TEXT [Commentary]

black diamond   C.   The Nature of God’s Authentic Children (3:23–4:7)

1.   Guardianship prior to Christ (3:23-25)

23 Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.

24 Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. 25 And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.

NOTES

3:22-23 Both 3:22 and 3:23 use the verb sunkleiō [TG4788, ZG5168] (imprisoned) to signify the bondage of the old era and the contrasting noun pistis [TG4103, ZG4412] (faith) to designate the liberating perspective of the new era.

3:23 Before the way of faith in Christ was available. While there is no direct reference to Christ in the Gr., the NLT correctly infers “in Christ” from the context of 3:22 and 3:24.

COMMENTARY [Text]

In this section, Paul describes the temporary nature of the law by comparing it to a household guardian who has responsibility for children during a limited period of their lives. Paul thereby divides religious history into two epochs or eras with “the coming of faith” (elthein tēn pistin) as the dividing line; the change in eras came at “the right time” (4:4; lit., “the fullness of time”). The law as a protective guardian is probably related to the rabbinic concept of the oral law as a protective fence (m. Avot 1:1), the rules of which were codified in the Talmud (for more on this concept, see Borchert 1994:146-147). For Paul, a liberated rabbi, his past life under the law served as its own evidence that it was the way of the old era. Christ’s coming had effectively ended the disciplinary role of the law as guardian.

In Hellenistic times, the paidagōgos [TG3807, ZG4080] (guardian) was not really a teacher (as in the KJV). He or she was usually a slave who served a household by being a companion to the children—accompanying them to school and making sure that they did their studies and stayed out of trouble (Longenecker 1990:146-148). The guardian had significant authority over the children and was responsible to mete out discipline as necessary. But when the child reached maturity, the entire situation changed and the slave-guardian served his or her former charge. (On this relationship, see Plato Lysis 208c; Laws 7.808-810; for a similar pattern among the Jews, see Genesis Rabbah 29.6 and 31.7; also Strack and Billerbeck 1922:3.339-340, 557.) The implication is that for those who have experienced the new era in Christ, the guardianship of the law has ceased. The temporary services of the law are therefore no longer needed because God has provided something better.

As indicated in 3:19-22, the function of the law was not to provide a way for people to become acceptable to God but to provide God’s standard so that humans might understand their sinfulness and seek God’s solution. Here Paul indicates that the purpose for which Christ came was to provide the way for people to be made right with God by faith. This theological idea is usually termed “justification by faith.” Since the old era (the law) had come to an end, Paul concluded this segment of his argument by dismissing the guardian that was no longer needed (3:25). For anyone to turn to the law after receiving Christ is to return as an adult to a disciplinary system intended for young children; it is tantamount to turning away from Christ’s grace.