Guardians (Paedagogus)

[Galatians 3:23-24] “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”

In Greek and Roman households, a specialized “guardian” (paedagogus) was a slave tasked with supervising children. Besides escorting children to school, they sometimes served as tutors at home. In those days, children, even though they had the status of sons and were legally entitled to inherit, could not immediately receive their inheritance until they reached the legal age. They remained under the care and supervision of a guardian, with limited freedom of action. Once the child reached adulthood, they gained legal rights to assume authority in the household and inherit property, no longer subject to the servant’s control.

Similarly, believers have a journey to travel from becoming “sons of God” (Galatians 3:26) to actually “inheriting the promise” (Galatians 3:29). Although believers already possess God’s life, if this life does not grow to maturity, they cannot fully enjoy the abundance of God’s life (John 10:10). Before Christ came, the law functioned like a steward; the Israelites were confined under the law, overseen by it. The law revealed that everyone is guilty of transgression and cannot be free from sin by their own strength, thus necessitating salvation. In this way, the law leads us to Christ, “so that we might be justified by faith.” The law’s purpose is not to grant life but to compel people to seek life, serving as an elementary teacher guiding us to find God’s salvation.