234 Galatians 4:1-31 - a podcast by Dr David Petts - Pentecostal preacher, former AoG Bible College Principal

Galatians   Talk 6   Galatians 4:1-31

At the beginning of this chapter Paul picks up on what he has been saying in Chapter 3:23-25 about the temporary nature of the law. He uses a mixture of metaphors to illustrate this.

 

In 3:23 he sees the law as a jailer keeping us in prison:

 

23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law (literally, we were being kept under the law), locked up until faith should be revealed.

 

In 3:24-25 he sees the law as a pedagogue – an entrusted slave who would lead a young child to school. Its purpose was to lead us to faith in Christ:

 

24 So the law was (our pedagogue) put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the (pedagogue) supervision of the law.

 

In 4:1-3 he sees the law as a guardian and trustee appointed by a father until the time came for a child to receive its inheritance:

 

 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.

 

The point of each of these metaphors is to show that since the coming of Christ the law is no longer needed:

 

4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

 

Note:

            God sent his Son at just the right time

            He was born under the law so that we could be set free from the law

            We are redeemed – bought from slavery under the law  

            We have the full rights of sons

            God has given us his Spirit – if we are led by the Spirit we are not under the law

(cf. 5:18)

We are heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

 

In the light of all this, in 4:8-11 Paul says, Why are you turning back?

 

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 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 principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

 

Verses 12-20 reflect Paul’s feeling that in deserting his gospel the Galatians were deserting him (cf. 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting…).

 

The meaning of verse 12 is unclear, but is probably best understood as follows:

 

Brethren, I beg of you, become as I am [free from the bondage of Jewish ritualism and ordinances], for I also have become as you are [a Gentile]. You did me no wrong [in the days when I first came to you; do not do it now (Amplified Bible).

 

He reminds them of how well they had received him when he had first come to preach the gospel to them:

 

13 As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 14 Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.  15 What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

 

The main point of these verses is Paul’s disappointment at the change in the Galatians’ attitude towards him. They are rejecting him in favour of those who preach a false gospel. But he warns them that these Judaizers are wrongly motivated:

 

17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you [from us], so that you may be zealous for them.

 

Paul’s motives, however, are pure:

 

18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. 19. My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

 

·       He is always zealous for them (18)

·       He is agonizing over them (19)

·       He longs to be with them (20).

 

 

 

Note incidentally, that verses 13-14 also shed light on the subject of healing:

 

·       Even great Christians (cf. also Epaphroditus, Timothy, Trophimus) get sick

·       They are not always immediately healed

·       God has a purpose in allowing sickness.

 

In the final part of the chapter (vv. 21-31) Paul uses what is technically known as a rabbinic argument. This is a way of interpreting scripture that he would have learned when he studied under rabbi Gamaliel. His reason for using it here is probably because his Judaizer opponents may well have been familiar with this form of argument and, although it is not something we easily follow today, it would undoubtedly have been understood by them.

 

But before we look at the argument itself, it will be helpful to remind ourselves of the truth that Paul was seeking to demonstrate by it. We have already seen that Paul’s overall purpose in Galatians was to establish that:

 

·       no one is saved by obeying the works of the law but by believing the promise of God

·       salvation is by faith alone, not by faith followed by circumcision.

·       the true descendants of Abraham are those who believe as Abraham believed

·       the true Israel is made up of all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile

·       the law enslaves and imprisons people because of their failure to keep it.

 

Paul now uses an illustration from Genesis to demonstrate these principles. He uses Abraham’s two sons to illustrate the difference between the old covenant God made with Israel at Sinai (the law) and the new covenant made with all who are justified by faith in Christ. He points out that:

 

22. …Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.

 

Abraham had two sons:

Ishmael, whose mother Hagar, was a slave

Isaac, whose mother Sarah, was free.

(So, by analogy, the spiritual descendants of Abraham are free from the bondage of the law).

 

23. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.

 

Ishmael was born naturally

Isaac was born supernaturally as a result of God’s promise

(So Isaac represents us Christians because we are supernaturally born again).

 

24 These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

 

Hagar and Sarah represent two covenants. God gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Paul uses Hagar to stand for Mount Sinai because both she, and the law given at Sinai, produced slavery in their children. And, Paul says, the present city of Jerusalem is also in slavery with her children. So he seems to be saying:

 

·       Hagar was in bondage (as Sarah’s maidservant)

·       The law puts us in bondage (for reasons he has already given)

·       The (then) present city of Jerusalem was still in bondage (because it had rejected the way of salvation through faith provided by Christ).

 

BUT

26. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27. For it is written: "Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labour pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband."

 

By contrast with the earthly Jerusalem, however, is the heavenly Jerusalem (the Messianic kingdom of Christ). She is our mother, and her children are free. What’s more, the (spiritual) children descended from Sarah, the barren woman, far outnumber those who are naturally born.

 

28. Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." (Genesis 21:10)

 

We Christians are children of promise. We are not naturally born, like Ishmael, but supernaturally born, like Isaac. We are born by the power of the Spirit. Verses 29-30 are a reference back to Genesis 21:9-10. Paul sees Ishmael’s mocking Isaac as symbolising the way the Judaizers were persecuting those who believed his message. But the two cannot coexist. There is only one way of salvation. We must be careful not to compromise.

 

31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

 

So we are not like Ishmael, born into slavery. We are free from the law, and as Paul will say at the beginning of the next chapter:

 

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again with a yoke of slavery.

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