ガラテヤの信徒への手紙3:23-25 Galatians 3:23-25,

こうして律法は、わたしたちをキリストのもとへ導く養育係となったのです。わたしたちが信仰によって義とされるためです。（ガラテヤ3:24）

「養育係」とは、古代のギリシアやローマのいわゆる上流階級の家庭で、子どもの世話やしつけをまかされた奴隷のことです。子どもを教育する「先生」は別にいました。古代ギリシアの哲学者のプラトンは、『対話篇』という著作の中で、奴隷である「養育係」が子どもを「先生」のところに連れて行くことを書いているそうです。そして、「養育係」は子どもの発達段階の早い時期に、子どもの安全を守り、良いマナーを教え、悪いふるまいを正し、無作法をしないようにしつけるために仕えていました。それと同じように、律法は人類の歴史の早い時期に、人々に罪の自覚を与えて、人々をキリストへの信仰へと導く「養育係」の役割を果たした、とパウロは述べているのです。つまり、律法は「〜せよ」「〜してはならない」と教えることによって、人々に自分が間違ったことをしているということを自覚させて、行いによってではなく信仰によって義として祝福していただくために、人々をキリストを信じようと決心することへと導くということです。

パウロがこの「養育係」のたとえを用いることによって言おうとしている主なことは、律法は人を呪いの中に閉じ込めて罪の自覚を与えるという働きです。しかし、それとは別な意味で、律法には人をキリストへと導く働きもありました。それは、儀式的な律法がキリストの十字架の意味をあらかじめ示していたということです。たとえば、旧約聖書のレビ記には、イスラエルの人々が罪の贖いや賠償のために神様にささげるべきさまざまないけにえが定められています。また、祭司や大祭司がそれらのいけにえをどのようにささげるべきかを定めています。これらの規定は、神様の律法に違反したイスラエルの人々が、罪の赦しと清めを受けて神様と和解するための儀式を定めたものでした。そして、これらの儀式的な律法は、キリストが十字架の上で死んで人類の罪を償ってくださるという贖罪の意味を、あらかじめ儀式によって象徴的に示したものでした。宗教改革者のカルヴァンは、旧約聖書の時代のイスラエルの人々は「幼児のようなものであった」と述べて、儀式的な律法が「彼らの手をとってキリストに導いた」と記しています（『キリスト教綱要』2篇7章2）。

（11月5日の説教より）

Dr. OOHINATA Masami, the president of Keisen Jogakuin University and an expert in developmental psychology, is a person who has done a lot of works in society, including serving on government committees and chairing a non-profit organisation that supports child rearing. And on the website of NHK’s “Sukusuku Kosodate” programme, Dr. OOHINATA gives easy-to-understand advice to parents who have parenting problems. For example, a mother of three children –– a three-year-old boy, a one-year-old boy and a girl ––was worried that being too strict would have a negative impact on the parent-child relationship. Dr. OOHINATA responded to her as follows.

According to Piaget, a developmental psychologist who studied the development of rules and moral judgement, “adults try to teach right and wrong, but what children really need to learn is to think independently and to develop respect for others based on their own relationship with others.

At the age of two or three, there are times when you have to tell them, “No, you can’t do that.” But when they are four or five years old, let them make lots of mistakes and think together about “why?” and “what will your friends think?” before telling them whether it is good or bad. By continuing such interactions, when they reach the fifth or sixth year of primary school, they will be able to think from the other person’s point of view and discipline themselves. This will be the real purpose of keeping rules. If they don’t think about right and wrong yourself, they will become an authoritarian person who does what the big people and elders tell them to do. We do not want to raise such people, do we? If we want to nurture a mind that can respect others above all else, then before we say, “No to this,” we should sometimes ask, “Why?” “What do you think?” It is also important to give the ball back to them.

 

This answer well teaches us the importance of devising and changing the way we educate our children according to their stage of development. And there seems to be a teaching that goes hand in hand with the theme of “the guardian leading to Christ” in today’s biblical passages. In other words, when they are at a certain age, you have to tell them, “You can’t do that,” but when they are a little older, you can let them make a lot of mistakes and try to think about why together.

The verse 23 of today’s passages says, “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.” What does this mean exactly? The law was given by God through Moses after the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt. This law consisted of the ethical law, which taught the basic principles of how to live, such as the Ten Commandments; the ceremonial law, which taught about animal sacrifice, circumcision rituals, food, etc.; and the judicial law, that correspond to today’s criminal and civil law. “We were held captive under the law, imprisoned” means that it was decreed that if these provisions of the law were not observed, they would be cursed.

In verse 10, shortly before today’s passage, Paul says: “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’” Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27:26 when he says, “It is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’” Deuteronomy 27:15-26 is where the Israelites are told of specific laws to keep in mind, in the phrase “Cursed be anyone who ~.” In its conclusion, Deuteronomy 27:26 says: “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” This means that if you want to be counted as righteous and blessed by God by keeping the provisions of the Old Testament law, you must keep all the provisions. The teaching of Deuteronomy 27:26 is that if you do not keep even one of them, you will be cursed.

And on the basis of that teaching, Paul says in 5:3 of this letter, “I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.” “The whole law” includes, of course, the ethical law such as the Ten Commandments. And as Jesus Christ said, it is not enough to keep the Ten Commandments only superficially, but one must also keep them in one’s heart. For example, in Matthew 5:21 and 22, Christ says: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” In other words, even if you don’t actually murder someone, if you are angry in your heart, you have violated the teaching “You shall not murder” and you will receive God’s judgement. What a harsh teaching! According to the standard of this teaching, everyone is breaking the commandment “You shall not murder.” Since they have broken the commandment, it is impossible for them to be counted as righteous by the law. Rather, you will be cursed for not keeping the law.

The Israelites in Old Testament times continued to violate God’s law, both during their journey from Egypt to the promised land and after settling in Canaan, the promised land. As a result, the Kingdom of Israel was divided into two kingdoms, north and south, with the northern kingdom falling in 722 BC and the southern kingdom in 587 BC. Although the Israelites had been rescued from slavery in Egypt and had been taught by the law how they were to live a life of thanksgiving to God, they failed to keep the law’s instructions. And because of this, they were judged by God and the nation was destroyed. In other words, they were under the curse of the law.

In verse 22, just before today’s passages, Paul says: “But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” “But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin” means that, according to the Old Testament law, all men and women are sinners and therefore must be cursed and perish. This is illustrated by the teaching in Deuteronomy 27:26, which Paul quoted a little earlier in verse 10: “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Paul also teaches in Romans 3:20: “through the law comes knowledge of sin.” In other words, the Old Testament law, which tells us “to do” and “not to do,” gives people knowledge of sin for failing to keep it, but does not save them from sin. However, it is very important to give people knowledge of their sins. This is because without knowledge of sin, people will not know that they are doing wrong. In other words, because he knows that he is doing wrong, he decides to believe in Christ in order to be counted as righteous and be blessed by faith and not by works.

Therefore, “the faith” in verse 23 of today’s passages, i.e., “before faith came” or “until the coming faith would be revealed” is the faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to this earth, died on the cross, was raised and ascended to heaven. Then he sent the Holy Spirit from heaven, and people who had the faith in Jesus Christ appeared on this earth. Before such “faith came,” all people were under the watchful eye of the law and imprisoned under the curse. So Paul says in verse 24: “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.” A “guardian” was a slave in a so-called upper-class family in ancient Greece or Rome who was entrusted with the care and discipline of the children. There was a separate “teacher” to educate the children. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, in his work Lysis i.e., Dialogue, wrote that the slave “guardian” would take the child to the “teacher.” The “guardian” then served the children early in their developmental stages to keep them safe, teach them good manners, correct bad behaviour and discipline them against misbehaviour. In the same way, Paul states that the law served as a “guardian” early in human history, bringing people to an awareness of sin and leading them to the faith in Christ. In other words, the law, by teaching “to do” and “to do not” makes people aware of their wrongdoing and leads them to make a decision to believe in Christ in order to be counted as righteous and be blessed by faith and not by works.

The main thing Paul is trying to say by using this parable of the “guardian” is that, as we have said, the law imprisoned people under the curse and making them aware of their sin. But in another sense, the law also had the function of leading men to Christ. That is, the ceremonial law showed in advance the meaning of the cross of Christ. For example, Leviticus in the Old Testament sets out the various sacrifices that the Israelites were to offer to God for atonement or reparation for their sins. It also stipulates how the priests and high priests should offer those sacrifices. These regulations set out the rituals by which the people of Israel, who had transgressed God’s law, were to be reconciled to God through the forgiveness and cleansing of their sins. And these ceremonial statutes symbolically demonstrated in advance, by means of rituals, the meaning of the atonement, that Christ would die on the cross to atone for the sins of mankind. The religious reformer Calvin, stating that the Israelites in Old Testament times were “like children,” wrote that “they were led to Christ by the ceremonial law” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 2, Chapter 7, 2). And in the Letter to Hebrews 10:11-12, the connection between the biblical sacrificial provision and the cross of Christ is taught as follows.

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

“Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” means that the priests offered animal sacrifices according to the Old Testament ceremonial law. And “a single sacrifice for sins,” needless to say, is the sacrifice of the cross of Christ. Unlike the sacrifices of the ceremonial law, which only had a symbolic meaning and could not really take away sins, the cross of Christ was the perfect sacrifice that atoned for and cleansed people of their sins. Thus, the ceremonial law, although imperfect, could be said to have been a “guardian” who educated people by showing them in advance the meaning of the cross of Christ as atonement.

In verse 25 of today’s passages, Paul writes: “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” “Faith has come” means that faith in Jesus Christ has shown that even those who cannot keep the law can be justified and blessed. More specifically, Jesus Christ came to this earth, died on the cross, was raised, ascended to heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit from heaven. And people who had faith in Jesus Christ appeared on this earth. In other words, in the history of human salvation, the era in which people were made aware of their sins by the law, which taught them “to do” and “not to do,” has come to an end, and the era in which people are justified and blessed by faith in Jesus Christ has begun.

However, the beginning of a new age of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ does not mean that the use of the law has ended. One use is making those who are born and live in this world repeatedly aware of their sins. And another use is showing those who are saved by faith the way to a life of thanksgiving lived under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. These meanings continue even today. However, the law is no longer the final arbiter of man’s relationship with God. With the beginning of a new era of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, the relationship between God and man depends on believing in Christ and living in forgiveness of sins and repentance. In the analogy of parental discipline that I mentioned at the beginning of today’s sermon, we can say that God’s education of mankind has progressed from the stage where he tells us, “No, you can’t do that” to the stage where he forgives us for our many mistakes and asks us to think together about “why.”

In this way, we can see that it is important for a Christian who have been saved by Christ to live a life in which they are constantly thinking about their life and their walk in this world together with God. In other words, it is a life of prayer in which we continually confess our sins before God, receive forgiveness for them, repent and walk under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In 5:16 of this letter, Paul says: “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” “Walking by the Spirit,” means of course, walking by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Are you repenting daily and walking according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit? We have been set free from the curse of the law so that we can receive the Holy Spirit and walk as children of God. Therefore, in our daily lives, let us walk as children of God, always conversing with God and thinking carefully about what is pleasing to him.