So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Parallel translations
- WEB So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
- KJV Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
- NKJV Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
- NASB Therefore the Law has become our guardian to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
- NLT 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.
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
The law functioned as a tutor or guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Its goal all along was to point beyond itself to Christ.
Overview
Paul compares the law to a 'tutor' (paidagogos), a guardian who supervised children until maturity. The law's role was to bring people to Christ, in whom they are justified by faith. This shows the law was never the destination but the guide directing sinners to the Savior.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Rom 10:4For Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.
- Acts 13:38–39Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.
- Heb 10:1–14For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
- Rom 7:24–25What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
- Gal 2:16know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
- Matt 5:17–18Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
- Col 2:17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.
- Gal 4:2–3He is subject to guardians and trustees until the date set by his father.
- Heb 7:18–19So the former commandment is set aside because it was weak and useless
- Gal 3:25Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
- Gal 2:19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.
- Rom 7:7–9What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”
- Heb 9:8–16By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.
- Rom 3:20–22Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.
- 1 Cor 4:15Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
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 3:24 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.