Christmas - Part 2

(Gal 4:1 NKJV) 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,

(Gal 4:2 NKJV) but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

(Gal 4:3 NKJV) Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

(Gal 4:4 NKJV) But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

(Gal 4:5 NKJV) to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

(Gal 4:6 NKJV) And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"

(Gal 4:7 NKJV) Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

We have learned that Paul is showing through the practice of his day regarding a child who is heir to the family’s fortune that Jews and Gentiles were in their “spiritual childhood” before Christ-- the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all…

Though they who would come to trust in Christ would have a wonderful future in Christ they were still slaves before the appointed time for Christ’s death, burial and resurrection had taken place.

What were they enslaved to?

(Gal 4:3 NKJV) Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

Last time we learned that the "elements of the world" referred to the first principles of non-Christian humanity, that is, humanity outside of Christ.

* In the case of the Jew, they were enslaved to the symbolic and ceremonial character of Judaism and its laws and legalism.

* In the case of the Gentiles, they were enslaved to the ceremonial and ritualistic observances of the pagan religions.

Paul wants us to know that both Jews and Gentiles, when they were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

The Jews were in bondage to keeping the letter of the law to obtain salvation. The Gentiles were in bondage to keeping their pagan rituals to please and appease their gods.

Without a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, people are in bondage to the rudimentary things of the world. In Romans 1 Paul gives us a graphic picture of a world without Christ:

(Rom 1:22 NKJV) Professing to be wise, they became fools,

(Rom 1:23 NKJV) and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man; and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

(Rom 1:24 NKJV) Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,

(Rom 1:25 NKJV) who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

(Rom 1:26 NKJV) For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.

(Rom 1:27 NKJV) Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

(Rom 1:28 NKJV) And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

(Rom 1:29 NKJV) being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,

(Rom 1:30 NKJV) backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

(Rom 1:31 NKJV) undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;

(Rom 1:32 NKJV) who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

People living without Christ are in bondage to the principals of the world and we see this kind of bondage today being worked out in the lives of the people who show up on Jerry Springer, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Judy and the likes. You can also get a glimpse of it by reading our newspapers or watching some of our cop shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Many of these shows take pride in themselves as being a reflection of our society.

People today are in bondage of the elements of the world.

* They think they are wise but they are foolish.

* They pride themselves in being open-minded but they are immoral.