Faith and Freedom: Adoption

Introduction:

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Jew or Greek is a theological category that reminds us that the only pedigree that matters is one rooted in Christ

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Welcome to the Family!

Slave or free is a sociological category that reminds us that our identity is in Christ before society defines us.

Male or Female is a gender category reminding us that God gives individual faith to both male and female as both equally made in His image!

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, FOLKS! Equally members of God’s family.

In this passage, Paul describes the process as to HOW Israel and Gentiles merged into one family.

What 'they’ were: ‘Like’ Slaves

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

What 'they’ were: ‘Like’ Slaves

What 'they’ were: ‘Like’ Slaves

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.

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

When ‘we’ were ‘like’ slaves

When ‘we’ were ‘like’ slaves

Israel was ‘like’ slaves because they didn’t yet receive the inheritance of the ‘promise’

Promise was given to Abraham:

3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

But the Law kept Israel as children BECAUSE THEY HAD NOT YET RECEIVED THE INHERITANCE PROMISED TO ABRAHAM.

Not about land, not about prosperity: It’s about Christ!

“I will be your God, you will be my people”= Through Jesus, I will be your father, you will be my people.”

v.3: “When we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world

Elemental Principles of the World= Law given to Israel

Stuck in the ABC’s. Stuck in the play room, or the nursery.

Stuck in the A-B-C’s

The A-B-C’s, How to spell your name, etc.

Do’s and don’t’s

Raised by the Law (guardians)- Child: Under guardians and trustees ‘controllers of his person and property’ (NEB)

“Here it must refer to the law that came after the promise (vv. 15–18), to its sin-revealing purpose (v. 19), to its temporal limitations (v. 19), to its inferior status because of its need for mediation (vv. 19–20), to its inability to bring life (v. 21), and to its imprisoning function (vv. 22–25).

Father didn’t hand them the keys to the estate yet- still stuck in a ‘you shalt not’ mentality

Israel was locked into this position of immaturity until the Promise came- which is Christ.

Israel: What was life like?

Childhood or minority. He will receive this inheritance someday, but right now he doesn’t ‘own’ it. It’s only something that is promised to him.

Has to wait for dad to hand him the keys!

Has to wait for dad to hand him the keys!

Elemental: Letters of the Alphabet.

Elemental: Letters of the Alphabet.

v. 3:

v. 3:

What does “Enslaved to the elementary principles of the world” mean?

Though children, they were like slaves: imprisoned within their immature position without the promise

McKnight: Thus, it is best to see “basic principles” as a reference to the law in its negative and suspended features.”

vv.4-5: Jesus the Son so we can be Sons

Jesus crashes into the scene

But when the fullness of time had come...

But when the fullness of time had come...

Like, when the maturity came for the child to become a man, or something like that...

God sent Jesus born of a woman

God commissions Jesus!

Same word as ‘apostle’, but with a prefix ‘out’

Truly human

born under the law

Born under the ‘Guardian’

Law: Law was like a Prison Guard or like a Tutor

Jesus was born under that system intended to protect, control, manage, lock up Israel.

Jesus was born under this system, but he was born under it to redeem Israel from it.

to redeem (purchase) those under the law

Paul is still just talking about Israel here

So all these people stuck in bondage:

Born to its sin-revealing purpose (v. 19)

to its temporal limitations (v. 19)

to its inferior status because of its need for mediation (vv. 19–20)

to its inability to bring life (v. 21),

and to its imprisoning function (vv. 22–25).

Jesus found a way to redeem them.

Redeem: “To purchase a slave.” “Bought to be set free”

SO THAT we might receive adoption as sons/adoption to Sonship

Huiothesian is a fully legal term...

R. Alan Cole: Huiothesian is a fully legal term, adoption as sons, though in the New Testament it is only used in a religious sense. The idea, although not the word, comes from the Old Testament, referring to the new status given to Israel by God and the new relationship into which she had been called. It is, however, not such an abstract word as ‘adoption’ in English; perhaps, therefore, the netēn huiothesian, literally, ‘the adoption’, may just be to mark it as an abstract noun. On the other hand, it may mean ‘the famous adoption, of which Scripture speaks’.

Leon Morris: “It is a useful word for Paul, for it signifies being granted the full rights and privileges of sonship in a family to which one does not belong by nature.”

SO THAT we might receive adoption as sons

Translation of Sonship:

Importance of Translation of the text.

Son:

Son:

Not about ‘manliness’ or ‘macho’

Challenge: How to share the concept of ‘sonship’ (a patriarchal idea) in a sensitive way.

Theme of Sonship:

Freedom from bondage

v. 5: God sent the Son

McKnight: “Also speaks to the hopeful stance of the believer as he (or she!) awaits the fullness of salvation that comes when brother times gives birth to sister eternity.”

Keep in mind: Adoption is a real even that happens to Christians even though the concept of ‘sonship’ is rooted in patriarchal language. In other words, there was no legal term of daughtership. Paul is stringing this analogy of slave to son to heir and so it just makes logical sense that he sticks with this masculine theme. But we need to remember what Paul just said in the prior passage: That there is neither male nor female who are excluded from receiving the Promise. The Holy Spirit isn’t sexist. That’s important to keep in mind because although we can’t change the language around in the Bible, we do need to recognize that the language can sound exclusive in our 2020 world. But I can guarantee you, in a culture of the 1st century reading Paul in Galatians, that the women knew that what Paul is talking about here includes them personally!

Though this concept is masculine, this is not about being male or manliness. This is about how we need to understand how God has designed the process of faith and salvation!

The point is that Jesus made a way for us to call God Father.

Opened our eyes to the FATHER!

Heidelberg Catechism:

One who cries ‘Abba’

Prayer

Word

Heidelberg Catechism:

26 Q. What do you believe when you say,

"I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth"?

A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who out of nothing created heaven and earth

and everything in them,^1

who still upholds and rules them

by his eternal counsel and providence,^2

is my God and Father

because of Christ his Son.^3

vv.6-7: A Son Means Heir

Paul moves back to including both Israel and the Galatians into the discussion

Through Jesus, Israel has now matured past childhood! We’ve grown up because the SPIRIT has come.

v. 6: PRONOUN CHANGE!

And because you are sons...

Paul makes a leap to you because he’s moved beyond the Old Testament, to this new Faith Era ushered into time and space by Christ.

Jesus came to fix and redeem God’s People so that God’s People can include Jew and Gentile.

YOU are ALSO Sons, equally adopted into God’s Family.

v. 6: God sent the Spirit so we can recognize God as Father:

God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “ABBA! FATHER!”

God sent the Spirit so we can recognize God as Father:

Same word is used for Spirit: “sent with a mission!”

“Apostle” with ‘ek’

Stott: “He sent His Son that we might have the status of sonship, and He sent His Spirit that we might have an experience of it.”

McKnight: “Being a ‘son of God’ means having God’s Spirit, which is the promise of Abraham (3:14).”

14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

McKnight: “Being a ‘son of God’ means having God’s Spirit, which is the promise of Abraham (3:14).”

Cry: ‘croak’ Etymology: “croaking of ravens” “Calling with a croak”

Coming to Age Son with cracked voice, “Abba, Father!”

v.7: Slave to son to heir: THROUGH GOD!

Application: Heirs are also sent with a mission

Do you cry out ‘Abba, Father’? What does that look like for you?

How do you experience Sonship?

Importance of Translation of the text.

McKnight: “While I am deeply disturbed by patriarchy and chauvinism, I do not believe that the way to eradicate them from society is to retranslate ancient texts so as to give the impression that they never existed.”

Son:

Not about ‘manliness’ or ‘macho’

Challenge: How to share the concept of ‘sonship’ (a patriarchal idea) in a sensitive way.

Theme of Sonship:

Freedom from bondage

“Also speaks to the hopeful stance of the believer as he (or she!) awaits the fullness of salvation that comes when brother times gives birth to sister eternity.”

Sonship= intimacy with God.

One who cries ‘abba’

Prayer

Word

v. 1-2: Child is no different from a slave

Israel: What was life like?

Childhood or minority. He will receive this inheritance someday, but right now he doesn’t ‘own’ it. It’s only something that is promised to him.

Child: Under guardians and trustees ‘controllers of his person and property’ (NEB)

Has to wait for dad to hand him the keys!

Law= Elemental Principles of the World

Elemental: Letters of the Alphabet.

Stott: “He sent His Son that we might have the status of sonship, and He sent His Spirit that we might have an experience of it.”

v.7: Slave to son to heir: THROUGH GOD!