Commentaries Dictionaries Concordances

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Galatians 3:24

Verse 24. The law was our schoolmaster] Ὁ νομος παιδαγωγος ἡμων γεγονεν εις Χριστον· The law was our pedagogue unto Christ. The παιδαγωγος, pedagogue, is not the schoolmaster, but the servant who had the care of the children to lead them to and bring them back from school, and had the care of them out of school hours. Thus the law did not teach us the living, saving knowledge; but, by its rites and ceremonies, and especially by its sacrifices, it directed us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. This is a beautiful metaphor, and highly illustrative of the apostle's doctrine. Romans 10:4, where this figure is farther explained.

Continues after advertising

See also Galatians 3:24 in other biblical comments:

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    WHEREFORE THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER - The word rendered schoolmaster (παιδαγωγὸς paidagōgos, whence the word “pedagogue”), referred originally to a slave or freedman, to whose care boys were comm...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    II. CONTRASTS BETWEEN LAW AND GRACE CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The gift of the Spirit not by the works of the law, but by hearing of faith. (Galatians 3:1)_ 2. Righteousness not bestowed by the law, but by fai...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    Inferior, temporary, co-operating such is the distinctive nature of the Law. It had held Israel prisoner, till Christ should come. Or it resembled the slave who led a child to (Christ's) school (1 Cor...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    THE GIFT OF GRACE (Galatians 3:1-9)...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    Before faith came we were under guard under the power of the law, shut up and waiting for the day when faith would be revealed. So that the law was really our tutor to bring us to Christ so that we mi...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    WAS. has become. SCHOOLMASTER. Greek. _paidagogos_. This was. trust-worthy slave who had the guardianship of the boys of it family. See Cor. Galatians 4:15....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Translate, SO THAT THE LAW HAS PROVED TO US A TUTOR UNTO CHRIST. _our schoolmaster_ The Greek word, -paidagogos" (from which Engl. pedagogue) does not mean a _teacher_, but a confidential slave, who h...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    23, 24. _A more positive answer to the question of v._19. _The Law was distinctly preparative_ (Galatians 3:23) We Jews were protected—the Law leaving us no room to escape from its power—that we shoul...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    23–4:7. _The contrast between our former state of pupillage under the Law, and our present state in Christ, full sonship_ This is brought out under two aspects: I. Galatians 3:23-29. The preparative c...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    24. A change of metaphor from protection by a guard to a “tutor,” i.e. here the beneficent action of the Law is more directly indicated. In all probability too we should place a full stop at the end o...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΠΑΙΔΑΓΩΓΌΣ (G3807) воспитатель, мужчина-няня. В греческих и римских семьях был такой раб, которому поручали заботу о мальчике в возрасте от 6 до 16 лет. Раб этот следил за поведением мальчика и сопров...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 2068 THE TRUE USE OF THE LAW Galatians 3:21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness sho...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    OUR SCHOOL-MASTER— The original does not signify a _school-master,_ but "one who heads or conducts children to school."The ancients generally employed a person for this purpose; and if the Apostle be...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    TEXT 3:23-25 (23) But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. (24) So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Chri...

  • Combined Bible Commentary

    _VERSE 24. WHEREFORE THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER TO BRING US UNTO CHRIST._ This simile of the schoolmaster is striking. Schoolmasters are indispensable. But show me a pupil who loves his schoolmaster...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 'So that the law hath proved to be [ Gegonen (G1096)] our schoolmaster ('tutor,' 'pedagogue;' am...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    3 Paul now appeals to the experience of the Galatians themselves. Before the Judaisers came they received the Spirit of God, and suffered for the evangel, and did mighty works quite apart from the law...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    3:24 to (f-10) See Ephesians 1:14 , and Note....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    JUSTIFICATION IS BY FAITH, NOT WORKS 1-14. The Apostle upbraids the Galatians with their speedy change from faith to legal observances, reminding them of the fact that their reception of the Spirit h...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    SCHOOLMASTER] cp. Romans 7:7. Tutor, or trainer, who by his chastisement for our faults made us see our need of grace and pardon. St. Paul may have been thinking of the Jewish custom of fathers daily...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE GALATIANS _HELEN POCOCK_ CHAPTER 3 LIVE BY GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT, NOT BY YOUR OWN EFFORTS V1 You Galatians are foolish. You behave as if someone has used magic powers to lead...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    In those days, rich families had slaves. Some of the slaves would look after the young children in the rich family. The slaves took the children to the children’s teachers. And the slaves guarded the...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER. — Not quite a satisfactory translation; yet it is difficult to suggest a better. The Greek word is that from which is derived the English “pedagogue.” Originally it meant...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    (21-24) If the Law was thus inferior to the promise, does it therefore follow that it is contrary to it? By no means. The Law could not indeed give life; it could not justify, or place in a state of r...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 14 THE DESIGN OF THE LAW. Galatians 3:19 "WHAT then is the law?" So the Jew might well exclaim. Paul has been doing nothing but disparage it.-"You say that the Law of Moses brings no righteo...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    THE POSITION OF THE TRUE CHILDREN OF GOD BEFORE THE COMING OF CHRIST IS ILLUSTRATED BY THE CONTROL EXERCISED OVER CHILDREN IN THEIR FATHER'S HOUSE BY MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. These verses explain the...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE LAW LEADS TO CHRIST Galatians 3:20 The Mosaic law was not designed to be the final code of the religious life, but to prepare the soil of the human heart to receive Jesus Christ in all the fullne...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Here begins the second division of the epistle, in which Paul deals with the doctrine of liberty. He begins with the exclamation, "O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you?" He then inquired, Did they...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    As for the law, it was put or given because of transgressions, to put a stop, by the punishments prescribed, to idolatry and other crimes, which the Jews had learnt from other nations, particularly in...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (21) Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. (22) But the scripture ha...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    Galatians 1:1-24. We saw the second of Corinthians characterized by the most rapid transitions of feeling, by a deep and fervent sense of God's consolations, by a revulsion so much the more powerful i...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    24._Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster _This is the second comparison, which still more clearly expresses Paul’s design. A schoolmaster is not appointed for the whole life, but only for childhood,...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    What a loss, dreadful and irreparable, to lose such a Christ, as we, under grace, have known Him; such a righteousness; such a love; the Son of God our portion, our life; the Son of God devoted for us...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    WHEREFORE THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER UNTO CHRIST,.... So the words should be read, as they are by the Syriac and Ethiopic versions; for the words "to bring us" are a supplement of our translators, a...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster _to bring us_ unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Ver. 24. _The law was our schoolmaster_] Such a one as that Livy and Florus speak of in Italy, w...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster_ That is, the instructer of the childhood of us Jews, or of the church of God, in its state of minority; see on Galatians 4:3; _to bring us unto Christ_ To trai...

  • Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament (1851)

    THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER; showing us our lost and guilty condition, and thus constraining us to come to Christ for salvation. In the ceremonial law, and in the whole Mosaic economy, God had a grac...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    The Law's pedagogical task has now been completed:...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    WHEREFORE THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER TO BRING US UNTO CHRIST, THAT WE MIGHT BE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH....

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    FAITH IS THE ONE PRINCIPLE OF BLESSING (vs.1-9) "0 foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" (v.1). Little wonder, as Paul considers the principles and tremendous issues involved, that he speaks out...

  • Manly Luscombe Commentary on New Testament

    Tutor - One who takes children from their home to shcool and protects them from harm. Christ is the teacher. The law is the school bus driver to take Israel to the teacher. Once they are in the class...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    23-25 The law did not teach a living, saving knowledge; but, by its rites and ceremonies, especially by its sacrifices, it pointed to Christ, that they might be justified by faith. And thus it was, a...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    THE LAW, both the law contained in ordinances and the moral law, WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER; serving us in the same stead that a schoolmaster in a school doth, who only fitteth children for higher degrees o...

  • McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries

    So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. [In the first of these two verses, Paul enlarges the thought of verse 22, fully describing those subje...

  • NT Verse References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers

    Irenaeus Against Heresies Book IV but he has also said, that the law was our pedagogue [to bring us] to Christ Jesus.[29] Clement of Alexandria The Instructor Book I For the word which, in matters...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Galatians 3:24 Therefore G5620 law G3551 was G1096 (G5754) our G2257 tutor G3807 to G1519 Christ G5547 that...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    WHAT THEN WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW? (GALATIANS 3:19). He now raises the question as to what the purpose of the Law is....

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘But before faith came we were kept in ward (kept under restraint) under the Law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed, so that the Law has been our custodian to bring us to Chri...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    _The Educational Mission of the Law_. Paul now assumes a milder tone, and reasons with the Galatians from the common dealings of men. Even a human covenant is sacred and cannot be set aside, much more...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    Galatians 3:24. SO THEN THE LAW HAS BEEN OUR TUTOR UNTO CHRIST. This sentence expresses in a few words the true philosophy of the law in its relation to Christ ‘Tutor,' literally _pædagogue_ (leader o...

  • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

    OUR TUTOR UNTO CHRIST (παιδαγωγος υμων εις Χριστον). See 1 Corinthians 4:15 for the only other N.T. example of this old and common word for the slave employed in Greek and Roman families of the bett...

  • Scofield's Bible Commentary

    LAW I. The law of Moses, Summary: (1) The Mosaic Covenant was given to Israel in three parts: THE COMMANDMENTS, expressing the righteous will of God; (Exodus 20:1); THE "JUDGMENTS", governing the s...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Galatians 3:24 Love in the Schooling of the Law. Over all righteousness before men the will has power, because it is a righteousness of outward acts; but the will has not power over the desires and a...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?_ These Galatians thought that...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I lea...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,_ Paul writes as if they had come under some kind of witchcraft, and been deluded by it. This seemed to astonish the apostle, so he cries o...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Paul, writing, to those changeable Galatians, who had so soon deserted the faith, says to them in this chapter Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Gift of Spirit by faith apart from law-works. Man under law-works is under the law curse. Christ bears the law curse that we might have the faith blessing. The true intent of the law. CHARA...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Galatians 3:1. _Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you:_ εβασκανε, who hath fascinated, beguiled, or seduced you by subtlety and cunning, and sought by ingenious malice to draw you from the trut...

  • The Bible Study New Testament

    WAS IN CHARGE. The _Expositor's Greek Testament_ says of the PAIDAGOGOS: "For he was a confidential dependent, usually a slave, neither qualified to instruct, nor invested with authority to control hi...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster._ THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER I. The condition of humanity and the ultimate purpose of God respecting it. The Jews a type of mankind. Humanity is the Son of G...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    GALATIANS—NOTE ON GALATIANS 3:24 The LAW, as GUARDIAN, had positive functions. It restrained and exposed sin and promised Christ’s coming....

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    CHAPTER 3 SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER S. Paul proceeds to prove by five reasons that we are justified not by the law, or the works of the law, but by Christ. I. The first proof is drawn (ver. 2) from e...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES_ Galatians 3:22. THE SCRIPTURE HATH CONCLUDED ALL UNDER SIN.—The written letter was needed so as permanently to convict man of disobedience to God’s command. He is shu...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION GALATIANS 3:1 O FOOLISH GALATIANS (ὦ ἀνόητοι Γαλάται). In thus apostrophizing them, the apostle brands their present behaviour, not any lack of intelligence on their part in general...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Galatians chapter three. Background: Paul the apostle had been in the area of Galatia. Galatia was a general area like a county or a state. It was not a city. There...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Acts 13:38; Acts 13:39; Colossians 2:17; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 2

  • Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament (4 Volume Set)

    Wherefore [ω σ τ ε]. Better, so that. Theological consequence of the previous statements. Our schoolmaster [π α ι δ α γ ω γ ο ς η μ ω ν]. Our. Paul speaks as a Jew of Jews especially. Schoolmaster [π...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE CROSS AND ITS OBJECTIVES Galatians 3:10; Galatians 4:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS The Cross must ever stand forth in the limelight of Bible and spiritual study. Apart from Christ's Calvary work we have...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ — It was designed to train us up for Christ. And this it did both by its commands, which showed the need we had of his atonement; and its ceremonies,...

Continues after advertising