Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/74

Contributor - Ron Opmeer

Title - 'Old Testament Law - Our Kindergarten Cop'

Topic - Law

'Word of Truth" Article on Galations 3:19-25

There is a former #I best-seller written by Robert Fulghum called "All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten" (Ivy Books, 1986). In it the author shares that he didn't find life's wisdom in graduate school at University but instead he found it in kindergarten - and he adds, also in the sandpile at Sunday School. And what are these rules for right living for which we must thank our kindergarten and Sunday School teachers? He lists 14 rules for a better world, some of which are: "share everything"; "play fair"; "don't hit people"; "clean up your own mess"; "don't take things that aren't yours"; "wash your hands before you eaf '; "flush"; "take a nap every afternoon"; and "hold hands". Robert Fulghum says: "think what a better world it would be if the whole world had cookies about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap".

Despite the good advice, the debate continues in our society about the benefits and drawbacks of impressing rules for "right living" upon our children. Educators and lawmakers are constantly questioning whether anyone has the right to determine what is morally "right" or "wrong" for another. Some argue that the giving of rules will only stifle creativity, produce guilt and lower self-esteem. We are being told that "morality" cannot be legislated anyway - right?

As Christians whose moral authority is the Word of God, it is not always apparent to us either why God went through all the trouble of legislating morality by giving of the Old Testament laws to those who weren't able to keep them.

Keep it simple, son!

A story is told about a young Jewish student around the time of Jesus who grew impatient with all the religious rules which he had been taught since kindergarten. He went to the second most famous rabbi in Jerusalem complaining that the 667 Old Testament laws were too much for him. He asked the Rabbi: "Can't you give me a summary of the law in the time that I can stand on one foot?" The Rabbi picked up a big stick and beat the young man with it while chasing him out of his study.

However, the young man then visited the most famous Rabbi in Jerusalem, presumably Rabbi Hillel, and asked him the same question. Rabbi Hillel said, "Stand on one foot." The young man obeyed, and as he stood there Rabbi Hillel answered: "Do not do to anyone else what you would not have done to yourself This is the summary of the law".

There has always been an attempt to simplify the demands of God's laws down to just a few rules. Hillel's reversed "golden rule" is an example. If Robert Fulghum's claim is true that his 14 rules cover everything from the "golden rule" to "proper sanitation" then perhaps it is true that "All I really needed to know I learned in kindergarten".

Surprisingly, Galatians 3:19-25 is saying something similar in regard to the laws of Moses, and by implication, the "golden rule" as well. In this passage the Apostle Paul says that the revealed laws of God function as a "kindergarten cop" in that they stand guard over us until we come of age.

Many scholars consider this passage to be one of the most difficult ever written by Paul. How could Paul compare the law of God to a policeman or a prison guard when Psalm states that the law is to be desired more than gold and is sweeter than honey? Both Rabbi Hillel and the other Rabbi would have chased Paul down for this remark.

The baby-sitter.

In Galatians 3, the original Greek word used is paidagogos. Paul says: "So the law was our paidogogos to lead us to Christ so that we might be justified by faith" (v24). Our English Bibles translates this word as "schoolmaster" (KJV) or "teacher" (LB) or "custodian" (RSV) or "one put in charge" (NIV). Some of these are a bit misleading because apaidagogos (or pedagogue) in ancient times was a slave rather than a schoolmaster or a professional teacher.

What function did this pedagogue have? The pedagogue was a personal slave-attendant who accompanied a freeborn boy from the time the boy left his nurses care. One reputable Bible teacher even refers to him as a "baby-sitter" - a term even less endearing to the rabbis!

The pedagogue's many duties include: (1) teaching the boy good manners; (2) disciplining the boy if he was not behaving; (3) taking the boy to school and waiting in a "waiting room" until the boy finished his lessons; and (4) quizzing the boy on the way home from school. The main objective of the pedagogue was to impose enough restraint on the boy's freedoms so that the boy could some day be trusted to use his freedoms for good purposes. The pedagogue kept the boy in check until he came of age.

The apostle Paul identifies the laws of God as our pedagogue - our kindergarten cop. Although Paul himself was once extremely zealous to keep the laws of God, when he became a follower of Jesus he realized that the law was unable to accomplish what he hoped it would do - it couldn't change the heart of man. Paul states: "for if a law had been given which could give life then certainly righteousness would have come by the law" (v.21). However, no such law was possible given the state of our hearts.

A deadly combination.

Instead, a deadly combination exists when an unredeemed soul possesses a knowledge of the law. Paul goes so far as to say that "the law was added because of (lit. in order to produce) transgressions" (Gal. 3:19). Perhaps Paul wrote these words remembering back to the time when his Pharisaic zeal for the law led to his consent to the stoning death of Stephen (Acts 8: 1). Paul later realized that his legal perfectionism led only to death. Similarly, he explains in Romans 7:5 that it is the combination of our "sinful passions" and the arousal of "the law" which produces "the fruit of death" in us.

But God has not left us to our own devices. The kindergarten cop kept us imprisoned with the knowledge of our own sin until the antidote to our sinful nature came in Christ, the fulfilment of the law. Paul states that "we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed ... Now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law" (Gal. 3:23,25). The kindergarten cop has fulfilled his purpose and we are now free from his oppressive scrutiny!

In conclusion, Galatians 3:19-25 teaches us that our sinful nature cannot be redeemed by either the Ten Commandments or the golden rule or even the 14 wise sayings of Robert Fulghum! But as the Scriptures say, "what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own son..." (Rom. 8:3).

So let us enjoy our freedom! But be sure to teach your children all about the righteous requirements of the law. Tell them what the kindergarten cop says so that they too might fully desire to experience the freedom of serving God through the life giving power of the Spirit available to them in Christ.

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