Life Group - Galatians Chapter 4

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.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

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

Galatians 3:26

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

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

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,

Acts 14:19–20

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

Acts 14:19–20

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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