Galatians 3:25

After that faith is come. Paul here speaks of the provision for salvation by faith in Christ alone.

No longer. Note the emphasis in vs. 23, 25 on the time element — “before,” “afterwards,” “after,” “no longer.”

Under a schoolmaster. That is, under the law (v. 23; cf. v. 24). Some have interpreted this phrase to mean being “under the condemnation of law.” It is true, of course, that the words themselves could be so explained; however, such an explanation does not accord with the context and is clearly not the sense Paul here intended them to convey. It is not the function of a “schoolmaster” to condemn, but to exercise jurisdiction, to guard, to protect (see on v. 24). Paul’s argument is in no wise concerned with the condemnation that results from lawlessness, but with the possibility of attaining righteousness by compliance with law (see vs. 1-3, 7, 11, 14, 21; etc.). See on Rom. 6:14.

We should remember that Paul is using a figure of speech, and that therefore his words should not be too closely pressed in every detail. There is one essential point that he is seeking to stress; namely, the unique significance of the important event that occurred “four hundred and thirty years after” (v. 17) Abraham — God’s formal announcement to Israel of His moral law and God’s giving to them, through Moses, civil statutes and a code governing their religious ceremonies. Holy men before Sinai had, in some degree, the moral law written in their hearts, and knew at least the rudiments of a ceremonial system. When God called Israel out of Egyptian bondage He gave objective reality to all these laws, that they might see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, as revealed by the Decalogue, and the means whereby God purposed to save them from sin, as disclosed by the ceremonial service (see on v. 19). The very laws, so distinctive of the Jewish economy, were a continuing exhibit of man’s lost state and of a divine plan for pardon. Those very laws hemmed men in, as it were, caused them to be “shut up” (v. 23), kept in custody, against a day of spiritual deliverance. Paul describes the children of God who lived before the advent as being, in figure, “under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father” (ch. 4:2). “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (v. 4).

And what, indeed, happened for the child of God when Christ came, as touching the matter of “the law,” which had been “our schoolmaster”? As regards the ceremonial laws, they ceased by a divine statute of limitations, for Christ’s sacrifice took the place of animal sacrifices, and thus the laws governing such sacrifices ended. As regards the civil statutes, they lost their significance for the simple reason that Israel ended as a nation, or state, and spiritual Israel took its place. As regards the moral law, the Decalogue, it no longer stands out on two tables of stone, as something apart from man. Instead, those who are “justified by faith” (v. 24) in Christ become new creatures in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17), with the law of God written in their minds and hearts (Heb. 8:10). And thus “the righteousness [or “requirements”] of the law” is “fulfilled” in them (Rom. 8:4). Rightly does Paul, employing his figure, declare that we are no longer “under a schoolmaster.” It is difficult to understand how anyone ever concluded that Paul is here announcing the abolition of the Decalogue, God’s great moral law. So long as the new hearts and minds of the children of God endure, the divine law, in living characters, is engraved upon them.