But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Parallel translations
- WEB But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
- BSB Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.
- NKJV But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
- NASB But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the Law, being confined for the faith that was destined to be revealed.
- NLT 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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Before faith came, people were kept in custody under the law, awaiting the faith to be revealed. The law was a temporary guardian until Christ.
Overview
Paul pictures the era under the law as a kind of protective confinement, holding God's people until the coming of Christ and the gospel of faith. This 'custody' was not the goal but a preparatory stage. With Christ's arrival, the time of waiting gives way to the freedom of faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Gal 5:18But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
- Gal 3:24–25Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
- Rom 6:14–15For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
- Gal 3:19Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
- Rom 11:32For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
- Rom 3:19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
- Gal 4:1–5Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
- 1 Pet 1:11–12Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
- Heb 12:2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
- Luke 10:23–24And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see:
- 1 Cor 9:20–21And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
- Heb 11:39–40And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
- Heb 11:13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
- Gal 4:21Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
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Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 3:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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