I remember a book I read as a child by Mark Twain. Sure, it was the
condensed version, but it was called The
Prince and the Pauper. It is about two children who realize they look
almost identical and that they could switch places and learn about life through
each others’ eyes. One grew up in riches; the other grew up in poverty. The one
who begins to experience life in more poverty than he is used to begins to
understand what the poor have to go through daily; the one who moves up the
social ladder is scared that he will be found out as a fraud. Paul sort of
speaks to this in our passage today. However, he flips it. Believers are all
royalty in God’s eyes. We’ve already lived our lives of poverty in sin, and we
don’t need to go look back on those things with longing; at the same time, we
don’t need to fear being found out as frauds, because we truly are heirs of God
and we can know it experientially through the Spirit.
Galatians 4:1-7 says, “Now I say that as long as
the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner
of everything. Instead, he is under guardians and stewards until the time
set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were
in slavery under the elemental forces of the world. When the time came to
completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to
redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our
hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a son, and
if a son, then an heir through God.”
So far in our study of this book, we have seen several things: Paul
started by composing a letter to the Galatians in which the introduction holds
up Jesus as the answer to our sin problem (1:1-5). From there, he showed shock
at their current straying from that foundation (1:6-10). He continues by
anticipating the objection, “Who are you to say this?” and answers by telling
them, “Jesus revealed this to me” (1:11-24); and then he says, “the Apostles at
Jerusalem confirmed my message” (2:1-10). He continues to show that he was not
influenced by men in the proclamation of the gospel by explaining his
confrontation with Peter, and arguing that the gospel promotes freedom, not
rules and regulations (2:11-21). Then he interrogates the Galatians about their
straying from the truth (3:1-5). He explains that we need faith, which gives
life, and not law, which breeds death (3:6-14). He explains the source of that
faith—promised 430 years before the Law to
Abraham—which was Jesus, the seed of Abraham (3:15-18). And finally,
lest people accuse Paul of being a blaspheming Jew who’s turned his back on the
Law, he explained that the Law does serve a purpose (3:19-29).
And it is there that we pick up today. Galatians 3:24 said, “The law,
then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith,”
and it is with that metaphor that Paul continues in 4:1-7. He seeks to show
that while the Law is holy, and from God, it is not ultimate; it serves a
purpose. He seeks to prove that we should not submit ourselves to the law as
ultimate if we have been freed from it by Him Who is Ultimate. (Again, Paul is
not teaching do-whatever-you-want theology; chapter five, which follows chapter
four, is very ethically oriented; but we’ll get there soon.)
Paul starts by relaying the guardian image again. However, this time the
focus is on the person under the guardian, not the guardian itself. Verses 1-2
say, “As long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way
from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. Instead, he is under
guardians and stewards until the time set by his father.” This is relatively simple to understand.
Until a certain age, a child in ancient Greece had no privileges. He might have
been from a rich family, and been the heir of a large inheritance, but he
couldn’t take advantage of any of it. There were family slaves that watched,
protected, and aided the child until he reached the appropriate age. He was
treated as a slave by these slaves, until the time would come when he reached
the age where he could inherit his rank of sonship from his father. Basically, the
slaves prepared him for this day, treating him like he was a slave until he was
old enough/mature enough to become an adult with responsibilities and
privileges.
Paul continues by relating this analogy to our spiritual situation.
Verses 3-5 say, “We also, when we were children, were in
slavery under the elemental forces of the world. When the time came to
completion, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to
redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
He starts by saying we were in slavery. However, it is very key to note
that he doesn’t say, “You were enslaved to the Law.” This is important, because
the people he is writing to were Gentiles who had never had the Law of Moses.
Acts 13-14 describes this missionary journey of Paul to the Gentiles, and it
was in a state of checking up on them that this letter was written. Instead of
accusing them of being enslaved to the Law, he says, “we were in slavery under
the elemental things of the world.” The fact that he includes himself would
argue that the law of Moses is part of the elemental things of the world. So
what exactly were we enslaved to?
The Greek word translated “elemental things” is somewhat tricky to nail
down its precise meaning. And while many scholars have debated, argued, and
spilled much ink over the meaning of the phrase “elemental things of the
world,” one explanation screams for recognition. “It denotes that whereon the
existence of this world rests, that which constitutes man’s being. Paul uses it
in a transferred sense for that whereon man’s existence rested before Christ
even and precisely in pre-Christian religion, that which is weak and impotent,
that which enslaves man instead of freeing him.”[1] The elemental things of this
world are whatever building blocks a person has built his identity out of.
These things do nothing for us, except beat us up and show us our need of
deliverance. For a Jew, it is clear that the Law of Moses functioned in this
way. Paul’s point to the Galatians is, “Don’t put yourself back in slavery. You
never experienced that kind. Don’t go there now!”
However, some of us reading this are already returning to, or maybe have
never even left the elemental things of this world. Perhaps you find your
identity in being able to drink more alcohol than the next guy; give it up,
because it’s enslaved you. Perhaps you find your identity in a relationship
with the opposite gender; you will never find true purpose or meaning there, so
don’t let it enslave you more. Perhaps you find your identity in a homosexual
relationship; again, it is enslaving, so turn away from it. Perhaps your
slavery of choice isn’t so obvious to the world: do you find your identity in
being a good person, or in always being happy, or in helping other people? What’s
your motivation for these good things? If it is so people will think highly of
you, you are in a heap of trouble. Our motivation for goodness should never be
our reputation, but rather God’s. The second half of this list of six forms of
slavery is the more dangerous side: Jesus said in Matthew 9:12, “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do.” Until a person is able to admit their need
for a doctor, they will remain sick. Those who are enslaved to active
sins—drunkenness, sexual deviance, murder, etc.—are more likely to see their
need for help than those enslaved to passive sins—pride, self-idolatry,
self-righteousness. Don’t stay in slavery, regardless of which side you fall
on.
He continues by explaining how we can be released from slavery: it’s
through Jesus, the Son of God. I said in the previous paragraph to turn from
your slavery, but I didn’t say where to turn. This is where you need to turn.
Do it now! Admit your need for saving, your refusal to remain a slave any
longer, and choose to believe that Jesus bore the curse meant for you on the
cross and choose to follow Him for the rest of your life.
Paul highlights two aspects of Jesus that are key to understanding our
freedom from slavery: Jesus was born of a woman, and He was born under the law.
The fact that Jesus was born of a woman means that He was fully human. This
means simply that He can relate to us. He understands our fears and our
desires. He knows what it is like to be tempted and tried. He even knows what
it’s like to live under the Law: He was born under the Law, and the beginning
of His life was marked by strict adherence to the Law (see Luke 2 after the
Christmas story). In fact, this is what Paul means by the second phrase: born
under the Law. However, the key here is how Paul words this section: “God sent
His Son.” God didn’t just send Jesus as a man. He sent Jesus as His own
personal heir. Jesus is the one who gave the Law, so the Law cannot hold Him
down. In fact, He’s above us and able to pull us out from under the Law and set
us firmly on grace. He is amazing.
The purpose of Jesus’ coming was so that we would receive adoption as
sons. Just as Jesus was God’s heir, so God wants us as His heirs also. Jesus’
death on the cross redeemed us from slaves to all sorts of various things to
sons and daughters of God. That is the gospel. Believe it!
Paul concludes this section by explaining what is the significance of us
as sons of God. Verses 6-7 say, “And because you are sons,
God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an
heir through God.” Paul says here
that the proof of our sonship is the Spirit. And it is very interesting here
that Paul doesn’t say, “You cry out, ‘Abba, Father,’” but rather, “the Spirit
is crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’” The way it is worded, it is clear that the
Spirit is actively crying out for God, and when we find ourselves crying out
for God it is a sign that we truly do belong to God.
The Spirit’s crying out for God, and especially when the Spirit speaks
as much through our mouth in prayers or even cries for help, is proof that we
are no longer slaves. In fact, it should be a very strong deterrent from
anything in this world that would seek to reenslave us. This is Paul’s point
here: “Galatians, you claim to have been redeemed by Christ, so why would you
enslave yourselves to a new elemental thing when you have Jesus as your Savior,
as the Ultimate Person?” Paul is saying, if you are children of God, redeemed
from a childhood of slavery, then don’t return to childhood. You did away with
those things. John MacArthur relates how an ancient tradition in Rome at this
time was burning one’s toys to show that a person was no longer a child.[2] Galatians 2:18 says, “If I
rebuild the system I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.” Paul doesn’t
want this to be the case. He wants them to see that they have been remade anew,
and the old no longer exists or exercises any authority, just like the slaves
in a Roman household after the child comes to adulthood.
Paul takes a final jab at the Judaizers (those trying to turn the
Galatians to Jewish practices for salvation) by saying, “if you’re a son, then
you are an heir through God.” The clearest way to understand this would be to
see Paul as saying, “you are an heir through the agency of God.”[3] It is not because the Law
exercised power that someone becomes an heir of God; it is not because some
other enslaving system of the world exercises power that someone becomes an
heir of God; it is not even because a person does something that they become an
heir of God. Rather, it is simply due to God’s working that anyone becomes an
heir of God. God is in control. Nothing else ultimately is. For this reason we
can trust God, and we should run to Jesus. He is our hope.
Let’s live as the princes and princesses we are, and never return to the
pauper life of sin.
Til next time.
Soli Deo
Gloria
[1]
Gerhard Delling, “stoicevw, sustoicevw,
stoicei`on, in Theological
Dictionary of the New Testament, 7:685.
[2]
John MacArthur, Galatians, 104.
[3]
Cf. James A. Brooks and Carlton L. Winberry, Syntax of New Testament Greek, 24-25.
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