Galatians 3.24-25
“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian ...”
The law was a teacher. The word for “guardian” is a Greek word that means “tutor or schoolmaster.” The law taught the people of Israel the holiness of God; it taught standards of behavior; it taught how to worship, the need for sacrifices, and how to repent of sin. It taught the people of Israel how to be agents of the kingdom of God.
We will look at that aspect of the law more deeply in the near future.
Most importantly, the law taught the people of Israel about the coming Messiah and the presence and true nature of the kingdom of God. Luke 24:13-35 tells the powerful story of two disciples of Jesus walking along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. This takes place three days after Jesus had been crucified, on the very day the disciples had discovered that Jesus’ tomb was empty.
As they were walking the road to Emmaus, Luke says the two disciples “were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.” Then a stranger joins them and inquires, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” The two disciples were surprised that the stranger was unaware of the dramatic events that had just happened in Jerusalem, and they began to explain about the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth.
They were heartbroken because the master and friend in whom they had put all their hopes was dead. They were bitterly disappointed because “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” The disciples had hoped and expected that Jesus was the Messiah who would liberate Israel from Roman rule.
Instead of sympathizing, the stranger said to them: “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” The disciples’ real problem was not with a dead master but with themselves. They, and virtually all the Jewish people, had misunderstood the Old Testament.
So the stranger taught them. “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). The stranger, of course, was the risen Christ. We do not know the details of what Jesus taught the two disciples, but we do know the heart of his teaching: “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (Luke 24:26).
Even before Jesus was finished, and even before he revealed who he was, the disciples had a profound experience. They said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked to us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” The message of the Old Testament Scriptures became much more clear to them, and they understood the law and the prophets in a deep, powerful way.
Later on Jesus appeared to a larger group of his disciples, and he continued with the same strategy of teaching from the OT scriptures: “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:45-49)
Jesus empowered the disciples to understand not just a few passages of the Old Testament, but “the Scriptures” — meaning the OT — the law and the prophets. What do the Scriptures really say? Jesus introduces his explanation of the OT scripture with the words, “This is what is written.” That is, he promises to give them the substance and heart of what is written in the Old Testament.
Again, Jesus gives them (and us) the heart of the message of the OT: “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
The law was the schoolmaster — the teacher, tutor, and guardian — until Jesus came. The law painted a picture of the coming Messiah, and when Jesus arrived he was the fulfillment of the law and there was no longer a need for the schoolmaster.
More next week.
