How lovely God is Pt 20: The child of God

Galatians 3:23-29                  23Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.  24So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.  25Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.  26So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  28There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Context

We post-Cross believers understand that things changed when Christ came.  It was the manifestation of God’s plan for restoration of His people and we understand that Christ’s sacrifice opened the door of eternity for His children and for everyone who had accepted Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior.  But other things changed also and some of them were not so obvious.

One of those secondary changes was the role the Law played in the life of the believer and how the Law interacted with the presence of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer.  Also, there were some false teachers in Galatia who were arguing that adherence to Christ as Savior was not enough and that continuation of obedience to the Law was a necessary requirement.  Paul writes Galatians 3:23–29 to cut through that confusion.  He explains what life was like before faith came, what the Law actually did, and what has decisively changed now that Christ has come.

Held in custody

The phrase held in custody evokes imprisonment, confinement, or protective detention.  Paul is not suggesting the Law was evil or malicious, but he is honest about its effect.  Life under the Law was life under restraint.  The Law functioned like a locked gate—keeping Israel contained within boundaries they could not escape.

This custody had a purpose.  The Law restrained sin by naming it and limiting its spread (cf. Rom 3:20).  It marked out God’s people distinctly from the nations and preserved them until the promised Messiah arrived.  But custody also implies lack of freedom.  Those under the Law were not free to define righteousness on their own terms, nor were they free from the constant awareness of failure.  We must understand that the Law came to separate God’s people from the pagan idol worshipers.  Some of the pagans even engaged in child sacrifice.  God was showing His people His Godly ways, His precepts.  So naturally restrictions were imposed.

Paul elsewhere describes the Law as exposing sin rather than curing it:

“I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.” (Romans 7:7)

Being held under the Law meant constantly confronting one’s inability to meet God’s perfect standard.  Sacrifices had to be repeated.  Guilt was never fully erased.  The conscience was reminded again and again that something more was needed (Heb 10:1–4).

Importantly, Paul speaks in the first person plural—we were held.  This is shared human experience, not merely a Jewish problem.  Humanity under the Law, whether consciously or implicitly, lives under the weight of performance and judgment.  The custody of the Law exposes our need for rescue rather than providing the rescue itself.

The Law was our guardian

Paul uses the metaphor of guardian to describe the relationship between the Law and God’s people.  In wealthy Jewish households there was a specific servant whose job it was to supervise the growth of the patriarch’s sons.  The word guardian refers to a household servant assigned to supervise a child—escorting them to school, enforcing discipline, and correcting behavior.  This guardian was not the parent, nor was the role permanent.  The guardian’s authority lasted only until the child reached maturity.

This metaphor is crucial.  The Law was never meant to replace God’s promise to Abraham (Gal 3:17).  Nor was it meant to be the final word.  It served a temporary, preparatory role.  The Law disciplined, corrected, and guided God’s people toward Christ, but it could not give life (Gal 3:21).  A guardian restrains immaturity.  Rules are necessary when wisdom is lacking.  Many of us have had children who chafed under our parental guidance because they thought they knew better.  The Law exercised that role for the people of Israel.  But when maturity arrives, continued guardianship becomes inappropriate.  Paul’s point is bold: to insist on living under the Law after Christ has come is like demanding that an adult remain under a child’s supervisor.

Jesus Himself hinted at this transition when He said:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matt 5:17)

Fulfillment does not mean destruction; it means completion.  The Law did its job by pointing beyond itself.  To cling to it as the basis of righteousness is to misunderstand its purpose entirely.

But now we are justified

The phrase but now signals a dramatic shift.  Custody has ended.  Guardianship has concluded.  A new status has been granted.  Believers are no longer defined by what restrains them but by who belongs to them.

Justification—being declared righteous before God—comes through faith, not through Law-keeping.  This faith is not mere intellectual agreement; it is relational trust in Christ.  Through faith, believers are adopted into God’s family.  Paul echoes this truth elsewhere:

“The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” (Romans 8:15)

Children relate to God differently than servants or prisoners.  Fear gives way to intimacy.  Performance gives way to belonging.  The believer does not strive for acceptance but lives from acceptance.

Baptism, mentioned here, outwardly marks this inward reality.  It symbolizes union with Christ—His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3–4).  To be baptized into Christ is to be transferred into a new realm of existence, where faith, not Law, defines one’s standing before God.

We have been clothed with Christ

Paul concludes with one of the richest images in the New Testament:

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28–29)

To be clothed with Christ means more than moral imitation.   in the ancient world signified identity, status, and belonging.  To put on Christ is to take on His righteousness, His standing, and His inheritance.  This echoes earlier biblical imagery.  Adam and Eve were clothed by God after the fall (Genesis 3:21), and Isaiah celebrates salvation as being wrapped in righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).  Paul develops this theme elsewhere:

“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 13:14)

Being clothed with Christ levels all human distinctions as grounds for status before God.  Ethnicity, social rank, and gender do not disappear, but they no longer determine access to God or inheritance of the promise.  Unity does not erase diversity; it redeems it.  Belonging to Christ also means belonging to Abraham’s promise.  The inheritance promised long before the Law now comes fully to those who live by faith (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:8).  Children of God are heirs—not by effort, but by grace.

What about me?

Believer, there is a difference between following rules and regulations because you are required to and following those same rules because you want to.  That transition is the same one a person undergoes when he or she transitions from adolescence to adulthood.  An adult follows a life path of his or her own choosing, not one set before them by their parents.  Galatians 3:23–29 traces a journey from restriction to freedom, from supervision to sonship, from Law to Christ.  Paul wants believers to stop living as though they are still under custody when they have already been welcomed home.

To be a child of God is to live clothed in Christ, justified by faith, and secure in promise.  The Law has done its work; Christ has done His.  The invitation now is not to strive harder but to live more deeply into the identity already given.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1)

From the point of salvation on, a person has a series of choices to make.  Will I live like an adolescent or like an adult?  Will I let the Holy Spirit guide and shape my life?  Will I live my life in a way that pleases Jesus?  These are all questions that have to be answered.