The Epistle to the Galatians
Chapter 4

As the Apostle Paul continues his letter to the churches in Galatia filled with mostly Gentile believers, he now turns his attention toward what these Gentile believers have in Christ, in that they do NOT have to follow or live under the bondage of the traditional Oral Law of the Jews, nor do they have to be circumcized.  Instead, they can live in freedom from the Law.  What these Judaizers were telling them was false!

Sons and Heirs Through Christ

4 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, ² but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. ³ 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.

The Apostle Paul is making a distinguishing difference between Law and grace to that of child and adult.  Under the Law, the children of God were children, and to have a relationship with God, they had to obey the Law of Moses, almost like slaves.  Yes, they were still heirs of the Kingdom of God, but because they were God's children, still under the Law, God treated them as children. 

• Under the New Covenant, meaning the time of grace, the fullness of the Law has become complete and we are no longer children bound by the Law, but we are now sons/daughters of God, and heirs with Christ Jesus.  There is a distinguishing difference.  God is now treating us as adult sons and daughters, and as such, we are free from obeying the Law like little children.

When the fullness of time had come - when the time of the Law was to end - God sent His Son Jesus to come to earth to free mankind from the Law so they could live under the freedom of grace - grace meaning God's riches at Christ's expense.  In other words, Jesus Christ paid the penalty of our sins, whereas under the Law, man had to bring animal sacrifices to God for the forgiveness of sin, observe all the commandments of the Law, including circumcision and the ceremonial sacrifices and feasts.  Jesus has become the eternal sacrifice for our sins, and now God has adopted us as His sons as well and we can now live as heirs.  Because we belong to Christ, we are His body, and heirs to the Kingdom of God.

⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” ⁷ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Because we have been adopted by God to be His sons, God has given us His Spirit to dwell in our hearts.  As such, we can call Him our Father - Abba, meaning daddy - our personal and intimate father in the same way that Jesus called out to His Father God.  We are no longer like slaves under the Law, but sons - heirs of all that God has for us - through Christ.

Leave the Bondages of the Law and Sin

⁸ But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. ⁹ But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? ¹⁰ You observe days and months and seasons and years. ¹¹ I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

The apostle reminded these new Gentile believers in Christ that they once served idols - false idols of nature and other objects of creation.   He went on to say "they performed many degrading, burdensome, irrational, and abominable acts of worship and service to these gods who were not gods at all.  It was all about serving their lower nature."  And to you Jewish believers, he continues, "you are still embracing Judaism - the things of the Written and Oral Law - where you still observe circumcision, the sabbaths, sacrifices, holidays, fasts and other observances."  Through Christ you have been set free.  Why then do you want to return to the slavery of idols or ceremonial laws that once bound you?   They are simply systems of mere ceremonialism."  

¹² Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. ¹³ You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. ¹⁴ And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ What then was the blessing you enjoyed?  For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶ Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

The Apostle Paul had learned that these Judaizers were preaching that all Gentile believers had to be circumcized and  proselyte themselves into Judaism, or for the Jewish believer, they had to return to their Jewish ways, meaning following the Written and Oral Laws of Moses.  As such, many Gentiles were leaving the faith, and the Jewish believers were returning back to their Jewish laws again.

Paul now pleads to these Galatian believers who were believing the lies of the Judaizers, calling them brethren, to return to what he taught them regarding the Lord.   

• He reminds them that when he first met them, he was ill, but they welcomed him as God's messenger.  They were loving and respectful toward him.  Before he left, they were growing in their faith, walking in the liberty and freedom in Christ, and now, as he is writing several months later, he wondered if they thought of him as an enemy because of what the Judaizers had told them claiming he had no spiritual authority over them and what he taught was not the truth. 

Paul continued to remind them that he had become as one of them - assimulating himself like a Gentile in dress and manner, making no attempt to change their culture.  His purpose was not to change their culture, but to help them understand that whether they were Greek of Jew, they are all one in Christ (Gal 3:28).

• He continued to remind them of their friendship together and how they had trusted and respected him.  He knew they once loved him and would have done anything for him, considering him like an angel of God - or even giving him the honor of Christ Himself.  They would have even plucked out their own eyes so Paul could see - they loved him that much, giving indications that Paul had a sight problem. 

Paul is now pleading with these Gentile believers to become like him because he once became like them.  "Believe like I believe, live in the freedom of Christ like I live.   Just as I follow Christ, follow after me."

_____________________________________ 

¹⁷ They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. ¹⁸ But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. ¹⁹ My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, ²⁰ I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.

These Judaizers who came to Galatia to turn their hearts away from the true Gospel, were pursuing them relentlessly.  Not that they cared about them - because they didn't.  They simply wanted them to change as they believed - "as Gentiles, they must become as a Jew to be a believer in Christ.  That meant becoming circumcized, follow all the feasts and holidays, and act like a Jew in every way.

______________________________________

Two Covenants

²¹ Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. ²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, ²⁴ which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— ²⁵ for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— ²⁶ but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. 

The Apostle Paul makes a symbolic comparison of the two covenants of law and grace represented in the two sons of Abraham.  One son was born of a slave according to the flesh, meaning Ismael, who was born from Hagar who was a slave to Sarah, and the other born of a freewoman through promise, meaning Isaac who was born of Sarah according to the promise of God given to Abraham.  Ismael through Hagar symbolizes the law and Isaac through Sarah represents grace - two covenants - the covenant of the Law and the covenant of grace.

The Old Covenant, meaning the Oral Law filled with traditions was one of rules, which left the people in bondage to the Law as listed in the Torah.  Meant to be tutor or guide on how to live, the Law was fulfilled in Jesus to bring God's people to a new and better covenant.  Sadly, Jews today still follow the commands of the Torah and the Oral Law, as was written in the Mishna- which is the explanation of the Torah, refusing to accept the new covenant.  

Personal Application:  Christians who follow legalism as a way to their salvation in God are also in bondage to what they can think and do.  It may be the bondage of the traditional Laws of Moses or even the traditional laws of the Church, which no church should have laws to abide by to be a part of that church.  By doing that, their justification with God is then tied to personal performance and what other people think of them.  That is bondage!

Grace, on the other hand, is represented by Sarah's son Isaac.  God miraculously brouht life to Sarah's barren womb, just as He had promised Abraham.  Isaac represents Christianity because justification through Christ's redemptive work on the cross is the work of God alone.  It is nothing that we can do.  This covenant is unconditional, and is represented by the Abrahamic Covenant, which Abraham was considered righteousness in the eyes of God because of his faith.

Personal Application:  Grace is a gift from God to believers in Christ.  God has brought our dead spirits to life through our faith in Christ Jesus and what He has done for us.  In Christ, we have right standing with God, and we have the privilege to live in righteousness and receive the blessings of God by our faith.  

G - R - A - C - E
God's Riches At Christ's Expense

²⁷ For it is written: