Galatians 4 Verses 12 to 20 Where is Your Joy February 25, 2024

Galatians 4 Verses 12 to 20 Where is Your Joy February 25, 2024

Presentation Notes AAAAA

Lesson 8 In A Cry for Freedom Series

Background Scriptures:

· Acts 14:19-20 (NKJV) 19 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul anddragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 20 However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

· Romans 10:2-4 (NKJV) 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

· Psalm 51:12 (NKJV) 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

Main Idea:

· Legalism and sin can take away our joy in Christ.

Study Aim:

· To understand that you cannot lose your salvation; but you can lose the joy of your salvation.

Create Interest:

· “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Prov. 27:6). Paul had proved his love to the Galatians by telling them the truth; but they would not accept it. They were enjoying the “kisses” of the Judaizers, not realizing that these kisses were leading them into bondage and sorrow. Christ had made them sons and heirs, but they were rapidly becoming slaves and beggars.

· They had not lost the experience of salvation—they were still Christians; but they were losing the enjoymentof their salvation and finding satisfaction in their works instead. Sad to say, they did not realize their losses. They actually thought they were becoming better Christians by substituting Law for grace, and the religious deeds of the flesh for the fruit of the Spirit.

· Is yourChristian life moving forward into liberty or backward into bondage? Think carefully before you answer. Perhaps this lesson will help you see which of the two is going on in your life.😊

Lesson In Historical Context:

· Until this point in the letter, Paul’s approach has been confrontational and impersonal.

o He has been writing like a scholar or debater, marshaling every possible argument and illustration to get his message across.

o He has taken the stance of a determined lawyer in court or a learned theologian in the classroom, giving a dispassionate and irrefutable presentation.

o He has referred to the Old Testament to teach the Galatians the basic truth of the gospel he had taught them many times before: salvation is by God’s grace alone, forgiving man’s lawbreaking sin and becoming effective through man’s faith alone.

o He has used both his own experience and that of the Galatians to reinforce his teaching.

§ But for the most part, he has sounded detached, seeming to be more concerned about principles than people.[1]

· Having shared his deeply personal fear that his work among them may prove to be all for nothing (4:11), Paul continues to write in a more personal vein throughout this next paragraph, returning to the task of supporting his cause with appeals to character and sadness (specifically invoking feelings of friendship, shame, and indignation). He purposefully recalls his former connection with the Galatians, forged during his earlier time with them, and adds the weight of this connection to the force of his reasoning in 2:14–4:11. Remembering the “good old days” in their relationship before the rival teachers came along, nosing their way in to break up the relationship to their own advantage, also allows him to rouse hostile feelings toward, and undermine the credibility of, those who have broken in with self-serving intent.[2]

· Paul was a wonderful spiritual father; he knew just how to balance rebuke with love. Now he turns from “spanking” to “embracing” as he reminds the believers of their love for him and his love for them. At one point they were willing to sacrifice anything for Paul, so great was their love; but now he had become their enemy. The Judaizers had come in and stolen their affection.

· Bible students wish Paul had been more explicit here because we are not sure just what events he is talking about. When Paul had originally visited them, he was suffering from some physical affliction. If, as noted in Galatians 1, Paul wrote this letter to the churches of South Galatia, then he is referring to his first missionary journey, recorded in Acts 13–14. Apparently, Paul had not intended to visit these cities, but was forced to do so because of some bodily infirmity. We can only speculate as to what this was. Some have suggested malaria; others, an affliction of the eyes (see Gal. 4:15).

o Whatever it was, it must have made Paul somewhat repulsive in appearance, because he commends the Galatians for the way they received him in spite of the way he looked. To them, he was an angel of God.

o It is a wonderful thing when people accept God’s servants, not because of their outward appearance, but because they represent the Lord and bring His message.

· Now Paul asks them: “What has happened to that love? What has happened to the blessedness—the happiness—you experienced when you heard the Gospel and trusted Christ?” Of course, Paul knew what had happened: the Judaizers had come in and stolen their hearts.[3]

Bible Study:

Galatians 4:12 (NKJV) 12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.

· Paul now works to convince the Galatians on the grounds of their being brothers. In the ancient world, as today, it was common to appeal to friendship as the basis upon which an action might be requested.

· Paul chooses a different tack and commands his readers to become like me.

o He states that he became like them, by which statement he likely refers to the fact that, upon understanding that salvation came solely through Christ, he had become like a Gentile.

o Compare 2:14, where Paul describes Peter’s life as like a Gentile, until the men from James arrived. Big point to discuss!

§ Galatians 2:14 (NKJV) 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before themall, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?

· Just as Paul rejected law observance to become as a Gentile, so he directs the Galatians to reject law observance and remain Gentiles. After the previous arguments from Scripture, experience, and reason Paul moves into a more personal vein with his readers, emphasizing his relationship with the Galatians in an attempt to dissuade them from turning to the law.

· This is not the first time that Paul has spoken personally, but 4:12–20 is his most extensive appeal to the special bond he has shared with his converts. Paul recalls for his readers the fact that previously they did him no wrong.

o Paul wishes to cast their current course of action as a betrayal of the good beginning of their friendship.[4]

Galatians 4:13-14 (NKJV) 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.

· The last clause of verse 12 belongs with these and the following verses in which Paul related how he was received by the Galatians on his first visit to them (cf. Acts 13–14). “You have not injured me at all.”

· Here we have a reference to Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.”. We discuss this thorn more fully when dealing with 2 Corinthians 12:7. Possibilities include the following………………………………………………

o It has been held to be the persecution which he suffered, the temptations of the flesh, which he is said never to have succeeded in suppressing.

o His physical appearance, which the Corinthians regarded as contemptible (2 Corinthians 10:10).

o The oldest tradition is that it was violent and prostrating headaches.

· The word translated you did not turn from me with loathing literally means you did not spit at me. In the ancient world it was the custom for a man to spit when he met an epileptic in order to avert the influence of the evil spirit which was believed to be resident in the sufferer; so, it has been suggested that Paul was an epileptic.[5] (Note suggested, but not proven)

· At that time, he labored under the handicap of an illness that remained when he had preached the gospel to them. Whatever his infirmity, the Galatians did not treat Paul with contempt or scornas a weak messenger but rather received him as one would receive an angel or even Christ Jesus Himself.[6]

Galatians 4:15-18 (NKJV) 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? 17 They zealously court you, butfor 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.

· The underlying point here seems to be that Paul is reminding them that his ‘flesh’, his physical condition, was no problem for them at that stage. Now, therefore, they ought not to suppose that their own ‘flesh’, their present condition, i.e. uncircumcision, will be any problem to him or to anyone else.

o Whether it be:

§ personality cults,

§ fine clothes,

§ physical circumcision,

§ wealth,

§ noble birth,

§ social status—

📷 whatever it is, it’s all irrelevant when it comes to preaching the gospel, hearing the gospel, or living by the gospel.

§ Paul wants them to see that just as he, a Jew, has been cheerfully prepared to suffer for the gospel, so they should be prepared to share his status, that of being defined simply and solely by their faith in Jesus Christ.

· VS. 15-16: Paul asks, what has gone wrong? What happened to that blessing, that wonderful state of opening their hearts and lives to the word and power of the gospel, and finding it transform them from within?

o At the time they would have done anything for him (to speak of ‘plucking out your eyes for someone’ was a regular way of saying ‘I would do anything for you’). Now, since all he’s done is tell them the truth, surely they aren’t going to turn away from him?

§ This is a direct appeal to the loyalty of friendship.

o Theological argument is important; but unless it takes place within a context where people are bonded together in mutual trust and shared Christian experience, it will only reach the head, not the heart, and probably not the will. Discuss this before moving on.

· Vs. 17: The real reason for the break—or the potential break—in their relationship has been the other people who have come in. Paul here only speaks of them as ‘they’, but it’s clear what these people want to do.

o They want to shut the Galatians out. Remember chapter 2:

§ They (the Judaizars) want to set up a two-level fellowship, an outer circle for Gentile Christians and an inner circle for Jewish Christians.

§ That way they can present themselves to their Jewish friends or family as proper, law-abiding Jews; and they will then compel the Galatians to come, cap in hand, to seek circumcision as the price of admission to the inner circle.

· VS. 18: But Paul knows that there can be no outer circle and inner circle within the grace of God. ‘They’, he says, ‘are eager for you’; the word he uses for ‘eager’ is actually ‘zealous’, filled with the zeal that he himself had once had, zeal for God and the law, zeal to make converts to Judaism. But Paul is now using the word in a wider sense as well.

o Zeal in this wider sense is a good thing: it is fine to burn with eagerness for God’s work, but it must be on the right lines (compare Romans 10:2-3, where he describes his fellow Jews as having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge).

§ Romans 10:2-3 (NKJV) 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

o Paul wants them to be on fire with love for God, for the gospel, for the fellowship of all other believers.

§ The zeal that ‘they’, the opponents or agitators, are exhibiting is of another kind: they are aflame with eagerness to consolidate their view of God’s people as a family based principally on ethnic, physically marked membership.[7]

Galatians 4:19-20 (NKJV) 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.

· Hurtful as this doubtless was to Paul, what was uppermost in his heart was a loving concern for the Galatians themselves. In verse 19 he calls them his ‘dear children’ and says that he is ‘again in the pains of childbirth’ for them. In verse 20 he declares that he is ‘perplexed’ about them. Earlier, he has even gone so far as to express the fear that somehow, he has wasted his efforts on them (v. 11). All personal considerations—and in this Paul is the model pastor—are swallowed up by his intense anxiety for them.

· Vs. 20: So what were they doing? ‘

o You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!’ (v. 10). (Can you imagine Paul “bristling” when he wrote this list?)

§ The reference is to all the special events of the Jewish calendar, from the weekly seventh-day Sabbath to the Year of Jubilee.

§ Gentiles as they were, they had taken them all on board and were observing them for their salvation.

§ Faith in Jesus, they had been told, was not enough for justification. They had to effectively become Jews and begin to observe the Jewish calendar.

· They had started, too! And Paul is staggered: ‘Do you not realize what you are doing?’ he asks. ‘You are enslaving yourselves all over again!’[8]

Give Us a Passion to See Others Transformed for the Glory of Christ

· When Christ is formed in us, which only happens by the Word, this affects our proclamation. So, we pray that God would give us a passion to see others transformed for the glory of Christ.

· We hear Paul’s heart at this point. According to Galatians 4:19, this is what he labors and experiences pain for, what he wants more than anything else. Like a mother who longs, even through pain, to give birth to a child, Paul longed to see the Galatians transformed for the glory of Christ.

· This ought to be the heart of every pastor and of every follower of Christ. Share these in your heart and with others… and I’ll bet you will find or increase your joy.😊 Discuss these in class.

§ We should pray for each other, teach each other, and model the Christ-life before each other because we want others to be transformed.

§ We are not followers of Christ merely for our own sake. We are here together, for each other.

§ Our churches ought to be communities that weep with each other, plead with each other, confront each other, when necessary, pray with each other, and exhort each other.

📷 We do all of this because we want to see each other transformed, not into our own image or some prefabricated image of what our culture says we should look like, but instead into the image of Christ.

· Paul says that he will not be satisfied until that happens.

· May God help us to be a people who are not satisfied until Christ is formed in us, until we take on the shape of Christ.

Truth That Hurts … and Heals… Restores Joy

· Let’s face it. Sometimes the truth is the last thing we want to hear, especially if it exposes our spiritual deficiencies. Even when spoken in love by someone who cares deeply about us, the truth can cause us to bristle. The bad news about us can make us bitter, angry, and resentful. We tend to lash out at the truth teller to evade the sting of facing the truth itself … and changing.

· Some of us have been around long enough to appreciate true wisdom.

o It isn’t the know-it-all who holds the key to a better life.

§ It’s the man or woman of God who has surrendered himself or herself fully to the truth and is willing to hear it, accept it, live it, and pass it on—even when it hurts.

o We need to keep in mind that truth can either make us bitter or better.

· Truth can help us face our weaknesses and trust in Christ’s life-changing power.

o How do you generally respond to the truth?

§ Do you seek out people who are honest in their evaluations or do you avoid them?

§ Have you heard any hard truth about your life lately from someone who cares about you? What was it? Did it sting? Was it helpful?

📷 Take a moment to consider what was said, how it was said, and how the God of truth would want you to react to it.

· If hearing the truth helped you at all, even if it just caused you to think, why not do something unusual?

o Take a few minutes to write a note to the person who shared the truth with you.

§ Thank him or her for loving you enough to say the hard thing.[9] You will find your joy is in process of being restored with an attitude of gratitude😊.

Reflect and Discuss

· In what sense does the gospel bring freedom from slavery? What does it mean to live as a child in a relationship not enslaved to religion?

· What does it mean to be “known by God” (v. 9)? Why is this an amazing thing to say?

· What might it look like to rely on the law for salvation? How is this contrary to the gospel?

· If God still expects His people to obey, how is a relationship with Him different from being a slave to religion?

· How is any attempt to earn favor before God, even under the banner of religion, a form of paganism?

· What are some practical ways to grow in an intimate relationship with God?

· Have you ever become someone’s enemy by telling the truth (4:16)? Do you need to speak the truth in love to someone right now? If so, explain why.

· Why does the truth of the gospel often meet opposition from those who claim to be religious?

· In verse 19 we see Paul’s passion for the spiritual growth of the church in Galatia. In what ways can you foster that kind of love for fellow believers?[10]

Grace and peace to each of you this day

[1]John F. MacArthur Jr., Galatians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983), 113–114. [2]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), 376. [3]Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 708. [4]L. Ann Jervis, Galatians, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book, 2011), 117. [5]William Barclay, ed., The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians, The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1976), 38. [6]Donald K. Campbell, “Galatians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 602. [7]Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 53–54. [8]David Campbell, Opening Up Galatians, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2009), 75–76. [9]Charles R. Swindoll, Galatians, Ephesians, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2015), 99–100. [10]David Platt and Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 93–94.