No Longer Under A Guardian

Tradition is a demanding parent - a forceful teacher. His children obey him, even when he's wrong, and having obeyed and submitted, tradition's children, when fully grown, often expect THEIR offspring to submit to THEM, right or wrong, and to grow to be masters of tradition themselves one day. Should tradition's children choose to forsake tradition, for whatever reason, it may be perceived as a threat to Father Tradition, because it suggests that the traditions that have been followed for so long may be dispensable, or even in error.
Over hundreds of years, the tradition had developed among the Hebrews that the law was a means of life. If one lived as a faithful child of Abraham - kept the sacraments and ceremonies of the law of Moses, he was assumed to be righteous. The simple Word of God had become so embellished by the teachers of the law that the common people (who often did not have full access to the Word) were dependent on the scribes and Pharisees for their instruction.
Here the Apostle Paul continues to demolish the arguments of the legalists, declaring that the purpose of the law was never to save us, but to act as a guardian/custodian/tutor, to drive us to desperation, and thus, to drive us to Christ. Paul's reference to Christ as the SEED (singular) of Abraham is explained, and the true purpose of the law is considered. Including this: If the law is left out of our presentation of the gospel, it is like a heart surgeon trying to convince his patient to submit to radical surgery without showing him, through an EKG or MRI, evidence of his desperate condition.