Galatians 4:1–11
Along the way to the surprising conclusion of Gal 3:28–29 that †Gentile believers have become Abraham’s descendants and heirs through baptism into Christ, Paul made another extraordinary declaration that he did not explain: “For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus” (3:26). Paul now returns to this topic, perhaps feeling the need to balance the impression left in 3:29, where he seemed to emphasize being Abraham’s heirs more than being sons and daughters of God. Paul now explains how we have become children of God and speaks of the scarcely imaginable intimacy with Jesus and the Father that this entails. He begins again from the perspective of salvation history.
Adoption and Inheritance (4:1–7)
1I mean that as long as the heir is not of age, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything, 2but he is under the supervision of guardians and administrators until the date set by his father. 3In the same way we also, when we were not of age, were enslaved to the elemental powers of the world. 4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. 6As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
NT: John 1:14; Rom 8:3, 9, 14–17; Phil 2:7; Col 2:8, 20
Catechism: fullness of time and Annunciation, 484; the law, Jesus, and redemption, 580; baptism and adoption, 1265; relationship with God and the Spirit, 683, 1695
Lectionary: 4:4–7: Mary Mother of God; Common of the Blessed Virgin; Presentation of Lord’s Prayer
The structure of this passage resembles that of the sections that immediately precede it. The word “heir” in the first verse links this section to the last verse of the previous one (3:29), while the words “heir” and “slave” in the first and last verses frame 4:1–7 as a distinct unit. As in 3:15–18, Paul starts this unit with a familiar legal custom, this time concerning the status of minor children (4:1–2), and he uses it to illuminate the progression of salvation history (4:3–7). As in 3:23–29, Paul distinguishes two successive and contrasting periods within that history, one of subjection (4:3) and one of freedom (4:4–7).
After celebrating the fact that believers are Abraham’s heirs (3:29), Paul returns to consider the earlier situation of Jews under the †law and introduces a new comparison: as long as the heir is not of age, he is no different from a slave. In the first century, an heir, usually the eldest son, could not exercise the legal rights of an heir while he was still a minor. Saying that there was no difference between a minor heir and a slave is an exaggeration to make a point, since the heir was not obliged to work the way slaves were. Paul is comparing the minor child’s inability to make his own decisions to the slave’s lack of freedom. This is particularly striking since in principle, even during his minority, the heir was the owner of everything. This principle can be seen in the parable of the prodigal son, when the father says to the older son, “Everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:31). However, an heir who is still a minor cannot freely dispose of his goods; administrators manage them for him. Nor can the minor heir do as he chooses, since he is under the supervision of guardians.1 The use of a plural in these titles emphasizes his dependence and limited freedom: lots of other people make decisions for him.
The situation, however, is not destined to last. Its time limits are indicated at the beginning and end of the sentence in two slightly different ways. At the beginning, when Paul uses the phrase “as long as the heir is not of age,” he indicates that the heir’s status of submission will not end until he is an adult. However, at the end of the sentence, Paul speaks of the date set by his father. From what we know of first-century practice, the age of majority was often determined by law rather than the decision of the father. However, the Apostle is not focused on being legally precise, but is setting up his application of this comparison to salvation history, where everything depends on the Father’s decision (see Gal 4:4–5).
Paul’s comparison (4:3–7) emphasizes a clear distinction between two time periods. The first period is that of childhood, when we were not of age, or of slavery, when we were enslaved. Childhood and slavery serve as metaphors for an earlier period in salvation history. When Paul uses the first-person plural “we,” he clearly refers to himself prior to his conversion along with his fellow Jews. Whether or not Paul includes the †Gentile Christians of Galatia is uncertain, but not so important. To affirm that Jews “were enslaved to the †elemental powers” was a bold new statement. It was customary for Jews to view pagan Gentiles in this way. The Gentiles served idols of gold, silver, iron, and wood (see Deut 29:17), so they were slaves to the elements. However, to say such a thing about Jews, who took pride in worshiping the true God, was potentially offensive; the fact that Paul includes himself among those enslaved softens the blow.
What are the elemental powers of the world—literally, “the elements of the world”—whose control was weighing down Paul and his fellow Jews? This phrase is not common in the New Testament and is found again only in Col 2:8, 20. The same Greek word for “elements” (stoicheia) refers to the elements that compose the earth (2 Pet 3:10, 12) and to basic elements of Christian teaching (Heb 5:12). What would it have meant to Paul’s readers in Galatia? Some exegetes think Paul is referring to the †law of Moses as elementary principles of religious instruction; but the phrase that follows, “of the world,” does not fit that interpretation. Other scholars think Paul refers to spiritual beings—principalities and powers that govern the universe—as in Eph 6:12 (here NABRE’s “elemental powers” and RSV’s “elemental spirits” suggest this interpretation), but the only clear uses of this Greek word with that meaning occur in a period later than the New Testament. A third possibility is the most likely since it was the most common use of this Greek word in Paul’s day—namely, that it refers to the four elements that Greek thinkers regarded as composing the physical world: earth, water, air, and fire.2 Although obedience to the law was the way Israel expressed submission to God, Paul is saying that subjection to the law entails a subjection to the world in its material dimension. In the verses that follow, Paul describes the Galatians’ observance of “days, months, seasons, and years,” a religious calendar governed by the movements of the sun and moon, as subjection to the elements (Gal 4:9–10). In Colossians, Paul characterizes dietary rules as submission to the elements of the world: “If you died with Christ to the elemental powers [elements, stoicheia] of the world, why do you submit to regulations as if you were still living in the world? Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” (Col 2:20–21).3
Paul understands that †faith in Christ raises a human being to a completely new level, bringing a person into a relationship with God in the Spirit through faith and in love—a life that is no longer governed by regulations concerning the elements of the physical world. Paul realizes that under the Old Covenant the religion of Israel was more rudimentary. Even circumcision is only an external physical rite. The regulations of the Mosaic law made Israel subordinate to physical elements that compose the world; from that point of view it kept the Jews in a spiritual situation analogous to that of the Gentiles. While Paul clearly exaggerates the similarity of Israel’s religion to that of Gentiles to make his point, we see in Paul’s reevaluation of the †ritual commandments of the †Torah his boldness in expressing the radical newness of life in Christ in comparison with the Old Covenant.
Other passages in the New Testament point in a similar direction. According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus relativized certain prescriptions of the law that dealt with ritual purity and acceptable foods (Mark 7:3–8, 15–23), placing his focus on the heart. Likewise, the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of the inadequacy of the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, which sufficed only for “the purification of the flesh” (Heb 9:13 RSV) and could not truly purify consciences but were only of temporary value (9:8–14, 23–24). The coming of Christ changed everything, making possible a new kind of relationship with God.
Paul now describes the second period of salvation history. His description of the former period in verse 3, “when we were not of age,” contrasts with a solemn phrase that indicates the special importance of the new period: when the fullness of time had come (see Mark 1:15).
The divine initiative consists in God sending his Son so that we could become his children. It is clear that this is a preexisting Son who is sent by God, not a human being like everyone else whom God adopts.4 Furthermore, in verse 6 Paul expresses a clear parallel between the sending of the Son and the sending of the Spirit. Since clearly the Spirit preexists with God, the parallel confirms that the Son also preexisted with him before being sent.
The coming of the Son is presented not as something glorious but rather as humbling in two respects: the Son of God is (1) born of a woman and (2) born under the law. The phrase “born of woman” was often used in Jewish literature to highlight human fragility. For instance,
Man born of woman
is short-lived and full of trouble,
Like a flower that springs up and fades. (Job 14:1–2)5
The fact that the Son was “born under the †law” brings him down another step. The Son of God is sent not only to be born as a man but also as a man subject to an external norm. How extraordinary! Nevertheless, according to Paul, these two marks of lowly status are the paradoxical means for the Son’s obtaining two very positive results. First, the Son of God was subject to the law in order to ransom—that is, to redeem or free—those under the law; second, he was born of woman so that all who are likewise born of woman might receive adoption as children of God—thus explaining Paul’s earlier declaration that “through faith you are all children of God” (Gal 3:26).
What is the key to this amazing paradox? How can these humiliations of the Son of God produce such a positive outcome? As regards freedom from the law, Paul explained in 2:19–20: “Through the law I died to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.” Christ submitted himself to the law to the point of undergoing the penalty of death on our behalf. However, he found a way to undergo death to produce new life. By accepting the death imposed by the law with perfect filial obedience (1:4) and an extraordinary love for his brothers and sisters (2:20), Christ freed himself from the law and likewise frees those who unite themselves to him through †faith (see Rom 7:1–4).6
The key to the second paradox, that the Son of God was born of a woman in order to obtain divine adoption for us, involves events of Jesus’ birth, which are not something that Paul explains elsewhere. Light on this point comes to us from the passages in Matthew and Luke that explain “how the birth of Jesus Christ came about” (Matt 1:18) in an altogether unique way. His mother Mary, a virgin, “was found with child through the holy Spirit” (Matt 1:18). Paul’s way of speaking of Jesus’ birth agrees with the Gospels, since he presents Christ both as the Son of God and as born of a woman, without the least mention of the participation of a human father (Matt 1:20, 23; Luke 1:27, 35). By God’s decision it was Mary alone who gave to Jesus his †flesh, his human nature.
“Adoption” is a legal term mentioned only five times in the Bible.7 The closest parallel to this text is Rom 8:15–17, a passage that explains how Paul understands divine adoption:
You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
In Paul’s understanding, adoption in Christ is not merely a change in legal status that brings no change to the adopted person. Rather, it is a decisive divine intervention that communicates the life of God through participation in the sonship of the risen Christ: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20 RSV). That life of sonship, of living as God’s sons and daughters, is animated by the Holy Spirit, whom Paul speaks about in the next verse.
The Apostle uses the first-person plural we to speak of those who may receive adoption, in contrast to the third-person plural of “those under the law,” referring to Jews. This “we” whom God adopts includes all who believe in Christ, regardless of origin, whether Jewish or †Gentile.
While verse 5 indicates that God’s purpose in sending his Son was our freedom and adoption as sons, verse 6 declares that this purpose has already been achieved: As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts.8 “Spirit” is not capitalized in this translation (NABRE) because the focus is on Christ’s spirit, his inner life, being sent into our hearts. Nevertheless, the parallel text in Romans makes clear that the spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God (Rom 8:9–11). God responds to the believer’s †faith with the gift of the Spirit, who makes the believer a son or daughter of God.
By using the same verb “to send,” Paul expresses a relationship between the sending of the Son and the sending of the Spirit. Two similar divine actions are placed in parallel: “God sent his Son. . . . God sent the spirit” (Gal 4:4, 6). The context shows an even closer relationship between the two—namely, that the gift of the Spirit was made possible by the redemptive obedience of Christ. Other passages in the New Testament confirm this perspective (Gal 3:13–14; John 16:7; Acts 2:33).
Instead of speaking simply of the Holy Spirit, Paul uses a phrase that is very original and found only here in the whole Bible: “the spirit of his Son.” The phrase complicates the sentence, and some ancient manuscripts simplify it by omitting “of his Son.” However, the logic of the passage requires the complexity because it is explaining how God has made us his sons and daughters thanks to the sending of the Son and the Spirit. In order for us to become God’s children, the Father himself must act. An action by the Son alone would not be sufficient. It would not be sufficient if God sent only his Holy Spirit to us, as he did to various individuals in the Old Testament (e.g., Judg 13:25; 1 Sam 16:13; 19:20), because the Spirit alone would not establish a filial relationship. This is why Paul says, “God sent the spirit of his Son,” who cries, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit is in an intimate relationship with God the Father, who sent him, and with the Son, to whom he belongs. Believers are thus brought into intimate relationship through the Spirit, in the divine Son, with God the Father himself.
The Old Testament records two analogous instances of God transferring the spirit of one person to another. In the book of Numbers (11:17, 24–25), God takes some of the spirit that was on Moses and bestows it on seventy elders of Israel; in 2 Kings 2:9–10 Elisha receives a double portion of the spirit of Elijah. In neither of those cases, however, does God establish the person as his son; rather, he gives him the capacity to carry out a mission: governing in the case of the seventy elders, prophecy in the case of Elisha.
Readers might wonder if “the spirit of his Son” means the same thing as “the Spirit of God.” Although this passage does not explicitly say so, the parallel text in Rom 8:14–17 leaves no doubt, since there the children of God are led by “the Spirit of God” (Rom 8:14). The context makes clear that when Paul speaks of the indwelling of the Spirit in the hearts of believers, he does not distinguish between “the Spirit of God” and “the Spirit of Christ” (Rom 8:9). Elsewhere Paul clearly affirms that the Spirit of God is given to believers (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19; 1 Thess 4:8). We can therefore conclude that “the spirit of his Son” in verse 6 is identical to “the Spirit of God.”
This does not mean that the difference in the terms is unimportant. Rather, it is rich with doctrinal content. “The spirit of his Son” reveals that the way the Holy Spirit comes to us is through the redemptive self-emptying of the Son of God.
The Spirit of the Son of God sent into our hearts makes us sons and daughters of God and expresses that filial relationship by crying out within us, “Abba, Father!” This way of addressing God is found three times in the New Testament, the first time on the lips of Jesus during his agony (Mark 14:36) and the other two times linked to the prayers of Christians (Gal 4:6; Rom 8:15). It stands out because it consists of an Aramaic word, Abba, accompanied by its translation. “Abba” was a way of addressing one’s father within a family setting in Judaism. It was not customarily used to address God. However, according to Mark 14:36, Jesus addressed God as “Abba” in Gethsemane, demonstrating his awareness of the unique intimacy of his relationship with God (see Matt 11:27; Luke 10:21–22; John 10:30, 38). The first Christians, including the Galatians, were aware of having received the Spirit in their hearts when they came to believe in Christ. They were so strongly aware of being united through the Spirit in Jesus’ filial relationship with the Father that they could address God in the same familiar way. Both here and in Rom 8:15, Paul presupposes that his readers are familiar with this Aramaic word, indicating that even Greek-speaking †Gentile Christians had adopted the practice of using “Abba” in prayer to address God as their Father. This intimacy with God through the Spirit of his Son, with the privilege of addressing God as Father in familiar terms as his beloved children, is available to all who are baptized believers in Jesus.
Paul concludes, So you are no longer a slave but a child—literally, “son.” What exultation there is in these words! Paul employs the second-person singular “you,” which would have caught the original readers’ attention; it emphasizes that this conclusion applies to every single Christian. This status of being a son or daughter stands in marked contrast to the condition of slavery described in verse 3. Becoming God’s children puts an end to subservience and confers on us the highest possible dignity. The Spirit of adoption frees Christians from fear and makes it possible for us to grow in God’s likeness (Rom 8:15; 2 Cor 3:17).
But there is more! Sonship brings the right of †inheritance: and if a child then also an heir, through God. The gift of the Spirit we have received is proof of our access to the inheritance promised to Abraham’s offspring (Gen 12:7; Gal 3:29), but even this gift is not the whole inheritance. It is only a down payment, “the first installment of our inheritance” (Eph 1:14; see 2 Cor 1:22; 5:5). The situation of Christians is full of hope, since it entails receiving an inheritance from God himself (see the sidebar, “What Is Abraham’s Inheritance?,” p. 107). With this final clarification, Paul communicates complete assurance to the Galatians, freeing them from the fear aroused by the †Judaizers of being excluded from the promised inheritance.
Reflection and Application (4:1–7)
The fact that God has made us sons and daughters is a truth that can take our breath away once we grasp it. Neither fear nor shame nor feelings of inferiority nor insecurity need to weigh down those who know that they are God’s children, sons and daughters in Christ. Those who struggle with these emotions can find strength by meditating on or memorizing some of these verses (e.g., Gal 4:4–7; Rom 8:14–17). Although we are called to humility and service like Jesus, the truth is that we Christians are all royalty, princes and princesses, children of the greatest King!
Another striking truth in these verses is that God the Father has shared with us the Spirit that he and his Son Jesus share. In that way we have been brought into communion, an intimate relationship, with the Trinity—we share the same Spirit, the same inner life, as the Father and the Son, although not in the same way. It is what Jesus promised in the Gospel of John: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:23). The Father and the Son dwell in us by means of their Spirit, whom we have received.
Although Paul presupposes that his readers have an experiential knowledge of God as Father, we know that not all Christians today share that experience. Many need to learn this truth through meditation on God’s word or through inspired preaching or teaching that brings the message home, or through prayer to be filled anew with the Holy Spirit.
Some people have obstacles to experiencing the fatherhood of God, due to negative experiences of their human fathers. By God’s grace, and sometimes with the help of counseling or healing prayer, these brothers and sisters can also come to experience God as Father. The first step is to make a conscious choice to listen to and believe what the word of God says about our objective standing as sons and daughters, and about the kind of Father that God is.9 Alongside that act of faith, which bears repeating until it becomes a habitual way of thinking, we can count on the Holy Spirit to gradually make this fact a reality in our experience. We can cooperate with this work of the Spirit by continually asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts. Jesus’ promise in Luke 11:9–13 reassures us of the outcome:
I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?
Concluding Exhortation: Do Not Return to Slavery (4:8–11)
8At a time when you did not know God, you became slaves to things that by nature are not gods; 9but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and destitute elemental powers? Do you want to be slaves to them all over again? 10You are observing days, months, seasons, and years. 11I am afraid on your account that perhaps I have labored for you in vain.
OT: Isa 37:19
NT: 1 Cor 8:4; Gal 4:3; Col 2:16; Heb 7:18
Catechism: liturgical observance of days and seasons, 1163–73
Having ended his theological argument against looking to the †law of Moses for †justification, the Apostle now speaks directly to the Galatians to make them see the stark contrast between the doctrine he has just expounded and their present way of thinking. The fact is that the Galatians are no longer slaves but sons and daughters of God. However, their current mentality is a return to slavery, a foolish and indefensible reversal that is highlighted by Paul’s impassioned question in verse 9: “Do you want to be slaves . . . all over again?”
Their slavery in the past was a consequence of ignorance: they did not know God—a truly deplorable condition. The book of Wisdom proclaims, “Foolish by nature were all who were in ignorance of God” (Wis 13:1). Not knowing the true God, the Galatians, like other †Gentiles in the Greco-Roman world, were slaves to false gods, to idols, a servitude not fitting to human beings, who are of infinitely greater value than gods of wood, stone, or metal, which are incapable of helping those who worship them (see, e.g., Ps 115:4–7; Isa 44:9–20; Jer 10:3–5).
The time of ignorance for the Galatians is now over. Paul’s preaching has revealed to them the true God, the Father of Jesus Christ. They know God, or rather, they are known by God. Paul uses the verb “know” not in the sense of mere intellectual understanding but in the biblical sense of having a personal and experiential relationship with someone. This explains why the Apostle felt the need to correct his initial expression, “You have come to know God,” and substitute a passive verb, “You have come . . . to be known by God.” The active voice could have implied that people are able, through their own power, to come into relationship with God. Paul instead wants to emphasize that their relationship with God is a result of God’s initiative, an initiative of love (see Rom 5:8).
God’s gift of a personal relationship with himself is liberating. However, the Galatians have actually taken on a new slavery by accepting a teaching that obliges them to observe numerous legal prohibitions. From the context we know that Paul is talking about Jewish observances. The surprising thing is that by speaking of turning back, Paul presents their adherence to the †law of Moses as a return, although a partial one, to paganism. The Galatians were likely convinced of just the opposite. They thought that submission to the law constituted progress in their relationship with God. Paul asserts that they are going backward: How can you turn back again . . . ? Do you want to be slaves . . . all over again?
This is a return not to the worship of idols but to submission to weak and destitute “elements” (literal translation)—that is, the world in its material, physical aspects—a submission that Paul views as common to both Judaism and paganism (see commentary on 4:3). As an example of this slavery, Paul points out the observances of the Jewish religious calendar, governed by the movements of the sun and moon. The first word, days, refers specifically to observance of the Sabbath and perhaps other Jewish festivals (see Col 2:16). Although Sabbath observance is prescribed in the Decalogue (Exod 20:8–11; Deut 5:12–15), Paul does not want this rule imposed on †Gentile Christians because it is a mark of Jewish identity, a commandment given to Israel but not to the †nations.10 The Apostle similarly opposes the observance of other prescriptions from the law of Moses such as months, meaning monthly feasts at the new moon (see Num 10:10; 28:11), and seasons—the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the spring (see Exod 23:15; 34:18), the harvest feast in the summer (see Exod 23:16; 34:22), and the Feast of Booths in the fall (see Lev 23:33–36). Finally, Paul mentions the observance of years, probably the Sabbatical Year (see Exod 23:10–11; Lev 25:1–7). All of this constitutes a subjection again to “the elements” that was required of Israel for a time but that has no inherent value for an authentic relationship with God. The passion and resurrection of Christ have marked out another path, a path of freedom, and the Galatians are abandoning that path. If they persist in this misguided direction, Paul’s work on their behalf will be ruined. The Apostle expresses that fear with sadness: I am afraid . . . that perhaps I have labored for you in vain.
To summarize, in the previous section (Gal 3:19–29) the Apostle examined the †law of Moses from the perspective of salvation history and showed that the law was intended to fulfill only a temporary function until †faith in Christ could replace it, with the result that believers in Christ are no longer under the law. In the present section (4:1–11) Paul reveals how the coming of Christ and the gift of the Spirit have made possible an extraordinarily intimate relationship with God for believers.
The former function of the law was to reveal the spiritual condition of human beings. As sinners, human beings transgressed the law, and their wickedness was thus exposed. The law can condemn the sinner to die, but it cannot impart a new life that conforms the person to God’s standards of righteousness. However, this function of the law had a positive aspect: by revealing the wretchedness of the human race, it showed our desperate need for redemption and thus prepared for the coming of Christ. In that sense, the law led to Christ, just as the paidagōgos (3:24–25; NABRE: “disciplinarian”), the household slave charged with the supervision of children, brought them to their teacher.
Faith, on the other hand, is much more powerful than the law because it unites human beings to Christ, the Son of God, and makes them share in his divine sonship. Baptism brings about this participation because it unites all believers into one body in Christ. Whether a person is of Jewish origin or of Gentile origin makes no difference. Other differences between people, such as civil and sexual differences, likewise lose their importance and make no difference in regard to a person’s union with Christ. This union inserts all believers into Abraham’s line of descent and ensures access to the †inheritance promised to his offspring.
In 4:1–11 Paul explains the paradoxical way that God has accomplished his plan. God sent his Son to share the condition of the Jews, who were subject to the law, in order to free them from that condition. He sent his Son to share our human nature so that he could adopt us as his sons and daughters. The sign that this adoption has taken effect is the Spirit of the Son, whom God has sent into the hearts of believers.
The conclusion is clear. Believers are no longer a subject people; they are sons and daughters of God and therefore his heirs. For the Galatians to subject themselves to the law of Moses would be an irrational and harmful step backward.
Reflection and Application (4:8–11)
Observing days, months, seasons, and years. It might seem that Paul’s criticism of the Galatians for “observing days, months, seasons, and years” could apply to the liturgical tradition of the Church. We Catholics observe Sunday as the Lord’s Day, other feast days, seasons (Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter), and jubilee years as well. What is the difference between these observances and those that Paul condemns?
The decisive difference is that the Galatians’ observance of Israel’s religious calendar was based on the view that they were obliged to keep the †law of Moses in order to be in a right relationship with God; in other words, it had become a basis of their †justification. Paul is absolutely uncompromising on this point: “By works of the law no one will be justified” (2:16).
There is nothing wrong—in fact, there is much that is very helpful—about structuring the calendar to remember and celebrate God’s great salvation in Christ. We know that the early Christians, including Paul, remembered Jesus’ resurrection on the first day of the week by gathering on the Lord’s Day (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2; Rev 1:10). The early Church also celebrated Easter, the Christian Passover, right from the beginning. Through the centuries the Church’s liturgical calendar has grown and been revised from time to time. By the authority Christ gave to the apostles (Matt 16:19; 18:18; 1 Cor 11) and they passed on to the bishops, the Church has made a few elements of the liturgical calendar obligatory for Catholics: attending Mass on Sunday and a few annual feasts; fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. But the Church does not regard even these obligatory observances—not to mention the rest of the liturgical calendar—as practices that justify us before God, as the †Judaizers regarded the law of Moses. Rather, they are means by which the Church commemorates the works of the †Lord, especially the death and resurrection of Christ in the grace-filled mystery and communion of the Eucharist, to lift our minds to the things above (Col 3:1) and to grow together in the Lord (Heb 10:25).
1. According to some scholars, Paul’s discussion assumes that the situation being presented involves a minor son whose father has died, leaving the child in the control of guardians until he reaches his majority. An adult heir’s use of the family property was still subject to the father as long as he lived unless the father distributed all or part of the †inheritance (see Luke 15:12). But Paul is concerned with only one point of comparison, the adult child’s freedom from administrators and guardians.
2. It is used this way in Wis 7:17; 19:18; 4 Maccabees 12:13; Philo; Josephus; and the Apostolic Fathers.
3. An analogous contrast between the ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant and the new reality in Christ is found in Heb 9:9–14, where Old Testament laws are described as “regulations concerning the flesh, imposed until the time of the new order” (Heb 9:10; see 13:9).
4. When the subject of adoption surfaces in v. 5, it refers to the adoption of Christians, not to the Son, who was sent. The sentence (vv. 4–5) makes no sense if the Son, who was sent, has the same status as the people who are adopted by God as a result of his coming.
5. See also Job 15:14; 25:4. In the Hymns of †Qumran, “born of woman” is placed in parallel with “creature of clay” (1QH 13:14–15; 18:12–13).
6. Paul attributes this result both to faith and to baptism (Rom 6:3–10).
7. Rom 8:15, 23; 9:4; Gal 4:5; Eph 1:5.
8. Most English translations say, “Because you are children . . . ,” instead of “As proof that you are children. . . .” Both translations are possible, although they express different relationships between sonship and the gift of the Spirit. In the more common translation, believers are adopted as children, and then, because of their adoption, God sends them the Spirit. However, the NABRE translation interprets adoption and bestowal of the Spirit as simultaneous, since receiving the Spirit is what makes us adopted sons and daughters and is therefore a sign of that relationship. This was the interpretation of the Greek Fathers of the Church and is more in keeping with Paul’s teaching on this subject in Romans (Rom 8:15–17) and thus more likely his meaning here.
9. See, e.g., Exod 34:5–7; Ps 103:8–18; Isa 49:13–16; Matt 5:44–48; 6:25–33; 7:7–11; John 14:8–10; 16:26–27; Eph 3:14–21.
10. For more on Christian fulfillment of the Sabbath, see Catechism 2175–76.