GALATIANS
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Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Galatians chapter 4 as we continue our study through the Word of God. If you remember from our last study, Paul spoke of the Law being a tutor, showing us we are sinners separated from God. That was all the Law could do, it couldn’t save us. Thus, the Law brought us to Jesus who can and has saved us. We are no longer under the Law but under Grace and thus, Paul says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:26-29.
As we move into Galatians chapter 4, Paul continues this thought of being a son of God, heirs according to the promise of God, the promise given to Abraham by faith. And so, with that said, let’s begin reading in Galatians chapter 4, starting in verse 1, and let’s see what the Lord has for us this evening.
Paul is speaking of a child “coming of age” or becoming an adult, which was much more definitive in the ancient world than we see today. The Roman ceremony was the Toga Virilis and for the Jewish ceremony it was and is called a Bar Mitzvah, which occurs when the boy is thirteen. Until that time he is under the direct and absolute care of his father. Thus, from all practical purposes a child did not differ from a slave as he was under those who were his master, like a slave was. The difference being, when the child came of age, he became an heir to all that his father had!
Now Paul gives us the comparison of our physical life that he just spoke of and relates it to our spiritual life. Paul says when we were young we knew our ABC’s or the “elements of the world,” the elementary principles of the world. Now, in regards to God and our spiritual life, these elementary principles are dangerous, they are bad and we must break free from them. We must grow up! Paul tells us in Colossians 2:8-10, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
You see, both in Judaism and pagan religions they were centered upon a man-made system of works. That is what Judaism deteriorated into, not where God wanted it to go. There were all kinds of rules and regulations to follow, to obey and that is the basis for all human religion, achieving Divine acceptance by one’s own efforts! Thus, we are to die to these elemental principles, not follow these false teachings as Paul said in Colossians 2:20, “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations.”
God’s timing is perfect and thus, God sent forth His Son to redeem sinful man who was under the curse of the Law. Jesus was “born of a woman” which speaks of His humanity and the virgin birth. He was fully God and He was fully man! He was born into a society that was in bondage to the Law and yet He kept it perfectly, and only He could, as He said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” Thus, because He was sinless He could pay in full the penalty for our sins as Peter tells us in I Peter 1:18-21, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”
Jesus came to “redeem” us; EXAGORAZO (ex-ag-or-ad’-zo) in the Greek, and it speaks of buying back or burying out and was often used of slaves whose freedom was purchased. Think about that, we were slaves to sin under the Law but Christ bought us out by His sacrifice and now, instead of being a slave to sin we are an heir of God, sons of God!
I like the way that Govett put it. He said, “Christ, by nature Son of God, became a son of man, that we, by nature sons of man, might becomes sons of God. Wonderful exchange.”
VERSES 6-7
Because of what Christ has done we can have an intimate
relationship with God the Father, we can, in a sense, call Him
“Daddy!” or “Papa!” as the Aramaic word “Abba”
implies. Now Jews
in trying to keep the Law could never have that kind of relationship
with God but now all who receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior
can, not because we are so good but because Christ has cleansed
us of all our sins and we can say to God, “Daddy!” You
see, as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane in Mark 14:36,
“And He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible
for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I
will, but what You will.’” So we too can pray “Abba,
Father!” for God gives to us all that His Son possesses!
Paul, in Romans 8:16 tells us, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” God’s Spirit testifies to our hearts that we are a son of God by adoption. Thus, as Luther tells us, “A son is an heir, not by virtue of high accomplishments, but by virtue of his birth. He is a mere recipient. His birth makes him an heir, not his labors.”
Also, notice the way that Paul weaves the Holy Trinity into these verses. God the Father sends forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts to give us the assurance we are children of God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; one God manifested in three distinct persons!
Here’s the thing, why would someone who has come to know God, someone who has been set free, place themselves under bondage once again? That is just plain foolish and yet, people still do that today. They are saved by Grace through Faith and enjoy that liberty but somewhere down the road they feel they need to do this or that to maintain their salvation, to be good enough for God to love them. Let me let you in on a little secret, you can’t be good enough! The reality is God loved you when you were still a sinner and He died for you when you were in that condition – it is a free gift for you to receive by faith, not by works. Don’t go back to the ABC’s or the elementary principles. Don’t think legalism makes you more spiritual, it is a facade and it places you back into a second childhood in your faith!
I like the way that Stott paraphrases this. He says, “If you were a slave and are now a son, if you did not know God but have now come to know Him and to be known by Him, how can you turn back again to the old slavery? How can you allow yourself to be enslaved by the very elemental spirits from whom Jesus Christ has rescued you?”
For the churches in Galatia, who were for the most part Gentile, they were now being swayed to keep days or weekly Sabbaths, months or new moons, seasons or the Jewish feasts, and years or Sabbatical and Jubilee years for their salvation! There is nothing wrong with celebrating Passover or any of the feasts unless you are doing it for salvation, then it is wrong! Paul said in Colossians 2:16-17, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” You see, these things were just a picture of what was to come, Jesus! And now that Christ is here, why go back to a picture? Can you imagine, you are at a party and your wife is beside you and instead of introducing her to the people around you, you pull out a picture of her and say, “This is my wife!” It would be a very cold night for you besides being just plain foolish and that is Paul’s point, going back to a picture is foolish when we have the substance, we have Christ! For Paul, he was concerned that all his work in this area, how he labored to the point of exhaustion, would be in vain, have no effect upon their lives! A works relationship makes the whole Gospel empty, in vain!
Paul clearly understood what legalism was all about, as a Pharisee he tried to keep the Law, do the best he could, but it was a dead end. It never brought Him closer to God. Then God got a hold of Paul and transformed his life; he saw the Gospel message, a salvation by Grace and not by works. Thus, Paul’s call is to be like him, free from the Law, free in Christ, not to place themselves into a Law relationship when they never lived by the Jewish Law in the first place. Not to place themselves into a Law relationship with God but a love relationship! I like the way The Amplified Bible puts this verse. We are told, “But the Law does not rest on faith [does not require faith, has nothing to do with faith], for it itself says, He who does them [the things prescribed by the Law] shall live by them [not by faith]. [Lev 18:5.]”
Paul’s remarks to the churches in Galatia were not based upon some hurt they caused Paul, but out of love for them, concern for them not to go into this bondage but be free in Christ! That is the heart of Paul and should be the heart of Pastors and really all Christians – responding in love and not in anger!
From this it seems that Paul acquired some kind of illness that caused him to go to Galatia. It is very possible that while Paul was in Pamphylia, which was located in a lowland area that was marshy, he developed Malaria. Thus, he traveled to the higher Galatian areas until he was better. But even with this painful, debilitating disease, Paul still preached the Gospel Message to them! What moves you from completing the work God has for you? What is moving you off course or causing you to drop out? For Paul, nothing was going to move him from preaching the Gospel message, from getting the Word of God out! It is hard to stop a man like that!
And the Galatians received Paul with joy and the Gospel message with joy. Now Paul’s appearance was not too attractive, with this eye condition he probably had a constant discharge from his eyes and yet it did not cause them to reject Paul or his message. In fact, their love for Paul was so deep, so strong that if it were possible they would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to Paul. That tells me Paul had some kind of eye trouble maybe from the malaria he had or it could be a number of things. Also, in Galatians 6:11 Paul tells us, “See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!” This eye condition gave him poor eyesight so that he had to write with big letters to see what he was writing!
Why is this a big deal? Because, as Fung tells us, “As physical infirmity and illness were regarded by Jews and Gentiles alike as a symbol of divine displeasure or punishment, there would have been a natural temptation for the Galatians to despise Paul and reject his message.” But they received the Gospel message of Grace, the message Paul spoke and the messenger himself, Paul! Boice points out:
“To the degree that ministers and teachers of the Word of God do teach the Word, to that same degree should they be received as the Galatians received the apostle Paul. Ministers should not be received and evaluated on the basis of their personal appearance, intellectual attainments, or winsome manner, but as to whether or not they are indeed God’s messengers bearing the word of Christ.”
When people hear the truth, when they are confronted with their sin, they get mad at the person exposing them. Thus, they avoid them, don’t talk to them, and Paul is saying, “Hey, don’t get mad at me, I’m just telling you the truth. Deal with it!” Tragically many refuse to deal with it as John MacArthur tells us:
A prostitute came to our church one day looking for help. She was quite successful financially but was plagued by tremendous feelings of guilt and anxiety. She drank heavily, took drugs, and realized her life was a mess. When I explained the gospel to her and assured her that God was eager to forgive her sins and give her new life if she trusted in Jesus Christ, she expressed a great interest. During the course of our conversation she had told me of a little book in which she kept the names and phone numbers of her customers. I suggested that we take the book and burn it right then, as a symbol of her repentance and renunciation of her old life. But she balked at the idea, saying, “I can’t do that! Those names are worth thousands of dollars. I guess I don’t want Jesus as much as I thought I did.” Like many people, she knew her way of life was wrong and ruinous, but she loved it more than the Lord and would not give it up.
- John MacArthur
Folks, is there something in your life that the Lord wants you to get rid of, to make right and you refuse because you love something more than you love the Lord? Now you would never think of it like that, but if there is, then you love that more than you do the Lord, deal with it!
These Judaizers were smooth-talking the Galatians to win them over and then “exclude” or literally “lock you up” into their legalistic ways, alienating them from other Christians, and from Jesus! Wuest tells us, “The Judaizers had pursued the adroit [skillful] course of presenting to them only part of the requirements of the Mosaic law, those parts which might be least repulsive to them as Gentiles. Having gotten them to adopt the festivals and perhaps the fast days, the Judaizers were now urging them to adopt circumcision.” You would not want to come with that one at first, ouch!
Look at the cults today as they go around courting converts, never telling them their bizarre doctrines, beliefs, but just the warm fuzzy things to sway them to their side. The Jehovah Witnesses are a prime example of a cult that is locking people up, putting them in prison you might say. You see, they can’t read religious material other than what is Jehovah Witness propaganda! I have no problem reading their material because I know God’s Word will expose their lies, but they are afraid to read the truth because it may expose their lies, their people may be set free! How sad, what bondage, and to be afraid that what you believe is not supported by the Bible and other material that you have to tell your people, warn them, forbid them to read it!
Paul admonishes them to be zealous in the good things, even when he is not present. Don’t just put on a show, live what you believe!
Paul is speaking of the Galatians becoming like Christ in character and that truly is what God is doing in each of us. In Colossians 2:6-7 Paul tells us, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” In Romans 13:14 we are told, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” And in Romans 8:29 Paul says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
But Paul has a concern and that is this, he has already birthed them and now, by drifting away from Jesus and to the Law, he was going to have to birth them again! Obviously that is not natural and that is the point! They were being swayed by the winds of doctrine that were blowing, they set their sails high and they were babes, not mature in the faith! Stott put it this way, “He likens his pain to the pangs of childbirth. He had been in labour over them previously at the time of their conversion, when they were brought to birth; now their backsliding has caused him another confinement. He is in labour again. The first time there had been a miscarriage; this time he longs that Christ will be truly formed in them.”
Paul is trying to get their attention, those who want to live under the Law as their basis for their relationship with God, “Do you really hear what the Law is saying?” he is asking them. You see, the Law can’t save; it just exposes our sinful condition and if you want to live under the Law you will die in the Law!
In a sense, these legalists were sons of Abraham, but don’t forget that Abraham had two sons; Ishmael who is a type of the flesh, and Isaac who is the son of promise. God had promised a son to Abraham and Sarah but at 85 years of age, Abraham didn’t think things were looking too good, considering his wife was 75 years old! So Sarah convinced Abraham to have a child with her maidservant Hagar, helping God out. And Abraham said, “For you dear, I’ll do anything!” What a guy! Thus, from this relationship was born Ishmael, when Abraham was 86 years old! But God does not recognize the son of the flesh, for in Genesis 22:2 we are told, “ . . . ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’” You see, Abraham had two sons and yet God did not recognize Ishmael because Isaac was the son of the promise, a miracle of God, born when Abraham was 100 years old and his wife Sarah was 90!
It is as John MacArthur puts it: “The conception of Ishmael represents man’s way, the way of the flesh, whereas that of Isaac represents God’s way, the way of promise. The first is analogous to the way of religious self-effort and works righteousness; the second is analogous to the way of faith and God’s imputed righteousness. The one is the way of legalism, the other the way of grace. Ishmael symbolizes those who have had only natural birth and who trust in their own works. Isaac symbolizes those who also have had spiritual birth because they have trusted in the work of Jesus Christ.”
The Law, the Old Covenant was given to Moses on Mount Sinai and its requirement was for the Jews to keep all the commands. “That is humanly impossible!” you say and rightly so. Thus, it made them a type of religious slaves, bound to the master from which there was no way out. If you feel you can work your way into heaven then you are a child of Hagar, the bondwomen!
The freedom comes from the New Covenant that is based in the shed blood of Jesus Christ and that is a free gift of God, a grace gift that God has given to us and that is freedom, that is the New Jerusalem. Thus, in quoting out of Isaiah 54:1 Paul is saying that Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, will outnumber legalistic Jews, and we see that has come to pass!
Compare the two and see the difference:
| The “ISHMAELS” – Legalism | The “ISAACS” – True Christianity |
| Slavery and Bondage | Freedom |
| Ishmael: born according to the flesh | Isaac: born by God’s promised miracle |
| Coming from the earthly Jerusalem | Coming from the heavenly Jerusalem |
| Many children | Many more children |
| Persecuting | Persecuted |
| Inheriting nothing | Inheriting everything |
Please understand that Hagar and Sarah could not live in the same house, (Genesis 21:8-14). In fact, God told Abraham to send Hagar away. Folks, we as Christians must also send away the idea of relating to God on the principle of the Law, what we can do for God. Instead, we must live on the principle of what God has done for us. It is as Morris tells us, “Barclay makes the point that anyone who makes law central is ‘in the position of a slave; all his life he is seeking to satisfy his master the law’. But when grace is central, the person ‘has made love his dominant principle . . . it will be the power of love and not the constraint of law that keeps us right; and love is always more powerful than law.’”
As I conclude tonight, let me leave you with the words from Paul in Galatians 5:1, for his thought truly concludes here. As I have said before, the chapter divisions are not inspired, but placed at a much later date. Paul tells us, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” May we live in the freedom we have in Christ and not be placed in the bondage of the Law!s free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” May we live in the freedom we have in Christ and not be placed in the bondage of the Law!