Galatians 3:25

) that after faith has come, and the gospel dispensation has taken place, under which Christ, and the way of pardon and life through faith in him, are set in the clearest light, we are no longer under a schoolmaster --we have no such need of the law to direct us to him as there was then.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

But after that faith is come,....

But after that faith is come - The scheme of salvation by faith. After that is revealed; see the note at Gal 3:23. We are no longer under a schoolmaster - Under the poedagogus, or pedagogue. We are not kept in restraint, and under bondage, and led along to another to receive instruction. We are directly under the great Teacher, the Instructor himself; and have a kind of freedom which we were not allowed before.

NEITHER the Jewish Law of Ten Commandments, nor its Law of ceremonies were ever intended to save anybody. It was not the intent of the ceremonial Law, in itself to effect the redemption of the soul—by a set of pictures it set forth the way of salvation—but it was not, itself, the way. It was a map, not a country. It was a model of the road, not the road itself. The blood of bulls and goats, nor the ashes of a heifer could take away sin!

"But now that faith is come," &c. Moses the lawgiver cannot bring us into the heavenly Canaan though he can bring us to the border of it. At that point he is superseded by Joshua, the type of Jesus, who leads the true Israel into their inheritance.

NEITHER the Jewish Law of Ten Commandments, nor its Law of ceremonies were ever intended to save anybody. It was not the intent of the ceremonial Law, in itself to effect the redemption of the soul—by a set of pictures it set forth the way of salvation—but it was not, itself, the way. It was a map, not a country. It was a model of the road, not the road itself. The blood of bulls and goats, nor the ashes of a heifer could take away sin! These sacrifices and offerings were but types of the great Sacrifice which, in due time, was presented by the true Priest. There was no inherent virtue in the victims that were slain, or in the services that were observed by the worshippers! Those sacred rites were intended to portray to the minds of the people the real Sacrifice, which was, in the fullness of time, to be offered by our Lord Jesus Christ—but they could do nothing more. The king's portrait is not himself, the king! The engraving of a banquet is not the feast, itself, and so the grand old ceremonial Law was but a shadow of good things to come. It did not contain the substance of spiritual blessings. Neither was the moral Law of the Ten Commandments proclaimed on Mount Sinai ever given with the view of sinners being saved by it. When that Law was announced by God, He knew that everyone to whom He gave that Law had already broken it and that, consequently, they could not keep its precepts or claim justification by their conformity to its requirements. He never intended it to be a way of salvation! Hundreds of years before He had revealed His Covenant of Grace and the way of faith to His servant, Abraham, and the Law was not meant to disannul the ancient promise. To look at the Law as a Savior is to place Sinai in the place of Zion and so to misuse and abuse the Law. It was sent with quite a different purpose, as we shall presently try to show you.

But, after that faith is come - When Christ was manifested in the flesh, and the Gospel was preached, we were no longer under the pedagogue; we came to Christ, learned of him, became wise unto salvation, had our fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life. It is worthy of remark that, as ὁ νομος, the Law, is used by St. Paul to signify, not only the law, properly so called, but the whole of the Mosaic economy, so ἡ πιστις, the Faith, is used by him to express, not merely the act of believing in Christ, but the whole of the Gospel.