Welcome to Life Group. We invite you to join
us in this verse -by -verse study through the
Word of God. In this session, we'll be looking
at Galatians chapter 4, starting with verse 1.
Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves
an inheritance for his young children, those
children are not much better off than slaves
until they grow up, even though they actually
own everything their father had. When we look
back in this culture, we realize that when a
boy is a child, he has less day -to -day freedom
and authority than a high -ranking slave who
is in the household. But he is destined to inherit
everything, while the slave will inherit nothing.
Verse 2. Their father said. Now in both Jewish
and Greek cultures, there were definite coming
-of -age ceremonies where a boy stopped being
a child and started being a man with legal rights
as an heir. But in Roman custom, there was no
specific age when the son became a man. It happened
when the father thought the boy was ready. A
Roman child became an adult at the sacred family
festival known as the Liberalia. Now, that's
a festival that was held annually on the 17th
of March. And at this time, the child was formally
acknowledged as a son and an heir. During the
highlight of the ceremony, his toga pretexta
was replaced with a toga virilis. Now, togas
represented status in Roman society. And the
toga praetexta, it was a toga with a woven reddish
-purple border. And that was worn by all free
-born youth. The toga virilis was different.
It was an undyed natural wool white toga worn
by youth as a symbol of manhood and citizenship.
There was a Roman custom that on the day a boy
or a girl grew up, the boy offered his ball and
the girl her doll to Apollo to show that they
had put away childish things. Let's read verse
2 again. They have to obey their guardians until
they reach whatever age their father set. Now,
we need to understand something. We are sons
of God through faith in Christ Jesus. That's
from Galatians 3, verse 26. And we are heirs
according to the promise. Galatians 3, 29. The
law was our guardian, our nanny. We see this
in Galatians 3, 24 and verses 25. The nanny watched
over us when we were still children. And that's
what these verses are talking about. They're
a continuation from the end of Galatians chapter
3. Now let's progress with verse 3. And that's
the way it was with us before Christ came. We
were like children. We were like slaves. to the
basic spiritual principles of this world. Now,
basic spiritual principles. We could call this
the ABCs of the universe. Before Christ, we were
like young children, living like slaves to the
ABCs of the universe. Basic spiritual principles.
World religions and Jewish law are based on the
principle of cause and effect. One may call it
karma, or you get what you deserve, or something
else. It rules nature and the minds of men. We
live under the idea that we get what we deserve.
When we are good, we deserve to receive good,
and when we are bad, we deserve to receive bad.
Paul told the Galatians to go beyond the ABCs
of the universe into an understanding of God's
grace. Grace contradicts the ABCs of the universe
because under grace, God does not deal with us
on the basis of what we deserve. Going to verse
4. But when the right time came, God sent his
son. Born of a woman, subject to the law. Now,
what does it mean when it says, when the right
time came? Well, this is the time when Roman
civilization extended over most of the known
world. Travel and commerce had become common.
Great roads linked the empire of the Caesars.
The Greek language was predominant. This was
just the right time, a perfect time for the coming
of Christ and the early expansion of Christianity.
Verse 5. God sent him to buy freedom for us who
were slaves to the law. And because Jesus is
God, he has the power and the resources to redeem
us. Because Jesus is man, he has the right and
the ability to redeem us. He came to purchase
us out of the slave market from our bondage to
sin and the elements of the world. Continuing
with verse 5. So that he could adopt us as his
very own children. It would be enough that we
were purchased out of the slave market, but God's
work for us didn't end there. He elevated us
to the positions of sons through adoption. Now,
in Roman adoption, adopted sons were given absolute
equal privileges in the family and equal inheritance
rights. would naturally born children into the
family so we receive the adoption of sons we
did not recover it in this sense we gained something
in jesus that is greater than what adam ever
had adam was never adopted as a son of god in
the way believers are redemption is more than
just a restoration of what was lost with adam
we are granted more in jesus than adam ever had
verse 6 and because we are his children god has
sent the spirit of his son into our hearts we
we know that we are the sons of god by the witness
of the holy spirit within us he sent his son
So we could have the status of sonship. He sent
his spirit. So we could experience. Sonship.
Continuing in verse 6. Prompting us to call out.
Abba. Father. Abba. Was the address. Of a small
child. To his father. In verse 7 it says. Now.
You are no longer a slave, but God's own child.
And since you are his child, God has made you
his heir. Do you see the progression that we
have gone in these seven verses? We are set free
from slavery. We are adopted into God's family
and declared sons. And then... We are made heirs
of God. Verse 8. Before you Gentiles knew God,
you were slaves to so -called gods that do not
even exist. This reminds me of a quote from the
renowned philosopher Bob Dylan. He once profoundly
said, you're going to have to serve somebody.
And that's true, right? Everybody serves somebody.
And bondage is natural when we do not know the
living God. Before God, we live for things and
serve things as if they were our gods. Verse
9. So now that you know God, or should I say,
now that God knows you, why do you want to go
back again and become slaves once more to the
weak and useless spiritual principles of this
world? You are trying to earn favor with God
by observing certain days or months or seasons
or years. And here Paul is saying that no days,
months, seasons, or years are more holy than
others. The Galatians were not turning to some
new false doctrine. After receiving God's grace
and experiencing freedom, they were turning back
to works and submitting themselves back under
the bondage of legalism. This is the default
of the human heart. Warren Wiersbe, a famous
American pastor, Bible teacher, author, and radio
minister, once put it like this. One of the tragedies
of legalism is that it gives the appearance of
spiritual maturity when, in reality, it leads
the believer back into a second childhood of
Christian experience. How true is that? Let's
pick up reading in verse 11. I fear for you.
Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing.
And here Paul is saying that hard work, meaning
that he labored to the point of exhaustion. And
here he's clearly expressing his concern that
this attraction to legalism that they had would
mean that all this work among the Gentiles amounted
to nothing. And it would just all end up being
in vain. Verse 12. Dear brothers and sisters,
I plead with you to live as I do, in freedom
from these things. For I have become like you
Gentiles, free from those laws. You and I, we
can live in freedom, in relationship with God
as a loving Father, because of what Jesus did
for us and who we are in Him. Or we can try to
please God by trying to keep the rules. living
in bondage as slaves instead of sons. Choosing
to live that way, though, makes the whole gospel
in vain. Why choose to live as slaves when we
can live as sons? Picking up with the end of
verse 12. You did not mistreat me when I first
preached to you. Surely you remember that I was
sick when I first brought you the good news.
But even though my condition tempted you to reject
me, you did not despise me or turn me away. No,
you took me in and cared for me as though I were
an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself.
Now from Acts chapter 14 verses 19 through 20,
we know that when Paul was on his first missionary
journey in Lystra, which is south of Galatia
proper, Jews from Antioch and Iconium tried to
execute him. His attackers gave him up for dead,
yet he miraculously survived. Let's take a look
at these verses in Acts 14 verses 19 through
20. Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium
and won the crowds to their side. They stoned
Paul and dragged him out of town. thinking he
was dead. But as the believers gathered around
him, he got up and went back into town. We really
don't know what type of physical issue brought
Paul to Galatia, but some scholars suggest the
issue could have resulted from the beating, whipping,
and stoning he endured from the Jews and pagans
who rejected the gospel message. Others suggest
malaria or eye problems. All we know for sure
is that when Paul arrived in Galatia, he was
in bad shape. The Galatians received Paul and
his message with great joy. Verse 15. Where is
that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then?
I am sure you would have taken your own eyes
and given them to me if it had been possible.
Now, the Galatians were so overjoyed by Paul's
message of the gospel and so thankful for him
for coming to him that they would have done anything
to help him. Verse 16. Have I now become your
enemy because I'm telling you the truth? See,
the Judaizers came in after Paul. Teaching that
Paul's message was not completely true and that
the Galatians had to become Jews and follow the
law of Moses before they could become Christians.
And these false teachers convinced the Galatians
to view Paul as the enemy. Verse 17. Those false
teachers are so eager to win your favor, but
their intentions are not good. They're trying
to shut you off from me so that you will pay
attention only to them. If someone is eager to
do good things for you, that's all right. But
let them do it all the time, not just when I'm
with you. See, the motive of the false teachers
was not to help the Galatians. Their ultimate
motive was to undermine Paul and his message
of God's grace for all people, Jews and Gentiles
alike. Legalism may come wrapped in a cloak of
love, but the end result is a life of bondage
to guilt, shame, and condemnation. It renders
a person ineffective for the kingdom of God.
Verse 19 See, since Paul was the first one to
bring the gospel to the Galatians, he metaphorically
compares himself as a mother giving spiritual
birth to the Galatians. But something unnatural
has happened. Since the Galatians have turned
away from grace gift salvation to an impossible
law works religion, Paul feels like he has to
go back into labor a second time for the same
spiritual children. He feels these labor pains
will continue not only until they get salvation
right, but until they become mature Christ followers.
Verse 20, I wish I were with you right now so
I could change my tone, but at this distance,
I don't know how else to help you. Paul wished
two things. First, that he was with the Galatians,
and he wished that he did not need to speak to
them in such strong words. But their danger of
leaving the true gospel made strong words necessary.
Verse 21. Tell me, you who want to live under
the law, do you know what the law actually says?
See, under the law is what you do for God that
makes you right before him. But under the grace
of God. That is what God has done for you in
Jesus Christ that makes you right with him. Under
the law, the focus is on your own ability to
perform, but under the grace of God, the focus
is on who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. Under
the law, you find fig leaves like Adam and Eve
to cover yourself or your wrongdoing. but under
the grace of God, you receive Jesus's robe of
righteousness earned through his sinless life.
Let's read verse 21 again. Tell me, you who want
to live under the law, do you know what the law
actually says? Here, Paul refers to the scriptures
again and again, and the legalists most likely
presented themselves as the back -to -the -Bible
bunch. But Paul shows us that they were not handling
the Old Testament scriptures correctly, because
a correct understanding of the law of Moses supports
the true gospel. Now, through the remainder of
chapter 4, Paul, he continues to provide scriptural
evidence that grace and law cannot coexist, and
he presents six significant contrasts from the
story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar found in Genesis
16. Let's look at verse 22. The scriptures say
that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave
wife and one from his freeborn wife. Now, the
legalists who troubled the Galatians protested
that they were children of Abraham and therefore
blessed. Paul will admit that they are children
of Abraham, but they forgot that Abraham had
two sons. So the first contrast Paul draws between
real Christianity and legalism is the contrast
between freedom and slavery. One son of Abraham
was born by a free woman, and one was born by
a bondwoman. The real Christian life is marked
by freedom. Verse 23. The son of the slave wife
was born in a human attempt to bring about the
fulfillment of God's promise. Now it often doesn't
look like it, but legalism is living according
to the flesh. It denies God's promise and tries
to make your own way to God through the law.
This is living like a descendant of Abraham.
But it is living like Ishmael. Verse 23. But
the son of the freeborn wife was born as God's
own fulfillment of his promise. Now, this brings
us to the second contrast, where Paul draws between
Christianity and legalism. This is between the
work done by God's promised miracle and a work
done by the flesh. The real Christian life is
connected to God's promised miracle and not the
flesh. Verse 24. These two women serve as an
illustration of God's two covenants. The first
woman, Hagar, presents Mount Sinai, where people
received the law that enslaved them. A covenant,
as we know, is a contract that sets the rules
for our relationship with God. And Paul brought
it right down to the issue confronting the Galatian
Christians. The legalists wanted them to relate
to God under one set of rules. And Paul wanted
them to relate to God under the rules presented
by the gospel. Verse 25. And now Jerusalem is
just like Mount Sinai in Arabia. because she
and her children live in slavery to the law.
The Mosaic Covenant from Mount Sinai gives birth
to bondage. Since it is all about what we must
do for God to be accepted by Him, it doesn't
set us free. In fact, it puts us on a perpetual
treadmill of having to prove ourselves and earn
our way before God. Verse 26. But the other woman,
Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She
is the free woman, and she is our mother. So
here we see the gospel covenant is associated
with Jerusalem, with Mount Zion, but not the
Mount Zion of this earth. Instead, it is associated
with the Jerusalem above, God's own new Jerusalem
in heaven. This covenant brings freedom. It is
free. It is free because it recognizes that Jesus
paid the price, and we don't have to pay it ourselves.
So this brings us to the third contrast, and
the third contrast Paul draws between Christianity
and legalism is the contrast between heaven and
earth. Real Christianity comes from heaven, not
from earth. Picking up in verse 27, as Isaiah
said, Rejoice, O childless woman! you who have
never given birth, break into a joyful shout,
you who have never been in labor. This phrase,
rejoice, O childless woman, is referring to every
birth under the gospel covenant. And it's basically
saying that it is a miracle. It's a miracle process,
like the fulfillment of the prophecy. Verse 27.
For the desolate woman now has more children
than the woman who lives with her husband. This
phrase, the desolate woman now has more children,
that was also a fulfillment of prophecy that
there will be more Christians than Jews. This
brings us to the fourth contrast that Paul draws
between Christianity and legalism, and it is
the contrast between many more and many, the
abundance and glory of the new covenant. is shown
by the fact that it would soon have many more
followers than the old covenant. Verse 28. And
you, dear brothers and sisters, are children
of the promise, just like Isaac. So we see here
that Christians don't identify with Ishmael.
We identify with Isaac as children of the promise
that was received by faith. Verse 29. But you
are now being persecuted by those who want to
keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born
by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child
born by the power of the Spirit. Ishmael and
his descendants persecuted Isaac and his descendants.
So we should not be surprised now that the people
who follow God in the flesh often persecute those
who follow God by faith in his promise. This
brings us to the fifth contrast that Paul draws
between Christianity and legalism, and that is
the contrast between being persecuted and being
a persecutor. The persecution Christians face
will not always be from the world. Persecution
also comes from half -brothers, you could say,
that are lost religious church people. Verse
30, But what do the Scriptures say about that?
So we know that Sarah could live with Hagar and
Ishmael until the son of promise was born. But
once Isaac was born, then Hagar and Ishmael had
to go. And in the same way, a person could relate
to the law one way before the promise of the
gospel was made clear in Jesus Christ. But now
that it has been made clear, There is nothing
to do but to cast out the bondwoman and her son,
the law. Verse 30. For the son of the slave woman
will not share the inheritance with the free
woman's son. Law and grace cannot live together
as principles for our Christian life. This brings
us to our sixth contrast between Christianity
and legalism. And here Paul contrasts between
inheriting all and inheriting nothing. While
the Isaacs of this world may be persecuted, they
also have a glorious inheritance that the Ishmaels
of this world would never know. We are now heirs
of God through the principle of grace, not works.
Verse 31. So dear brothers and sisters, we are
not children of the slave woman. We are children
of the free woman. And here for Paul, one of
the great issues in this was freedom. He knew
the bondage of trying to earn his own way before
God because he had lived that way for decades.
Now he knew the freedom of living as a son of
God, free in Jesus Christ. Thank you for joining
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