“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,”
(Galatians 3:24–25, ESV)
I have to say that I was blessed growing up. We had a good home. Oh, it was not perfect, but it was good. My parents watched over us children, bring us up with a sense of good values. They were preparing us for adulthood. When I graduated high school, my parents had saved enough money up to help pay the tuition for my first year in college. Prior to my sophomore year, I received a scholarship from the United States Army. Receiving this I knew that after graduation I would be commissioned as an officer and would serve on at least four years of active duty.
While I was in college, I was still under the guardianship of my parents. They continued to care for me. The years of college went by and then I graduated. I remember the day vividly. My parents came to be part of the ceremony. The commissioning service came in the morning prior to receiving my degree in engineering. Then I received my diploma. That evening we had a party at my parent’s place.
The day of my graduation something significant also happened. I began a transition in life which culminated a couple weeks later when I packed up my bags, took my military uniform, and travelled to my first duty station for training in the army. I would never have their home address as mine again. I had graduated, not just from college with a degree and a commission in the army, but also from their guardianship. They had done their part and now I had transitioned. I was on my own, so to speak.
Paul uses the illustration of a guardian to demonstrate the relationship of the law to the promise. He wrote the following.
“the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.”
Thayer indicates that the word “guardian,” paidagogos, refers to a “child tender . . . usually a slave or freedman, to whom the boys of a family were committed, whose duty it was . . . to lead them to and from the public school, and exercise constant superintendence over their conduct and safety” (Thayer, 1896, p. 134).
Thus, the paidagogos was responsible guarding the child from the evils of the world, and for teaching them moral values. With this view, Paul indicated that the law was the paidagogos. As such it was a temporary servant designed to morally guide Israel and keep them from being corrupted by the morals of the nations that surrounded them. Paul explained that this need for the law as the paidagogos ceased when Christ came. For people would be justified by faith in Him.
The point is this. All who come to faith in Jesus Christ have graduated from the need for the guardianship of the law. The reason is threefold. First, all who have faith in Jesus have become adult “sons of God” (v26). Second, those of faith are perfectly united with Christ through the baptism of the Spirit (v27a, 1 Cor 12:13). Third, all those who are baptized “have put on Christ” (v27b).
Every true believer in Jesus has been set free. Each has a completely new identity as every believer has experienced a divine transformation.
Renewing the Heart 