A Church Going Astray

A CHURCH GOING ASTRAY

Warsaw Christian Church, Richard Bowman, Pastor

Text: Galatians 4:1-7 (see also 7-20): Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

The Galatian Church was beginning to go astray. False teachers had brought confusion into the church. There was confusion, particularly about the difference between the law and the gospel. Throughout this epistle, Paul is laboring to bring the Galatians back to the truth. Paul distinguishes between what the Galatians had been and what they are through faith in Jesus Christ. Before Christ, they were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. After Christ, they became the adopted children of God. Let’s take a closer look at these two concepts.

On the negative side, the Galatians before Christ are described as enslaved to the world’s elemental spirits. What does Paul mean? The subject under discussion is access to God through Jesus Christ; elementary things no doubt refers to all the religious ideas which predate Jesus Christ. The Galatians were returning to relying on the law as a means of salvation. The law served a purpose in the plan of God, but it was never meant to be the source of salvation. The Galatians were becoming once again enslaved to the law.

Sometimes, Christians today fall into the same trap. We say we believe in Jesus but then dabble in astrology, Ouija boards, fortune tellers, or the notion that if we are just good enough, we have earned salvation. I understand that psychic hotlines are booming because people are hungry to know the future. All of this comes under the heading of “Elementary.” Christians who have come to faith should trust Christ completely, avoiding all elementary religious ideas. Such ideas can destroy faith if they become common. This is Paul’s concern for the Galatians. They are turning away from Christ and returning to rudimentary religious beliefs that do nothing but enslave the soul.

We must ask ourselves a fundamental question to help us grasp this idea of enslavement to things elementary. What things in this world are of supreme importance to you? If the answer is anything other than the Triune God, then you are enslaved to that which is elementary. The created order and the institutions that are part of human life are all elementary things. They are given to us by God for our use, but when they begin to take God’s place in our hearts, we have a problem. The gifts of God have replaced God. God is the only ultimately real entity in the universe. Everything else came from him and will finally be disposed of by him. God is the “Sunum Bonum,” the Supreme Good of the universe. Everything else is elementary. Until God and the things of God conquer our hearts, we are enslaved to the elementary principles of this world.

Paul’s main concern was that the Judaizers claimed that one must keep the Old Testament law to be saved. The Galatians were Gentiles, reared in the ancient religious ideas of Greece and Rome. The false teachers told them that to be saved, they must embrace and practice Jewish law. God’s law revealed in the Old Testament has a place in the life of the Christian. However, its place is not to bring salvation to us. In Galatians 6:11, we learned that the false teachers were compelling circumcision. They said you must keep the law, particularly the law of circumcision, to be saved. That is an idea that contradicts the gospel, which assures us that it is faith in Christ alone which saves us.

The law of God in the Old Testament served two primary purposes. First, it revealed the will of God. It told the people of Israel what they must do to please God. It continues to serve that purpose today. However, the law’s primary purpose was to bring us to Christ. When we examine the law closely, we understand how much we fail to obey the law of God. We need another way to please God. The scripture says, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24). The law has served its purpose in pointing us to Christ. We realize that we have utterly failed to keep the law and must be justified by faith.