Galatians
4:1-16: In The Fullness Of Time God Sent His Son And Redeemed Us And
Adopted Us As Sons
By
1.
In our last study,
we looked at verses 14-29 of chapter 3 of Galatians.
1.1.
In that study, we
saw that Paul began by making a comparison between the covenant given to
Abraham which was unconditional on the part of Abraham and his descendants, and
the covenant of the Law of Moses, which was conditional upon the obedience to
all of the Law of Moses, and we saw several things:
1.1.1. The covenant of the Law of Moses did not supersede or
replace the covenant made to Abraham.
1.1.2. The covenant made to Abraham was a covenant of promise
(which made it unconditional) just as the new covenant of grace through Jesus
Christ is based upon promise.
1.1.3. The believer enters by faith into salvation through
Christ, and this is through the covenant made to Abraham.
1.1.4. The covenant of the Law of Moses was only temporary
and it could not bring life.
1.1.5. The covenant of the Law of Moses was designed to be
our tutor to lead us to Jesus Christ, and now that we have come to Christ there
is no longer any need for us to be under a tutor.
1.1.6. The new covenant through the grace of Jesus Christ,
that came through the covenant made to Abraham, makes us all sons of God
through faith in Jesus Christ, and it also unites all races and both sexes as
one in Christ.
2.
In our study
today, we are going to look at verses 1-16 of chapter 4.
2.1.
In this study, we
see the apostle Paul continuing to build his case about how that it is not
Gods intention for the believer in Christ to continue on keeping the Law of
Moses in addition to having faith in Christ, in order to be saved. The Pulpit Commentary says the following
about the apostle Pauls argument here about the ramification of the believers
sonship with God through Christ: The
apostle now passes to a new phase of argument.
He has used the similitudes of a testament, a prison, a schoolmaster, to
mark the condition of believers under the Law;
now he uses the similitude of an heir in his nonage. The Galatians are here taught that the state
of men under the Law, so far from being an advanced religious position, was
rather low and infantile.
2.2.
We will see in
our study, that Paul uses the state of being a child as being likened to being
a slave, as the Law enslaved us and was our tutor and guardian at that time
when we were under the Law. We will see that
the limitations on a child are similar to those of a slave, and that to grow up
and out of childhood is like transitioning from being under the Law of Moses to
being under the covenant of grace through Jesus Christ. One certainly does not want to go back to
being a child after having come of age as an adult.
2.3.
We will talk
about how it was in Gods perfect timing that God sent His Son to redeem us.
2.4.
Paul will discuss
how that the new covenant has brought us to become adopted sons of God, and if
sons then we are heirs also. Paul will
discuss some of the ramifications of sonship in the lives of believers.
2.5.
Paul will ask the
Galatians how it is that they could go back to what he calls the elementary or
rudimentary aspects of living under the Law of Moses, after having grow up and
out of it into the paradigm of the new covenant of the grace of Christ.
2.6.
Paul will finally
let the Galatians know that the things that he has said to them, and the hard
line that he has drawn, are not the result of him being personally offended in
any way by them.
3.
VS 4:1-3 - 1 Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does
not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, 2
but he is under
guardians and managers until the date set by the father. 3 So also we, while we were children, were
held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. Paul tells the Galatians
that as long as the heir is a child he does not differ at all from a slave,
even though he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers
until a date set by the Father, so also we, while we were children, were held
in bondage under the elemental things of the world
3.1.
Here, Paul makes
comparison between a child and a slave and notes that there really
is no difference between the two, even though the son is owner of
everything. Both are held under
guardians and managers until a certain time which is set by father.
3.2.
The argument here
is that a child is restricted and cannot do whatever he wants to
do. Plus, he also has teachers and
guardians over him that help him to get prepared for living in the real world
one day. The child is learning to be
responsible, learning how the world operates, and learning a skill to be able
to use for employment. In the same way,
the Law is over a person and teaches and manages their life preparing them for
the salvation through Christ and life that is according to the mercy and grace
of God. But, after they have come to
saving faith in Christ, they are no longer under the Law as a guardian and
tutor.
3.3.
Paul refers to
the lifestyle that they had lived when under the law as being one where they
were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. Paul is saying then that the life that is
lived under the Law and in obedience to the Law of Moses was one that is
rudimentary and preliminary, one that was not sufficient enough to last forever
because it didnt really meet mans needs sufficiently. It is the new covenant through the grace of
Christ, and His shed blood, which is the perfect one that provides all that we
need, and which will therefore last forever.
3.4.
Further, Paul
states that the life lived under the Law was one of bondage. It did not bring freedom nor did it bring
life.
4.
VS 4:4-5 - 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent
forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were
under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Paul tells the Galatians
that when the fullness of the time came that God sent forth His son, born of a
woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the
Law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons
4.1.
God was and is fulfilling His purposes in the world, His plan. He gave the Law to mankind upon Mt Sinai
after the Israelites had been delivered from slavery and
4.1.1. One of the things that we as Gods people need to
recognize is that God does all things according to His timing and His
purposes. We often want God to do
something, but we want Him to do it now.
The Lord often wants to answer our prayer, but He has a bigger purpose
He is accomplishing than just answering our need and prayer at that
moment. Therefore, He will answer but it
will be in His own timing and purposes.
4.2.
Paul says here that Gods Son was born of a woman,
and this implies several important things, including:
4.2.1. Jesus Christ was the Son
of God from all eternity, the third person of the Trinity.
4.2.2. He was pre-existent.
4.2.3. Jesus Christ is equal to the
Father.
4.2.4. Jesus Christs divinity is
seen in the fact that He was born of a woman. He was God the Son who as an embryo was
placed in Marys womb.
4.3.
Paul writes here that Jesus Christ was born under the Law. This means that He came and lived His life
under the Law of Moses, as a Jew. But,
it means more than this. Jesus Christ
perfectly obeyed the Law of Moses every single day of His life. Thus, He qualified to be the perfect
sacrifice for our sins. Just as the Law
required for sin sacrifices a lamb that was without spot or blemish, so Jesus
Christ is the sinless Lamb, just as Peter wrote about: 1 Peter
1:18-19, 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things
like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your
forefathers, 19 but with precious blood,
as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. Being pure and spotless and without sin or
blemish, and being God the Son from all eternity, His blood is able to cleanse
our hearts from sin and be our atonement or covering for our sins before God
the Father.
4.4.
Paul says here
that Jesus Christ died upon the cross for our sins so that He might redeem
us. To redeem someone means to set
them free from their slavery, and we believers in Christ were set free from the
Law through His death and crucifixion for us. We were slaves to the Law, which was our school
master and tutor. But now, through
Christ we are set free from that bondage, liberated from that teacher and
school.
4.5.
To redeem
someone also meant that you purchased them.
When Christ died for us and set us free from our sins and the Law of
Moses, He also purchased us and we now belong to Him. He is our benevolent Father and our Master,
or Lord. We are now to obey Him out of
love and gratitude for His having saved us.
4.6.
Jesus Christs
death on the cross for us and redeeming us as our Savior has also been
accomplished so that we might receive the adoption as sons to
God. What an interesting and unusual
redemption it is in that we take His Name and are now a son and therefore an
heir of God through Jesus Christ.
5.
VS 4:6-7 - 6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the
Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father! 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a
son; and if a son, then an heir through God. Paul writes to the
Galatians that because they were sons that God had sent for the Spirit of His
Son into their hearts, crying Abba! Father!, and therefore they were no
longer slaves but a son, and if a son then also an heir through God
5.1.
This is one of those passages in the scriptures, like the story of
Jesus baptism, where we see all three persons of the Trinity are
referenced: God has sent forth the Spirit of
His Son into our hearts.
5.2.
Paul here
mentions the internal aspect of having come to know God as our Father, he says
that God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, and the
result that this produces is that His Spirit within us cries out Abba!
Father!.
5.3.
This phrase Abba!
Father! is the combination of two words, one Aramaic and the other Greek,
and this combination speaks of God being the Father of all men, both Jew and
Gentile, who come to faith in Christ for salvation.
5.4.
Abba is
a term of affection that a young child would use in crying out to His father
and saying, in our English equivalent, Daddy!
5.5.
This relationship
to the Father that we now have is not that of a slave, but rather that of a
son, and thus Paul states here that we are no longer a slave, but a son
to God. Being transferred from living
under the Law to living under the new covenant in the grace of Christ is akin
to going from being a slave to being adopted into a family and declared to be a
son.
5.6.
What always comes
with being a son is to also be an heir, and as such we are co-heirs
with Jesus Christ in all that He possesses.
6.
VS 4:8 - 8 However at that time, when you did not know God,
you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. Paul tells the Galatians
that at that time before they knew God that they were slave to those which by
nature are no gods
6.1.
Paul is here speaking of the life of idolatry and idol worship that the
Galatians previously had been involved in.
He says that before they knew God that they were slaves to those
which by nature are no gods. Paul
writes elsewhere that the gods that people worshipped are actually demons, and
this is probably what he refers to here as those which by nature are no
gods.
6.2.
Notice here that Paul speaks of coming to salvation as in a point in time
of coming to know God. This
Greek word that is translated know here is ginosko, and it means
to know in depth and experientially. It
is likewise in the second aorist tense and therefore it speaks of having come
to know Him experientially and really at a point in time in the past.
6.3.
It is wonderful to know that our God is knowable. We come to Him and read His word prayerfully
and worshipfully, and God speaks to our hearts and reveals Himself to us. We then speak to Him in return, and this is
called prayer.
7.
VS 4:9-10 - 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather
to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and
worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? 10
You observe days and
months and seasons and years. Paul shows his astonishment of the Galatians to
them by mentioning how that they had at one point in time come to know God, or
rather to be known by Him, and then he asks them how that after doing this they
had now turned back again to the weak and worthless elemental things and be
enslaved all over again, observing days and months and seasons and years
7.1.
It is interesting
here that Paul mentions this concerning our coming to salvation through Christ:
but now that you have come to know God. But then, he says or rather to be known
by God. Both words translated know
and known are the Greek word ginosko which refers to knowing
Him in reality, deeply, and intimately.
Further, the tense of both verbs is aorist, which speaks of action
performed in a point in time. To me
then, it seems that Paul is speaking of the action of coming to know God as
being originated by God, and being primarily His work in drawing us to know
Him. Nobody ever found God, He found
them, if they have ever been found. They
were willing and responded in faith to His initiation, but the work of them
coming to know God was primarily His work in wooing and drawing them, and in
opening their eyes to the truth about Him and how to know Him personally.
7.1.1. It is important for us as Christians to realize that
God always knows all about us intimately. Whatever it is that we do, we need to
recognize that our God fully knows our thoughts and circumstances always. Jesus told His disciples the following about
how intimately God knows each of us: Matthew 10:29-31, 29 Are not two
sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the
ground apart from your Father. 30
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So do not fear; you are more valuable
than many sparrows. Our knowing of God has to start from the place of knowing
first of all that He knows all about us.
7.1.2. Likewise, we need to
recognize that if God knows all about us that He is going to do things in our
life to mold our character. He loves us
enough not to let us stay in our sin and making bad and fleshly choices, and therefore
He will also work in our circumstances at times to remove those things from our
lives. The scripture tells us that as a
loving parent He disciplines His children, and that involves allowing us to go
through fiery trials and be thereby transformed as those times remove the
desire to sin from our life.
7.2.
So, Paul is
asking the Galatians rhetorically if in that process of coming to know God, an
action primarily originating and accomplished by God, that they could turn
back to the weak and worthless elemental things of walking under the Law,
and thereby be enslaved all over again?
7.3.
Paul says here
that the Galatians would now observe days and months and seasons and years,
and in the observance of the Jewish laws, this refers specifically to:
7.3.1. Days΄ equals Sabbath days.
7.3.2. Months refers to the celebrations on the New
Moons.
7.3.3. Seasons refers to the feasts and festal
celebrations the Jews were required to attend annually.
7.3.4. Years refers most likely to the observance of
the Sabbatical year (every 7th year when all of the slaves were to
be freed and property seized was to be returned, as well as the Day of Jubilee
which occurred every 50 years).
8.
VS 4:11 - 11 I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over
you in vain. Paul tells the Galatians that he now worries that his labor over
them might have been in vain
8.1.
Paul was
concerned that all of his labor on behalf of the church in
8.2.
This was a
warning to the church in
9.
VS 4:12-16 - 12 I beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for
I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong; 13
but you know that it
was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first
time; 14 and
that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or
loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.
15 Where
then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness that, if
possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. 16
So have I become your
enemy by telling you the truth? Paul tells the Galatians that he begs them to
become as he is, and then he tells them that he has become like them, then, he
goes on to say that they have done him no wrong and that he knew that even
though when he had come to them and preached the gospel with a bodily illness
that was disturbing to them, that they had received him as an angel of God,
finally he asks them how if he was such a blessing to them then when he
preached to them, that now he has become their enemy by telling them the truth
9.1.
When Paul had
gone and preached the gospel to the people of
9.2.
Whatever the
illness that the apostle Paul had when he was with the Galatians, it was
accompanied by something that was grotesque to people. Paul had been worried that the grotesqueness of
his illness would cause the Galatians to avoid him. But, what he instead experienced was that
they had not pulled away from him, but he writes that instead they, received
me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.
And, in letting him minister to them he had become a great blessing
to them.
9.3.
Paul writes this
to let the Galatians know that he had no personal grudge or bad feelings
towards them, for he says that they have done me no wrong. He wants them to know that he was not writing
any of these things to them in this letter because of having a personal issue
with them. In fact, here he is
commending them for not having rejected him because of his personal problems
and the grotesqueness of his illness.
9.4.
Evidently, Paul
had some sort of an illness of his eyes, and the Galatian people had reached
out to Paul in love to the extent that many wished they could have plucked
out your eyes and given them to me.
9.5.
The Galatians had
shown such great love for him when he was with them, and now he asks them how
it could be that he had become their enemy simply because he was
speaking the truth to them.
This showed that the Galatians had some major issues regarding their
faith. They were rejecting the truth
and rejecting Paul simply for confronting them with the truth.
9.6.
It is the truth
that we in the church of all eras are to proclaim and teach to our people. Likewise, we are always to stand on the side
of truth.
10.
CONCLUSIONS:
10.1.
Recognize that God knows all about you, your thoughts, your real needs,
your circumstances.
10.2.
Remember that God does all things according to His timing, and in His
own way.
10.3.
Dont go back to the rudimentary and elemental aspects of religion,
dont go back into being enslaved under the guardian and tutoring of the Law,
and law and rule keeping. It is not an
advancement to do this but rather a going back to being childish and infantile.