Charles Spurgeon Commentary Galatians 3:23-24

"But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. So that the law is become our tutor [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." — Galatians 3:23-24 (ASV)

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster.

This is an unfortunate translation; it should be, "The law was our pedagogue." That was a slave, who was employed by the father of a family, to take his boy to school, and bring him home again. He often was also permitted to whip the boy if he did not learn his lessons well. "The law was our pedagogue"