Paul introduces another metaphor in verse 24, but his use of the connective and so (New English Bible “thus”) indicates that he apparently wants it connected with the metaphor of the jailer in the previous verse. The Law, he says, was our “pedagogue.” The difficulty of translating this term is shown by the various ways of rendering it (Good News Translation in charge of us; Revised Standard Version “our custodian”; Phillips “like a strict governess”; Jerusalem Bible “our guardian”; New American Bible “our monitor”; Knox “our tutor”; New English Bible “a kind of tutor in charge of us”). In Paul’s time the “pedagogue” was a slave employed in Greek and Roman families whose job was to supervise a minor child (ages six through sixteen) both within and outside the home. Although the Greek word may suggest instruction, his main duty was not teaching (and therefore to translate it “tutor” as Knox and New English Bible do would be misleading), but rather enforcement of discipline and moral supervision of conduct. As a strict enforcer of rules and regulations and a watchful supervisor, the pedagogue would be an appropriate symbol of the Law and logically connected to the jailer of verse 23 in terms of function, namely, strict supervision.

Personification of the Law is not possible in some languages except as the Law may be likened to a person, for example, “The Law was like a person who made us behave until the time Christ came,” or “… tried to make us do what was right…,” or “… tried to keep us from doing bad….” If, however, one translates in charge of us as “keeping us from doing what is bad,” it may be necessary to alter the order of the clause until Christ came, since the latter clause might then be too closely connected with “doing bad.” One may alter the first part of this verse to read “So, until the time that Christ came, the Law was like a person who was making us behave.”

The Law, then, was in charge of us until Christ came (literally, “into Christ”). Some understand this to be purposive, that is, that the Law functioned as a pedagogue in order to lead us to Christ (for example, Knox “so the law was our tutor, bringing us to Christ”). Others, however, understand the expression simply as temporal, that is, as a designation of time (Good News Translation, Phillips, Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, and many others).

The last clause in this verse, in order that we might then be put right with God through faith, is connected by some with until Christ came (New American Bible “until Christ came to bring about our justification through faith”). Most commentators, however, prefer to relate the purpose to the Law was in charge of us, that is, that the purpose of the Law being a “pedagogue” is that through faith we might be put in a right relationship with God. This purpose may be most conveniently rendered in some languages as a separate sentence introduced by a partial repetition of the preceding statement, for example, “The Law did this so that we would be put right with God through our believing,” or “… by means of our believing in Christ.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .