Faith is a Key that Releases Us from a Tough Guardian - Galatians 1-3

Galatians 3:23-26 (ESV Strong's)
23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Faith is a Key that Releases Us from a Tough Guardian

Understanding the relationship between the Law and the age of Grace, is the entire point of the book of Galatians.  The believers, in this area of the world, were being led astray by false teachers:

Galatians 1:6-9 (ESV Strong's)
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Whoever these “teachers” were, they were enticing the believers to form a “gospel” that had elements of the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Paul, in his defense of THE GOSPEL, gives the believers several arguments about the relationship between the Law and the Gospel.   One of those arguments is, above.   BEFORE FAITH, we were held captive by the legal demands of the Law.   The only way you are free from the legal demands of something is to stay within the lines of those demands.  The Law becomes our “guardian,” keeping us within those lines, which would please God ... assuming we can KEEP the Law.  That is what makes it so cruel.  It is so hard to keep the entire law, when you are filled with sin.  But, faith in Christ’s finished work (He completed the demands of the law ... stayed completely within the lines) releases us from that cruel guardian.  That is the point Paul is making.  He is telling his audience that the false teachers, by adding aspects of the Law to the Gospel, were putting us back under that guardian.   But, by Faith in Christ, we are set free from that guardian.   We have a freedom when we pursue Christ in Faith and believe that He fulfilled the entire Law and gave us that righteousness by His death on the cross.