2. The Law as Taskmaster.
Georg Bertram, “Παιδεύω, Παιδεία, Παιδευτής, Ἀπαίδευτος, Παιδαγωγός,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 620.
Jesus rejected the claim of the Jew to be a teacher of the Law and an educator for the world (Mt. 23:15), and Paul followed Him in this, quoting Is. 52:5;Eze 36:20 (Rom. 2:24).149 For Paul the Law itself had lost its comprehensive and unconditional significance. It had come between (Rom. 5:20; Gal. 3:19), and thus had limited validity up to Christ (Gal. 3:24). From the standpoint of salvation history, the age of the Law ended with Christ.150 The historical significance of the Law lies in the fact that it was a pedagogue. Materially it is of less significance what particular nuance the idea of παιδεία through the Law has in the relevant passage. There is certainly nothing derogatory in the term pedagogue. Paul might equally well have used νόμος παιδευτής or διδάσκαλος151 or ὑφηγητής (cf. Philo Spec. Leg., III, 182) or ἐπίτροπος which occurs with παιδαγωγός and διδάσκαλος in Philo Leg. Gaj., 27 with reference to the νήπιος-heir, or finally even παιδεία νόμου. Education through the Law ends with man’s coming of age. Up to this time the minor needs pedagogues, teachers and supervisors. Though a son of the house, he is no different from the slaves. Indeed, he is under them, for the pedagogues, teachers and supervisors, including the stewards mentioned in Gl. 4:2, were normally domestic slaves. The supervision, confinement and servitude (Gal. 3:22, 23; 4:3) imply that those dominated by sin, the Law and the rudiments of the world are still children.152 Only faith alters this situation. God makes us adults, causes us to come of age (πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου might mean this for mankind), by sending His Son. Sonship as immediacy to the Father is rather different from dependence on even the best pedagogue. That the pedagogue is inferior to the father is the decisive thing, not his special quality. In the world around the NT the unpleasant reality of a pedagogue who might only do harm was accompanied by the ideal picture of the teacher of youth.153 When Paul speaks of the pedagogue, he is not referring to the nature of the pedagogue,154 but to being shut up under sin and the Law, to the bondage of man to the Law and the elements. Though Paul associates the Law with sin and the rudiments, and though he limits the Law by Christ, he is not against the Law. In his discussions of congregational questions he constantly appeals to it.155 In Marcion’s Gl. text156 3:15–25 is omitted, so that κατάρα τοῦ νόμου and στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου are almost directly associated. The saying that the Law is a taskmaster, which softens and even overrides this purely negative attitude to the Law, is left out by Marcion. But Paul, and with him and after him the Church, adopt the concept of education157 as a means of interpreting the OT in the light of Christ. They thus use it continally for all its relativity and incipient riskiness.
149 Str.-B., III, 118; Rosen-Bertram, op. cit., 62–68, 132 f.
150 Cf. Jentsch, 175, 179.
151 Acc. to Chrysostom (Cramer Cat. on Gl. 3:24) pedagogues and teachers are not rivals, but work together; cf. 4 Macc. 5:34 and on this → 612, 12 ff.
Philo Philo, of Alexandria (c. 20 B.C.–50 A.D.), ed. L. Cohn and P. Wendland.
Spec. Leg. De Specialibus Legibus.
Philo Philo, of Alexandria (c. 20 B.C.–50 A.D.), ed. L. Cohn and P. Wendland.
Leg. Gaj. Legatio ad Gajum.
152 In this case “up to Christ” is an indication of time; otherwise “with a view to Christ” denotes the goal.
NT New Testament.
153 → 599, 15 ff. and n. 21, 22, 139, 154.
154 Oe. Gl. on Gal 3:24 gives conflicting testimonies about the pedagogue of antiquity. Jentsch, 174–179 inclines to a negative estimation of the pedagogue of Gal. 3:24.
155 → νόμος IV, 1077, 15 f.
156 A. v. Harnack, Marcion (1921), Beilage III, 70 f.
157 Cordier, 115–370. German Idealism esp. developed a philosophy of history out of the concept of education. Thus G. E. Lessing in his Education of the Human Race (1780) coins the statement: “What education is to the individual man, revelation is to the whole human race. Education is revelation coming to the individual man; and revelation is education which has come, and is still coming, to the human race” (§ § 1 and 2, ET, Lessing’s Theological Writings, London, 1956, p. 82 f.).
OT Old Testament.
Georg Bertram, “Παιδεύω, Παιδεία, Παιδευτής, Ἀπαίδευτος, Παιδαγωγός,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 620–621.
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