Before faith came. — Before faith awoke into exercise, began to exist, or the preaching of Christ as its object.

We were kept. — Better, we were kept in ward, so as to bring out more clearly the force of the metaphor which runs through the verse. The Law was a kind of prison-house, in which we were kept shut up. It was a custody from which we were not permitted to escape — a stern guardian that we were made to obey.

Unto the faith... — With a view to the dispensation of faith which was in store for us. The object of this state of guardianship was to fit us for the dispensation of faith looming in the future.

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