Monday, April 1, 2019

Galatians Chapter 4

Key words: “Son (sons, children)” - 10 times, Law(s) - 8 times, Slave(s)/Slavery/Enslaved) - 13 times, Adopt(ion).

Outline per Dr. John Sewell:
A. The Law of Moses was not merged with the Law of Christ.
B. Paul, verses 1-7, likens those under the Law of Moses to children and those under the Law of Christ to those who have matured and have become heirs.
C. Paul, verses 8-11, compares those under the Law of Moses to slaves and those under the Law of Christ to those who have been freed from slavery.
D. Paul, verses 12-20, contrasts the love he has for them with the self-aggrandizements of the Judaistic teachers.
E. Paul, verses 21-31, made the point that the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ are incompatible just as Hagar and Ishmael and Sarah and Isaac were incompatible.

Chuck Smith: “This teaching of Paul to Galatians is important because we all seem to hold onto a concept of reward for good, punishment for bad. … The enforcement of good behavior by reward, the punishment of bad behavior. That’s all I’ve known all my life. But that is not how I relate to God. And it’s important that when I seek to relate to God, that I dismiss this concept by which I was trained. And that I relate to God through faith, believing the promises of God that He loves me and wants to bless me. And believing God to bless me even though I know that I have failed. I know I don’t deserve it. I know I’m not worthy. I know my works don’t measure up to it. But to receive by grace the blessings of God through the promises. I’m a child of the free woman, a child of promise. And since discovering that, I have never ceased to receive the blessings of God in an ever-increasing measure.”

Coffman: “The argument of this whole chapter is a continuation of Paul’s teaching on the abolition of the Law of Moses and the replacement of the entire system by Christianity.
First, he compared the Law to the conditions governing a person not yet come of age, as something sure to be replaced by another arrangement later on (Galatians 4:1-7).
Secondly, he pointed out the restrictive and onerous nature of the Law itself, comparing it to slavery or bondage (Galatians 4:8-11).
Next, he reminded them of the circumstances of their conversion, their love for him, and warned them against the evil men who were seducing them away from the faith (Galatians 4:12-20); and
finally, he appealed to an allegory based upon the life of Abraham, which was climaxed by "Cast out the handmaiden and her son," meaning, in the analogy, "Christianity and Judaism are not compatible, or reconcilable; and it is the Law of Moses that has to go." (Galatians 4:21-31).”

This section about sonship really begins back in Galatians 3:23-29: Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. … And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

(1) Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had.

  • Inheritance:
    • William E. Brown: “In the theological sense, to inherit means to “receive an irrevocable gift” with an emphasis on the special relationship between the benefactor and the recipients. Unlike legal inheritance, the benefactor, God, does not die, yet he provides material and spiritual blessings for his people. … for the believer in Christ, heirship is a natural result of justification: “He saved us, … so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7). Since all believers are children of God they are necessarily heirs of God (Romans 8:17 ; Galatians 4:7). It follows naturally that Christians are also heirs along with Abraham and Christ ( Galatians 3:29). They receive their inheritance by faith as did Abraham (Romans 4:13-14) and share in the inheritance with Christ as sons (Romans 8:17). … What Is the Inheritance? Throughout the New Testament, a striking promise for believers is simply “the inheritance” (Acts 20:32; 26:18; Ephesians 1:14 Ephesians 1:18; Colossians 3:24).Generally, the promise refers to the possession of salvation ( Hebrews 1:14 ). The believer’s inheritance is described more specifically as eternal and joyful existence with God. Believers are promised “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). Inheriting the “world to come” is a guarantee for all those who belong to God’s family. The apostle Paul employs the inheritance metaphor more than any other New Testament writer. For him, the object of the inheritance is the kingdom of God. He never states exactly what constitutes the believer’s inheritance of the kingdom, but asserts emphatically that unbelievers will not inherit the kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9-10 ; Galatians 5:21 ; Ephesians 5:5). … The concept of the believer’s inheritance highlights the dignity of the family relationship of the believer in Christ. No higher position or greater wealth can an individual acquire than to become an heir of God through faith in Christ.”
    • Acts 20:32: “And now I entrust you to God and the message of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance with all those he has set apart for himself.
    • Ephesians 1:11-14: Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, …. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised…
    • Colossians 1:12: always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.
    • Colossians 3:24: Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.
    • 1 Peter 1:4: and we have a priceless inheritance - an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
  • Young Children:
    • Greek - nepios (Strong’s # 3516) = an infant, little child. The Greek word refers to a child too young to talk; a minor, spiritually and intellectually immature and not ready for the privileges of adulthood.
    • Chuck Smith: “So, Paul now gives us an illustration of an heir. Here’s a little child. He is born in the Rockefeller family. One day he’s going to be heir to the Rockefeller fortunes. But as long as he is in kindergarten, he can’t go out and sign checks for a million dollars. Though one day it’ll all be his, right now he’s a child. He’s under the tutors; he’s under the trainers, the governors who are teaching him those things that he needs to know to manage the fortune when once it becomes his. Now he’s the heir of all things, but he can’t really spend it yet until he comes to that appointed time of maturity and all when he’s been prepared by the tutors and the teachers to then handle properly this whole vast fortune.”
    • 1 Corinthians 3:1-2: Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,

(2) They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.

  • Guardians:
    • Ken Cayce: “This is reverting back to the schoolmaster in the chapter before.”
    • Dr. Constable: “Already Paul had compared the Law to a prison warden (3:22) and a baby sitter (3:24). Now he compared it to a trustee, appointed to care for a young child and his property. The purpose of all three comparisons was to clarify the difference, between the previous historical period of spiritual immaturity, and the present period of spiritual freedom.”
  • Age their father set:
    • Ken Cayce: “Paul uses the Roman practice of tutela impuberes, “guardianship for a minor,” to illustrate man’s temporary subjection to the law. A Roman father appointed guardians to manage his child’s affairs until … the heir came of age. Similarly, man’s earlier period of spiritual immaturity under the law is contrasted with the Christian’s new freedom of adult Sonship in Christ.”
    • Boice: “A Roman child became an adult at the sacred family festival known as the Liberalia, held annually on the seventeenth of March. At this time, the child was formally adopted by the father as his acknowledged son and heir and received the toga virilis in place of the toga praetexta which he had previously worn.”
    • Barclay: “There was a Roman custom that on the day a boy or a girl grew up, the boy offered his ball, and the girl her doll, to Apollo to show that they had put away childish things.”
      • 1 Corinthians 13:11: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

(3) And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.

  • Children:
    • Same Greek word as in verse 1.
  • Basic spiritual principles:
    • Greek - stoicheia = basic principles, elementary rules.
    • Adam Clarke: the rudiments or principles of the Jewish religion.
    • John Schultz: “The difficulty in this section is the interpretation of the Greek words tá stoichéa toú kósmou, rendered in The New International Version “the basic principles of the world.” The King James Version calls them “the elements of the world.” The Revised Standard Version: “the elemental spirits of the universe.” The New Living Translation: “the basic spiritual principles of this world.” The words evoke images of demonic powers that influence the world’s philosophy and culture and that may be what is meant here. Paul uses the same words again in verse 9 where they are obviously in the context of idolatry.”
    • Ken Cayce: “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 so as to achieve divine acceptance. All such rudimentary elements are immature, like behaviors of children under bondage to a guardian.”
    • Dr. Peter Pett: “(stoicheion). This refers to elements of learning, fundamental principles, basic religious ideas and even the spoken alphabet. It could also refer to the elemental spirits such as fire, air, earth and water, and to the heavenly bodies as having influence on the world. But the former would seem to be more in mind here, for it includes the subjection to the observance of days and months and seasons and years (verse 10). Paul may, however, have intended to include all influences and restraints on men, whatever they were.”
    • Constable: “The word stoicheia [elemental things] means primarily things placed side by side in a row; it is used of the letters of the alphabet, the ABCs, and then, because the learning of the ABCs is the first lesson in a literary education, it comes to mean ‘rudiments,’ first principles (as in Hebrews 5:12).”
    • Ironside: “We see Christians today who turn to symbols and pictures as a means of helping them spiritually, but they are just going back to the elements of the world. If you were to ask a heathen, “Is this idol your god?” some would say, “Yes,” but an intelligent heathen would reply, “No, it is not exactly that I consider that idol as my god, but it represents my god; it helps me to enter into communion with my god.” You see just the same thing in Christendom where some churches are filled with images. They are not images of Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Isis, or Osiris, but images just the same - images of Saint Joseph, Saint Barnabas, Saint Paul, the twelve apostles, the blessed Virgin Mary, and even of Christ. Candles are burning in front of them and people bow before them. We ask, “Why do you not worship God? Why worship these images?” And they answer, “We do not worship them; we reverence them, and they are simply aids to worship. These images help to stir up our spirits and help us to worship.” ”
    • Galatians 4:9: So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?
    • Colossians 2:8: Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.
    • Colossians 2:20-22: You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.
    • Hebrews 5:12: You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.

(4) But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

  • Right time:
    • Greek - pleroma tou chronou = fullness of time.
    • Andrew Wommack: “Jesus was sent at a specific time. The entrance of Jesus into the physical realm was not a random thing occurring at a haphazard time … There were developments that had to take place before Christ could come to the earth and redeem man. The Father sent His Son to the earth at the earliest possible time. Any time prior to the time that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary would have been premature.”
    • John Stevenson: “In a very real sense, Jesus was born when the fullness of time came. His birth took place at a propitious time in history.
      This was the time of Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. It was generally a time of relative peace throughout the Roman Empire. This had not been the case 30 years before the birth of Christ. The empire had been plunged into a time of civil war. It would not be the case 40 years after the death of Christ. Jerusalem herself would be destroyed in the fighting. Jesus came at just the right time.
      The Romans had developed a system of roads to tie their empire together. These roads would be used to spread the gospel throughout the world.
      The entire known world spoke a common language in the Koine Greek of the day.
      The Bible had been translated in the Greek Septuagint and was therefore available to Gentiles.
      The Diaspora had resulted in Jewish synagogues being planted throughout the entire known world.”
    • David Holwerda: “Paul interprets this fullness of time as the time when God’s people could at last claim their promised inheritance. Prior to this time, they were like minor children but now in Christ as mature children they had received the full rights to their promised inheritance (Galatians 4:1–7). In a similar way, Jesus declared at the opening of His public ministry: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mark 1:15 NASB).”
    • GotQuestions.com: “Christ came when He did in fulfillment of specific prophecy. Daniel 9:24-27 speaks of the “seventy weeks” or the seventy “sevens.” From the context, these “weeks” or “sevens” refer to groups of seven years, not seven days. We can examine history and line up the details of the first sixty-nine weeks (the seventieth week will take place at a future point). The countdown of the seventy weeks begins with “the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem” (verse 25). This command was given by Artaxerxes Longimanus in 445 B.C. (see Nehemiah 2:5). After seven “sevens” plus 62 “sevens,” or 69 x 7 years, the prophecy states, “the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary” and that the “end will come like a flood” (meaning major destruction) (v. 26). Here we have an unmistakable reference to the Savior’s death on the cross. A century ago in his book The Coming Prince, Sir Robert Anderson gave detailed calculations of the sixty-nine weeks, using‘‘prophetic years,’ allowing for leap years, errors in the calendar, the change from B.C. to A.D., etc., and figured that the sixty-nine weeks ended on the very day of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, five days before His death. Whether one uses this timetable or not, the point is that the timing of Christ’s incarnation ties in with this detailed prophecy recorded by Daniel over five hundred years beforehand. The timing of Christ’s incarnation was such that the people of that time were prepared for His coming. The people of every century since then have more than sufficient evidence that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah through His fulfillment of the Scriptures that pictured and prophesied His coming in great detail ”
  • God sent his Son:
    • Pett: “Notice the implication that He was there to be sent. He was pre-existent with the Father ‘in the beginning’ (John 1:1). And God sent Him forth to be, and to live as, a human being in this world under restraint. What a price was this. He laid aside His Godhead and became a servant, He humbled Himself by becoming man, and it was for us (Philippians 2.6-8). For God ‘spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all’ that He might ‘freely give us all things’ (Romans 8.32).”
    • Ironside: We meet certain professed Christians today who deny what is called the Eternal Sonship of Christ. They tell us He was not Son from eternity. They admit He was the Word, as set forth in John 1:1, but they say He became the Son when He was born on earth. Verse 4 definitely denies any such teaching. “God sent forth his Son, [to be born] of a woman.” He was the Son before He ever stooped from the heights of glory to the virgin’s womb. It was the Son who came in grace to become Man in order that we might be saved. This same truth is set forth in 1 John 4:9-10: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Nothing could be clearer than the two definite statements in these verses. God sent His Son, sent Him into the world, sent Him from heaven, even as John 3:16 declares: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” We dishonor the Lord Jesus Christ if we deny His Eternal Sonship.”
  • Born of a woman:
    • Jesus had to born as a human to be a kinsman-redeemer.
    • Luther: “The more general term ‘woman’ indicates that Christ was born a true man. Paul does not say that Christ was born of man and woman, but only of woman. That he has the virgin in mind is obvious.”

(5) God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.

  • Buy freedom:
    • = “Redeem.”
    • Guzik: “Because Jesus is God, He has the power and the resources to redeem us. Because Jesus is man, He has the right and the ability to redeem us. He came to purchase us out of the slave market, from our bondage to sin and the elements of the world.”
    • Mark 10:45: For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
    • 1 Corinthians 6:20: for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
    • 1 Corinthians 7:23: God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world.
    • Ephesians 1:7: He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
    • Colossians 1:14: who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
    • 1 Peter 1:18-19: For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
    • 2 Peter 2:1: But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.
  • Us who were slaves to the law:
    • Paul writes as a Jew as in verse 3. Gentiles were not slaves to the law, but the Jews were.
    • Guzik: “John Newton, the man who wrote the most popular and famous hymn in America, Amazing Grace, knew how to remember this. He was an only child whose mother died when he was only seven years old. He became a sailor and went out to sea at eleven years old. As he grew up, he became the captain of a slave ship and had an active hand in the horrible degradation and inhumanity of the slave trade. But when he was twenty-three, on March 10, 1748, when his ship was in imminent danger of sinking off the coast of Newfoundland, he cried to God for mercy, and he found it. He never forgot how amazing it was that God had received him, as bad as he was. To keep it fresh in his memory, he fastened across the wall over the fireplace mantel of his study the words of Deuteronomy 15:15: You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you. If we keep fresh in our mind what we once were, and what we are now in Jesus Christ, we will do well. ”
  • Adopt … his very own children:
    • John Karmelich: It is little like the type of party that is common in many cultures that in effect says to a boy, ‘You are now a man and deserve the family name’ … While there was no set age when this was to occur, it was a common ritual for those from these cultures to have a specific ritual for a child to be recognized as a legitimate part of the family of which that child grew up. Ok then, why am I stating all of this? Because it was that type of ritual that Paul had in mind as he wrote this part of Galatians. … This adoption ritual is how Paul is explaining to us as Christians how we become part of God’s family. It is far more than just saying that God is now our legal father. It is the idea that we as Christians become a new unique entity, once we believe that Jesus did die for our sins. In this section of the letter, Paul explains how we literally and physically change in our relationship with God once we become aware of that relationship. … Whether one realizes it or not, if one believes that Jesus died for one’s sins and believe He is God and that He has been resurrected from the dead, then one is adopted.”
    • Charles Welch: “To appreciate the full significance of the apostle’s figures in Galatians 3 and 4 they must be viewed in the light of the law of adoption - and more particularly, the Greek law of adoption. At the same time it must be remembered that Paul also uses the term in Romans, so that we must also bear in mind the Roman law on the subject. …
      ‘The adopted son became a member of the family, just as if he had been born of the blood of the adopter; and he was invested with all the privileges of a filius familias. As a matter of fact it was by this means that the succession amongst the Caesars was continued. It never descended from father to son. What with poison, divorce, luxury and profligacy, the surviving members of a family were few, the descent suffered constant interruption, and whole families disappeared ... In no case amongst the Caesars did the throne pass from father to son ... Augustus was the great nephew of Julius Caesar, and was adopted from the Octavian into the Julian gens. Tiberius was no relation at all to his predecessor: he was merely the son of Augustus’s wife, Livia, by Tiberius Claudius Nero. Here we have the introduction of another family - the Claudii ... Nero was the great nephew of his predecessor Claudius, who had adopted him in the year A.D. 50…
      The effect of adoption was fourfold:
      A CHANGE OF FAMILY. The adopted person was transferred from one gens to another.
      A CHANGE OF NAME. The adopted person acquired a new name: for he assumed the name of his adopter, and modified his own … when Caius Octavius of the Octavian gens was adopted by Julius Caesar, he became Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus.
      A CHANGE OF HOME, and NEW RESPONSIBILITIES AND PRIVILEGES. While the adopted person suffered many ‘losses’, these were more than counterbalanced by his ‘gains’, for he received a new capacity to inherit. In the case of the adopter dying intestate, the adopted son acquired the right of succession. ”
    • Romans 8:15- 23: So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering … And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
    • Romans 9:4: They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.
    • Ephesians 1:5: God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
  • Children:
    • Greek huioi = sons. Not the same Greek word as in verses 1 and 3.
    • Andrew Wommack: “Christ gave us the status of son-ship with all its privileges. In the Greek, the expression means adult-sons. Under grace, we are treated as adults, not babies. Therefore, we were redeemed not only from the bondage of the Law but also unto son-ship.”

(6) And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”

  • Children:
    • Greek huioi = sons. Not the same Greek word as in verses 1 and 3.
  • Abba:
    • Andrew Wommack: “It is a term used for intimacy and affectionate fondness. It removes the idea of God as our strict Judge and carries the idea of Him being a loving Father who cares, understands, and is our best friend.”
    • The term “Abba Father” is only found referenced in the Bible three times - Romans 8:15, Mark 14:36 and Galatians 4:6 and only by Jesus and Paul.
    • Romans 8:15:… Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
    • Mark 14:36: “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

(7) Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

  • Child:
    • Greek - son.
  • His heir:
    • Romans 8:17: And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

(8) Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist.

  • Gentiles:
    • Now, Paul turns to “what does this adoption thing have to do with us Gentiles?”
    • Ephesians 2:11-12: Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.
  • Knew:
    • Greek - eidotes (oida) = to know intuitively, to understand, to know without effort.
  • Slaves to so-called gods:
    • Just as the Jews were slaves to the law, the Gentiles were slaves to their pagan gods.
  • So-called gods:
    • John Piper: “Paul is saying that formerly the Gentile Galatians had not known the true God, but had been enslaved to demons, who exercised their power through religious practices.”
    • 1 Corinthians 8:5: There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords.
    • 1 Corinthians 10:20: No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to participate with demons.
    • 1 Corinthians 12:2: You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols.

(9) So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?

  • Know:
    • Greek - ginosko = to know by experience. Not same word as in verse 8.
  • God knows you:
    • Leon Morris: “The really important thing is not that we know God, but that he knows us!”
  • Useless spiritual principles of this world
    • Back to verse 3 - the law.

(10) You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.

  • Days … months … seasons … years:
    • Andrew Wommack: “The observance of days refers to keeping the Sabbath…. Observing months and times is a reference to the new moons (Numbers 10:10, 1 Chronicles 23:31, and Psalms 81:3) and feasts (i.e., Passover, Firstfruits, etc.). Observing years refers to the Sabbath year and the Year of Jubilee of Leviticus 25. Paul made it very clear that the keeping of these rituals is not necessary for salvation.”
    • Calvin: “When certain days are represented as holy in themselves, when one day is distinguished from another on religious grounds, when holy days are reckoned a part of divine worship, the days are improperly observed.”
    • Mark A. Copeland: “Religious days, like other elements of the Law of Moses, were carnal ordinances designed to be replaced with a more spiritual form of worship.”
    • Romans 14:5: In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable.
    • Colossians 2:16-17: So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.

(11) I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing.

  • I fear for you:
    • 2 Corinthians 11:3: But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.
    • 2 Corinthians 12:20: For I am afraid that when I come I won’t like what I find, and you won’t like my response. I am afraid that I will find quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly behavior.

(12) Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles - free from those laws. You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you.

  • Live as I live:
    • 1 Corinthians 11:1: And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.
    • Philippians 3:17: Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.

(13-14) Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News. But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did not despise me or turn me away. No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself.

  • My condition:
    • Greek - weakness of the flesh.
    • Ironside: “Paul was used of God to heal many sick people, but he never healed himself, and did not ask anybody to heal him except God. He prayed for deliverance three times, but God said, “I am not going to deliver you but - ‘My grace is sufficient for thee,’” and Paul answered, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). He was a sick man for years as he preached the gospel. He would come in among people, weak and tired and worn, and if there was not money enough to support him he would go to work and make tents to earn money for bread, and then at night would go and look for people to whom to preach Christ. He commended the gospel to these Galatians by his self-denying service and his readiness to suffer. As they (in those days, poor heathen) looked upon him they wondered that he should so love them, and they marveled at his message, and believed it, and were saved. Now he says, “You have lost all that; you do not care anything about me any more; you have gone off after these false teachers, and you have lost your joy.”
    • 2 Corinthians 12:7: even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
  • An angel from God:
    • Coffman: “As a matter of fact, some of the Galatians tried to worship him, before they understood his message (Acts 14:11ff).”
      • Acts 14:11: When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!

(15) Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then? I am sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible.

  • Eyes:
    • Chuck Smith: “So, this is no doubt a hint towards what Paul’s weakness in his flesh was: an eye problem. Now in those days, they had some oriental diseases affecting the eyes, causing a constant kind of a pink eye condition, the running sort of conjunctivitis of which they had no cure. And so, it would affect the eyesight. It was repulsive to look at, and some believe that this is what Paul had. And yet, Paul says, you know, ‘You received me; you love me so much that some of you would have been glad to give your eyes, given your eyes to me.’”
    • Other expositors believe that Paul was suffering from malaria.

(16-18) Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth? Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but their intentions are not good. They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them. If someone is eager to do good things for you, that’s all right; but let them do it all the time, not just when I’m with you.

(19) Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.

  • Children:
    • Greek - tekna.

(20-21) I wish I were with you right now so I could change my tone. But at this distance I don’t know how else to help you. Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says?

  • Under the law:
    • Guzik: “Under the law it is what you do for God that makes you right before Him. Under the grace of God, it is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ that makes us right before Him. Under the law the focus is on my performance. Under the grace of God, the focus is on who Jesus is and what He has done. Under the law we find fig leaves to cover our nakedness. Under the grace of God we receive the covering won through sacrifice that God provides. The Christian has no business living under the law.”
    • Spurgeon: “What is God’s law now? It is not above a Christian – it is under a Christian. Some men hold God’s law like a rod in terrorem, over Christians, and say, ‘If you sin you will be punished with it.’ It is not so. The law is under a Christian; it is for him to walk on, to be his guide, his rule, his pattern… Law is the road which guides us, not the rod which drives us, nor the spirit which actuates us.”

(22) The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife.

  • Abraham:
    • Ray Pritchard: “The Jews revered Abraham as their spiritual father. As far as they were concerned, if you were a physical descendant of Abraham, then you were in good standing with the Lord. … It was a matter of lineage, of heritage, of tracing your family tree.… Paul is saying, “Not so!” God’s family is made up of those who have a relationship with him by faith in Jesus Christ. It’s a matter of faith, not your family tree. This is a crucial point to consider because millions of people today think that being right with God is merely a matter of spiritual pedigree. They say things like, “I’m Catholic so I must be okay.” Or “I was baptized Presbyterian so I know I’m going to heaven.” Or “My father was a Baptist minister and that puts me in good with God.” Or they trust in their Lutheran heritage or their Episcopal connections or their Methodist church membership or their Charismatic leanings … Down South where I come from almost everyone was Baptist, and many folks trusted in their baptism by a Baptist pastor as their assurance of eternal life.”
    • I remember seeing Bill O’Reilly on Fox News to say, “Of course I’m a Christian. I was born a Christian.” I suspect he believed that because he is Roman Catholic.
  • Slave wife:
    • Hagar or Agar - means a stone.
    • Genesis 16:15: So Hagar gave Abram a son, and Abram named him Ishmael.
  • Freeborn wife:
    • Sarah.
    • Genesis 21:2-3: She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son Isaac.

(23-24) The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise. These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them.

  • Hagar … Sinai:
    • Bullinger: “In Arabic, Hagar (a stone) is a name for Mt. Sinai.”

(25) And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law.

  • Now Jerusalem:
    • Andrew Wommack: “The earthly city of Jerusalem was corrupt. Its inhabitants rejected Jesus by crucifying Him, and as a whole, they had also rejected the Gospel.”

(26) But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother.

  • Heavenly Jerusalem:
    • Hebrews 11:10: Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

(27) As Isaiah said, “Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!”

  • Isaiah 54:1: “Sing, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into loud and joyful song, O Jerusalem, you who have never been in labor. For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband,” says the Lord.

(28-29) And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit.

  • Persecuted Isaac:
    • Genesis 21:9: Sarah saw Ishmael … making fun of her son, Isaac.

(30) But what do the Scriptures say about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”

  • Genesis 21:10: So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!”

(31) So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.

  • Children of the free woman:
    • Morris: “Barclay makes the point that anyone who makes law central is ‘in the position of a slave; all his life he is seeking to satisfy his master the law’. But when grace is central, the person ‘has made love his dominant principle … it will be the power of love and not the constraint of law that keeps us right; and love is always more powerful than law.’”

Galatians Chapter 3 Study References

NOTE: While the following sources contain valuable information, I do not necessarily agree with all the information and opinions presented in the sources.

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