Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Galatians 3:23

"But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed." — Galatians 3:23 (ASV)

The proper understanding of the phrase “before this faith came” is found in the fact that the definite article occurs before the word “faith.” By “this faith” Paul means “the Christian faith,” that faith he has just spoken of in v.22—faith in Jesus Christ as Savior (cf. 1Ti 4: 1 for a similar usage). This faith is like the faith exercised by Abraham, but it is different in that it relates to the explicit revelation of Christ in time and to the distinct Christian doctrines concerning him. Faith waited for this complete revelation. Paul’s point is that the law was intended to function only during this 1,500-year period of anticipation.

While the law was here, however, it did serve a purpose: to hold us prisoner, locking us up until Christ should be revealed (cf. v.22). Paul is thinking here that the law, like a jailer, has kept people locked up and therefore out of trouble until Christ, the liberator, should come to set them free.