Introduction: Last time we were faced with a choice: Do we trust the Law to save us, or the Promise of God? Today we have a similar decision: Do we embrace the status of slaves or sons?
Verses 1-10 On the way to the Promised Land, the Israelites grumbled and wished they had stayed in Egypt. Paul is dealing with a similar attitude-problem. The Galatians were playing around with a return to performance-based religion. They had made an idol of the Law…and so Paul makes an analogy.
Civil law dictated that an inheritance was kept in trust for minors; meanwhile, a designated guardian kept the heir under discipline until he “came of age.” This may have felt like slavery for young people under a guardian’s authority, yet the system in place was necessary. That’s the value of God’s Law; it gives us “the alphabet of His will” (Ryken). We’re under the Law’s moral discipline; it keeps us out of trouble. But to advance beyond the A B C’s of the Law, we embrace God’s grace. Obedience proves we’re loyal servants, but not that we’re sons. Yet we do obey--out of love, not out of fear. Paul was astonished that the Galatians would choose to revert to prior religious experience. He compared the rituals they were counting on to save them to slavery, because the Law set a standard no one could ever achieve.
When salvation becomes a matter of being “good enough”, God must appear to be a tyrant. I recall two Commanding Generals of the 3rd Armored Division in Germany. One was a bully with a fiery temper, but the other was a grandfatherly leader. Everyone feared the wrath of the one, and wanted to please the other. The tyrant treated his position as a stepping-stone to higher positions, while the granddad-General treated his position as an opportunity to help soldiers “Be all they could be.” I don’t have to ask you which one we were sorry to see go. In the Lord’s army, we need not fear our Heavenly Commander; He loves His children and wants what’s best for us.
This brings up a issue I mentioned last time: Why does Paul say “sons” in verse 5? Why not “children”? Because only sons had legal status and inheritance rights. This wasn’t a biblical sanction (don’t blame the OT); it was a civic decree. Paul had just stated in 3:28 that there was “no difference between male and female” in the eyes of God. To regard male and female believers as “sons” is to grant them equal standing and value--a radical, new view of Sonship. Eugene Peterson states, “We are not rivals competing for a prize, but participants in a common life, brothers and sisters in a single family.” We share the same destiny.
Believers are freed from “the elemental spiritual forces of the world,” verse 3. In the case of the Galatians, this refers to the superstition of their former pagan trust in deities and in the basic elements of earth, air, fire, water, and astrology. We regress when we live like unbelievers, when we allow the world to crowd out Christ, when we no longer find time to fit faith into our plans, when we live apart from matters of eternal importance. Jesus has dethroned the elemental forces, but have we enthroned Jesus?
Our Savior came at just the right time--a set, appointed time--to set us free, verse 4. Spiritual hunger was everywhere. Jesus came for Gentiles who were dissatisfied with their pagan gods, and for Jews who resented religion being reduced to a legalistic list of do’s and don’ts. Holiness is more than the sum total of the things you don’t do. Jesus came to rescue us from the hostile clutches of darkness. He came so that we might be adopted into His family with the full rights of sons. And Jesus came to redeem us, verse 5. Our sonship-status is based on what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. Without His sacrifice we could never be acceptable to God.
Paul says in verse 6 that, on the basis of our status, God sent His Spirit to assure us that we are His beloved children, to seal the family tie. Accepted by God, we cry out “Abba,” an intimate term of both endearment and respect. No servant could ever address his master this way. A son has a future; a servant does not.
Paul urges his readers not to relapse to their former worldview. Some call this defection “backsliding.” Anyone who has embraced their status as sons shouldn’t want to go back to their former status as slaves.
Robert Robinson wrote the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” when he was 23 years old. The third verse says: “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” Sadly, this was true of the composer; he lapsed into sin. While aboard a train he heard a woman humming his hymn. He told her who he was, and how he regretted his unhappy life.
Verses 11-20 Paul’s appeal becomes personal and emotional. Luther said, “These words breathe Paul’s own tears.” Paul was grateful for how the church had accepted him--a former Pharisee--and welcomed him as an Apostle. Even with his “thorn in the flesh” the church gladly took him in. He founded the church while on the DL! “Paul’s infirmity became God’s opportunity” (Ryken). By the way, most scholars believe Paul’s “thorn” was some kind of vision disorder, which makes verse 15 more understandable. But that was then. The church has since been misled by false teachers.
Sadly, the church’s hospitality changed to hostility, and once again Paul was the enemy; by telling them the truth. Paul didn’t need to be accepted; his distress was that they were rejecting his teaching. They wronged God, not him. C.S. Lewis was engaged in a debate and was told that if he could prove his point, he would win. Lewis answered, “I want the truth to win.” Paul’s goal was not to have his own disciples, but for believers to be loyal to Jesus, and for the unity of the church, the Body of Christ. He was not about to alter his message to win back their approval. Paul was afraid for them; they were headed toward a shipwrecked faith. A modern translation of verse 11 (Phillips) says: “You make me wonder if all my efforts over you have been wasted!”
Paul compared himself to a mother who must again suffer through the anguish of labor pains. The church’s spiritual well-being was paramount to Paul. He was at his wits’ end over them. His goal was that Christ be formed in them, another birthing image. The word “formed” was a medical term for the development of a fetus. John Calvin cautioned: “If ministers wish to do any good, let them form Christ, not themselves, in their hearers.” Is Christ being formed in us? Are we “Christ-made” people?
Conclusion: Our status as sons gives us confidence when facing God in prayer, and when facing a hostile world. Our relationship to God gives us the courage to take a stand for truth. Knowing we belong to Him will get us through another day.
