Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong. As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!
Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.
These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written:
“Be glad, barren woman,
    you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
    you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
    than of her who has a husband.”
Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

• Galatians 4:1-31

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Galatians 4:1 ‘child’: “The Greek word refers to a child too young to talk, a minor, spiritually and intellectually immature and not ready for the privileges and responsibilities of adulthood.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 4:3 ‘when we were children … in bondage’: “Before our ‘coming of age’ when we came to saving faith in Jesus Christ. the elements of the world. Elements is from a Greek word meaning ‘row;’ or ‘rank;’ and was used to speak of basic, foundational things like the letters of the alphabet. In light of its use in verse 9, it is best to see it here as a reference to the basic elements and rituals of human religion (see … Col. 2:8). Paul describes both Jewish and Gentile religions as elemental because they are merely human, never rising to the level of the divine. Both Jewish religion and Gentile religion centered on man-made systems of works. They were filled with laws and ceremonies to be performed in order to achieve divine acceptance. All such rudimentary elements are immature, like behaviors of children under bondage to a guardian.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 4:4-6 ‘The Promise of Redemption’: “When the heir described in Galatians 3:29 was a child, he ‘was taught only faint outlines of spiritual truth suited to his capacity’ (Eadie, Galatians, p. 296). But he would someday have full freedom, privilege, and understanding under the gospel.
“In order to create spiritual heirs, at just the right moment God sent His Son into the world to accomplish redemption. Paul puts it this way: When ‘the fullness, maturity [Greek, to plaroma] of the time [Greek, tou kronou]’ had arrived, ‘God sent forth His Son’ (4:4). The Son previously existed eternally with the Father Qohn 1:1; 8:58; 17:5; Romans 8:3) but now took upon Him human flesh yet without sin (Hendriksen, Galatians and Ephesians, p.158). As prophesied, He was ‘born of a woman, born under the Law’ (Galatians 4:4). Paul here is addressing the fact Christ was born of a ‘virgin’ (Hebrew, alma; Greek, parthenos) (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:27), and born of physical flesh as the son of David (Matthew 1:25; Luke 1:27; Romans 1:3). The far-distant cryptic prophecy of ‘the seed of the woman’’ crushing the head of the serpent, Satan, was first mentioned in Genesis 3:15. Unger says. the Lord’s ‘redemptive work was initiated by the first announcement of the gospel (Lat. protevangelium, ‘original evangel’), which envisioned the tremendous opposition of Satan and his agents to the good news of God’s redeeming grace. God declared He would put ‘enmity’ between Satan and the woman and between her descendants and Satan’s descendants” (Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, p. 19). Unger then adds, ‘Since ‘the seed of the woman’ focuses on an individual, whose miraculous birth gave Him a preeminent title to be called ‘the seed of the woman’ (see Gal. 4:4), the designation constitutes the first great prophecy of the coming virgin-born, incarnate Son of God and Savior.’
“The reason Christ came was that ‘He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons’ (Galatians 4:5), making it possible for believers to be adopted into a new family and become sons of God (3:26; Romans 8:14). Because of this adoption, God ‘has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”’ (Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:15). The word Abba is an Aramaic word of affection that means ‘father’ (possibly equivalent to ‘daddy’). As sons, believers now have full possession of all they can receive from God. And even more, the child of God now has an intimate relationship with the heavenly Father, which he did not have before.”

• Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson, Exploring Bible Prophecy

Galatians 4:4 ‘the fullness of the time’: “In God’s timetable, when the exact religious, cultural, and political conditions demanded by His perfect plan were in place, Jesus came into the world. God sent forth His Son. As a father set the time for the ceremony of his son becoming of age and being released from the guardians, stewards, and tutors, so God sent His Son at the precise moment to bring all who believe out from under bondage to the law-a truth Jesus repeatedly affirmed (John 5:30, 36, 37; 6:39, 44, 57; 8:16, 18, 42; 12:49; 17:21, 25; 20:21). That the Father sent Jesus into the world teaches His pre-existence as the eternal second member of the Trinity. See … Philippians 2:6, 7; Hebrews 1:3-5; cf. Romans 8:3, 4. born of a woman. This emphasizes Jesus‘ full humanity, not merely His Virgin Birth (Is. 7:14; Matt. 1:20–25). Jesus had to be fully God for His sacrifice to be of the infinite worth needed to atone for sin. But He also had to be fully man so He could take upon Himself the penalty of sin as our substitute. See Luke 1:32, 35; John 1:1, 14, 18. under the law. Like all men, Jesus was obligated to obey God’s Law. Unlike anyone else, however, He perfectly obeyed that law (John 8:46; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 John 3:5). His sinlessness made Him the unblemished sacrifice for sins, who ‘fulfilled all righteousness;’ i.e., perfectly obeyed God in everything. That perfect righteousness is what is imputed to those who believe in Him.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 4:6 ‘The Force within Us’: “God wants to comfort us. God comforts only when there is enough reason for comfort, when people no longer know a way out, when the meaninglessness of life makes them anxious. The world as it really is always makes us anxious. But those who are comforted see and have more than the world. They have life with God. Nothing is destroyed, lost, meaningless, when God comforts….
“How does God heal, lead, and comfort? God does these things only by placing a voice within us that says, prays, calls, cries out: ‘Abba! Father!’ (Gal. 4:6). This is the Holy Spirit. This is Pentecost.”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional compiled from several of his writings

Galatians 4:6 ‘Abba, Father’: “This wonderful blessing is ours ‘because [we] are sons,’ and it is filled with marvelous results. Sonship sealed by the indwelling Spirit brings us peace and joy. It leads to nearness to God and fellowship with him. It excites trust, Jove, and vehement desire and creates in us reverence, obedience, and actual likeness to God-all this and much more because the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in us. Oh, matchless mystery! Had it not been revealed, it never would have been imagined, and now that it is revealed, it never would have been believed if it had not become a matter of actual experience to those who are in Christ Jesus.“

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Galatians 4:7 ‘The source of Spiritual Life’: “Maybe your past isn’t much to brag about. Maybe you’ve seen raw evil. And now you … have to make a choice. Do you rise above the past and make a difference? Or do you remain controlled by the past and make excuses? …
“Many choose the convalescent homes of the heart. Healthy bodies. Sharp minds. But retired dreams. Back and forth they rock in the chair of regret, repeating the terms of surrender. Lean closely, and you will hear them: ‘If only.’
” ‘If only I’d been born somewhere else … ‘ ‘If only I’d been treated fairly …’
“Maybe you’ve used those words. Maybe you have every right to use them … If such is the case ... go to John’s Gospel, and read Jesus’ words: “Human life comes from human parents, but spiritual life comes from the Spirit” (John 3:6).“

• Max Lucado, When God Whispers Your Name

Galatians 4:9 ‘The Shaping Forces’: ”We are weary of Christian programs and also weary of the thoughtless, superficial words of a so-called practical Christianity in place of a so-called dogmatic Christianity. The shaping forces in the world come from a quite different side than from Christianity. And so-called practical Christianity fails in the world at least as much as the so-called dogmatic. “Shaping” must therefore mean something quite different from what we normally under­ stand by it, and indeed the Holy Scripture speaks to us about shaping in a sense that is initially quite foreign. The Scripture is not concerned primarily with shaping the world through planning and programming. Rather, in all shaping, Scripture is concerned only with the one shape that has conquered the world (John 16:33), the shape of Jesus Christ. Shaping comes only from this shape…. This happens not through endeavors “to be like Jesus,” as we normally put it, but by letting the shape of Jesus Christ work on us in such a way that it forms our shape after its own (Gal. 4:9).”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional compiled from several of his writings

Galatians 4:12 ‘become like me, for I became like you’: “Paul had been a proud, self-righteous Pharisee, trusting in his own righteousness to save ·him (cf. Phil. 3:4—6). But when he came to Christ, he abandoned all efforts to save himself, trusting wholly in God’s grace (Phil. 3:7-9). He urged the Galatians to follow his example and avoid the legalism of the Judaizers. You have not injured me. Though the Jews 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 (cf. Acts 13:42-50; 14:19). How, he asked, could they reject him now?”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 4:13 ‘physical infirmity’: “Some think the illness Paul refers to was malaria, possibly contracted in the coastal lowlands of Pamphylia. That could explain why Paul and Barnabas apparently did not preach at Perga, a city in Pamphylia (cf. Acts 13:13, 14). The cooler and healthier weather in Galatia and especially at Pisidian Antioch (3,600 ft. above sea level), where Paul went when he left Perga, would have brought some relief to the fever caused by malaria. Although malaria is a serious, debilitating disease, its attacks are not continuous; Paul could have ministered between bouts with fever.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 4:16 ‘your enemy’: “The Galatians had become so confused that, in spite of their previous affection for Paul, some had come to regard him as their enemy. The apostle re­ minds them that he had not harmed them, but merely told them the truth-a truth that had once brought them great joy (see … v. 15).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 4:19 ‘My little children’: “Paul’s only use of this affectionate phrase, which John uses frequently (1 John 2:1, 18, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:21). until Christ is formed in you. In contrast to the evil motives of the Judaizers (see note on 3:1), Paul sought to bring the Galatians to Christlikeness. This is the goal of salvation (see … Rom. 8:29).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 4:24-26, 28-21 ‘children, not slaves’: ”Paul also shows that those who are in Christ are children, not slaves. They are no longer servants; they are part of the family of God. Paul then explains an event from Old Testament history-the story of Abraham’s two sons, one born to Hagar, a slave woman; the other born to his wife Sarah, a free woman. The son of the slave woman was born, Paul said, ‘in the ordinary way:’ The son of the free woman was born ‘as the result of a promise:’ Then he explains the allegorical significance of this historical event from Genesis (v. 24-26, 28-31).
“In other words, those who are slaves to the law and to legalism cannot share in the inheritance of those who are free, who are saved by the free grace of God that is received by faith. Those who live under legalism are children of the old covenant, and are children of slavery. Those who live under the grace of the new covenant are free, and are children of promise. We who are free are like ‘the Jerusalem that is above;’ and we belong to what the apostle John called ‘the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven’ (see Rev. 21:2).
“With this allegory and these word pictures, Paul declares a great truth: We are justified by grace through faith, not by works, not by law. And because we are justified by God’s grace alone, in fulfillment of the promise and the new covenant, we are free.”

• Ray C. Stedman, Adventuring Through the Bible

Galatians 4:24 ‘law and grace’: “There cannot be a greater difference in the world between two things than there is between law and grace. And yet, strange to say, while the things are diametrically opposed and essentially different from each other, the human mind is so depraved and the intellect, even when blessed by the Spirit, has become so turned aside from right judgment, that one of the most difficult things in the world is to discriminate properly between law and grace. He who knows the difference and always remembers the essential difference between law and grace-has grasped the essence of theology. He is not far from understanding the gospel theme in all its ramifications, its outlets and its branches, who can properly tell the difference between law and grace. They are as opposite as light and dark­ ness and can no more agree than fire and water. Yet people will be perpetually striving to make a compound of them­ often ignorantly and some­ times willfully. They seek to blend the two when God has positively kept them separate!“

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Galatians 4:26 ‘Jerusalem above is free.’: “Heaven (Heb. 12:18, 22). Those who are citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20) are free from the Mosaic Law, works, bondage, and trying endlessly and futilely to please God by the flesh. the mother. Believers are children of the heavenly Jerusalem, the “mother-city” of heaven. In contrast to the slavery of Hagar’s children, believers in Christ are free (5:1; Is. 61:1; Luke 4:18; John 8:36; Rom. 6:18, 22; 8:2; 2 Cor. 3:17).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

My Thoughts

The Judaizers who came to Galatia are characterized by wanting to alienate the Galatians from the Apostles and Paul’s mission team.  Consider that evil intentions to weaken the church today or our governments starts with separation, information from only one point of view (brainwashing), and alienation with those who have the right answers.

Why?  They do not want the people to think there is another point of view.  They know that their point of view is weak, and when they debate the key points, they might lose their followers.

But Paul starts this chapter by finishing the point from the last chapter.  We are sons of God, but in the beginning of this chapter, we gain an inheritance.  Until we become of age, we are still slaves, but once we mature as Christians, we can take our place as inheritors of the kingdom.

How do we become inheritors of the kingdom?  Through Jesus who was sent by the father under the law, born of woman so that He would be the sacrifice for us.  The debt is paid.  We are free from the slavery of the law, but by following the Judaizers, we bring back the concept of salvation by works – which never works.

While Paul is talking about the Judaizers, it fits with anything that is added to Christ Alone, Faith Alone, Scriptures Alone, Grace Alone, and Glory to God Alone.  Many people calling themselves Christians today have accepted Faith plus something else all their lives.

I was asked recently if church doctrine was proper if it is Scripture Alone.  My answer was that doctrine that is biblically based with shown proofs of the Scripture is a good way to teach the basics of the Gospel to those who may not be able to interpret Scriptures, but as a lifelong Presbyterian, there are so many of the confessions that have no biblical proofs.  You might find Scripture here or there that supports one point or another, but does any reformed faith truly stick to the five Solas (Greek for alone basically)?

Paul ends this chapter with an argument of two women who bore sons for Abraham, Hagar and Sarah.  Hagar’s son was born of the flesh while Sarah’s son was a miracle birth in her old age and Isaac was born of a promise from God.  God fulfills His promises, but the point here is that the son of the flesh was subject to the Law while the son of the promise was subject to Grace because of the faith of Abraham, then Isaac, and then Jacob.  Abraham had to cast out Hagar and her son so that no stain of the flesh was in his camp.

So, we are called to be free a sons of Abraham, in a spiritual sense if not by blood.

Many have asked me why Paul made such a big deal about circumcision.  It’s just a little snip.  But it introduces works toward salvation.  Every bit of salvation was of God.  We do not deserve salvation.  God provided Mercy.  We do not deserve to be given adoption as the children of God, God provided Grace.  But He only did so to those who surrender to Him unconditionally.  There is not one person in Heaven who did not want to be in God’s presence.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Galatians 3:26-4:7 Sons of God 1. What are some contemporary cultural barrier between people? What does 3:28 mean to you in that context?
“2. What does being a ‘child of God’ and ‘clothed with Christ’ say to you about living the Christian life?”
Galatians 4:8-20 Paul’s Concern for the Galatians1. How has your relationship with God changed from being one based on love and trust to one based on keeping the rules? Why does that happen?
“2. What difference has knowing God, and being known by him, made in your life?
Galatians 4:21-27 Hagar and Sarah 1. Has your experience as a Christian been more of a growing into freedom or a coming under rules? Why?
“2. Has your joy in Christ ever been crushed by someone’s belief that you were breaking traditions or rules? Have you imposed standards on others, limiting their freedom? How so?
“3. What difference will the fact of justification and of the fullness of the Spirit make in your life?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Galatians 4 is divided into three sets of questions.  The division of “Sons of God” is split over Galatians 3 and 4.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.