The Galatians You've Never Heard - Part 3

In this series, I've been challenging some of the traditional anti-law interpretations of Galatians by comparing Paul's words to Moses in Deuteronomy. If you have not read any previous posts yet, read part 1 and part 2 for some essential context before moving on.

Next, I look at chapter 3, where Paul said that the law was our guardian until Christ came. This passage has become a popular proof text for the teaching that the Old Testament law was only temporary and is now made obsolete by the coming of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit. Spoiler alert: I'm not convinced that this is the point Paul intended to make in this passage. Contrary to tradition, I believe that Paul was teaching the importance and permanence of the law in a new role.

Remember, the Galatians were questioning what was necessary to become a member of the covenant community. The Judiazers taught that the Gentiles had to be circumcised to be fully accepted into God's people. The community was not just facing a theological issue, but a very personal one that was causing them to question their identity. Were the Gentile believers truly a part of God's family, or were they outsiders? 

Paul said in Galatians 3:

Before faith came, we were held in custody under the law... the law was our guardian until Christ came.

Galatians 3:23-24

I had always heard this verse in the context of sermons that spoke of the law as a jailer, locking up and enslaving Israel to a subpar kind of life that believers are freed from because of Jesus. Have you heard similar teachings or had the same emotions about this passage that I did? For a long time, that interpretation caused me to dismiss the Old Testament and not believe it had much value in my life. But that could not be farther from what Paul was teaching.

To understand Paul's illustration, you need to know more about the imagery he referred to: the guardian (Greek: paidagogos). In wealthy households of ancient Rome, the master of the house would employ an individual who worked as a guardian of the children. This individual's role was to accompany a child, who had not yet matured, to and from school.

The streets of Rome, like any big city today, were dangerous for children to navigate alone. Merchants, philosophers, temples, and all kinds of public spectacles filled the streets. Roman educators of the day voiced concerns about allowing children to be exposed to the dangers that existed in public places. 1 So imagine your child had to walk down Bourbon Street in New Orleans, LA, or 6th Street in Austin, TX, during their peak activity levels, by themselves. As a parent, I don't think you'd be too keen for your child to walk those roads without supervision either! 

Paul's illustration of the law as a guardian points to one of its key roles in Israel's history. Israel, like a child on the streets of Rome, was surrounded by corrupt, pagan influences.  From the Canaanites and Egyptians to the Babylonians, Assyrians, and eventually the Romans, these cultures were spiritually bad company, each placing their own pressure on Israel to abandon loyalty to the one true God. The law served as a bodyguard in enemy territory, protecting Israel's identity and leading them to remain loyal to their faith in God.

This reality is very clear throughout Deuteronomy! Moses made several appeals for Israel to follow the law to be distinguished from the nations and to protect their identity as the people of God (Deut 4:5–8, 12:1–4, 13:4, 14:2). The law safeguarded them against infidelity, cultural compromise and spiritual forgetfulness.  

Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe His commands, His Laws, and His degrees that I am giving you this day. 

Deuteronomy 8:11

If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 

Deuteronomy 8:19

Without law, Israel was vulnerable to becoming absorbed in the pagan ideas that surrounded them. And, in fact, the Old Testament tells us that whenever Israel abandoned the law, that is exactly what happened! They forgot who they were and who God was. 

So when Paul said that we are no longer under a guardian (Gal 3:25), he referred to the specific time in Israel's history, when the law protected their identity.  With Jesus, the law as a whole is not obsolete, but this particular function has been made complete.

In Deuteronomy, Moses wrote:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of the law.

Deuteronomy 29:29 (emphasis mine)

The law, the thing revealed, was a gift that God gave to shape his people for all generations…forever. While some parts of God's plan were "secret" in Moses' day, Paul understood the coming of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit as a revelation of things that were once hidden. When the "time had fully come," God provided the Spirit so believers could know Him more deeply and be empowered to live their identity as His children. Paul goes on to describe the Spirit in chapter 4…

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts…

Galatians 4:4-6a (emphasis mine)

Paul uses another illustration here: adoption. Adoption in Roman society was much different than what we think of today. Children - especially sons - were not automatically considered heirs to the family they were born into. The father had to make a formal decision when the child had reached an age of maturity, whether or not he would adopt them. This adoption conferred all kinds of rights to the child, including their secured identity as the father's heir. 2 

Paul was explaining the transition from being under the guardian of the law to full-fledged children of God. The time of the law serving as a "guardian" had passed. Now, through the Spirit, the same law is written on our hearts, not to protect our identity but to secure it (Eph 1:3). This teaching comes directly from the Old Testament. Moses spoke of a future when people's hearts would be transformed and we would love God faithfully. In Deuteronomy 30 he wrote:

The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live. 

Deuteronomy 30:6

This promise is fulfilled in Jesus and through the gift of the Spirit!

Now, Christian tradition dismisses the law as something obsolete or less important. But I would argue that it actually becomes more important when we walk in the Spirit. Because the law becomes more personal, as Deuteronomy says: it belongs to us and becomes a part of who we are as God's children. Through the Spirit, we are given greater insight into what God has made known. The law is written on our hearts, shaping our desires, convicting us to repentance, and faithfulness (Jer 31:31-34).

Here is the tension: many people assume that because the law is internal, we are no longer expected to obey it. In response to that I cannot help but ask a couple of questions. First, why are we so quick to associate obedience with legalism? And second, do you think it grieves the Spirit when we ignore the wisdom He wants to lead us in, the very instruction that Jesus himself told us to obey (John 14:15)? If we are not convicted to obey the Word of God, have our hearts really been transformed?

This is where the language used in traditional interpretations is insufficient. Law vs. Spirit is a false binary. The law has and never will oppose God's plan to save and transform His people; it has always served that plan.  Following Jesus does not equate to lawlessness. Today, the law continues to reveal to us what is spiritual, good, and holy (Romans 7:12, 14; 1 Timothy 1:8). Through the Spirit, the law guides us in the wisdom of God.

To be honest, I don't know which Galatians passage I will be tackling next. I have a couple in mind. But for now, I hope this series is helping you see the unity of Scripture and how Paul was teaching the same thing as Moses.

Reflection Questions:

• Read Ephesians 4:30-32, Isaiah 63:9-10, and Jeremiah 31:31-34. Do you think it grieves the Spirit when we deem the law insignificant? 

• If the Spirit has internalized the law on our hearts, are we more or less accountable for obeying it than Israel was when it was written on tablets of stone? Why or why not?

• Read Matthew 5-7. How does Jesus teach us to consider the law? What are the dangers of seeing the law as a checklist vs. God's wisdom and instruction? (Read more on the law as wisdom in this post)

Footnotes:

1. Marcus Fabius Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, trans. H. E. Butler, vol. 1 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1920), 1.2.4.

2. Tim Hegg, Paul's Epistle to the Galatians: Commentary (University Place: Torah Resource, 2024), 295-296.