Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

I would say that Paul was referring to the Law being our tutor with respect to both showing us how God requires humans to live, and then also bringing us to the realization that it was (and still is) impossible for us (as fallen beings) to comply perfectly with all of those requirements in order to earn or deserve the attainment of eternal life.

That realization then guides us to faith in Christ, as the only One who was able to fulfill the Law perfectly on behalf of all humanity; who took the punishment that all humanity deserved for its failure to keep the Law; and who then rose from the dead to show that His substitutionary atonement had been sufficient in God's sight.

January 12 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Aurel Gheorghe

Paul in Galatians 3 is talking about the role of the law. False teachers in Galatia were forcing circumcision on the new believers. For Paul such teaching was against the concept of salvation through Christ (Gal 1:6-9). 

Our acceptance is through faith in Christ - is not based on the works of the law (Gal 2:16). The law cannot give life or save anyone (Gal 3:20) - salvation is possible only through Christ. If the law can give life, then Christ’s death was unnecessary.

The law's only function is to makes us aware of our sinfulness (Rom 3:20), but have no power to solve the problem.

Furthermore, Paul sees the law as a tutor. The Greek word for “tutor” (Gal 3:24) is paidagōgos - a person hired to keep the master’s child out of trouble, to instruct in moral matters and in the use of language, and to apply discipline when needed. When the child reached adulthood the control of the paidagōgos ended. The term paidagōgos combines the ideas of strict discipline, submission, and instruction.

Paul uses this illustration to show that before the coming of Christ we lacked freedom and were, like slaves, under submission to a power over which we had no control. The law instructed and disciplined us, but it did not have any power to save. The child looked forward to adulthood to enjoy freedom, and for Paul our childhood ended with the coming of Christ. Now we obey the law out of love and gratitude (Gal 5:6, 13, 14, 19-24; Rom. 8:3, 4) not to obtain salvation through it. For those who are in Christ the condemnation of the law has ended, just as the master's child who reached adulthood the control of the paidagōgos ended.

January 13 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report