A verse-by-verse explanation of the chapter.
The Irresponsible Foreign Consul
An overview of the principles and applications from the chapter.
Tying the chapter to life with God.
Historical, geographical, and grammatical enrichment of the commentary.
Suggested step-by-step group study of the chapter.
Zeroing the chapter in on daily life.
“It is doubtful if there is any greater joy on earth
than the joy of being free. And the ecstasy is heightened
if a person has once been in bondage, held captive
by a power that is impossible to overcome. Being liberated
from such clutches brings pleasure beyond
description.”
Charles Swindoll
In chapter 4, Paul explains the glorious reality of what it means to be God's children and how awful it would be to forfeit such a privilege. Thus he warns his readers not to listen to the false teachers seducing them away from Christ and back into slavery to the law rather than freedom in Christ.
Amazing things can happen when you are “not on the same page” with someone else. Chuck Swindoll in his book Simple Faith tells the story of a traveler who, between flights at an airport, bought a small package of cookies. She then sat down in the busy snack shop to glance over the newspaper. As she read her paper, she became aware of a rustling noise. Peeking above the newsprint, she was shocked to see a well-dressed gentlemen sitting across from her, helping himself to her cookies. Half-angry and half-embarrassed, she reached over and gently slid the package closer to her as she took one out and began to munch on it.
A minute or so passed before she heard more rustling. The man had gotten another cookie! By now there was only one left in the package. She was flabbergasted; but she didn't want to make a scene, so she said nothing. Finally, as if to add insult to injury, the man broke the remaining cookie in half, pushed one piece across the table toward her with a frown, gulped down his half, and left without even saying thank you. She sat there dumbfounded.
Some time later, when her flight was announced, the woman opened her handbag to get her ticket. To her shock, she discovered in her purse her package of unopened cookies. Somewhere in that same airport another traveler tried to figure out how that strange woman could have been so forward and insensitive.
That man and woman were “not on the same page,” so there was total confusion and chaos. In the first-century church, the Judaizers had invented their own edition of the gospel by combining grace and legalism. Things were falling apart spiritually because they were “not on the same page” with God. By combining grace with Old Testament law, the Judaizers were producing a dangerous hybrid of Christianity, another gospel that, was, in fact, no gospel.
Therefore, in chapter 3, Paul reminds the Galatians of Christ's sacrificial death for them, asks how they got the Spirit, and shows how God's plan had always been by faith. In chapter 4, Paul presents three arguments to prove that grace is superior to the law.
Grace Saves Us
MAIN IDEA:Arguments from sonship, personal relationship, and the allegory of Isaac and Ishmael conclusively prove that justification is by grace through faith and not by observing the law.
The Argument from Sonship for the Jews (vv. 1–7)SUPPORTING IDEA:As Jews, we have matured from restricted childhood under the law to privileged adult sonship under grace. It makes no sense to regress to childhood after becoming adults.
4:1–2. Paul enumerates some of the characteristics of childhood to illustrate the spiritual immaturity of living under the law. Though a child may be the heir of a great estate, he still lives and functions as a slave until a time set by his father. Legally appointed trustees make all decisions and exercise all power over the estate even though the child may be the legal owner in cases where the father has died.
4:3. Now Paul makes his application to the spiritual condition of the Galatians. He uses first person to include himself and give the sense that they are in this together. Prior to the grace of Christ, the Christian is enslaved to the basic principles of the world, the ABCs of the law.
4:4. But … God marks the divine answer to man's slavery under the law. When the law had accomplished its purpose and man was ready for release from the bondage of the law, God sent his Son. He came right on schedule, arriving on the earth when the time had fully come. Some suggest world conditions were ripe for the spread of the gospel. The Romans had ushered in an era of relative peace through law and order. Their network of roads made travel more convenient. Widespread use of the Greek language simplified communication. At the same time, the proliferation of empty religions among many people created a spiritual hunger for something genuine. The Son had the qualifications to bring salvation to human beings. He was human, born of a woman, facing the same temptations and problems every human faces. He faced the same expectations each person did, being born under law. Jesus perfectly fulfilled God's law, being without sin, but he did this as a human being tempted in all ways as we are. 4:5. Christ came for two purposes: First, he came to redeem those under law. Christ paid the price of his death to free us from the slavery of the law. Second, Christ came that we might receive the full rights of sons. These rights come as a gift, or they don't come at all. Human effort can never secure them.
4:6. As son and heir, each Christian receives the Holy Spirit, the down payment of his or her inheritance (Eph. 1:14). The Holy Spirit moves believers to pray to God as Abba, Father. Abba is the equivalent of “Daddy.” It shows the closeness children of grace have with their Father. No slave of the law had such an intimate relationship. That intimate relationship comes through the Spirit not through the law.
4:7. Paul concludes that the Galatians were no longer slaves but were sons and heirs. Thus, under grace we have progressed from being slaves to being sons and heirs. Grace is adulthood. Law is childhood. With the privileges of adulthood, why regress back to the law?
Argument from Sonship for the Gentiles (vv. 8–11)SUPPORTING IDEA:As Gentiles, your new relationship as God's sons produces maturity. You are free from the bondage of paganism. It is illogical to revert to bondage by observing the law.
4:8–9. Before Christ, the Galatians had been slaves to pagan gods such as Zeus and Hermes. When they believed in Christ, they had been delivered from this bondage. They could not claim any credit to say they had achieved a knowledge of God. God had taken all the initiative to form a love relationship with them so that he knew them. Now Paul asked them why they were turning back to the weak and miserable bondage of legalism which could not produce life or righteousness or freedom.
4:10. The Judaizers had persuaded the Galatians to observe the Mosaic calendar. These seasonal events included special days (weekly sabbaths), months (new moons), and seasons (Festivals of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles). The Galatians kept these festivals to gain God's favor.
4:11. If they continued in legalism, Paul feared that his efforts on them would have been wasted. This could mean one of two things. It could mean that the Galatians were true Christians but that Paul's efforts to spur them on to spiritual maturity in Christ were not fruitful. Or it could mean that he feared that not turning from their legalism could indicate that they were never Christians in the first place.
Argument from Their Troubled Relationship (vv. 12–16)SUPPORTING IDEA: The controversy over legalism separated Paul from his close friends, the Galatians. Therefore, the law cannot be mature and true because it has separated intimates.
4:12. On his initial preaching visit to Galatia, the Galatians had embraced him warmly. Now Paul appeals to that reception and the resulting relationship to motivate them to return to grace. Paul had become like the Gentiles by rejecting the Jewish law as a way to right standing with God. Now he challenges the Galatian Gentiles to become like him by also rejecting legalism. The irony of this is that the Galatians were returning to legalism after their conversion to Christianity.
Most commentators believe the phrase you have done me no wrong refers to what follows in verses 13-14. The Galatian believers received Paul very well during his first visit to them, doing him no wrong.
4:13–14. Paul pleads with them based on their previous affection. He refers to the fellowship they had enjoyed during his prior visit with them on his first missionary journey (see Acts 13–14). While he was with them, he had gotten sick, and they had done him no wrong; rather, they treated him quite well. In fact, he says they welcomed him like an angel of God or Christ Jesus himself.
4:15. Paul wants to know why they no longer welcome him with joy. At one time they appreciated him so much that they would have torn out their eyes and given them to him. Paul may have had eye problems and, in hyperbole (deliberate exaggeration to make a point), Paul states that the Galatians loved him so much that they would have joyously given their eyes to him.
4:16. Apparently, everything had changed. The Judaizers had convinced the Galatians that Paul was not a legitimate apostle and that his gospel, by excluding the law, was deficient. Rather than embrace him, they had shunned and treated him like an enemy because he preached to them the truth of grace.
Appeal to their motives (vv. 17–20)SUPPORTING IDEA: Zealous opponents should not be able to woo you away from the truth of God's salvation in Christ, but you should trust the motives and actions of the one who first led you to Christ.
4:17–18. The Judaizers' motives are now exposed. They are proselytizing the Galatians to separate them from Paul and thereby strengthen their own cause. Paul commends their zeal but regrets that this passion is so erroneously misplaced.
4:19–20. The apostle, on the other hand, had always had proper motives toward the Galatians. Now he reveals his tender love for them. Addressing them tenderly as my dear children, Paul compared himself to a mother in the midst of birth pangs. Paul agonized over them initially as he implored them to become Christians. Now he is agonizing over their spiritual growth. Paul longs for Christ to be formed in them. His passion is for them to be conformed to the character of Christ. This transformation is God's purpose for each believer as Christ lives in us and through us (Gal. 2:20). Paul is perplexed by their spiritual waywardness. He wants to be with them and correct them firmly but gently.
Argument from the Allegory of Isaac and Ishmael (vv. 21–31).SUPPORTING IDEA: Paul produces a final rebuttal of legalism by giving an allegorial interpretation of Abraham and his difficulties with his two wives and two sons.
4:21–23. An allegory is a spiritual or symbolic interpretation of a story that also has a literal meaning. Isaac was born of the free woman, Sarah, and represents grace. Ishmael was born of the slave woman, Hagar, and represents the law. The birth of Ishmael was an ordinary birth to Abraham and his slave. The birth of Isaac was a supernatural birth because Abraham and Sarah were very old. It was a birth of promise in that Isaac was the child God promised to give to Abraham (Gen. 12).
4:24. As there was conflict between Isaac and Ishmael, so there is conflict between grace and legalism. The two women represent two covenants. Hagar represents the Mosaic Covenant which came from Mount Sinai. Her children are slaves. As Hagar brought forth a slave, so the law also produces slaves. In the same manner, Sarah represents the Abrahamic Covenant. Her children are free. As Sarah brought forth a free son, grace brings forth free children.
4:25–26. Now Paul compares the two women to two Jerusalems. Hagar stands for Mount Sinai and represents the first-century city of Jerusalem, the Jewish capital city whose inhabitants were still enslaved to the law. Sarah represents Jerusalem, the heavenly city of God, where all departed believers go (Heb. 12:22). Thus, only grace, represented by Sarah, leads to eternal life.
4:27. This quote from Isaiah 54:1 contrasts the future lineages of the two women. Sarah (grace) was initially barren, but she ended up with innumerable spiritual children because of the Abrahamic Covenant. She eventually surpassed the younger Hagar. The intended comparison was between the growth of Christianity (grace) and the stagnation of Judaism (law) in the first century. Paul is challenging the Galatians to choose Christ (grace) and be a part of what God was doing in their day.
4:28–31. Just like Isaac, the New Testament saints were children of promise. Just as Isaac was subject to Ishmael's persecution (see Gen. 21:9), so the early Christians were subject to persecution from the legalists. By applying this quote from Genesis 21:10, Paul commands the Galatians to get rid of the legalizers. Their work does not have the authority or blessing of God. It must come to an end. The Galatians must choose to be free and act on that choice by expelling the Judaizers.
MAIN IDEA REVIEW: Arguments from sonship, personal relationship, and the allegory of Isaac and Ishmael conclusively prove that justification is by grace through faith and not by observing the law.
To have a deep and satisfying relationship with God, we must be “on the same page” with him. The Judaizers were definitely not on God's page. Erroneously, they believed that faith alone in Jesus Christ was not enough for salvation and Christian maturity. Unfortunately, they were getting the Galatians to read from their script, and consequently, the Galatians were no longer on God's page of grace.
The woman who naively and accidentally ate the man's cookies experienced great embarrassment when she realized that she was actually the guilty party. The result of the Judaizers' error was far greater than emotional embarrassment. The eternal destinies of people are jeopardized when grace is fogged over by legalism. In addition, Christianity is extremely unattractive when presented with a legalistic flavor. Legalism repels, while grace attracts.
Fortunately, for the Galatians and for us today, Paul tackled this legalistic distortion head on. With the three arguments presented in this chapter, Paul has proven convincingly that grace is superior to the law.
PRINCIPLES
APPLICATIONS
The Irresponsible Foreign Consul
The New Testament clearly teaches that we do not live under the Law of Moses. This chapter teaches that salvation and maturity are products of faith in Christ apart from the law. Truly the message of grace is superior to the message of the law. Christ has set us free from the law (Gal. 5:1). Yet freedom does not imply a lack of responsibility.
The newspapers reported a Michigan state policeman who had stopped a man for driving seventy-five in a forty-five m.p.h. zone. The speeder reached into his pocket and flashed an official seal and signature of the U.S. Secretary of State. He informed the officer that he was the consul general of another country and therefore was immune from the law. Frustrated, the officer had no choice but to let the offender go.
That afternoon the officer clocked another speeder scorching the road at ninety-three in a fifty-five m.p.h. zone. With lights glaring and siren blaring the officer sped down the road after him. To his amazement, he discovered that the reckless driver was the same foreign diplomat. Rudely, the diplomat announced that he had no intention of keeping the speed and that he would do as he pleased. Impatiently, he honked his horn while the policeman radioed headquarters and was informed that there nothing they could do to detain the diplomat. As the officer frustratedly handed the diplomat's papers back to him, he said, “Even though you aren't subject to our laws, you could at least have some regard for the safety of our people.”
This story reminds us that we as believers are not obligated to keep the avalanche of rules and regulations in the Mosaic legal system. Like the foreign consul, we are immune from the Mosaic Law. In addition, in Christ we also have complete immunity from the eternal sentence required by God for breaking his Old Testament law. This does not mean that we have an excuse to be lawless. We have no more right to live above God's moral principles found in the Mosaic Law than the consul had to live above the reasonable laws of this country. On the contrary, we have the responsibility to submit ourselves to the principle of love defined in the Scriptures. The New Testament tells us that the person who loves God and his neighbor with all his heart fulfills the Old Testament law. God has given us in the New Testament his guidelines for us to follow. When we obey them, we are loving as he loves. If we fail to obey his New Testament commands and love as he loves, we will be no different than the reckless foreign diplomat who was acting against the spirit of the law even though he was not literally violating that law.
Freedom in Christ does not give us the right to do as we please but the power and ability to do as we ought. Paul's words in the next chapter verify these truths when he says in Galatians 5:13, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”
O God, thank you for giving me a relationship with you that is based on grace. Thank you that grace is maturing me from spiritual childhood into Christian adulthood. When the very essence of your Word is threatened, give me wisdom, like Paul, to show that your gospel is superior to all spiritual imitators. In Christ's name, I pray. Amen.
A. Abba (v. 6)
Abba is the Aramaic word for father. Jesus used it to speak of his intimate relationship with God, his heavenly Father. The word was well-known to his hearers. In ancient Israel when a little boy heard his father coming home from work in the fields, he might dash out of the kitchen doorway, run down the path, throw his arms around the knees of his approaching father, and shout, “Abba! Abba!” In English we might correctly translate it, “Daddy.”
In the same way as God's spiritual children, we can speak to him as Abba. He loves us and treats us as his children, and we may love him and treat him as our father. Jesus addressed God as Abba when he prayed (Mark 14:36) and when he taught his disciples to pray the same way (Luke 11:1–2). Many of Jesus' opponents became offended at this, thinking Abba was too familiar a term to use in addressing the high and holy God. Jesus' usage established the pattern for the church's view of God and for each believer's relationship with him. Paul said we can cry out to God, “Abba,” because he has adopted us into his family (Rom. 8:15).
B. Weak and miserable principles (v. 9)
Three basic interpretations seek to explain what Paul meant when he mentioned “weak and miserable principles” in verse 9 after referring to “basic principles of the world” in verse 3. The three interpretations are:
Trying to reach God through any means other than Christ is a weak and miserable undertaking … weak because it does not bring righteousness and miserable because it does not bring any good result. That is, it provides no inheritance.
A. INTRODUCTION
C. CONCLUSION: THE IRRESPONSIBLE FOREIGN CONSUL