By Rollin Grams, Bible and Mission.
The question asked by exegetes of Galatians 3.24-25 is whether paidagōgos carries a negative and disciplinary meaning, whether it is more neutral, or whether it is even positive? Is Paul saying that the Law was a disciplinarian, a guardian or custodian, or a tutor (or schoolmaster)? Furthermore, what are the implications of the choice in translation?
The ESV renders Galatians 3.23-26 as follows:
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
The NIV and NET Bible (2nd ed.) translators also chose ‘guardian’. Similarly, the NJB follows the notion of ‘custodian’, rendering the verses with a phrase: ‘a slave to look after us’. The NRSV, on the other hand, uses the word ‘disciplinarian’. Of theological significance for Martin Luther, the Lutheran Bible has ‘Zuchtmeister’, or ‘disciplinarian’. The role of the Law, then, is negative. On the opposite spectrum, the KJV has the positive notion of ‘schoolmaster’, and the American Standard Version has ‘tutor’.
The solution to this question does not lie in discovering some new meaning of the word paidagōgos. This common Greek word referred to a slave who had oversight of underage children. The question is, what aspect of the role for a household slave overseeing children did Paul have in mind? Was Paul emphasising how the Law was like a child-minder guarding children placed in his custody, how it disciplines the children, or how it serves as a tutor educating the children in their studies? Was Paul’s thought that the Law’s purpose was negative (disciplinarian), positive (tutor), or more general (guard, custodian)?