Just what does this mean "No Longer Under a Schoolmaster"?

Galatians 3:24-25 "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."

The phrase has come up many times in discussions and I think is misunderstood.

For those of you who have a degree this might makes some sense. Let's say that you received a degree in accounting and are now working as an accountant. When you graduated did you burn your degree, throw away all your books and try to forget all that you learned? Or rather once you were no longer under the schoolmaster who taught you accounting did you remember and use all that you learned?

Paul in Galatians is reminding us that we are no longer under the schoolmaster. That implies that we know what the schoolmaster taught well enough that we remember and use what we were supposed to have been taught.

However very few have ever learned what the schoolmaster is teaching. What is the schoolmaster?

"So the law has been our tutor for Christ, in order that from faith we would be deemed righteous." Galatians 3:24 (CNT)

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them" Hebrews 10:16

Under the new covenant God's law has been internalized. It's not just on stone now. It is written in your heart. However do we know the details, the statutes? If we actually spent time under the schoolmaster to learn then we would know. Very few know. I know this is the case as I have yet to find a congregation of the Lord's church who teaches the correct meaning of adultery for example. The scripture makes it very plain and simple what adultery means and includes, but too many rely on the dictionary meaning and not scripture. This goes for all of God's unchanging moral law. Do you really love God?

1 John 5:2 "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments."

Now we have all been taught that God's law was done away, but just what was really "done away"?

Do you remember what the scripture says about the law that was added 430 years after the promises? (Galatians 3:19) Just what was it that was added and just what was in existence before the added part? Hebrews explains it all.

God's moral law, found in the ten commandments and the statutes that explain them, have always existed and always will exist. God can not change his morals. What was added was added because of transgression. The Levitical priesthood was added and now Christ is our high priest and we are a priesthood of believers. The sacrifices are no longer required as the blood of Christ is our sacrifice once and for all time taking away sins.

You know that the law of God is not just commandments. The law includes statutes to explain them and judgements to enforce them. Death awaits all who have not been washed to walk in newness of life. The penalty of the law that we no longer face is death. That is why the power of the commandment (it's penalty) is no longer counted against us. Remember that is what is meant when you read scripture such as:

Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace."

Grace does not remove law. Grace removes punishment. We are now saved from the penalty of the law if we remember what the schoolmaster (the law) taught us to obey.

John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

Tim

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