Notes on Galatians 4

1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Paul uses the appropriate imagery of minor children versus legal adults who each have inheritance. When we are in the charge of others, no matter how much wealth we were left, all of the wealth does no good except at the pleasure and discretion of the guardian. Once we reach the age of responsibility as provided in the will, though, we have full access to all the resources left us, and the freedom to use them as we see fit. Those heirs of Abraham's promise who were under the law could not enjoy the full benefits of their heritage, because they were bound by the restrictions of the law. It makes no more sense for an adult to return to a guardian's responsibility than for a Christian to return to the bondage of legalism. We are neither servants of the law or slaves to the world, but adopted children of God, with the same right to tender affection as a child that crawls up into its father's lap. God owns the universe and everything in it, and in Christ we are heirs to it all. It is an incredible promise we will never understand this side of heaven.

8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

It makes no sense to substitute one form of slavery for another. We may be free of worldly lusts, and the penalty of sin, but if we substitute ritual for worship, and programs for the inspiration of the Spirit, we are still in bondage. If we submit to the dictatorship, not the legitimate authority, of a church leader, we are still under bondage. When the Galatians became more concerned with observing all the detail of Jewish tradition, rather than the freedom of the Gospel, they placed themselves under the bondage from which Christ had already set them free.

12 Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.
13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

This passage is the strongest hint in Paul's letters that he suffered from some sort of eye disease, which was apparently active when he first came to Galatia. In spite of his physical condition, they accepted him gladly. Now, though, that he simply wants to tell them the truth, they are evidently ready to reject him. It is often much easier for us to have sympathy for, or to judge, the problems of others than to face our own, particularly if the problem involves some cherished idea that is not in accordance with scripture. Paul faced the same kind of problem with the Corinthian church. Once he left, others followed behind, agents of Satan really, who attempted to destroy what the Lord had used him to build. That is one reason it is so vitally important that a pastor be well-grounded in sound doctrine, and be willing able to defend it.

17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.
18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.
19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

The words "zealously affect" here mean to strongly desire, or covet. The Judaizers, the legalists, were very fervent in their desire to bring the Galatians under their control, and one way they sought to do that was to make their group seem like an exclusive club. Like pagan cults, they required that the Gentile Christians undergo initiation rites such as circumcision before they could become "real" Christians. The modern equivalent, for some churches, is baptism, which, while it is scriptural and proper, does not make you any more or less a Christian once you're redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

Although the Galatians were being led astray by teachers who professed to believe the Jewish Law, their teachings were actually contrary to the law anyway. It is very common, and always has been, for false teachers to pull scriptures out of context, and twist their meaning, just as Satan tried to do with Christ in the wilderness. Christ made it very clear that he was the fulfillment of the Law, which pointed to him (Matthew 5:17). The Law itself is not the problem, but the system built around it, the worldly system of Jewish practices and belief symbolized by Hagar, Abraham's wife out of the sin of his flesh, versus the the freedom of the Gospel, symbolized by Sarah and Isaac, the child of promise. The Law as a means to salvation, epitomized by the Pharisees, was a covenant of bondage. It could never bring freedom from sin, only point out that it existed. We somehow gotten the notion that we should do good deeds because it's our "Christian duty." If we do something simply because we're required to do it, we gain a servant's reward. If we do the same thing out of love, because we love both God and others, we receive a child's reward. If we try to "become better Christians" by adhering so some set of legalistic requirements, or in order not to lose our salvation, we have lost the whole point of being Christians. Our primary, and only, duty under the covenant of grace is love; everything else comes out of that.

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