One of the hardest things about looking forward to Christmas morning is the anticipation. Especially for kids, it seems to take forever. You often get the reasonable question of “how many more sleeps until Christmas morning? Now for many of us it makes a big difference what family you visit on Christmas as to what kind of gift you would receive. I tend to get great gifts from my immediate family but if I visit extended family, I may walk away with a tin of nuts. Nuts is right!
Paul here in Galatians 3-4 discusses the elements of the spiritual family and the promise of blessing to come. Continuing his discussion of works of the law as opposed to faith in the promise, Paul now contrasts the personal effects those two approaches have on people. After showing the historical relationship between the covenant of promise to Abraham and the covenant of works through Moses and then showing the redemptive superiority of the former over the latter (vv. 6–22), he now introduces the personal application of the two covenants. In doing so, he describes the before and the after of conversion, the character and orientation of a person’s life before he trusts in God for salvation and after God grants righteousness because of that trust.
How we regard God’s law determines how we regard God. Do we see God as a cosmic kill joy, looking for ways to spoil our fun? Or do we see Him as guiding and protecting us as dear children, wanting us to be a joyous family looking forward to blessing to come?
In Galatians 2:23-4:3, we see 1) What we were, 2) What God did, 3) What God has made us
1) WHAT WE WERE: UNDER LAW: BONDAGE: GALATIANS 3:23-24
Galatians 3:23-24 [23]Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [24]So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
After using the third person for most of the chapter (vv. 6–22), Paul reverts to the first person (we). In using we, he first of all identifies himself with the Jewish people, to whom both covenants were given. But in a broader and more comprehensive sense he is also identifying himself with all of mankind, Jew and Gentile. Even the most pagan Gentile who has never heard of the true God is under obligation to keep His moral and spiritual standards and, if disregarding those standards, to face the judgment of God.
Paul uses two figures to represent God’s law and its effect on unbelievers, first that of A) A prison and then that of B) A guardian.
A) THE LAW AS A PRISON: GALATIANS 3:23
Galatians 3:23 [23]Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. (ESV)
As we have seen from Rom. 7:7-9 last week, the purpose of the law is to reveal and convict of sin
Before faith comes, every person is, in the deepest sense, held captive/kept in custody under the law of God and the burden of sin. Every human being lives either continuously as a captive slave chained under the judgment of God’s immutable, universal law, the demands of which he must pay by eternal death and hell, or he lives by faith as utterly free from judgment (Rom. 8:1) as a redeemed child of God under His sovereign and eternal grace.
The believer who looks back realizes that being under the law had a good effect, because it showed us our guilty helplessness, moral and spiritual bankruptcy, danger of judgment, and his need of a deliverer. The impossible demands of the law are not designed to save but to condemn sinners and drive them toward the Savior.
When Paul talks that before faith, people were held captive/In custody under the law, it refers to the nature of life where one continually violates it and is imprisoned. People are, as it were, on death row, sentenced to execution for his sin, the wages of which is death (Rom. 6:23).
Remember there are positive elements to this captivity. Paul personally experienced these. Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and placed in a Roman garrison. While he was imprisoned, a group of enemies conspired to assassinate him (Acts 23:12). When this plot was discovered, the Roman Commander called out a detachment of 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen to escort Paul to Caesarea. The apostle was still a prisoner but his captors actually saved his life. By placing a guard around him, they were eventually able to deliver him safely to Rome.
• In much the same way, the law kept the Jews under its protective custody. It watched over them, keeping them safe until it could lead them to Christ (Philip Graham Ryken. Galatians: Reformed Expository Commentary. P&R Publications. 2005. p. 138)
Not only that, but everyone is imprisoned until the coming of faith. Historically, the Jews were locked up under the covenant of law until the Messiah came and fulfilled the covenant of promise and faith given to Abraham. This is what we focus on in the advent season.
Please turn to Romans 2
In a similar way, even the Gentile believers in Galatia, like Gentile believers of every age, were held captive/in custody under the law written in their hearts:
Romans 2:14-16 [14]For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. [15]They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them [16]on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (ESV)
• Even without the written code of law to refer to, God imprints on the conscience of everyone His moral expectations. People can deny or suppress it, but it is still there.
The law, even when kept to the best of a person’s ability is nothing but a prison, a death row cell where one waits for eternal execution.
B) THE LAW AS GUARDIAN AND GUIDE: GALATIANS 3:24
Galatians 3:24 [24]So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. (ESV)
A paidagôgos (guardian) or “Disciplinarian” (NAB, NRSV) comes closer in meaning than a “custodian” (RSV), “tutor” (NEB), “schoolmaster” (KJV), or “teacher and guide” (TLB).
• In ancient Greece and Rome wealthy parents often placed their newborn babies under the care of a wet-nurse who in turn would pass them on to an older woman, a nanny who would care for their basic needs until about the age of six. At that time they came under the supervision of another household servant, the paidagôgos, a guardian, who remained in charge of their upbringing until late adolescence. The pedagogue took over where the nanny left off in terms of offering menial care and completing the process of socialization for his charge (George, T. (2001, c1994). Vol. 30: Galatians (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (265). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
Please turn to 1 Corinthians 4
• They took their young charges to and from school, made sure they studied their lessons, and trained them in obedience. They were strict disciplinarians. scolding and whipping as they felt it necessary. Paul told the Corinthian believers-who often behaved liked spoiled children-that:
1 Corinthians 4:15 [15]For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (ESV)
Continuing the contrast of paidagôgos and father, he later asks:
1 Corinthians 4:21 [21]What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness? (ESV)
The role of the paidagôgos was never permanent, and it was a great day of deliverance when a boy finally gained freedom from his paidagôgos. His purpose was to take care of the child only until he grew into adulthood. At that time the relationship was changed. Though the two of them might remain close and friendly, the paidagogos, having completed his assignment, had no more authority or control over the child, now a young man, and the young man had no more responsibility to be directly under the paidagôgos.
The sole purpose of the Law, God’s divinely appointed paidagôgos, was to lead people to Christ, that they might be justified.
Illustration: Letting Children Free to Develop?
I’ve used this illustration before, but I think it speaks so well as to the nature of guidance and children:
A Gentleman was once talking with a man who told him that he did not believe in giving little children any moral instruction whatsoever. His theory was that the child’s mind should not be prejudiced in any direction, but when he came to years of discretion he should be permitted to choose his religious opinions for himself.
The gentleman who listened to this theory said nothing; but after a while he asked his visitor if he would like to see his garden. The man said he would, and he took him out into the garden, where only weeds were growing. The man looked at him in surprise, and said, “Why this is not a garden! There is nothing but weeds here!”
“Well, you see,” said the gentleman, “I did not wish to infringe upon the liberty of the garden in any way, I was just giving the garden a chance to express itself and to choose its own production.” (Tan, P. L. (1996, c1979). Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : A treasury of illustrations, anecdotes, facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers. Garland TX: Bible Communications.)
We have seen: 1) What we were: Under law: in Bondage like a prison and guardian and now:
2) What God did: Achieve freedom in Christ GALATIANS 3:25-29
Galatians 3:25 [25]But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, (ESV)
The Judaizers refused to relinquish the ceremonial law even after making a profession of belief in Christ. To them, trust in Christ was merely added to works of the law. Since they held onto the bondage of the law, they could not receive the freedom of faith. Because they insisted on remaining under the guardian/tutor, they never advanced to the care of the Savior.
As Paul unfolds the result of being rightly related to God through faith in Christ Jesus, Paul shows three aspects of the freedom of that relationship. Those who believe in Him and thereby become one with Him are A) Sons of God, and B) One with every other believer.
A) SONS OF GOD: GALATIANS 3:26-27
Galatians 3:26-27 [26]for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27]For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (ESV))
The sonship of God is the culmination of the covenant of promise. Because of the work of Christ, our relationship has changed from God as Judge to Father.
The all refers to believers of every race. Faith in Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son, brings believers into sonship with God the Father.
John 1:12 [12]But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, (ESV)
How can we know this?
Romans 8:16 [16]The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (ESV)
In Galatians 3:27, Paul continues: [27]For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (ESV))
Though water baptism is the outward act of public confession of one’s faith in Jesus Christ, Paul is not here speaking of that baptism. The Bible nowhere teaches salvation by physical baptism, especially not in Galatians, where the central message is salvation by faith alone, plus absolutely nothing else.
Please turn to Romans 6
Since it is here equated with putting on/being clothed … with Christ, the phrase baptized into Christ cannot refer to any water ceremony at all but rather to spiritual identification with and immersion into the life of Christ.
• Law exposes sin, and sin needs a remedy. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they saw their nakedness, their sin and were ashamed. God in an act of Grace covered their nakedness. This prefigured the ultimate covering of the promise in Christ. Our sin would be covered by His righteousness.
In our immediate context in Galatians, when the Roman child came of age, he took off the childhood garments and was putting on/being clothed with the toga of the adult citizen (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire ’BE’ series"--Jkt. (Ga 3:27). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.)
• (This) toga admitted him to the full rights of the family and state and indicated he was a grown-up son. So the Galatian believers had laid aside the old garments of the Law and had put on Christ’s robe of righteousness which grants full acceptance before God. Who would want to don again the old clothing? (Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (2:600). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
• To baptize (baptizo) means to “dip, immerse.” If a white cloth is dipped or immersed in purple dye, it identifies with the dye as it is changed from white to purple. Paul writes of Christians being “baptized into Christ.” Those who have received Jesus Christ by faith have been baptized into Christ and are joined with him in a spiritual union in which they participate in his death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3–4; Gal. 2:16). (Anders, M. (1999). Vol. 8: Galatians-Colossians. Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (44). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
o This is not baptismal regeneration and does not refer to water baptism, for that never put anyone into Christ. Given the very context that is here, Paul is pointing out that no work puts us into Christ. This would naturally apply to physical baptism as a work. This can be seen in the grammatical construction. The Greek passive voice means that this was done for them and not by them. Baptism in water symbolizes, but does not effect, this glorious experience (KJV Bible commentary. 1997, c1994 (2389). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
It is precisely the spiritual immersing into the Person and work of Christ that Paul explains in his letter to the Romans:
Romans 6:3-5 [3]Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? [4]We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. [5]For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (ESV) (cf 1 Cor. 12:13,)
• That is a great mystery that the human mind cannot fathom. But in some spiritually supernatural way that transcends time and space, the person who places his trust in Jesus Christ is crucified, buried, and resurrected with his Savior, baptized into Christ, (1 Cor. 6:17), so that when the Father looks at the sinful believer He sees His sinless Son. Belief in His name/Faith appropriates the union that baptism symbolizes.
For those who believe in Christ, and thereby become one with Him are A) Sons of God, and are:
B) ONE WITH OTHER CHRISTIANS GALATIANS 3:28
Galatians 3:28 [28]There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (ESV)
In his morning prayer, a Jewish man thanked God that He had not made him a Gentile, a slave, or a woman (MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Ga 3:28). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
In the first century, as well as many places today, existing, well-defined distinctions of society draw sharp lines and set up high walls of separation between people. The essence of those distinctions is the idea that some people-namely Jews, free men, and males in general-were better than, more valuable than, more significant than others.
• The gospel destroys all such proud thinking.
Although there is still role distinctions that continue, like headship of the man over the woman (cf. 1 Cor. 11:3) and that there are distinctions in the area of spiritual service (cf. 1 Tim. 2:12). Paul has used the aspect of sequence from promise, circumcision to law in order to show foundation. In the context of these distinctions, God created people men and women. This naturally preceded even the promise.
Please turn to 1 Corinthians 12
With the allusion to baptism in putting on Christ from the previous verse we can see the connection:
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 [12]For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. [13]For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (ESV)
• Under the law, men and women worshipped separately, and the sign of the covenant, circumcision, was given to males only. Now under the promise in the new covenant, we are all baptized into one body and all receive the sign of the new covenant, baptism.
Therefore, the person who becomes one in Christ Jesus also becomes one with every other believer. There are no status distinctions among those who belong to Christ.
• There are obvious racial, social, and sexual differences among people. Paul, however, was speaking of spiritual differences-differences in standing before the Lord, spiritual value, privilege, and worthiness. Consequently, prejudice based on race, social status, sex, or any other such superficial and temporary differences has no place in the fellowship of Christ’s church. All believers, without exception, are all one in Christ Jesus.
Herein lies the basis for true church unity as opposed to mere ecumenical togetherness. One lord, one faith, one baptism! This kind of unity cannot be contrived but only received as a gift from the Lord of the church, who desires for his bride to be presented unto him “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph 5:27). In this sense every true Christian may join in the prayer for the church found in the Book of Common Prayer:
Quote: “Gracious Father, I humbly beseech thee for thy Holy Catholic Church; fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purge it; where it is in error, direct it; where it is superstitious, rectify it; where anything is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen and confirm it; where it is in want, furnish it; where it is divided and rent asunder, make up the breaches of it; O Thou Holy One of Israel. Amen.” (An adaptation of a prayer by W. Laud first published in A Summarie of Devotion (1677).)
Illustration: Being one with other Christians is much like a biological body. In any flesh-and-bones body, there are a variety of cells. There are nerve cells, blood cells, muscle cells, and many others, each having a distinct function. The body operates smoothly, not because the cells get together and vote on what to do, but because each one does what it was designed to do.
Certainly the body would not operate properly if its cells chose to go their own way. Do you know what we call a rebellion of the cells of your stomach? We call it indigestion! A revolt of your brain cells is called insanity. Any time the cells in our body don’t operate properly, it means that the body is sick, that something is wrong with it.
It has been said that many of the problems in the church today are a result of our forgetting that the church is a body with a head, Jesus Christ. Instead we sometimes try to operate the church as an organization. As a result, the church has no more power than any other human organization at work in the world
We have seen: 1) What we were: Under law: in Bondage like a prison and guardian
2) What God did: Achieve freedom in Christ and finally:
3) What God has made us: Heirs by Promise: GALATIANS 4:1-3
Galatians 4:1-3 [4:1]I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, [2]but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. [3]In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. (ESV)
Galatians 3:29 [29]And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (ESV)
Quote: John Stott lucidly summarizes his comments on this passage in the following words: “We cannot come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses to be condemned. But once we have gone to Moses, and acknowledged our sin, guilt and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must let Moses send us to Christ” (The Message of Galatians [London: Inter-Varsity, 1968], p. 102).
Ephesians 1:13 [13]In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, (ESV)
• This is the promise of inheriting God Himself. “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup,” exulted David (Ps. 16:5).
Please turn to Revelation 21
The spiritual promise of eternal salvation and blessing given to Abraham belongs to all those who are Christ’s/belong to Christ. They are all heirs according to that promise, which is fulfilled in Christ. This refers to the spiritual blessings that come to all who, being justified by faith just as Abraham was (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3–11), will inherit the spiritual promises given to Abraham (Rev. 21:3–4, 7).
Paul further develops the analogy of a child becoming an adult (see 3:23–26), He compares the position and privileges of a child to those of a servant, with the figures of child and servant representing life under the law and the figures of adult and son representing life in Christ.
In the ancient world the division between childhood and adulthood was much more definitive than it is in most societies today. Although ancient customs varied, there was usually a prescribed age when a child, especially a boy, would officially come of age and take on the privileges and responsibilities of adulthood. The Roman ceremony marking that change in status was called toga virilis, and the Jewish ceremony was (and still is) called bar mitzvah.
The illustration of a child (nçpios, infant, one without understanding, or a minor) coming of age was therefore easily understood by both Jews and Gentiles to whom Paul wrote. They were well aware that as long as the heir was a child, he was under conditions no different from those of a slave. As son and heir of all his father’s possessions and duties, a boy was the potential and rightful owner of everything that belonged to his father.
Quote: But as William Hendriksen points out, he was only an heir de jure, not an heir de facto; he was heir by legal right but not heir in fact (William Hendriksen. Baker New Testament Commentary. Baker Publishing. 2004. p.156).
While a child, as it says in Galatians 4:2 was under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. Families would assign certain capable and trusted slaves to act as guardians (a general term for a person who cared for underage boys) and managers (house stewards) over the child until he was grown. Along with his tutor (paidagôgos, 3:24–25), those family slaves would have virtually full charge of the child’s education, training, and welfare. The child was subservient to them and could do nothing without their permission and go nowhere without their companionship. For all practical purposes, the child was no different from a slave under whom he was being trained. Just as a slave had masters, so the child had masters.
But at the date set by his father, the child’s status changed radically. He was no longer simply an heir de jure but became an heir de facto. He was no longer a child or like a slave, but a responsible adult and citizen.
Galatians 4:3 specifies that in the same way we also when we were under the law as unbelieving children, were enslaved/held in bondage. For an unbeliever there is potential salvation and fulfillment of the promise given to all the world through Abraham (Gen. 12:3). But unless and until he spiritually “comes of age” through saving trust in Jesus Christ, every unbeliever is a kind of slave and is imprisoned under the elementary principles of the world.
Elementary principles is from striction, which has the root meaning of “row” or “rank,” signifying foundational and rudimentary orderliness. It was used, for instance, of the letters of the alphabet, the elemental building blocks of writing.
Paul does not specify what the elementary principles of the world represent, and Bible scholars have offered many suggestions. Some hold that it a) refers to the demon spirits who rule the present world system. Others say it refers to b) stars and therefore to pagan systems of astrology. Still others believe it refers to the c) basic, elementary principles of human religion (Heb. 5:12-6:3); and that interpretation seems appropriate in this context, especially in light of the fact that in 4:9 the same phrase is connected with the ceremonial rituals of human religion.
In Colossians 2:8 Paul warns:
Colossians 2:8 [8]See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (ESV)
Here in Galatians 4:3, Paul clearly associates “elementary principles of the world” with deceptive human tradition and philosophy.
• The heart of Jewish religion during New Testament times was the system of rabbinic traditions that had superseded and stifled the revealed truth of the Old Testament.
• In the Gentile world of that day, human philosophy and pagan religions were closely interrelated.
• And both Jewish traditions and pagan religions centered in man-made systems of works. They were filled with rules and regulations, the obeying of which were thought to make a person right with deity. The elementary principles of all human religion, whether Jewish or Gentile, ancient or modern, inevitably involve the idea of achieving divine acceptance by one’s own efforts. And they are elementary in that they are only human, never rising beyond the mundane to the divine.
Illustration: John Wesley was an honor graduate of Oxford University, an ordained clergyman in the Church of England and orthodox in theology. He was active in practical good works, regularly visiting the inmates of prisons and workhouses in London and helping distribute food and clothing to slum children and orphans. He studied the Bible diligently and attended numerous Sunday services as well as various other services during the week. He generously gave offerings to the church and alms to the poor. He prayed and fasted and lived an exemplary moral life. He even spent several years as a missionary to American Indians in what was then the British colony of Georgia. Yet upon returning to England he confessed in his journal, “I who went to America to convert others was never myself converted to God.” Later reflecting on his preconversion condition, he said. “I had even then the faith of a servant, though not that of a son.”
Wesley tirelessly did everything he could to live a life acceptable to God, yet he knew something vital was missing. It was not until he went as he said “very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street” one evening that he discovered and claimed true Christian life. “I felt my heart strangely warmed,” he wrote. “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” Things were no longer elementary for Wesley. He had entered “the heavenlies.”
(Format Note: Outline and some base commentary from MacArthur, J. (1996, c1987). Galatians. Includes indexes. (91). Chicago: Moody Press.)
