Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

People's New Testament

3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster. Tutor, in the Revised Version. In Roman families a trusted slave, a pedagogue, had charge of children, preserved them from harm, and took them to school. The law is such a tutor; not a schoolmaster, but a guide to lead us to the school of Christ. There we are justified by faith.

Wesley's Notes

3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ - It was designed to train us up for Christ. And this it did both by its commands, which showed the need we had of his atonement; and its ceremonies, which all pointed us to him.

Scofield Reference Notes

[2] law

I. The law of Moses, Summary:

(1) The Mosaic Covenant was given to Israel in three parts: the commandments, expressing the righteous will of God Ex 20:1-26, the "judgments," governing the social life of Israel Ex 21:1-24:11, and the "ordinances," governing the religious life of Israel Ex 24:12 31:18.

(2) The commandments and ordinances were one complete and inseparable whole. When an Israelite sinned, he was held "blameless" if he brought the required offering Lk 1:6 Phil 3:6.

(3) Law, as a method of the divine dealing with man, characterized the dispensation extending from the giving of the law to the death of Jesus Christ Gal 3:13,14,23,24.

(4) The attempt of legalistic teachers (e.g.) Acts 15:1-31 Gal 2:1-5, to mingle law with grace as the divine method for this present dispensation of grace, brought out the true relation of the law to the Christian, viz.

II. The Christian doctrine of the law:

(1) Law is in contrast with grace. Under the latter God bestows the righteousness which, under law, He demanded Ex 19:5 Jn 1:17. See Scofield Note: "Rom 3:21". Rom 10:3-10 1Cor 1:30.

(2) The law is, in itself, holy, just, good, and spiritual Rom 7:12-14.

(3) Before the law the whole world is guilty, and the law is therefore of necessity a ministry of condemnation, death, and the divine curse Rom 3:19 2Cor 3:7-9 Gal 3:10.

(4) Christ bore the curse of the law, and redeemed the believer both from the curse and from the dominion of the law Gal 3:13 4:5-7.

(5) Law neither justifies a sinner nor sanctifies a believer Gal 2:16 3:2,3,11,12.

(6) The believer is both dead to the law and redeemed from it, Song that he is "not under the law, but under grace" Rom 6:14 7:4 Gal 2:19 4:4-7 1Tim 1:8,9.

(7) Under the new covenant of grace the principle of obedience to the divine will is inwrought Heb 10:6. Song far is the life of the believer from the anarchy of self-will that he is "inlawed to Christ" 1Cor 9:21 and the new "law of Christ" Gal 6:2 2Jn 1:5 is his delight; while, through the indwelling Spirit, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in him Rom 8:2-4 Gal 5:16-18. The commandments are used in the distinctively Christian Scriptures as an instruction in righteousness 2Tim 3:16 Rom 13:8-10 Eph 6:1-3 1Cor 9:8,9.

Margin to bring us

Omit "to bring us."

Margin unto

up to, or until.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. "So that the law hath been (that is, hath turned out to be) our schoolmaster (or "tutor," literally, "pedagogue": this term, among the Greeks, meant a faithful servant entrusted with the care of the boy from childhood to puberty, to keep him from evil, physical and moral, and accompany him to his amusements and studies) to guide us unto Christ," with whom we are no longer "shut up" in bondage, but are freemen. "Children" (literally, infants) need such tutoring (Ga 4:3).

might be-rather, "that we may be justified by faith"; which we could not be till Christ, the object of faith, had come. Meanwhile the law, by outwardly checking the sinful propensity which was constantly giving fresh proof of its refractoriness-as thus the consciousness of the power of the sinful principle became more vivid, and hence the sense of need both of forgiveness of sin and freedom from its bondage was awakened-the law became a "schoolmaster to guide us unto Christ" [Neander]. The moral law shows us what we ought to do, and so we learn our inability to do it. In the ceremonial law we seek, by animal sacrifices, to answer for our not having done it, but find dead victims no satisfaction for the sins of living men, and that outward purifying will not cleanse the soul; and that therefore we need an infinitely better Sacrifice, the antitype of all the legal sacrifices. Thus delivered up to the judicial law, we see how awful is the doom we deserve: thus the law at last leads us to Christ, with whom we find righteousness and peace. "Sin, sin! is the word heard again and again in the Old Testament. Had it not there for centuries rung in the ear, and fastened on the conscience, the joyful sound, "grace for grace," would not have been the watchword of the New Testament. This was the end of the whole system of sacrifices" [Tholuck].

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:23-25 The law did not teach a living, saving knowledge; but, by its rites and ceremonies, especially by its sacrifices, it pointed to Christ, that they might be justified by faith. And thus it was, as the word properly signifies, a servant, to lead to Christ, as children are led to school by servants who have the care of them, that they might be more fully taught by Him the true way of justification and salvation, which is only by faith in Christ. And the vastly greater advantage of the gospel state is shown, under which we enjoy a clearer discovery of Divine grace and mercy than the Jews of old. Most men continue shut up as in a dark dungeon, in love with their sins, being blinded and lulled asleep by Satan, through wordly pleasures, interests, and pursuits. But the awakened sinner discovers his dreadful condition. Then he feels that the mercy and grace of God form his only hope. And the terrors of the law are often used by the convincing Spirit, to show the sinner his need of Christ, to bring him to rely on his sufferings and merits, that he may be justified by faith. Then the law, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, becomes his loved rule of duty, and his standard for daily self-examination. In this use of it he learns to depend more simply on the Saviour.