Bible Study Galatians 4: 1-20

 

Bible Study Galatians 4: 1-20

Our Text:

Sonship in Christ

4 Now I say, as long as the heir is a [a]child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is [b]owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and stewards until the date set by the father. 3 So also we, while we were children, were enslaved under the [c]elemental things of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under [d]the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under [e]the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir [f]through God.

8 However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. 9 But now, having known God, or rather having been known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless [g]elemental things, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored [h]over you for nothing.

12 I beg of you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. 13 But you know that it was because of a [i]bodily illness that I proclaimed the gospel to you the [j]first time; 14 and that which was a [k]trial to you in my [l]bodily condition you did not despise or [m]loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. 15 Where then is [n]that sense of blessing you had? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. 16 So have I become your enemy by [o]telling you the truth? 17 They zealously seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will zealously seek them. 18 But it is good always to be zealously sought in a commendable [p]manner, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— 20 but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.

Verse by verse commentary

Verse 1: “Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything,”

We will need to understand the Roman customs to see Paul’s illustration in action. In a Roman home, servants had charge of different possessions of the owner. Some had charge of the personal property, others of the livestock, others kept the finances for the owner, and others had the responsibility to care for his children. When a little one was born into the home, the servants cared for him and dressed him in play clothes so that he didn’t look any different from the children of the servants with whom he was playing. And he had to obey the servants just like the other children did. 

Verse 2: “but he is under guardians and stewards until the date set by the father.”

Previously, Paul has compared the law to a prison warden (3:23 “kept under the law) and a guardian (3:24 law was a schoolmaster). Now he compares its preparatory role to that of guardians or trustees of a minor. The full right reserved for one who has grown up is adoption as a son and receiving the inheritance. All we have is the law to convict us and show us our sin until the Holy Spirit broods over the lost sinner and shows him his sin. There is no salvation without Holy Spirit conviction. Today, we need a return to the previous times when the law was preached to reveal sin. We need preachers that can preach on the fire of Hell so intently that you can feel the heat.

Verse 3: “So also we, while we were children, were enslaved under the elemental things of the world.”

“Under the elemental things of the world” means under the Law. Paul is saying that it was the childhood of the nation Israel when they were under rules and regulations. When children are young they need many rules to keep them from harm. We should be so thankful that we were once under the Law because that was the means the Holy Spirit used to bring conviction of sin to us. Without that conviction, there would be no salvation.

Verse 4: “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,”

In God’s timetable (“when the fullness of time came”), when the exact religious, cultural, and political conditions demanded by His perfect plan were in place, Jesus came into the world. That God would send His Son at the precise correct time, corresponds to the time in the natural world when a father set the time for a ceremony of his son becoming of age and being released from the guardians.  Being “born of a woman,” emphasizes Jesus’ full humanity. He was 100% God and 100% man.  Like all people, Jesus was obligated to obey God’s law. Unlike everyone else, however, He perfectly obeyed that law.

Verse 5: “so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

God had a twofold purpose: (1) To redeem those under the Law. They were children under the Law. The Law never made anyone a son of God. (2) That they might receive the adoption of sons.

Adoption has a meaning different from adoption today. We think of a couple that can’t have a baby. So they apply, go through a series of background checks and investigations and they may be able to adopt a child. When the parents file court papers it will go before a judge to approve the adoption. When the little one becomes their child we call that adoption. However, the Roman custom in Paul’s day was to adopt one’s own son. Adoption (the Greek word is huiothesia) means “to place as a son.” A believer is placed in the family of God as a full grown son, capable of understanding divine truth. While there are “baby Christians,” in God’s kingdom, they are full grown children.

Verse 6: “And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”

The Aramaic word for “Father,” used by Jesus (Mark 14:36). It was natural for Jesus, God’s Son, to use this term. Think of the word as meaning “Daddy.” This is a close personal and intimate expression. When my children were smaller, they would use the word “Daddy” when they were hurting, frightened, or needed something from me as their earthly father. Now the Spirit puts the same word on the lips of men and women who are adopted in Christ. They can cry out, “Daddy!”

Verse 7: “Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”

Previously, Paul has compared the law to a prison warden (3:23) and a guardian (3:24). Now he compares its preparatory role to that of guardians or trustees of a minor. The full right reserved for one who has grown up is adoption as a son and receiving the inheritance. Again, it is important to understand adoption in Roman times, not 21st century America. God, through the gifts of grace and repentance has chosen His children before the foundation of the world. It is to these chosen ones that God adopts into His family as a fully invested son or daughter. We are free from the slavery of sin that includes the penalty of sin, being set free from the power of sin and one day, we will be delivered from the presence of sin.

Verse 8: “However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods.”

Paul is speaking of the fact that the Galatians had been idolaters. When I conducted a number of revival services in India, I recall visiting a town that had an idol shop. It wasn’t very big, about 12 feet by 12 feet. There were about ten shelves on the wall with a variety of selections. You pick out your “god”, pay for it, take it home and worship it. I remember watching people who were starving to death, bring what little food they had to a “tree god” and leave at the base of the tree.  In 1 Corinthians 12:2, Paul called them “dumb idols.” They were nothing and could say nothing. Yet, Paul warned the Corinthians: “You know that when you were pagans, you were being led astray to the mute idols (KJV “dumb idols”), however you were led.” These idols could not speak, hear, or see, yet the people were slaves to them. 

Verse 9: “But now, having known God, or rather having been known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you want to be enslaved all over again?”

We can know God only because He first knew (means “knowing” in an intimate sense that is a very loving relationship, close and personal) us, just as we choose Him only because He first chose us (John 6:44; 15:16), and we love Him only because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Their knowledge of God was not the result of their own inquiry, but the sovereign work of the One who opened their understanding. The unsaved religionists hate the message of the Sovereignty of God in choosing people to be saved. God brings injustice to no one. To His elect, He calls them to salvation. To the lost, He leaves them alone and allows them to have the desires of their corrupt heart. Amazingly, Paul likens the bondage of ceremonial legalism to the bondage of pagan superstition. To accept circumcision as necessary for salvation is to turn back from the liberty of grace to the bondage of the world with its times and seasons whether these times be Jewish or Gentile. There can be no doubt that the Apostle Paul was a Sovereign Grace preacher. 

Verse 10: “You observe days and months and seasons and years.”

The Old Testament rituals, ceremonies, and festivals of the Jewish religious calendar which God had given, but were never required for the church. Paul warns the Galatians, as he did the Colossians, against legalistically observing them as if they were required by God or could earn salvation from their legalistic observance of the Law. The modern church has adopted new holidays, all unbiblical, to observe: Christmas, Easter, Mother’s day, Father’s Day, Super Bowl Sunday, etc. in an effort to make the attendees of the church feel good and have fun. We need to return back to the five solas of the Reformation: Scripture alone, faith alone, Christ alone, grace alone, to the Glory of God alone. These principles will assist us to weather the cultural storms that are blowing our way.

Verse 11: “I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you for nothing.”

Paul feared that his effort in establishing and building the Galatian churches might prove to be futile if they fell back into legalism. We are to have the same concerns today if we see people falling into legalism. I know people that believe that if a woman wears pants, then she is not saved. They apply other non biblical rules to include not going to ball games, the bowling alley, or movies to demonstrate that they are born again. The person may be going to Hell but not because of a movie, ball game, or going bowling. They are headed to Hell only because they have rejected the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like the Judiazers Paul wrote about in this book, we must be on guard to avoid the efforts of legalists to steal our freedom in Christ away from us.

Verse 12: “I beg of you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong.” 

Paul was asking the Galatians to become like he was now, not a return to what he had been. Paul had been a proud, arrogant, self-righteous Pharisee, trusting in his own works based righteousness to save him. But when he was converted, he abandoned all efforts of self-righteousness, trusting wholly in God’s grace. He begged the Galatians to follow his example and avoid the legalism of the Judaizers. Paul’s last comment, “You have done me no wrong,” was referencing  that though the Jews had persecuted him when he first went to Galatia, the Galatian believers had not harmed Paul, but had enthusiastically received him when he preached the gospel to them.

Verse 13: “But you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I proclaimed the gospel to you the first time;”

There has been a lot of speculation about Paul’s illness. Malaria was common in the region. Paul had been severely injured in Lystra (Acts 14:19). He may have suffered from an eye disorder (Gal 4:15; 6:11). But we don’t know with certainty what illness Paul was referencing. Whatever he suffered from, his point was that it had caused him to stay longer in Galatia than he had planned to stay, resulting in his close relationship with the Galatians.

Verse 14: “and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.”

The Galatians welcomed Paul in spite of his illness, which in no way was a barrier to his credibility or acceptance. The Galatians provided a good example of how we should treat those with medical issues. Instead of being hesitant to be around Paul, they were fully embracing of him. Let us keep this example in mind when dealing with other’s afflictions.

Verse 15: “Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.”

While we cannot be sure, Paul’s thorn in the flesh was probably some sort of eye trouble, and it evidently made him very unattractive. It doesn’t seem likely that they would want to pluck out their eyes and give them to Paul if what he really needed was another leg. We can assume that Paul had an eye disease which was common in that land and is characterized by excessive drainage that runs out of the eyes. You can well understand how unattractive that would be to look at while he was ministering to them. 

Verse 16: “So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?”

As you may know, many people today really don’t want the preacher to tell the truth from the pulpit. They don’t want to hear about sin, Hell and judgment. They want prosperity, financially and physically, food, fun and fellowship. They would much rather he would say something kind and non offensive that would smooth their conscience and make them feel good. I have said for years, “Love must contain truth because there is no love without truth.” The lost need to hear the true gospel and we need to be willing to make an enemy if necessary by telling them the truth.

Verse 17: “They zealously seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will zealously seek them.”

“They” is in reference to the legalistic Judaizers. The Judaizers appeared to have a genuine interest in the Galatians, but their true motive was to exclude the Galatians from God’s salvation by grace through faith and return the believers back to a works based righteousness. Paul would have none of this. He knew from whence he had come and he was not headed back to that life.

Verse 18: “But it is good always to be zealously sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you.”

Paul encouraged the Galatians to have the same zeal for the true gospel of grace that they had had when he was with them. Years ago I heard the phrase, “Church face.” Early in my Christian walk, I had no idea that people would have one face in church and another during the week. A pastor had told me of the phrase. The problem was that they were unsaved religionists which I believe accounts for about 90% of church attendees and 75% of the ministers. That may seem extreme, but just listen to what people talk about before service and immediately after. It will probably be anything but the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 19: “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—”

This verse is a kind witness to the depth of Paul’s feeling for those whom he brought to faith in Christ. Paul’s previous anger in this epistle reflects not only the seriousness with which he regards his duty to preach the truth of the gospel, but also the love which he had for his “children” in Christ. Remember, no love without truth.

Verse 20: “but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.”

The verb “perplexed” means “to be at wits end.” Sometimes in this life, people can say and do things that will cause us to stop and marvel at what we are hearing and seeing. Paul’s response was to want to be with those who perplexed him. That is a good example for us to follow. When people are difficult to deal with, be like Paul and don’t avoid them, give them the gospel truth.