Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
3/17 Reading Portions: Exodus 28; John 7; Proverbs 4; Galatians 3
Galatians 3:24
So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
PEDAGOGUE
The apostle speaks in terms of the collective “we” as he illustrates the relationship between law and grace through faith. He gives us a panorama of the people of God from infancy in Abraham to small children as those under the law of Moses to you and me as more mature persons who have been saved by grace through faith since the Lord Jesus has come. The KJV calls the guardian a “schoolmaster,” from the Greek word παιδαγωγος (pā-dag-ō-GOS). It’s where we get our English word, “pedagogue.” While today it means, “a strict, pedantic teacher,” its definition has devolved from the original meaning. The pedagogue was one in a Greek or Roman household, typically a slave, who led the children to school. To understand it in our modern terms, we might say that the law was like this guardian who took a child literally by the hand in a big city, keeping the child from walking out into oncoming traffic, protecting the child from being kidnapped by unsavory rascals and ruffians, and walking a course to be led to the tutor who would teach the child. Since Christ has come, our Lord Jesus is the Tutor who teaches us through the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). Now, each time we come to Christ for more tutoring, we don’t need the law to take us by the hand to Him. Nevertheless, when we travel by faith to where He is, so to speak, we don’t deviate from the path the law had guided others before us. We observe dangerous traffic conditions so as not to be hit by oncoming vehicles of sin; and we are aware of the unsavory principalities and powers that would tempt us or attempt to kidnap us and take us captive. Faith is now our guardian to take us directly and confidently to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace in times of need (Heb 4:16). This is why Christ’s commands are not burdensome (1 Jn 5:3): they keep us safe while walking in spiritual traffic. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Faith guides us to our Lord each day
We meet to see Christ’s face;
Not bound by law as simple babes,
But mature, as sav’d by grace.
