Reading: Galatians 4:1-5:1
Questions for the Verses 4:4 ~ When did God send Christ to earth? 4:5 ~ What is the goal of our redemption? 4:7 ~ If we are sons, what else are we? 4:9 ~ Is it possible for a child of God to be in bondage to external rules? 4:15 ~ How would you describe the eager willingness to make great sacrifice that the Galatian believers showed Paul? 4:16 ~ How would you describe Paul’s willingness to tell the truth even when it hurt? 4:28 ~ Are we children of flesh or of promise? 5:1 ~ Instead of in bondage, how should we stand firm?
Understanding the Word Paul continues to use child-raising illustrations. In chapter 3, the Law was the authority that disciplined children; in contrast, chapter 4 describes us as God’s children and heirs. Verse 3 uses the phrase “when we were children” to describe the centuries before Christ’s coming. When the timing was just right, God sent His Son to earth to end bondage by redeeming God’s people. Because we are God’s children, we have the Holy Spirit within us. The cry “Abba, Father” is like a small child who delights in the presence of his “daddy.” The Holy Spirit in us reminds us of our close, affectionate relationship with God. How sad it is for beloved sons and daughters to choose bondage when their Father offers freedom instead! Yet that’s what some Galatian Christians seemed to be doing. Though the “bondage” of the Law ended when Christ came, there were some who wanted to continue living inside the shackles of outward obedience to the Law. With great emotion and grief, Paul pleads with these believers to turn away from the false teachers who brought bondage and to turn to Christ’s freedom. He pulls another illustration from the Old Testament to make this point. God had promised Abraham that his seed (descendants) would be too many to count. But Abraham and his wife were getting old and they did not have any children. So Abraham tried to work out God’s plan through human effort. He took his wife’s slave Hagar and had a son with her. God, however, had not forgotten His promise, and He miraculously provided a son to be born to Abraham and Sarah (even though they were both 90 or older). Paul uses the slave’s son to represent the Law’s bondage and the wife’s son to represent the freedom we have in Christ. The slave’s son represents Mount Sinai (the place where the Law was first given to Moses – Exodus 19) and the geographic Jerusalem (symbolic of the Jews who were in bondage to the Law when Paul wrote Galatians); the wife’s son, on the other hand, pictures a spiritual Jerusalem – the company of those who are redeemed and free in Christ (Revelation 21). Paul links us with the wife’s son and calls us “children of promise.” His conclusion at the end of the whole illustration is verse 31: we are not in bondage, but free. Based on all that argument for our freedom from strict bondage to the Law, he instructs us to stand firm in the liberty that Christ gave us, not returning to bondage under Law.
Key Verse: Galatians 5:1
Applying the Word
The main application of the book begins in 5:1 with Paul’s command to stand fast in liberty. Today, “liberty” has become a controversial topic. Many godly people have grown uncomfortable using the word. That is unfortunate. Being nervous around “liberty” is the result of misunderstanding what it means. The wrong idea about liberty is “liberty leads to loose living and people who talk about ‘Christian liberty’ are just using it as an excuse to defend their sin.” While some people have abused the liberty that Christ provides, we must not move away from the real biblical teaching about liberty – especially since Paul wrote that we should “stand fast” in liberty! In its simplest meaning, liberty is freedom from bondage. It is easy to see how liberty is a direct contrast to the bondage that Paul opposed. What kind of bondage has the book of Galatians been focused on? That will define liberty for us. It is the bondage of enslavement to the requirements of the Law. We are to stand fast in our liberation from that bondage! How can we measure how well we are standing fast? Here are several questions that will test our steadfastness in liberty:
- When I do right, am I more concerned to please human authority or God?
- Do I look at others with more sensitivity to their heart or to their appearance?
- Do I often choose friends and acquaintances based on external factors or by genuine spiritual fellowship?
- Are there things that I need to do in order to please God, but that I can’t find Scriptural support for?
- Do I find it difficult to love people who have lower standards than I have?
- Do I prayerfully set my standards to please God or do I merely mimic another person’s example?
The Law required external behavior – we are free from trying to earn God’s favor or blessing through external behavior. But… be careful: do not abuse liberty like others have. In chapter 5, we’ll learn about limiting our freedom, not living out of control. Liberty is not the freedom to do whatever I want; it is the freedom to please God by faith apart from works of the Law. God gives us evidence that He has provided loving liberty in Christ: the Holy Spirit saying “Abba” in our hearts. Abusing liberty to justify sin will result in the quieting of the Spirit’s reassuring voice.
Questions for Your Heart
- Do you personally know that precious loving voice of the Spirit reminding you of your relationship with the Father?
- Do you rejoice at the Spirit’s cry as a sweet proof of the freedom that you have in Christ?
- The Spirit’s cry proves that God loves us and that our relationship with Him is permanent. Are you living in bondage to the idea that you must do right before God loves you?
- Like Abraham and Hagar did, are you trying to make God’s plan happen in your strength or your way? If so, how?