Men who take care of him and manage his affairs translates two Greek words, literally “guardians” and “trustees.” The former is a general term, used to describe someone who is entrusted with the total care of the child, and the latter is a specific term, referring to one who has financial responsibilities (used also in Rom 16.23; Luke 12.42; 16.1). One should not, however, regard Paul as being precise in this statement; his main point is that there are persons who make decisions for the child and his property. The phrase take care of him may be rendered as “provide him with what he needs,” but it is possible to understand this in a sense of “instruct him as to what to do.” The expression manage his affairs may be rendered as “have responsibility for the property which will some day be his,” or “make decisions about the property which will later belong to him.”

The phrase until the time set by his father gives rise to a problem of legal interpretation. Under Roman law, a father had nothing to do with the setting of the time when his son became of age. This was set by law, which ordained that a minor whose father died remained under the care of a guardian until age fourteen, and then under a trustee until age twenty-five, at which time he attained maturity. However, this difficulty disappears when Paul is understood as referring to a special case, where a guardianship is established during the lifetime of the father, who then can appoint the guardians and set a limit to the duration of their authority. In some languages it may be necessary to make the clause until the time set by his father more specific, for example, “until the day which his father said would mark the time when he would no longer have other people manage his affairs.” In other languages it may be better to render this clause as “for as long as the father said it would be necessary.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .