^3:23Now before faith⁵¹ came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners⁵² until the coming faith would be revealed. ^3:24Thus the law had become our guardian⁵³ until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous⁵⁴ by faith.

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Footnotes

51 Or “the faithfulness [of Christ] came.”
52 Instead of the present participle συγκλειόμενοι (sunkleiomenoi; found in 𝔓46 א A B D* F G P Ψ 33 1739 ), C D1 0176 0278 𝔐 have the perfect συγκεκλεισμένοι (sunkekleismenoi). The syntactical implication of the perfect is that the cause or the means of being held in custody was confinement (“we were held in custody [by/because of] being confined”). The present participle of course allows for such options, but also allows for contemporaneous time (“while being confined”) and result (“with the result that we were confined”). Externally, the perfect participle has little to commend it, being restricted for the most part to later and Byzantine witnesses. Grk “being confined.”
53 Or “disciplinarian,” “custodian,” or “guide.” According to παιδαγωγός, “the man, usu. a slave … whose duty it was to conduct a boy or youth … to and from school and to superintend his conduct gener.; he was not a ‘teacher’ (despite the present mng. of the derivative ‘pedagogue’ … When the young man became of age, the π. was no longer needed.” L&N 36.5 gives “guardian, leader, guide” here.
54 Or “be justified.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.

NLTNew Living Translation

Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.

Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

But before faith came, we were detained under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. So then, the law became our guardian until Christ, in order that we could be justified by faith.

KJV 1900King James Version

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 to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

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