Galatians 3:24Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore the Law was our tutor in Christ, that we might be justified through faith. But when faith came, we were no longer under the tutor. For you are all children of God through the faith that is in Christ Jesus. A tutor is appointed for children to restrain the liveliness of their childish age and curb the inclination of their heart toward vices. Thus childhood, receptive to studies, is formed, and through the effect of fear of punishment is prepared for higher human wisdom and the governance of the state.

Nevertheless, the tutor is not the teacher or the father, and the one being educated expects from him neither inheritance nor knowledge. The tutor guards another's son, being destined to leave him after the lawful time has come for receiving the inheritance. The very name of tutor has this meaning in its Greek form: pedagogue is composed of words meaning to lead and children, because he guides them.

In the same way, the Law of Moses was given to a people in a childish state, as a strict tutor, to guard them and prepare them for the future faith. After this faith came, and after we believed in Christ, we are no longer under the tutor. The defender and steward have withdrawn from us. Entering the lawful age, we are now called true children of God. We have been born to Him not by the abolished Law, but by Mother Faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, if someone wishes to live under the tutor when he is already called heir, free, and son, let him know that he can no longer live according to the laws of childhood. Indeed, where can the commandment be fulfilled which says, "Three times in the year every male of yours shall appear before the face of the Lord your God" (Ex 23:17), after Jerusalem has been destroyed and even the ashes of the temple scattered? Where are sacrifices of salvation and sacrifices for sin offered? Where does the fire of whole burnt offerings burn like the stars of heaven, when the altar is utterly destroyed? What punishment can now be assigned to transgressors according to the word of Scripture, "Remove the evil one from among you" (Deut 13:5), when the Jews are in servitude and the Romans rule?

Thus it will be that they live neither under the father's authority nor under the tutor's guidance. For the Law cannot be fulfilled after the coming of faith, and faith is not preserved when guidance is sought in the Law.

"A tutor," says Blessed Jerome, "is not the teacher or the father, and the one being educated expects from him neither inheritance nor higher knowledge. The tutor guards another's son and leaves him as soon as he reaches the lawful age for receiving the inheritance. Thus the law was given through Moses to an unsettled people, like a tutor, to guard them and prepare them for the future faith. When that faith came, and we believed in Christ, we were no longer under the tutor. The overseer and steward withdrew from us, and we entered lawful age. We are called true sons of God, for Whom we are born not by the abolished law, but by mother faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Who, having reached mature age and having already become heir, free, and son, would wish to be under a tutor? And now this is impossible, since the temple has been destroyed and the sacrifices have ceased. Whoever does this is neither under the father nor under the tutor, since the law cannot be fulfilled after the coming of faith, nor can faith be maintained while the tutelage of the law is still desired."

Deepening the meaning of our sonship to God, the Apostle shows its intimacy in the words: "You have put on Christ." "This expression," according to John Chrysostom. "is strong and majestic." "If Christ is the Son of God, and you have put Him on and become like Him, then through this you have been brought into one kinship with Him and into the same form."

"Birth from God, which in essence is the same as creation, necessarily brings the one born near to God, as one created. But the one who has put on Christ, the Son of God, cannot be far from God. Becoming one with Christ, he is essentially united with God. The baptized person receives a new life. Or, what is the same thing, new life is the reception of Christ's life, the ordering of our inner constitution according to the image of Christ the Lord" (Bishop Theophan).

But if the purpose of the law is only to guide toward faith and bring us to it, then, when faith has come, the tutelage of the law must end. We should no longer be under it. The law had a temporary, passing significance. Having fulfilled its work, it must cease. Every obligation of ours toward it has ended.

Chrysostom says on these verses: "A tutor does not oppose the teacher, but helps him, restraining the pupil from every vice and preparing him with all diligence to receive the teacher's lessons. But when the pupil becomes capable of this, the tutor leaves him."