Galatians 3:24

Galatians 3:24 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
• New International Version (NIV)So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.
• English Standard Version (ESV)So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Context of Galatians 3:24

22But the Bible says that sin has power over everyone. People can not get free. This means that we can only receive what God has promised when we trust Jesus Christ. God gives his promise to those who believe. 23But before God showed us the way of faith, the Law had authority over us. God's Law kept us safe, until God showed us that we must believe in Christ. In that way, God's Law was like our guide. It kept us safe until Christ came. Then God could accept us as right because we trusted Christ. 25But now that the way of faith in Christ has come, we do not need God's Law to keep us safe any longer. 26All of you are God's children because you believe in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:24 word by word

ὥστε ὁ νόμος παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν γέγονεν εἰς Χριστόν, ἵνα ἐκ πίστεως δικαιωθῶμεν·Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Whereforeὥστεhōste · soG5620
• the lawὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• the lawνόμοςnomos · lawG3551
• wasγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
• ourἐγώegō · I/weG1473
• schoolmasterπαιδαγωγόςpaidagōgos · guardianG3807
• untoεἰςeis · towardG1519
• ChristΧριστόςChristos · ChristG5547
• thatἵναhina · in order that/toG2443
• we might be justifiedδικαιόωdikaioō · to justifyG1344
• byἐκek ex · out fromG1537
• faithπίστιςpistis · faithG4102

Cross-references for Galatians 3:24

• Galatians 3:25But now that the way of faith in Christ has come, we do not need God's Law to keep us safe any longer.
• Galatians 2:19But God's Law showed me that I could never obey all its rules. So I became like a dead person, free from the authority of those rules. That means that I can now live to please God.
• Galatians 4:2He has to wait until the time that his father has decided. Until then, the son has to obey his teachers and the guides who take care of him.
• Matthew 5:17Jesus said, ‘You should not think that I have come to destroy God's Law. Also, I have not come to destroy the messages that God's prophets wrote down. No, I have not come to destroy their words. I have come to make what they taught become true.
• Acts 13:38My friends, I want all of you to know this. God forgives us for the bad things that we have done. He does this because of what Jesus did. That is my message to you.
• Romans 3:20God's Law shows people clearly that they have done wrong things. Nobody can become right with God because they obey that Law.
• Romans 7:7So someone might say, ‘God's Law must be bad.’ No! Certainly, it is not bad! Without that law, I would not have known what sin really is. One rule says, ‘You must not want to take things for yourself that belong to other people.’ Without that command, I would not have known that it is wrong to want other people's things.
• Romans 10:4God gave his Law to Israel's people for a purpose. But Christ has finished that purpose. So now, every person who believes in Christ becomes right with God.
• Colossians 2:17Rules like that are only like shadows of real things that would happen later. But now we have what is real, Christ himself!
• Hebrews 7:18So the old law about priests no longer has authority. It was weak and it could not help people.
• Hebrews 9:8In this way, God's Holy Spirit was showing that the most holy place was not yet open to everyone. While the tent with its first room was still there, those were the rules for people to worship God.
• Hebrews 10:1God's laws which he gave to Moses are like a shadow of the good things that would come later. But those laws do not show exactly what those good things are like. They say that the priests must continue to offer the same sacrifices on behalf of the people, year after year. So those sacrifices can never make the people completely clean when they come to worship God.
• Galatians 2:16But we know that we do not become right with God because we obey his Law. A person only becomes right with God when they believe in Jesus Christ. And we, as Jewish believers, have believed in Christ Jesus. We have become right with God because we trust in what Christ has done. It is not because we obey God's Law that he accepts us. Nobody becomes right with God only because they obey the rules in God's Law.
• Acts 13:39God can cause anyone to become right with him. If you believe in Jesus, God will make you free from your sins. God's Law that he gave to Moses cannot do this for you. That Law cannot make you free, even if you obey all of it.

Commentaries on Galatians 3:24

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 24The law was our schoolmaster - ̔ ̔ · The law was our pedagogue unto Christ. The , 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…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 24Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster - The word rendered schoolmaster ( ̀ paidagōgoswhence the word “pedagogue”), referred originally to a slave or freedman, to whose care boys were committed, and who accompanied them to the public schools. The idea here is not that of instructor, but there is reference to the office and duty of the “paedagogus” among the ancients. The office was usually intrusted to slaves or freedmen. It is true, that when the…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 23-25Verses 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, as the word properly signifies, a servant, to lead to Christ, as children are led to school by servants who have the care of them, that they might be more fully taught by Him the true way of justification and salvation, which is only by faith in Christ…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 24The law is like a child's guardian. (The Greek word is paidagōgos, meaning "tutor.") In Greco-Roman culture, a guardian was a loyal servant who trained and protected the heir until adulthood.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2424. "So that the law hath been (that is, hath turned out to be) our schoolmaster (or "tutor," literally, "pedagogue": this term, among the Greeks, meant a faithful servant entrusted with the care of the boy from childhood to puberty, to keep him from evil, physical and moral, and accompany him to his amusements and studies) to guide us unto Christ," with whom we are no longer "shut up" in bondage, but are freemen. "Children" (literally, infants) need such…Read the comment

Topics related to Galatians 3:24

• Children
• Faith
• Instruction
• Justification
• Salvation
• School
• Works

In the dictionaries

• Christ
• Christ, Messiah
• Conclude
• Curse
• Eye
• Flesh
• Foolish
• Redeem
• Schoolmaster
• Shut

Commentaries on Galatians 3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings