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.
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