Galatians 4 Verses 1 to 11 Redemption February 18, 2024

Galatians 4 Verses 1 to 11 Redemption February 18, 2024

Lesson 7 in A Cry for Freedom Class Presentation Notes AAAAA

Background Scriptures:

· Romans 8:15-16 (NKJV) 15 For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God,

· Colossians 2:14, 16-17 (NKJV) 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

Main Idea:

· Legalism is a real temptation for us because we are wired to Do something.

Study Aim:

· To understand that God’s love for you is unconditional; and He does not love you because you are perfect, but you are perfected in His love😊.

Create Interest:

· One of the tragedies of legalism is that it gives the appearance of Spiritual maturity when, in reality, it leads the believer back into a “second childhood” of Christian experience. The Galatian Christians, like most believers, wanted to grow and go forward for Christ; but they were going about it in the wrong way. Their experience is not too different from that of Christians today who get involved in various legalistic movements, hoping to become better Christians. Their motives may be right, but their methods are wrong.Are ours as they should be? Let’s check ourselves as we study this lesson.

Lesson in Historical Context:

· Some in the churches of Galatia were teaching that a person is saved by law; that is, he is saved by being good and religious and by doing the best he can. Of course, every person …

o should be good, ever striving to be better and better

o should be faithful in worshipping God in church

o should do the best he can—always

· However, Scripture is clear and forceful: a person is not saved by these things, for no amount of effort, energy, or work or adherence to the law can make a person perfect.

· This is the truth Paul is trying to get across to his beloved converts in Galatia. The Judaizers had bewitched them into thinking that the Law would make them better Christians. Their old nature felt an attraction for the Law because the Law enabled them to dothings and measure external results. As they measured themselves and their achievements, they felt a sense of accomplishment, and, no doubt, a little bit of pride. They thought they were going forward when actually they were regressing.

· Paul seeks to convince the Galatians that they do not need legalism in order to live the Christian life. They have all they need in Jesus Christ.[1]

Bible Study:

We were children in bondage

Galatians 4:1-3 (NKJV) 1 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.

· Vs. 1: Paul now draws a tighter circle around the opponents of his gospel. Using the first-person singular, which was more characteristic of the earlier part of the letter, he works with the concept of the heir. Paul points out that being an heir is not enough in and of itself if the heir is still a child. While an heir theoretically owns the whole estate … as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave. An inheritance is of no benefit unless one is an adult.

· Vs. 2: The minor lives neither freely nor fully. Rather, he is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.

o Paul equates the type of life advocated by the rival evangelists with the confining life of minors.

o His phrase “until the time appointed by his father” signals what he will declare in verse 4, that the appointed time is here.[2]

· Vs. 3: In Colossians 2:8 Paul warns: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

o Here Paul clearly associates “elementary principles of the world” with deceptive human tradition and philosophy. The heart of Jewish religion during New Testament times was the system of rabbinic traditions that had superseded and stifled the revealed truth of the Old Testament.

o In the Gentile world of that day, human philosophy and pagan religions were closely interrelated. And both Jewish traditions and pagan religions centered in man-made systems of works. They were filled with rules and regulations, the obeying of which were thought to make a person right with deity.

o The elemental things of all human religion, whether Jewish or Gentile, ancient or modern, inevitably involve the idea of achieving divine acceptance by one’s own efforts. And they are elemental in that they are only human, never rising beyond the mundane to the divine.[3]

Galatians 4:4 (NASB) 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,

· The gospel declared that time was fulfilled for the coming of Christ, God’s Messiah. It was time for the salvation of man to come upon the world scene.

o Paul emphasized that God and God alone decided the fullness of time for the coming of Christ. Christ was born of a particular person, at a particular time, in a particular way (incarnation), and under a particular system (the law).

§ He (Christ) shared the frustration and agony of being subjected to the very system from which He came to save men.

· The world and religious events were ready for the coming of Christ.

o The law had done its educational work. It had shown through the Jewish nation that men are terrible transgressors. Despite all of God’s favor and blessings, man still failed to worship God in love. The world now had a picture of the depraved heart of man. (See Ro. 3:10–18 for a clear description of man’s sinfulness.)

o The world was full of people Spiritually starved. The worship of self, of pleasure, of gods, of philosophical ethics left many empty and barren. The soul was now ready to have its hunger met.

o The world was at peace under Roman rule. The world was an open door for the spread of the gospel.

o The world spoke Greek as a basic language. This made communication possible with many from all over the world.

o The world had a system of roads for mass travel. This allowed Christian missionaries to reach the farthest parts of the earth. It also brought commercial travelers to metropolitan centers where Christian believers were concentrated.[4]

§ Mark 1:14-15 (NKJV) 14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."

§ Titus 1:2-3 (NKJV) 2 in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, 3 but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior;

Galatians 4:5-7 (NKJV) 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 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.

· Paul’s aim throughout is to make the Galatians, themselves of course Gentile Christians, realize that their pilgrimage from paganism to Christian faith is matched, stride for stride, by the Jewish pilgrimage from the ‘young child’ status, under the law, into Christian faith.

o Of course, there are differences. The Jew was already following the same God who has now been revealed in Jesus and by the Spirit, whereas the pagan was following idols. But the routes are parallel, and the destination is identical.

o In the Exodus, the God of Abraham revealed himself in a new way as the covenant-keeping God, the God who heard the cry of his people and came down to rescue them. The book of Exodus itself sees this as the revealing of God’s personal name, yhwh (Exodus 3:14; 6:2–8).

· Now, in a move as bold as it is original, Paul declares that, through his action in Jesus and the Spirit, the one God of Abraham has now made himself known, not just by name and action, but in personal presence as a human among humans, a Jew among Jews.

o God’s son Jesus, and the Spirit of God’s son, are both sent out from God, not as beings remoteor detached from himself, but as his own self-revelation, his own personal presence.

o Though theologians did not use the word ‘trinity’, and the technical terms associated with it, until sometime later than Paul, the roots of the three-in-one Christian understanding of God were present in this, one of the earliest, if not the earliest, document we possess from the young church.

o In the last verse of this paragraph Paul suddenly shifts from the second person plural to the second person singular. ‘You,’ he says, pointing a finger at the reader: you, not the person sitting next to you; you are no longer a slave, but a true child and heir. Until each reader has heard that word addressed to him- or herself, the message has not got through.[5]

· The importance of the early Christians’ experience of the Holy Spirit comes to the forefront once again an experience of a Spirit being, an “other” from outside the person, coming to encounter and indwell the human person:

· “And because you are sons and daughters, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out ‘Abba, Father!’

o The result is that you are no longer a slave, but a son or daughter—and if a son or daughter, then also an heir through God.” Paul marks this verse as a further step in his argument, as he identifies their experience of the Holy Spirit (4:6–7) as evidence for the conviction that God has adopted them into God’s own family.[6]

Paul laments their bondage

Galatians 4:8-11 (NKJV) 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.

· In verses 1–7 Paul showed how life under the law was like slavery but life in Christ is like that of a son. In verses 8–9 he asked why they were considering returning from the status of a son to that of a slave.

· Vs. 8: Paul reminded the Galatians what they had been, what they had in Christ, and what they were in danger of doing. He used the verb douleuo in both verses (rendered did service and to be in bondage in the KJV).

· Before they became believers, their lives were blighted in two ways. On the one hand, they knew not God. On the other hand, they did service (“were enslaved,” NRSV) unto them which by nature are not gods.

· Vs. 9: The words but now introduce a contrast—“You know God” (NIV). The word for knowing God refers to knowledge of acquaintance that leads to personal relationship. All of us know about the famous people of our day, but most of us do not know them personally nor do we have an ongoing relationship with them. Many people know about God, but they do not know Him. True believers know Him and have a relationship with him.

o Paul added the words or rather are known of (“by,” NIV) God to remind his readers that God knew us, loved us, and sought us before we came to know Him.

o His loving knowledge of us moved Him to send His Son to die for us while we were still sinners.

§ People do not seek and discover God on their own. God’s love always seeks us before we turn to Him.

· Vs. 9: Be in bondage (“be enslaved,” NRSV) translates douleuo.

o Notice what had enslaved them—the weak and beggarly elements.

o But what did Paul mean by this expression? The same word rendered elements, stoicheia, is in 4:3 where Paul wrote that they “were in bondage under the elements of the world.” Stoicheia has the basic meaning of “things lined up in rows.” From this came the notion of elementary or rudimentary things.

o The word is used this way of the basics of the faith in Hebrews 5:12. But the word also came to refer to the basic elements of the earth, then to the heavenly bodies, then to the gods represented by these, and finally to the supernatural forces that control the universe.

§ If Paul meant the former, he was warning against the rudimentary elements of laws that could not save.

§ If he meant the latter, he was thinking of the pagan gods.

📷 Since in this context Paul warned of pagan idolatry and legalism, he could have meant either or both.

· One surprise in these verses is the close relation of paganism and legalism. Paul considered Jewish legalism as dangerous as pagan idolatry. Another surprise is the use of the word desire, thelo, which means “to want” or “to wish.”

o “Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?” (NIV). This was incredible to Paul. He couldn’t imagine a liberated slave wanting to become a slave again.

§ Abraham Lincoln wrote in 1854 this comment: “Although volume upon volume is written to prove slavery a very good thing, we never hear of the man who wishes to take the good of it, by being a slave himself.”

What are some lasting lessons from Galatians 4:8–9?

· People without Christ are enslaved by forces they do not control.

· Knowing God involves a personal relationship with Him.

· God knew us and sought us before we knew Him.

· No one in his or her right mind would return from freedom to slavery, but believers are tempted to do so in moral and Spiritual things.[7]

Let’s move on

· Vs. 10: The apostle gets specific saying that their slavery is shown in their observance of “special days, months, seasons, and years,” a general reference to a broad range of Jewish festivals, events, and celebrations.

· What Paul says here is astonishing. He tells the Galatians that they used to be pagans who worshiped demons, but then they were set free by the gospel.

o Now they’re turning to Jewish holy days and festivals, giving themselves to slavery and paganism again. Did you catch that?

· Paul is talking about those who celebrate these Jewish holy days and festivals as a way to get to God, and he is equating their ceremonies with the same pagan religious practices the Galatians participated in before they came to Christ.

o In other words, Paul refers to these Jewish ordinances as demonic when they’re approached as ways to make oneself right before God.

§ This is the exact same thing pagans are doing in their religions.

Let’s pause here for a moment and for a change of pace, look at application to our lives. I am in no way implying that you are guilty of any of this, but could this be something of a wakeup call to someone?

· If you go to church, sing songs, and study the Word, thinking this is how you’re going to work to earn God’s favor, then you are no different from the over one billion Hindus in the world today who are bowing down to their gods.

· If your Christianity is a check-off box to make you feel good about yourself before God, to save your skin on the day of judgment, then your Christianity is no different from every other religion in the world, and ultimately it will condemn you.

· Paul is uncovering a scheme of the Devil (Satan) in the first century that continues in the twenty-first century. It is subtly and dangerously deceiving.

o What if Satan’s strategy to condemn your soul involves not tempting you to do all the wrong things, but instead leading you to do all the right things with the wrong Spirit?

o What if Satan actually wants you to come to church, lead a small group, teach, and lead your home in an upright way?

o What if Satan is in favor of you doing all those things, just so long as you think that by doing those things you’re working your way to God?

· Consider this short list

o You say, “Well, I pray.”

§ Big deal, Muslims pray.

o You say, “Well, I go to worship.”

§ Big deal, Hindus go to worship. They worship all day long.

o You say, “Well, I study the Bible.”

§ Big deal. So do Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they can quote it better than most Christians.

o You say, “Well, I go on mission trips.”

§ Big deal. So do Mormons—scores of them give years of their lives to do so.

Galatians 4:11 (NKJV) 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

· If your Christianity consists of slavery to religion to make yourself right before God, then it’s just as if you’re giving yourself to the pagan religions of the world.

o But Christianity is radically different from those worldly religions.

· Rather than slaves of religion, we are sons and daughters in a relationship with God. Paul says “But now after you have known God’, and then he pauses and says, “or rather are known by God” (v. 9). To use the language of 4:1–7, we are sons (/ daughters) of God.

o Why would we live like a slave to religion when we are sons in a relationship with God?

o God knows us intimately, and the idea here is of deep, personal knowledge.

We know God, and He knows us!

· We can either make Christianity just like every other world religion and check off our boxes every week and go through the routine and the ritual, or we can step into the intimate presence of God.

· We ought not be people who prayed a prayer a while ago and now are just trying to do our best to get things right with our lives on a week-in and week-out basis.

· We should be a people who walk with God and know Him intimately.

· We ought to serve God wholeheartedly, not because we’re trying to make ourselves right, but because we’ve been made right by God’s grace.

· We should walk with Him as sons/daughters who know Him and love Him and enjoy Him and glorify Him, no matter what it costs us.[8]

Grace and peace in your walk with Christ😊

[1]Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 705. [2]L. Ann Jervis, Galatians, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book, 2011), 108–109. [3]John F. MacArthur Jr., Galatians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983), 105. [4]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The Gospel according to Mark, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1996), 18. [5]Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 47. [6]David A. deSilva, The Letter to the Galatians, ed. Ned B. Stonehouse et al., The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018), 356. [7]Robert J. Dean, Family Bible Study, Summer 2003, Herschel Hobbs Commentary (LifeWay Christian Resources, 2003), 77–78. [8]David Platt and Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 88–89.