THE SPIRIT NOT THE LAW DRIVES US TO CHRIST

“Why then the Law?” Paul asks in Galatians 3:19.  His long answer in verses 20-25 surprises us.  We are used to hearing about the law as that which drives us to Christ that we automatically assume that is what Paul is saying in these verses. So many interpret this section as saying the law drives sinners to Christ because that is what the ancient Greek pedagogue did with young Greek men before they inherited their father’s estate. But Paul is not saying this. The idea of driving someone to Christ by the law is not the theme of this epistle. Paul is not saying the law has a use in the process of salvation, but that the law is antithetical to the scheme of salvation. Nor is the above assumption a fair description of what a pedagogue did in Ancient Greece. This important person in a household of Greek nobility was a paid protector of a minor male heir in the family until he was old enough to run the family estate. The aim of the pedagogue was to keep the young man safe from harm until he reached that age of majority. Pedagogues were there to protect the family heir which would ensure the smooth transfer of a nobleman’s assets. Once the heir reached a certain age set by the father the pedagogue was no longer needed (Gal 4:2). To be sure, the pedagogue’s job description also included teaching. Such would have been Aristotle’s function with young Alexander. In our English language the word pedagogue is synonymous with teaching. But he was not there with whip in hand to beat the young heir into submission with a strict code of discipline. Many have imposed that meaning onto the word in Galatians chapter 3 because they believe driving people to Christ is a function of the Law. But is that a function of the Law? In Romans 7 Paul points out that the law awakened his slumbering conscience and showed him his sin of covetousness. But it didn’t in any way show Him the answer of Christ.  The law left him hopeless and dry.  That is always what the law does.  It can do none other. So we ask, where in the bible does it ever say that the Law drives anyone us to Christ?  The Galatian’s passage at hand is the only text that can be used to support that idea, and this article aims to show that that text has nothing to do with driving anyone anywhere. On the contrary the only One who can drive a sinner to Christ is the Spirit Himself, a theme that Paul has already reviewed in the opening verses of the chapter. All hinges on the doctrine of effectual call.  Men come into the world dead in trespasses and sins.  As dead spiritual corpses they have no capacity to move toward God except by the mighty influence of God’s grace mediated by the Spirit through the gospel.  If that is true, then the law, which is purely a natural phenomenon has no more power to drive a sinner to Christ than a guilty conscience. Indeed, the law can dismantle the sinner’s self-confidence, but it can’t actually show the sinner the sufficiency of Christ crucified.  That is the work of grace alone by the Spirit. Let’s be clear; any movement from nature to grace, from condemnation to life, from darkness to light, from bondage to freedom, is alone the work of the Holy Spirit. This was Jesus’ clear teaching to Nicodemus in John chapter three.

So what does Galatians 3:24 mean, ‘the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith?’  A fair and honest exegesis of the passage will yield Paul’s meaning. The first thing to note here is that Paul’s point in Galatians chapter 3 is to show that the law, which came 430 years after the promise to Abraham, did not eclipse or change the promise. As he so often does, to prove his argument Paul resorts to biblical history. He will make his point by looking at the sequence of events from the time of Abraham to Moses and beyond. In addition he will also appeal to human custom with respect to changing the terms of a promise. His overall point in verse 15 is that legal agreements do not abrogate former promises. No less with God. Way back in Genesis 15 God made a promise, through Abraham, to a ‘Seed’. Paul makes the startling point that this ‘Seed’ is one person, even the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  In other words – and this must be understood –the promise was only fulfilled when the One to whom it was made, Jesus Christ, received it.  

‘Okay Paul’, an objector might say, ‘if the law did not introduce a new scheme of salvation then why did God give it?’  To answer, Paul continues with his redemptive historical argument.  May the reader be aware that Paul is using literary freedom to compare how the law was used in the nation of Israel to illustrate how the law is used in a gospel setting. As to Israel of old Paul says the law was given ‘because of transgressions’ (vs 19b).  Whose transgressions? In the context it’s Israel’s transgressions. God knew that the nation He saved out of Egypt would continually fall into sin and rebellion, including idolatry. In order to curb sin, God brought them to Sinai and established a constitution, a body of laws that in which both God and Israel must keep their part. Paul is arguing that the function of the Mosaic Law was to curb Israel’s idolatry so that the promise He made to Abraham to the Messiah could be fulfilled. Paul describes the law as that which guarded Israel from falling into apostasy and losing their messianic identity. He says this clearly in verse 23, but before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law.’  What does he mean before ‘faith’ came?  Instead of using the name Jesus, Paul uses the word faith.  This is a figure of speech called metonymy where a concept is explained by a word closely associated with that concept. Since ‘faith’ has been used in this epistle as the means of salvation, Paul will use that word to describe the Messiah.  He could have as easily said, ‘before Jesus came, we were under guard by the law.’ Paul transfers that function of the law to the Galatians saying that before they were saved it kept them under guard. The word is phroureō (φρουρέω), a word used for someone who guards a city or a prison (see 2 Cor 11:32). And this is precisely the function of the pedagogue in ancient Greece and exactly the use of the law in the scheme of salvation prior to conversion. This is why in 1 Timothy 1:8-10 Paul encourages young Timothy to use the law on unbelievers for it keeps them in a relative state of moral order.  He says, ‘but we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.’  The law keeps ungodly people in check so that they don’t destroy themselves. For those who trust in Christ, the heavy-handed law is not needed for they have the law written on their hearts. Whether with unbelieving Israel in the Old Testament or unbelievers in the gospel age, the law keeps God’s people in an orderly existence until the Messiah comes. This supports the entire book of Galatians which condemns using the law as a means to reconciliation to God. Reconciliation comes through the work of the Spirit and when that comes then the law falls away like molting skin. Paul concludes this important section; ‘but after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor’ (vs 25).  

Why then is this correct understanding of the use of the law needed in our day? First it exposes any system that desires to use the law as a means of reconciliation to God as antithetical to the gospel message. In Paul’s mind this is perilous belief. Second, it gives New Covenant believers a newfound liberty because it frees the believer from living under the canopy of forced obedience. When believers understand the great freedom they have in Christ under grace, they can now freely love and serve their neighbor. This was the freedom a medieval monk learned who once flagellated himself in a cold cell before he met Christ. Knowing the law cannot help us to know God nor can it condemn us when we know God. This is the best news we could ever hear and it comes to us like a cold glass of water from a far country.