Galatians 3:24

So the Law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith.

This verse should be read with careful attention to Galatians 3:23, where Paul mentioned "the faith that should afterward be revealed." As Howard said, "The coming of faith (Galatians 3:23) here relates to the objective and historical coming of Christ on his redemptive mission and not to the repeated and subjective experience of believers."[25] Furthermore, what "faith" certainly means in Galatians 3:23, it means exactly the same thing in Galatians 3:24.

The Law is become our tutor ... This rendition is unfortunate, for "The Law was our schoolmaster (tutor) to bring us unto Christ" (KJV) is far better. The Law of Moses is not in this dispensation, in any sense whatever, "our tutor." Although the Greek will bear the translation "has become our tutor,"[26] it is clear from Galatians 3:25, below, that Christians are not under it.

The translators need to do a little further work on this verse, for neither "schoolmaster" nor "tutor" conveys the thought of the Greek, where the word is "pedagogue." "He was not a schoolmaster (nor a tutor), but the servant who had the care of the children to lead them to and bring them back from school, and had care of them out of school hours."[27] Thus it is clear that the character Paul used as a comparison with the Law did not teach anything.

Justified by faith ... Exactly like Paul used "faith" in the preceding verse as a reference to historical Christianity, he used it here. A better rendition of it would be "justified by the faith." As frequently in Paul's writings, "faith" is used extensively as a metaphor (synecdoche) of the religion of Christ, or the primary steps of obedience. As invariably in the New Testament, "faith" in such a context means "the obedience of faith."

[25] R. E. Howard, op. cit., p. 66.

[26] Alfred Marshall, The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament (The Nestle Greek Text) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), p. 749.

[27] Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: Carlton and Porter, 1829), Vol. VI, p. 401.