But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward 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.
- KJV But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto 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.
- 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 you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
- Gal 3:24–25So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
- Rom 6:14–15For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
- Gal 3:19What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.
- Rom 11:32For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.
- Rom 3:19Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
- Gal 4:1–5But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all;
- 1 Pet 1:11–12searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, pointed to, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them.
- Heb 12:2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
- Luke 10:23–24Turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see,
- 1 Cor 9:20–21To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law;
- Heb 11:39–40These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn’t receive the promise,
- Heb 11:13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
- Gal 4:21Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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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