Explainer / Torah
Galatians 3:24–25
So that the Torah has become our guardian to bring us to Messiah, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
ὥστε ὁ νόμος παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν γέγονεν εἰς Χριστόν, ἵνα ἐκ πίστεως δικαιωθῶμεν· ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς πίστεως οὐκέτι ὑπὸ παιδαγωγόν ἐσμεν.
We rendered παιδαγωγός "guardian" where the ASV has "tutor," and kept the rest of the ASV's wording in modern English, with "Torah" for νόμος and "Messiah" for "Christ."
Why
νόμος = "Torah."
Here νόμος means the Mosaic law, and this version renders it "Torah" wherever it has that meaning.
παιδαγωγός
was a household slave who had charge of a child: he took the child to school and back, kept watch over him, and disciplined him.
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The same word appears in both verses and in 1 Cor 4:15; this version renders it "guardian" in all three. The ASV has "tutor."
The verse before
uses a related image: "before faith came, we were kept in custody (ἐφρουρούμεθα) under Torah" (3:23).
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A guardian over a child not yet of age appears again in 4:1–2.
εἰς Χριστόν
can mean "until Messiah" (time) or "to Messiah" (purpose); the preposition allows either.
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The ASV's "to bring us to" is kept.
γέγονεν
is perfect tense, "has become"; ASV "is become" is older English for the same.
"schoolmaster" (KJV); "guardian" (ESV).