Our Special Guardian

 

Galatians 3:24 “The law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we night be justified.”

Continuing in this short topical study, the lesson points out that one of the key insights was the distinction between God’s Law and the gospel on our justification. The Law of God tells us what to do but does not give us the power to fulfill its commands. Thus, it ends up revealing our sin and our impotence in earning our way into heaven. When we read or hear the law, we see how far short we fall of God’s standards and despair of our ability to be righteous in God’s sight. Then, we read or hear the gospel message and its call to rest in Christ and receive His righteousness, which alone can avail before God’s holy judgment.

Although the Law of God does more than reveal our sin, for it also restrains sin and guides our sanctification, the law’s use in showing us our transgression is indispensable for our salvation. We cannot know that we need Christ unless we first get a glimpse of how bad off we are as sinners under the wrath of God. God’s law brings us to Christ and our guardian.

The English word “guardian” translates the Greek term “paidagogos”, and the paidagogos served as important role in ancient education. A family appointed a special guardian to supervise a child from about the age of six through the teenage years. The guardian took the child to his lessons, disciple the child when they went astray, and reviewed school lessons with the child. In similar manner, the Law of God, by teaching us our sin and warning us of judgment, is what brings us to Christ, from whom we receive the words of eternal life. Father of the Reformation Martin Luther stated that “The Law is a specialist to bring us to Christ.”

The lesson stated that the Law of God does not serve as the guardian that leads us to Christ only by revealing our sin. We also find in God’s Law types and shadows of the atonement in the sacrificial system. In such a way, the Law of God engendered hope in the old covenant saints (those sanctified Believers) for a mediator who would deal with sin once for all. Though its moral statues, its sacrifices, and its ceremonial regulations, the law points to the Messiah Jesus, the Christ, as the only Savior of the world.

The Law of God is our special guardian before conversion. Yet even after we come to Christ, God’s Law still brings us back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We see how far short of God’s standards we continue to fall, and we become ever more convinced that Christ alone can rescue us from sin. The Law of God points us to Him.

Blessed in Christ.