Bible Dictionaries
Custodian

Holman Bible Dictionary

Wealthy Greek and Roman families often had a slave who attended boys under the age of about 16. The major responsibilities of the custodian was to escort the boys to and from school and to attend to their behavior. The pedagogue or custodian had responsibility to discipline or punish the boy. Once the boys reached manhood, they no longer needed the services of the custodian. Often the young man rewarded the custodian by granting him freedom. Paul spoke of the law as the custodian of God's people until Christ came (Galatians 3:23-26 ). The law could not save; but it could bring us to the point where we could have faith in Christ by showing us our unrighteousness (Galatians 3:19; compare Romans 7:7-12 ). Of course, the law was not nullified by Christ's death nor by becoming Christians. We are still expected to live according to the moral principles found in the law (Romans 7:12 ,Romans 7:12,7:16; compare Matthew 5:17-20 ,Matthew 5:17-20,5:21-48 ).