Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna
Monday, June 20, 2016
Topic: The empty tomb 71
Reading: Matthew 27:57-66, 28:1-15
Scripture: He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee. (Luke 24:6)
Note: In Gal.3:24, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Paul, the writer of Galatians used a metaphor about the Jewish law, which was primarily the Mosaic law, to illustrate his choice of the word “schoolmaster.” Paul used a striking imagery of how the law was primarily given for a certain purpose as an attendant to lead us to Jesus, who is the real teacher.
The Greek word “paedagogos” used in ancient Greece, meant a trustworthy attendant for children. The “schoolmaster” in the historical context of this scripture was not the teacher, but rather the slave, who cared for his master’s sons from age 6 or 7 years until they reached puberty. The servant, usually an elderly man, would escort the child to school and care for his safety in his immaturity, making sure that he was rightly instructed, knowing that this child too was his master.
The technical duty of the attendant was to guard the children from evil, both physical and moral, rather than instruction. He went with them to and from the school and gymnasium, and was personally responsible for their safety, and protected the child from bad company. However, once the child grew up, he was no longer required to obey his servant.
Maturity and awareness bring the child from a previous position of ignorance and subservience to a new pedestal of knowledge, power and authority. The voice of his hitherto previous master is now powerless, without any binding effect on the grown child.
Food for thought: The law was never given to teach us, as it was virtually impossible to obey it to the letter. Its main purpose was rather to point us to the only teacher, Jesus, that we might be justified by faith.
Declaration: But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (Gal.3:25)
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
