faithfulness of Christ), we were dead. The Law killed us. The awareness/knowledge of its requirements crushed us. But this death is the death of inability to be functional believers (before the Cross). It stopped us dead in our tracks in our attempt to be a functioning part of Abraham's Seed, the corporate entity, collectively known as the People of God. The Seed had not come, Israel was not the REST, until the second Joshua, in Jesus made it the Rest. Arrival in the Promised Land did not kick off the blessing. The LAND had to be "prepped"! The Atonement accomplished the latter. Figuratively, what happened after the Cross was:

Israel has become Abraham's Seed. Believers who are in the Seed are justified (protected) and sanctified (made alive).

Ephesians 2:4-5 NET But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! –

But all the believers before the ministry of Christ did not go to hell. The Law protected them, by triggering REALIZATION of inadequacy of own efforts, leading to humility and of need for God's mercy (publican in the Temple?) until they meet their Redeemer.

To be protected by the Law, you have to believe God requires ALL the requirements to be met, both the minor AND the major points. THAT is what brings about inadequacy humiliation and dependence. Cherry picking do-able points of the Law only leads to pride and boastfulness, as if it were humanly possible to be compliant to the Law!

See how the Law protects by killing:

Luke 18:13-14 NET The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’ I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Answer 3

The παιδαγωγός (Law) set the standard for fellowship (or behavior) in the household of Israel. The Law in the Old Testament was not a means of justification, but a means of fellowship with Yahweh.

Righteousness never came through the Law (Gal 3:21). Righteousness came by faith on the Covenant Promises, which concerned the promised seed, who would "sprout" in the Promised Land, and who would be the son of both Abraham and David. The world would be blessed as a result (Gal 3:8). In this sense, the Old Testament believers actually believed on Jesus Christ before he was ever born. For example, Paul reminded Timothy that it was the "sacred scriptures" (another word for the Old Testament) that "gave the wisdom" that led to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim 4:8). In other words, the παιδαγωγός can impart the wisdom, but the righteousness comes only by faith.

Thus the παιδαγωγός set the standards of behavior and taught believers about God's holiness. The Old Testament believer was therefore not a son as an individual, but a "household slave" under the παιδαγωγός (Gal 4:1-2). Of course, Israel was God's child in the corporate elective sense, but at the individual level, the believer was a "slave" who was managed by the pedagogue ("παιδαγωγός"), which was the Law. (The Law is described a "yoke" in Acts 15:10.) The reason the individual was a slave was because the Old Testament believer was still spiritually dead, notwithstanding that the Old Testament believer possessed righteousness through faith. In the New Testament (or, better, the New Covenant) the believer receives the free gift of eternal life through the Holy Spirit, and therefore becomes a son, who no longer is under the pedagogue (or the yoke of the Law).

Thus the pedagogue managed the child slave, who, at the appointed time (i.e., the giving of the New Covenant), became a son, who had the gift of God's eternal life. However, as a slave, the Old Testament believer was managed by a system of rules and regulations that typified typologies of Jesus Christ. For example, circumcision was the removal of the dead flesh, which Abraham had, and as a result, the promised seed came to life:-- Isaac was born. In Gal 3:17, Paul indicates that the Old Testament believers understood the promised seed not just in a wide sense of many descendants of Abraham, but in a limited sense, that is, he was the anointed one ("Christus"), who was the object of the David Covenant. And of course the sacrifices were typologies of the life of God (Heb 9:16-18), which was sacrificed to atone for sin. The sacrifice of Isaac was the key typology that the Promised Seed was indeed the sacrifice. That is, in Gal 3:16 Paul cited out of the Old Testament what was Yahweh's discourse immediately following Abraham's attempted sacrifice of Isaac. Thus the Law and its typologies of sacrifices and cleanliness and observation of holy days pointed to the object of the Covenant Promises (which is the Promised Seed in the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants). Compliance with the Law (pedagogue) was the means of fellowship with Yahweh, but it was not the means of righteousness. Faith was the means of righteousness, and this faith was on the Promised Seed, and the Law (pedagogue) pointed to those promises, which "gave the wisdom" that led to salvation through faith in the Old Testament.