Paul asserts that the Law has now served its intended function and is no longer in charge, because the time for faith is here. Faith (literally “the faith”) should again be understood as “faith in Jesus Christ,” and as almost always in Paul’s writings, it contains an element of trust and dependence. The phrase the time for faith must be understood in this context as a period of time, not merely an occasion, and therefore it may be necessary in some languages to translate the first part of this verse as “but since it is now the period of time when people should believe in Christ,” or “but since now we are able to trust in Christ.”

The final clause, the Law is no longer in charge of us, should be translated in such a way as to reflect what has been said positively at the beginning of verse 24.

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 .