March 8, 2023
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Reading along with us in Galatians? Here’s today’s reading:
Galatians 4 (NIV)
1 What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2T he heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,...........Continue Reading
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I love the comparison Paul uses at the end of this chapter to show the Galatians the difference between following the law and the Spirit. The story of Abraham and Sarah is such an obvious example of us getting in God’s way. Sarah believed God’s promise but not His timing so she tried the “help” God’s work. We get in the way…our impatience, our need to control becomes our own slavery. Even good work with the wrong motivation puts distance between us and God.
We are His children, heirs to His kingdom and He will provide. His promises are true but when we forget that we make ourselves slaves trying to do the work He has already done. Faith and trust in our Father is the only way to truly be free because He already paid the price.
Galatians 3:29 says “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Chapter 4 makes it clear that Jews who were under the law and now believe in Christ and Gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ are welcomed into the family of God. As a “bonus” we are indwelt by the Spirit of God to guide us.
Paul is “perplexed” that some of the Galatians are apparently “turning back to those weak and miserable forces.” Why would one choose slavery over freedom? Sadly, many of us today have the same problem. Stand firm!
Galatians 4
Galatians 3
Galatians 4
In God`s own timing he sent His son [Jesus] to be born a baby made of a women under the law. verse 4. This was to fulfill the law. In so doing he was able to redeem us who were under the law. We were adopted into his family by faith in him because of what he did at the cross. [verse 5]. In verse 6 God has sent forth his Spirit into our hearts crying Abba Father. When I was a new believer many years ago I heard the true meaning of Abba, Father is Daddy. How personal is that to us. We can call him Daddy but we do need to remember that he is still a holy God. Especially when many of us didn`t have fathers or in my case not a good father or even a grandfather that cared. Thank God for my mother and her mom. Until I found Christ as a young man. And when I came to Christ some of the Godly men that helped me and discipled me in the Lord. Praise God. And it was in his time.
Galatians 4
Galatians 4:29 says, ” like Isaac, we are children of promise. ” ( Paraphrase ) Having said this, let’s back up to Galatians 3:29, which says ” And if you are Christ’s, you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. ” There is no distinction in all who will be saved by faith, we are saved by faith in Christ, children of promise. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness and Abraham is the father of all who will believe by faith. Having said this as an introduction, let us unfold chapter 4. It is important to note that in verse 4, God sent forth Jesus and He was born under the Law to redeem those who are under the Law. Jesus kept the Law perfectly and consequently as the perfect sacrifice, Jesus paid in full the debt we owed and by His sacrifice, Jesus said on the cross ” It is finished “. Jesus paid in full the price of redemption. By faith in Jesus, we are justified and we receive the imputed righteousness of Christ. This is not an exhaustive comment on chapter 4, so pressing on let us go to verse 21, which says ” Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? ” Paul unfolds an allegory and the slave woman Hagar represents Mount Sinai, where the Law was given to Moses. Believers are not from Hagar, of the Law and of the flesh, but rather we are of Sarah through the promise that God gave to her and Abraham. We are children of the promise. Abraham is not the father of those who try to be saved by keeping the law or by faith plus keeping the Law. Again, I reiterate that all who believe and put their faith and trust in Jesus are children of the promise and Abraham is our spiritual father according to promise not works of the flesh and slavery trying in vain to keep the Law. Jesus kept the Law on our behalf and we stand justified because Jesus made propitiation on the cross as seen in Romans chapter 3:21-28. Romans chapter 4 gives much truth about how Abraham was justified by faith apart from the works of the Law. Much more can be said, but in closing, believers are not part of the old or Mosaic covenant, but rather we are of the new covenant in Christ’s blood, which verse 24 and following in Galatians 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 speaks much about the old covenant passing away and how believers are part of the new covenant. We are under grace and indwelt by the Spirit and not under the old covenant which was written on stone and was the Mosaic covenant. We as new testament believers are not under the Mosaic law. There is much here to be considered, but I shall close.
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
How privileged we are to be called sons (children) of God! That God had a historical plan to have Jesus come to this earth, life out His life and die for us and also had a plan for us to connect to that work in faith. And now we have an intimate, personal relationship with the God of glory and by His Spirit (with His permission) we consider Him, Abba Father. And boy how deeply Paul cares about these Galatians and pleads with them to return to the truth of grace, and smacks them upside the head with how foolish they are being. And it is something for Him to recount how much he cared for them and how much they cared for him as well. But what a hard task master legalism is, to try to be made right with God by what I do or to strive to live the Christian life by my power. The law is good for the standards it provides, but it has no power in itself to transform. For that we need the Spirt of God and the power of faith projected on the Word that allows it to be written on our hearts. And just in case these Galatians didn’t see how far they had fallen and how they are now in the wrong place before God, Paul uses the stark distinction between the two sons of Abraham. One is the son of the law, and one is the son of the promise. One is the work of the flesh, one is the work of God. In the same way the 2 sons can’t be mixed, so the legalism the Galatians were functioning in couldn’t mixed with the message of grace and faith that Paul brought to them. We all need to aware of how easily legalism can creep into our lives and the affirmation of grace and faith given in Galatians is valuable to keep us on the right track.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”
Galatians 5:22 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.5.22.NIV
“gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Galatians 5:23 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gal.5.23.NIV
Galations 4:9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? Those of us who have been raised believing that works bring us salvation must be careful not to turn back to that old way of thinking. And what are we to do about it? Get rid of the slave woman and her son (Hagar and Ishamel) for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son (Sarah and Isaac). God does not want us to operate out of works for his approval. God wants us to believe that his Son did the work to justify us and make us righteous before Him.
Amen, Shelly!
Galations 4
God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.