Galatians 4

English Standard Version Chapter 4

4 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Paul’s Concern for the Galatians

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

12 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

Example of Hagar and Sarah

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;

break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!

For the children of the desolate one will be more

than those of the one who has a husband.”

28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

The Bible Guide The Example of Ishmael and Isaac (4:21–31)

The example of Ishmael and Isaac

(4:21–31)

Paul gives another example to show the difference between law and promise. He uses the very scriptures which the Jewish teachers are using to impose the law on Gentile Christians.

Paul takes the Jews to the books of the law and the story of Abraham. Abraham had two sons. The first was Ishmael, the child of his slave woman Hagar. The second was Isaac, the child of his wife Sarah. One was born a slave; the other was born free.

Paul says that these sons are a picture of the law and the gospel. The law was given through Moses on Mount Sinai—and that mountain is like a mother that produces children for slavery. The earthly Jerusalem is the same—the capital of a Judaism which is enslaved to ritual, sacrifice and legalism.

But there is another mother, and that is the new Jerusalem which is in heaven. She, like Abraham’s wife, is free—and her children are free. They are not the slave children of law, but the free children of promise.

Paul is saying the same as he said before. The real children of Abraham are not the Jews who observe circumcision and keep the sabbath. The real children of Abraham are those who, by faith in Christ, have become the children of God.

Paul is arguing with the Jewish teachers on their own ground—and winning. He wants them to realize the limitations of the law—and accept instead the freedom of Christ.

The Bible Guide From Slaves to Children (3:26–4:11)

From slaves to children

(3:26–4:11)

So there is no distinction in God’s sight between Jews and Gentiles. Nor does God distinguish between male and female, or slaves and those who are free.

Salvation is offered to all, regardless of race, sex or status. God welcomes as his children all those who belong to Christ. They are the true descendants of Abraham and the heirs of the promise God made to him.

To put it another way, it is as though the law was guiding us while we grew up. This growing up took many hundreds of years for the Jewish people, and is repeated in each of our lives. But the time comes when, by God’s Spirit, we are able to call him ‘Abba’ or ‘Father’. We are no longer slaves trying to keep the laws but children delighting in his promise.

Paul is concerned that the Galatians are slipping back into slavery. Before they were Christians, they had rituals and routines to cope with the troubles and dangers of life. Now they are using the Jewish law for the same purpose. They are trying to keep on the right side of God with circumcisions, sabbaths and festivals. Paul wonders if all his efforts to give them the gospel of grace are wasted.

‘What has happened to your joy?’

(4:12–20)

Paul knows that something has gone seriously wrong with the Galatians. He remembers their care for him when he was ill—perhaps with an illness affecting his eyesight. They would have given their eyes to him in those days! But now they seem to have lost all their joy and commitment.

Accepting what Jesus has done

We don’t like to think that we’re helpless—but we are! Pride in what we can do must be replaced by humble acceptance of what Jesus has done for us. If our works could deliver salvation, Jesus need never have gone to the cross.

Paul begs his readers to become like him. He longs that they should share his life in Christ, just as he shared their everyday life when he was with them.

The Jewish teachers are paying the Galatians a lot of attention, but they aren’t doing them any good. Paul may not be impressive, but at least he is telling them the truth. He feels like a pregnant mother enduring spasms of pain. He is straining to bring the Galatians to birth in the image of Christ.