INTRODUCTION
Let me set before you a ridiculous image. Think of the most dignified and respected person you know personally. Now, picture them behaving with all the maturity of a Mountain Dew fueled 12 year old boy at a game night with his buddies. This incongruity is how we should see Law-keeping in relation to Christ coming and receiving His promised inheritance.
THE TEXT
Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. […]
Galatians 4:1ff
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
Paul’s rebuke has been severe. But it shouldn’t be mistaken as uncontrolled wrath. His “tone” is imminently deliberate. Bear that in mind in studying this section. The metaphor of an heir in infancy continues (v1). In the Greek world, a servant would be tasked with keeping the young heir from danger, and was responsible for tutoring the heir in the family business (v2). Mankind’s situation prior to Christ’s coming, was like a child with strict boundaries (v3). This immaturity was also a bondage to the elements of the world, more on that momentarily. The Law’s tutelage was always temporary until the fulness of time was complete, when God sent forth the Seed of the Woman to redeem mankind out from under the Law, in order to receive adoption through faith in Christ (vv4-5). This is all very similar to what Paul taught in the previous section, but with one more addition to drive his whole argument home. The works of the flesh could never justify you, which is why now, by faith in Christ, you receive the Spirit. This Spirit cries out within you that you are born anew with God as Your Father; you’re not a servant but a son and heir of all that Your Father possesses (vv6-7).
So then, the Galatians’ attempt to relive history by going back to where the Jews started is to go back into bondage. They once served demons, and for them to desert this Gospel which Paul had proclaimed to them is to go back into prison. This is why Paul is so concerned for them, they are squandering the gift of the Gospel which Paul had bestowed upon them (vv8-11). Paul is not offended because of a personal slight (v12); after all, he recalls to them how he first ministered unto them in “infirmity of flesh” (Cf. Acts 14:19-20), and they had received him as an angel, as Jesus Himself (vv13-14). They were so blessed by Paul, that they would have even given him their eyes (v15). So why, he asks, have they begun to treat him as an enemy for telling them the truth (v16)? The Judaizers are happy to convince the Galatians that they are “out” until they meet all the requirements necessary to become Jews; this is the epitome of a spiritual power trip (v17).
Instead of trying to please these Judaizers, Paul wishes that the Galatians would be zealous for the truth, regardless whether he’s present or not (v18). But now, he must labor like a woman in childbirth for them again, because, by all appearances, they had not yet been born anew (v19). In all this, Paul is aware of his tone, though he wishes it were unnecessary, he doesn’t apologize for it (v20). Not only that, but he derides their comprehension of the Law itself (v21). To understand the law, you must understand the story of two women, their sons, and two mountains (vv22-25). Hagar is Sinai which is actually earthly Jerusalem, while Sarah is the prophesied heavenly Jerusalem. As Isaiah foretold (Is. 54:1), heavenly Jerusalem would be our mother (vv26-27). Christians are like Isaac, heirs of the promise, while these Judaizers are persecuting Ishmaels. This underscores that the old order is over and Gentiles and Jews, by faith in Christ are free-born sons (vv28-31).
TWO WOMEN
A prominent framework in evangelicalism is to draw a dividing line through Scripture, separating the Law and Grace. Certainly, we can identify, especially here in Galatians, that there is some sort of division taking place. There is a war. We’ll see in the next chapter that the flesh and the Spirit are in a war. But the division is not internal to the Scriptures, or within God’s purposes. It isn’t as if God concluded that this Law thing really wasn’t working out and it was time to try something new. Rather, the division has always been between believers and unbelievers. Those of faith and those of the flesh.
This is why Paul uses the allegory of Hagar and Sarah and their sons. There is a story that God is telling, and you must understand the characters if you are to understand where you are in the story. Fastidious exegetes might squirm at Paul’s use of Genesis and Isaiah here, but we shouldn’t. Can’t you see? Two women. One barren yet beloved. One a slave-woman, with an ill-begotten child of the flesh. It’s clear, right? Sinai against Heavenly Jerusalem. Works of the flesh or simple faith in Christ the Seed promised in Eden and to Abraham and to David.
The question of who is your mother is quite important. The slave’s sons are marked by unbelief. The children of Sarah believe in Christ. Heavenly Jerusalem was once barren, but by God’s steadfast love she is now bearing children in all the ends of the earth. So, Paul confronts the Galatians with their immaturity. They are letting Ishmael bully them into being ashamed of being heirs in Christ/Isaac. Again, the Galatians were misreading the story of history, and thus were missing their own place in the story. They wanted to live by sight and not by faith.
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
This passage also gives us an important understanding of what true spiritual warfare is. Before Christ, the nations worshipped idols, and behind these idols were demon beings. For the Galatians to return to the observance of days, months, times, and years is to go back to the idols, and thus back to serving demons. This means that all efforts to live outside of the framework of Christ’s ascension to the Father’s right hand are at their root a return to bondage to the elements of this world (i.e. the demons).
GROWING UP
In Christ, mankind is coming into maturity. We are inheriting the world. This requires us to walk by faith in Christ every step of the way. The whole Bible is ours. The Law is the Law of Love; love for God our Father, and love to our neighbor. The Proverbs are given to us to understand the workings of this world. The Psalms are given to govern all our emotions, so we may exhort and admonish one another with sanctified affections. The Prophets are given to us to prick our conscience, and to teach us to look at our own time with eagle-eye discernment. The Gospels are ours, for they display all the perfection of Christ our redeemer. The Epistles are ours for we are taught all things necessary for life and godliness in this New Creation of Christ our Head. And John’s Apocalypse is given to us to assure us that the dragons and demons are bound, and the King is ruling upon this earth which He inherited through us, His body.
Would you grow into that maturity? The only way is by His Word and His Spirit. The Word which begets you, and the Spirit which gives you Christ’s life. Receive it by faith.