Children of Freedom

 Greetings everyone 

We will finish up chapter 4 today, as Paul concludes his Abrahamic argument for The Promise and Grace, and against the Law.  Here is my translation of verses 28-31: 

28 But you, brothers and sisters, just like Isaac, are children of the promise.  29 But, just as it was then, the one born of the flesh persecuted the one born of the Spirit. That is how it is now, too. 30 What does it say in the Scriptures? “Drive out the slave and her son, because the son of the slave will not inherit alongside the son born to freedom.” 31 So, brothers and sisters, we are not children of slavery, but children of freedom. 

He concludes his argument regarding freedom in Christ, sandwiching his conclusion between two statements that they were ‘children of the Promise”, in both verses 28 and 31. In verse 28, we are compared to Isaac.  Like him, we are children of the Promise.  We are not born into the slavery of the Law.  This is the message Paul has been presenting to the Galatians.  We, followers of Jesus, are of the Promise, and not the Law.

Paul, then, makes a comparison, without naming either one, between the Judaizing teachers and Ishmael.  In Genesis 21, the teenaged Ishamel mocks the infant Isaac, and ultimately is cast out, along with his mother, for it.  The Judaizing teachers are Ishmael in the comparison, persecuting true disciples.  According to Paul, Ishmael and the Judaizing teachers, and their brand of Christianity are those born of the flesh, while Isaac and true disciples of Jesus are those born of the Spirit.  

Back in Genesis, Sarah is very direct to Abraham, as she says in Genesis 21:10 (NIV), “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”  God backs Sarah up on this.  Isaac, not Ishamel, was the child of the Promise. The implication from Paul here is, “Get rid of these teachers, and their false gospel. They do not share in the Promise with you.” 

Paul wraps up this the discussion of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishamael and Isaac with a reminder of which side of this argument they belonged on.  They were children of freedom, not slavery. They needed to live like it, and not spend their lives bound up by the Law. Likewise, we are children of the Promise, and we are not destined to be bound up by legalistic righteousness.  The plan for us is to be free in Christ, 

Allegory

Greetings everyone.

It's New Year's Day 2026.  I hope the new year finds you well. We will continue to examine Galatians 4 today, looking at verses 21-27, where Paul uses the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar as an allegory to further make his point:  

21 Tell me this, those of you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 

22 It is written that Abraham had two sons, one from a slave woman and another from a free woman. 23 The one born to the slave was born of the flesh, but the one born to the free woman was born out of a promise.  24 This is an allegory.  These women represent the two covenants. One comes from Mount Sanai, and bears children into slavery.  This is Hagar. 25 So, Hagar is Mount Sanai in Arabia, and she corresponds to Jerusalem, as it is now, for she is enslaved along with her children.  26 But the Jerusalem that is from above is free, and she is our mother. 

27 As it is written, 

       Rejoice, those who are barren, and cannot give birth. 

          Lift your voices and shout, those without labor pains.

       Because the barren woman will have more children than the woman who has a husband. 

Paul, in verse 21, specifically addresses those who desire to be under the Law. He asks those who choose to live that way, whether they truly hear the law.  Do they really understand what the Law is saying to them?  It is an implied “No,” because if they really understood the Law, they would be happy that its time had passed and they were now able to under a new and better covenant.  

To make his point, Paul goes to the source material of his detractors, the Old Testament.  He starts to explain the Old Testament story of Abraham and his two sons, as an allegory for their present situation, telling us in verse 24 that they serve as an allegory for the two covenants.  

Allegory, in case you have forgotten, is a story that uses symbols to convey a hidden meaning.

Here is the allegory: 

• Abraham has two sons, by two different women.  
• One woman is a slave, Hagar. The other is a free woman. (Although not mentioned specifically by name, in Paul’s text, we know that the free woman is Sarah.)
• Hagar gives birth to Ishamel.  She represents the Law, the old covenant and slavery. So, Ishamel is the child of slavery. 
• Sarah gives birth to Isaac.  She represents the promise, the new covenant and freedom.  Isaac is the child of freedom. 

Douglas Moo makes the point that earlier in Galatians Paul had been concerned with paternity, showing that those who by faith in Christ are the children of Abraham, but "In this passage, Paul’s concern is with maternity, and the argument proceeds by oppositions: believers are the children of the free woman, and not the children of the slave woman.” (Moo, 298.)

The link between Hagar, the slave, and the law given at Mount Sinai is not an obvious one, but does explain that he is speaking allegorically.  Paul makes a second not-so-obvious connection, connecting Hagar to the Jerusalem of that day.  His reference connects Judaism to slavery, so it is likely that Paul’s reference to Hagar and current Jerusalem refers to his antagonists, the Judaizing teachers.  They are the children of slavery.  

In his allegory, Paul discusses two Jerusalems, the current Jerusalem, which, again, he equates to slavery and the new Jerusalem that is from above.  It is heavenly. This new Jerusalem, Paul says, is free. 

This allegory makes clear distinctions and they are represented by Hagar and Sarah.  On one side you have Hagar, slavery, Mount Sinai, the Law, obedience, legalistic righteousness, the Judaizing teachers, contemporary Jerusalem and Earth. On the other side you have Sarah, freedom, the Cross, the Promise, faith, grace, true Christianity, Jerusalem from above, and Heaven. 

God is not down on Hagar.  He speaks to her and protects in Genesis 21.  However, the Sarah side (Grace) of the argument is so far superior to the Hagar side of the argument, that choosing to live under the Hagar side (the Law) is pure nonsense. Paul has been furthering this same argument since the beginning of the letter when he compared the Gospel of Grace with the other gospel, which really is no gospel at all. 

Paul ends verse with the phrase ἐστὶν μήτηρ ἡμῶν (estin mētēr hēmōn), which is translated “(she) is your mother.” Paul is hitting this point from every possible angle.  Grace is better than obedience.  The Promise is better than the Law.  Freedom is better than slavery, and as followers of Christ, and recipients of His grace, freedom (Sarah, new Jerusalem) is our mother, and slavery (Hagar, old Jerusalem) is not.  Why would anyone choose slavery over freedom?  

Paul wraps this thought up by quoting Isaiah 54:1.  “Because the barren woman will have more children than the woman who has a husband.”  Moo says, “Paul’s gospel-oriented reading of Isa. 54:1…convinces him that Sarah represents the new age…Hagar, on the other hand, must therefore represent the old age, with its outmoded and futile focus on doing the Law.” (Moo, 307-308.) Paul has been contrasting the free woman, Sarah, with the slave woman, Hagar, and it appears that in verse 27 is equating Sarah with the barren woman, and Hagar with the one who has a husband.  Sarah, barren until her old age, gave birth to a son, and ultimately, a nation.  

 

Forming Christ

 Greetings.

We continue looking at Galatians today, looking at verses 19 and 20. It seems like an abrupt switch to a different topic.  He has been talking about the misplaced zeal of the Jewish agitators that have infiltrated the ranks of the Galatian churches, and now, suddenly he is talking about how badly he wants to see Christ formed in them.  Here is my translation: 

19 My children, I am again suffering pains like childbirth, until Christ is formed in you.  20 How I wish I could be there with you and change my tone, because I am seriously perplexed about you. 

He compared his desire to see Christ formed in them with a woman in labor pain.  This establishes an intensity of feeling for his Galatian brothers and sisters that they would be like Jesus.  This statement comes directly after Paul states that the zeal of the agitators is not for good.  Then he compares himself to a mother.  What kind of zeal could be better than that?  Paul’s zeal for them is like a mother’s concern for her children.  

Notice that Paul uses the word ‘again.’  He is again suffering pains for them like childbirth.  This is not the first time that he has suffered for them.  One would assume that he is referring to the initial conversion of the people in Galatia.  

Galatians 4:19 is where we get the term 'Spiritual Formation': to have Christ formed in us.  It reminds me of Colossians 1:27, “ God wants the riches of the glory of this mystery made known among the nations: that Christ is in us, the hope of glory.”  In Colossians, Paul talks about a mystery that had been kept hidden for generations that was now being revealed.  That mystery - Jesus living in us.  

Having Christ formed in us is one of the greatest things we could possibly hope for.  We have done nothing to deserve such glory, but still we can have it.  Paul is praying diligently that Christ will fill the brothers and sisters in Galatia. 

The fact that Paul is praying so diligently for Christ to be formed in them, would imply that Christ is not currently being formed in them through their obedience to the old law.  I think Paul has spent a lot of time establishing this.  They are moving in the wrong direction, and Christ will not be formed in them if their focus is obedience to the Law.  

Paul's point: we don’t become like Jesus through our own obedience, we become like him through our faith.  This often runs counter to the way we think. We tend to think that it is about our own effort.  The whole idea of spiritual formation, however, is about how the Holy Spirit forms Christ in us.  No amount of obedience, no matter how strict, can form Christ in us.  Grace and faith save us, and obedience to the Law does not. Paul has presented this argument from numerous different angles in his letter. That is not to say that obedience is bad.  No, obedience is good.  But, we have to understand that our obedience is prompted by faith, and we are not saved by it. 

In verse 20, Paul expressed his concern for them, still taking the tone of a mother.  Paul states that he wished that he could be there in person and therefore change his tone.  In person, he could express a more parental tone instead of just sounding alarms about how badly they are going astray.  

Ἀποροῦμαι (aporoumai) He uses this word to express his concern.  It is often translated as ‘perplexed.’  Paul is very perplexed by their thinking, and has expressed his puzzlement repeatedly in this letter.  Why is he so perplexed?  Paul's sincere desire is to see Christ formed in them, but the path that they are currently on, does not lead there.  He is trying to get them back on track, holding to righteousness based on faith and God's grace, a righteousness that would see Christ being formed in them. 

What Happened?

Hello everyone.

Today we will continue our exegesis of Galatians 4, covering verses 12 through 18.  Here is my translation: 

12 Brothers and sisters, I plead with you, be like I am, as I became like you are, and you did me no wrong.  13 You all know that it was due to illness that I preached the Gospel to you the first time.  14 Even though my illness was challenging for you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as though I were an angel of God, or even Christ Jesus himself. 15 Where did such blessings go? I can testify that if you could, you would have plucked your own eyes out and given them to me.  16 Have I become your enemy by speaking the truth to you? 

17 These people have been very zealous for you, but not in the right way.  They wish to drive you away from us, so that you might zealously go after them.  18 It is good to be zealous for what is right all the time, not only when I am present with you. 

In verse 12, Paul gives an imperative to the Galatians, to become like him, as he had become like them.  It is not clear exactly what Paul means by this.  It seems that Paul is talking about how he, as a Jew, has become a lot more like a Gentile, while they, Gentiles, are trying to be more like Jews.  He has been urging them to not do that.  

Paul says in 1 Cor. 9:20-21  “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.”

Paul’s aim was to win people over to the cause of Christ.  Paul strove to relate to all people in order to help them know Jesus Christ.  He urges the Galatians to be more like that.  Their movement toward a rigid legalistic system and obedience to the Law actually doesn't help anyone to know Jesus. 

From here Paul goes on to describe the relationship that he had with them, as he was building the church there.  He tells them that he had only preached among them due to illness, and they apparently took good care of Paul during this time, welcoming him openly, in spite of great challenges.  He states that their love for him was so great that they would have willingly plucked their eyes out for him.  That is real devotion to someone.  So now, he openly wonders, “What has happened?” “Where has the kindness and love that you once showed me gone?”  

The impact of these Judaizing teachers must have been huge.  They were undoubtedly very negative in their assessment of Paul and his message, even though he received directly from God.  Apparently the animosity has grown to a place where Paul wonders out loud, “Have I become your enemy for telling you the truth?” This is a significant turnaround for the members of the Galatian churches, going from someone so loved for whom they would sacrifice their eyeballs, to now, an enemy.  

Paul asks whether he has become their enemy for telling them the truth. What is the truth that Paul has been telling them?  Douglas Moo states it like this, “the gospel is offered freely by grace and is to be accepted and lived out by means of faith.” (Moo, 286.) 

Note: It is interesting that Paul could become their enemy by truth-telling, since his message has been one of grace and faith.  Why would anyone rather hear a message of obedience to the point of allowing yourself to be circumcised as an adult?  It seems that men would be relieved for Paul to say that they didn’t need to go through with circumcision. 

Paul, then, weighs in on his detractors, stating that these teachers are very zealous.  That seems to be the nicest thing Paul has to say about them, and even in that, he states that their zeal is for the wrong reasons.  Paul acknowledges that zeal is a good thing (v. 18), but if it is for the right reason.  These teachers appear to have zeal for the purpose of sowing division here.  They are trying to separate the churches in Galatia from Paul’s influence and bring them under their own control. These agitators have undoubtedly been portraying Paul as their enemy, teaching that Paul is presenting an easy gospel that has big holes in it.  

In reality, we know that they were teaching a false gospel of an earned salvation, and Paul was teaching the true gospel of God's grace, which is not an easy gospel, but certainly a better gospel. 

The Best Part of the Deal

Hello everyone.  

We continue our look at Galatains 4 today.  Here are verses 8 through 11:  

8 In your past, when you did not yet know God, you were enslaved by those things that were, by nature, not gods.  9 But now that you know God, or rather, now that you are known by God, how can you go back again to those weak and worthless principles of your past? Are you wanting to be enslaved by them all over again?  10 You are observing special days, months, seasons and years.  11 I am afraid that I may have worked so hard among you for nothing. 

Paul continues his train of thought, talking about their pre-Christian days, pointing that they were enslaved by things that are not gods. We, too, just like the Galatians, were enslaved by the fundamental principles of the world.  Like them there were various sins that each of us were enslaved by.  These things, Paul points out, are not gods, although our obedience to them, made them seem like our gods.  

Paul would include among these non-gods, the rule-keeping that comes from strict obedience to the Law as means of salvation, in other words, legalistic righteousness.  This was a god for many, including Paul’s detractors in Galatia, the Judaizing teaching that had corrupted the faith of the Galatians.  

In verse 9, he calls such thinking, “weak and worthless principles.”  This applies whether we are talking about what would be seen as obvious sins, like idol worship or adultery or less obvious sins, like pride or legalistic righteousness.  They are weak and worthless principles that before our encounter with Jesus we were enslaved by.  

So, what is Paul getting at here?  Jesus had rescued them from that way of life. He had set them free.  Why then, would they return to it, by submitting to a Law that they had no hope of keeping? Why go back to something designed to show them their sinfulness? 

Previously in verse 9, Paul had contrasted who they were with who they have become.  “Now that you know God, or rather, now that you are known by God.”  There is a clear before and after here.  A time when there was no relationship, and a time where there is. 

Knowing God is a good thing, being known by God is even better.  It sounds a little something like 1 John 4:10, “ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  The best of this deal is what is coming back to us as followers of Jesus, God knowing us and loving us. 

Thoams Schreiner says this about God knowing us, “God’s knowing of his people hearkens back to the Hebrew verb ‘know’ (yada) where God’s knowledge refers to his choosing of someone - the setting of his affection on someone.  Hence he ‘knew’ Abraham by choosing him to be the father of the Jewish people. (Gen. 18:19)....So too, the Galatians have come to know God because God knew them first, because he loved them and graciously chose them to be his own.” (Schreiner, 278.) 

Paul’s point in verses 8 and 9?  Now that there is a relationship between you and the Almighty God, why would you want to move backwards?  Why would you trade freedom in Christ for a return to bondage, whether that be bondage to the paganism that they left, or bondage to the Old Law that they have been learning about? 

In verse 10, Paul accuses them of observing special days, months, seasons and years.  It appears that their newfound devotion to the Law includes observing the Jewish calendar, which likely includes observing the Sabbath, with all of its regulations.  I mean, compared to submitting to circumcision as an adult, the Sabbath rules seem fairly easy, so it is possible that the intensely regulated Sabbath-keeping rules were also a part of the Judaizing package. 

In verse 11, Paul expresses his frustration.  They appear to be accepting this “gospel that is no gospel at all,” creating a works-based religion that leaves grace out of the picture.  They seem to bee embracing this hybrid Judaism-Christianity that the Judaizing elements are presenting, including the practice of circumcision, and perhaps Sabbath-keeping, on such a level that Paul feels that all of his labor among them has been in vain. 

He has floated this idea before.  He asked back in 3:4, “Have you all experienced so much for nothing?”  He wonders out loud has everything he has done in Galatia has been a colossal waste of time? So while they are not reverting back to their paganism, if they continue on the road that they are on, they will end no better off than they were in their pagan days.  It would be better for them that they focus what Paul tells them is superior, being known by God. 

The Fullness of Time, Part 2

Hey everybody!

Today we will continue our discussion of Galatians 4.  Through verse 3 Paul has been explaining to the Galatians how the Law had served as a guardian for thme, in the way that a man might appoint one of his slaves to be a guardian of his son until that son reaches maturity.  Now, Paul is going to explain Jesus sets us free from the Law, and we are no longer under the care of the guardian.  Here is Galatians 4:4-7:

4 But when the fullness of time came, God sent His son, born of a woman, and born under the law, 5 so that we might be set free from the law, so that we can receive our adoption as His children. 6 Since you are His children, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”  7 So you are no longer slaves, but children of God, and if you are His child, then God has also made you his heir. 

You may remeber that in the previous post we discuss Στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου (stoicheia tou kosmou), the principles of the world.  This is what guided us until Jesus came into our lives.  So, Paul is saying that the world is just moving along, being guided by its own principles, then, in verse 4, in the fullness of time, Jesus came. Paul has been making an analogy of the boy, who at the proper time, has a status change from boy to man, and is given the benefits of adulthood and receives his inheritance.  For us, Jesus came at the time set by God.  

Paul makes the point that he was born of a woman, just like the rest of us.  He also makes the point that Jesus was born under the Law.  Doulgas Moo makes the point here that in saying that God ‘sent’ his son indicates the pre-existence of Jesus, and the two qualifiers that Paul adds indicate that Jesus left God’s side to take on humanity and Jewishness.  (Moo, 265.) 

Back in Galatians 3:13, Paul talks about ‘the curse of the Law’ and how Jesus took on that curse for us.  Here, Jesus was willingly born under the curse of the Law, so that he could take on that curse for us. 

Jesus was born under the Law, and kept it in a way that we never could.  His ability to keep the Law, enabled him to free us from that Law. It follows, then, that his freeing us from the Law, in turn brings us to our maturity and enables us to receive our adoptions as children of God, and our inheritance, as well.   

In his commentary on 4:5, Thomas Schreiner makes an interesting point.  He says, “Paul constantly depicts the power of sin with the “under” phrases in Galatians.  Those who are “under law” (3:23, 4:4) are “under a curse” (3:10) and “under sin” (3:22) and “under a custodian” (3:25) and “under the elements” (4:3). Sin has placed people under its tyranny.” (Schreiner, 270.) 

Verse 5 tells us why Jesus was born of a woman, under the Law.  Paul uses the Greek word, Ἐξαγοράσῃ (exagorasē). The Lexicon defines this word: to secure the deliverance of, deliver, liberate.  It is often translated as 'redeem.'  I chose to translate it as ‘set free.”  The point here is that Jesus was sent to redeem or set free those who were under the law of sin.  Paul used the same word back in 3:13 to talk about how Jesus freed us from the curse of sin.  

What does all of the this mean? Jesus takes our punishment upon himself in his death on the Cross, freeing us from the power of sin, and opening the door for our adoption as children of God. Now, because of Jesus, we are His children, and because we are His children, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us, and we are able to cry out God and call him 'Father.'  

An interesting sidenote: Paul does not call the Spirit, the "Holy Spirit" here, instead he says Πνεῦμα τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ (pneuma tou huiou autou) “Spirit of His Son.”  It indicates the closeness of these three, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, as such phrases can be used so interchangeably.  The presence of the Spirit authenticates and verifies our relationship as God’s children, and by extension, an heir to His promise. 

       Douglas Moo, Galatians, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2013.

        Thomas Schriener, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Galatians, Zondervan Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2010. 

The Fullness of Time

 Greetings.

In my last post, we finished on Galatians 3, so, today we begin chapter 4.  Paul has been talking how the Law served as a guardian, but now, in Christ, the guardian is no longer needed.  In the early of chapter 4, he explains what he is talking aobut further: 

1 Let me explain. When the heir is a child, even though everything belongs to him, he is essentially no different than a slave. 2 Instead, he is under guardians and trustees until the time that has been appointed by his father. 3 Just like when we were children, and we were held captive by the fundamental principles of the world. 

In these first few verses of chapter 4, Paul continues this thread about guardianship and does a compare and contrast of mankind’s condition under the Law (the guardian) with our condition under grace.  

In verses 1-3 he discusses our condition under the Law. He continues talking about the sons as heirs to everything, but at the same time, while they were still children, they had no real power.  As children, they had guardians and trustees, appointed by their fathers, who acted in their interest.  Upon coming of age, the sons would receive the full benefits of being master, even though he had been technically master all along.  

One certainly does not think of the future master as a slave, even though, as a child he is under authority like a slave. We should remember that Paul is saying all of this within the context of comparing the Promise and the Law. Underlying all of this is the idea that the Law makes us slaves, while the Promise offers us freedom and grace. 

The Law was the guardian. Then, at the fullness of time, the coming of Jesus, the Law ceases to be guardian.  We reach adulthood and receive the full benefits of being the heir.  

In verse 3, Paul seems to shift gears just a little bit.  He is talking to a largely Gentile audience in the churches in Galatia.  While the Jewish brothers had been under the guardianship of the Law, the Galatians, as Gentiles, had been largely under the guardianship of the world, and its principals.  They had been enslaved to its forces. Jesus had set them free from those forces, but now, the Judaizers were trying to bind a new slavery on them.

Paul uses the Greek phrase, Στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου (stoicheia tou kosmou) Στοιχεῖα, according to the Lexicon can mean a number of things, 1) basic components of something, elements, 1a) heavenly bodies, 1b) fundamental principles, or 2) transcendent powers that are in control over events in this world, elemental spirits. τοῦ κόσμου translates to “of the world”, so together these translate to something along the line of “fundamental principles of the world.”  There are many different ideas about what Paul means by this phrase, but the one that makes the most sense to me is the idea that prior to knowing Christ we were all living under the basic principles of the world and therefore, guided by sin. 

Paul’s letter to the Galatians is a letter about freedom, freedom from sin, as well as, freedom from the trappings of legalistic religion.  We are often held captive by one or the other, or both. Paul is spelling all of this out for them, as plainly as he can, so that they can escape the trappings of legalism and truly enjoy freedom in Christ.