Our Custodian

The law was our custodian until Christ came. Galatians 3:24, RSV

"The meaning of the Greek word paidagogos that lies behind the English word custodian often loses something in translation. Greek families that were well off enough to have slaves chose one of them, usually an old and trusted slave, to be in charge of their children from the ages of six to sixteen. This custodian went with the child to school to see that no harm or mischief came to him. He was not the schoolmaster. He had nothing to do with the actual teaching of the child. It was only his duty to take him safely to the school and deliver him to the teacher. That, says Paul, is how the law works: it delivers us to the place of faith, to Christ."

Traveling Light


God's Message for Each Day by Eugene Peterson.