Bible Lexicons

παιδαγωγός, παιδαγωγου, ὁ (from παῖς, and ἀγωγός a leader, escort), from Herodotus 8, 75 down; a tutor (Latinpaedagogus) i. e. a guide and guardian of boys. Among the Greeks and Romans the name was applied to trustworthy slaves who were charged with the duty of supervising the life and morals of boys belonging to the better class. The boys were not allowed so much as to step out of the house without them before arriving at the age of manhood; cf. Fischer under the word in index 1 to Aeschines dial. Socrates; Hermann, Griech. Privatalterthümer, § 34, 15ff; (Smith, Dict. of Greek and Rom. Antiq. under the word; Becker, Charicles (English translation, 4th edition), p. 226f). They are distinguished from οἱ διδάσκαλοι: Xenophon, de rep. Lac. 3, 2; Plato, Lysias, p. 208 c.; (Diogenes Laërtius 3, 92. The name carries with it an idea of severity (as of a stern censor and enforcer of morals) in 1 Corinthians 4:15, where the father is distinguished from the tutor as one whose discipline is usually milder, and in Galatians 3:24f where the Mosaic law is likened to a tutor because it arouses the consciousness of sin, and is called παιδαγωγός εἰς Χριστόν, i. e. preparing the soul for Christ, because those who have learned by experience with the law that they are not and cannot be commended to God by their works, welcome the more eagerly the hope of salvation offered them through the death and resurrection of Christ, the Son of God.