God gave the law to reveal sin and to guard his people until Jesus came, not to save them. In Galatians 3:19-4:31, Paul compares the law to a guardian who watches over a child until he comes of age. Now that Christ has come, believers are no longer kids under supervision. They are adopted sons and daughters with the Spirit in their hearts. Going back to the law would be like a grown heir begging to be treated like a slave again.
Setting the Scene in Galatians 3:19-4:31
In the previous section, Paul argued that God’s promise to Abraham came long before the law (Galatians 3:1-18). Abraham was declared righteous by faith in Genesis 15, years before circumcision in Genesis 17, and the law of Moses arrived 430 years later. A later agreement can’t cancel an earlier promise. That argument naturally raises a question, and Paul asks it himself: “Why, then, was the law given at all?” (Galatians 3:19).
It’s a fair question. The Judaizers taught that Gentile believers needed circumcision and the law of Moses to be fully accepted by God. In this long section, Paul shows that the law had a real, God-given purpose. It just wasn’t the purpose the Judaizers claimed.
Why the Law Was Added
Paul says the law was added “because of transgressions” until the promised Seed, Christ, had come (Galatians 3:19). The law exposed sin by giving it a name and a boundary. It also had an expiration date built in. Paul adds that it was given through angels and a mediator. Jewish tradition held that angels were present at Sinai (Deuteronomy 33:2; Acts 7:53; Hebrews 2:2), and the mediator was Moses. The promise, by contrast, came directly from God to Abraham.
Verse 20 is one of the most puzzling sentences Paul ever wrote. The nineteenth-century scholar J. B. Lightfoot remarked that interpretations of it were said to number in the hundreds. The main point seems clear enough, though: a mediated agreement involves two parties, but the promise rested on God alone. Paul is careful to say the law isn’t opposed to God’s promises. It simply couldn’t give life. Scripture locked everyone up under sin so that the promise could be given to those who believe (Galatians 3:21-22).
The Law as Our Guardian
Next, Paul gives one of the most memorable pictures in the letter.
Galatians 3:24-25 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
The word translated “guardian” is paidagōgos. In Greek and Roman households, a paidagōgos was usually a trusted slave who escorted a boy to school, watched his behavior, and disciplined him when needed. He wasn’t the teacher, and he wasn’t the parent. His job ended when the child grew up. The pastor’s notes picture it like a babysitter waiting for the parents to get home. Once the parents walk through the door, the sitter’s job is done. Nobody begs the sitter to stay.
The law played that role for Israel. It kept God’s people in line, showed them their sin, and pointed them toward their need for a Savior. But now that faith in Christ has come, the guardian has done its work. Paul then describes the new family God has made.
Galatians 3:26-28 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
To be “clothed” with Christ may echo the Roman custom of a young man putting on the adult toga when he came of age. Either way, the image is a change of identity. In a world deeply divided by ethnicity, social class, and gender, Paul says the ground is level at the foot of the cross. That doesn’t erase our differences, but it means none of them makes anyone more acceptable to God. Everyone who belongs to Christ is Abraham’s seed and an heir of the promise (Galatians 3:29).
From Slaves to Sons
Paul extends the illustration in chapter 4. An heir who is still a child is no different from a slave, even though he owns the whole estate. He stays under guardians and trustees until the time his father has set. In the same way, Paul says, we were enslaved under “the elemental spiritual forces of the world” (Galatians 4:3). The Greek word stoicheia can mean basic principles, like the ABCs, or the spiritual powers people believed stood behind the elements. Either way, it describes life before Christ as bondage.
Galatians 4:4-7 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
“When the set time had fully come” is a beautiful phrase. Christians have long noticed how the Roman peace, Roman roads, and a common Greek language helped the gospel spread quickly. More importantly, it was the time the Father had chosen. Jesus was born under the law so he could redeem those under the law. The word “redeem” was used for buying a slave’s freedom.
The Spirit then cries out in our hearts, “Abba, Father.” Abba is the Aramaic word for father, the word Jesus himself prayed in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36). It’s intimate and trusting, the way a child speaks to a loving dad. Paul uses the same picture in Romans.
Romans 8:15-16 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Adoption in the Roman world gave a son full legal rights as an heir. That’s the status God gives everyone who trusts in Christ. If you’ve never received that gift, you can learn more at How can I become a Christian?
Labor Pains for the Galatians
Paul then turns personal. The Galatians had come out of paganism, and now they were observing special days, months, seasons, and years in an effort to please God (Galatians 4:8-11). To Paul, trading one set of religious rules for another was just a different kind of slavery.
He reminds them of how they first met. Paul came to them because of an illness, and they welcomed him like an angel of God, even like Christ himself. They would have torn out their own eyes for him (Galatians 4:13-15). No one knows exactly what the illness was. Some connect it to his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7), and the scholar William Ramsay suggested malaria. But now the Judaizers had won the Galatians’ affection, and Paul felt like their enemy for telling the truth.
Galatians 4:19-20 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!
This is where the sermon title, “Labor Pains,” comes from. Paul had already gone through the agony of bringing these believers to birth. Now he felt like he was going through it all over again. His goal wasn’t rule-keeping. It was Christ formed in them.
Two Mothers, Two Covenants
Paul ends with one last argument from the Old Testament, and he admits he is using the story figuratively. Abraham had two sons: Ishmael, born to the slave woman Hagar, and Isaac, born to Sarah, the free woman.
Abraham and Sarah grew tired of waiting for God’s promise and tried to make it happen through Hagar (Genesis 16), so Ishmael was born the ordinary way. Isaac was born when Sarah was far past childbearing age, a miracle only God could do. Paul says these two women represent two covenants. Hagar stands for Mount Sinai and the earthly Jerusalem, which was in slavery. Sarah stands for the Jerusalem that is above, which is free. Paul even quotes Isaiah 54:1, where the barren woman ends up with more children than anyone.
The application is pointed. The Judaizers were like Abraham and Hagar, trying to work for what God had promised. That’s man-made religion, and it always leads to bondage. True believers are like Abraham and Sarah, trusting God to keep his promise. Just as Ishmael mocked Isaac (Genesis 21:9), those born by human effort tend to pressure those born by the Spirit. Paul quotes Sarah’s words: “Get rid of the slave woman and her son” (Galatians 4:30). In other words, don’t make room for the slavery of earning God’s approval. For a topical overview of this theme, see Man-made Religion vs. God-made Religion.
What This Means for Us
Most of us aren’t tempted to get circumcised or keep Jewish festivals. But we’re all tempted toward Hagar religion. We try to earn God’s love by being good enough, serving enough, or avoiding enough sin. The law still shows us God’s character and our need for grace, but it was never meant to be our ladder to God.
God didn’t save you to make you an anxious employee. He adopted you as his child. You can approach him as Abba, not because you’ve performed well this week, but because his Son redeemed you. Next, Paul will explain what that freedom looks like in everyday life (Galatians 5:1-26).
The Takeaway
Why did God give the law if we’re saved by faith? The law was a temporary guardian that revealed sin and led us to Christ. Now that he has come, we’re no longer slaves under supervision but adopted children who call God Abba. Like Sarah’s son, we live by God’s promise, not by human effort. Don’t go back to slavery.
