Contributor: Isekhua Evborokhai

INTRODUCTION:

In last week’s study, we looked at the relationship between the Law and the Promise and how Paul directed the attention of the Galatians to the enduring covenant that God made with Abraham and the temporary law that God gave to Moses. We learnt that Paul’s epistle to the Galatians and ultimately us was to make us fully appreciate the meaning and significance of Christ’s work of redemption.

In today’s study we see Paul continuing with the significant work Christ did by explaining further what it means to be God’s children through faith; and what the purpose of the Law was before Christ came.

VERSES 23-24: BEFORE FAITH CAME

“Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. 24 Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.”

Here we see the purpose of a loving God acting as a shepherd, protecting His people from the lions and wolves that would otherwise have them for lunch. As the Shepherd, He provided the law to keep us safe as sheep would be shut up in a sheep pen for the night with the shepherd guarding the entryway to keep them safe. Before Christ came, God gave the law to keep people from straying into dangerous territory so that they would be prepared “for the faith which should afterwards be revealed”—faith in Jesus.

A story is told of children who lived near a cliff. They couldn't go out to play because they were afraid of falling off the cliff. So one day the adults built a very high wall at the cliff's edge; so the children where now able to play without fear. Instead of restricting them, the wall liberated them!

So it was with the law.  God gave it for the people’s protection. He gave the law as a mentor to guide the people of Israel as a way of preparing them for Christ.  The law gave them a framework for moral behaviour, and the prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah. And when Christ came, he changed the emphasis from salvation by merit (an impossibility) to salvation by the grace of God through faith in Christ.

VERSES 25-27: NOW THAT FAITH HAS COME

“And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. 26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.”

As born-again Christians, we respect the Jewish law, because we find great wisdom there.  But we no longer look to the law for our salvation, but instead turn in faith to Christ.

When Paul talks about putting on Christ, he uses this clothing metaphor to describe a transformation that God has wrought in their lives.  While clothing might seem merely external, as contrasted with a change of heart, Paul uses this clothing metaphor to describe a truly changed person.  People who have put on Christ are new people—redeemed people—forgiven people—people whose demeanour and actions (external) reflect the fact that God has given them a new heart (internal).

VERSES 28-29: WE ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS

“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.”

We are Now One: In verse 28, Paul mentions some of the many divisions that separate people—Jews vs. Greeks (Gentiles), slave vs. free, male vs. female.  These are hardly the only major divisions that keep people apart.  Paul doesn’t intend these three divisions (Jew vs. Greek, etc.) he cited as comprehensive, but rather as illustrative.  Others include rich vs. poor, literate vs. illiterate, First World vs. Third World, black vs. brown vs. white, Asian vs. European, socialist vs. capitalist, the list goes on and on. The truth however is this:

In Christ, all the barriers that divide one person from the other person are rendered null and void.

This was what Jesus prayed about in John 17:20-21, 23.  He prayed, not only for his disciples of that day, 

“but for those also who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me…that they may be perfected into one”.

We are Now Heirs: In Genesis 22:18, God promised that through Abraham’s Seed all nations on earth will be blessed because Abraham obeyed Him.” Galatians 3: 16 says:

“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.”

The coming of Jesus, the “Seed” has made all Christians become “Abraham’s seed and heirs according to promise.”

An heir a person legally entitled to the property or rank of another on that person's death. One who has the legal right to an inheritance. The word promise is from the word epaggelia which suggests a gift rather than something that a person can win by hard work.  In that sense, it is akin to the word grace, which is the free gift of salvation—something that God bestows on us rather than something we have earned.

CHAPTER 4:1-4: IMMATURE HEIRS

“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. 2 They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. 3 And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world”.

Paul goes further to explain what he meant in Chapter 3: 23-29 and makes it even clearer to the Galatians. It is only until an heir is mature before they can have their inheritance. Before Christ came, we were like such immature children – slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world”.

VERSES 4-7: THE AMAZING PURPOSE WHY GOD SENT HIS SON

“4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father! 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.”

The reason that God sent his Son into the world (a human under the same circumstances as the commoner) was to accomplish two things. The first was “that he might redeem those who were under the law” (the Jewish people). The second was that “we might receive the adoption as children.” (You and I!)

Apart from our adoption into God’s family, being no longer slaves but God’s own children, He has also given us the gift of the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying, “Abba, Father!”

 “Abba! Father!” is the kind of phrase that a small child would use for his/her father. It is a sign of God’s love that he permits this kind of intimacy, not just from the great saints, but from all saints.

Note that Paul used the word “you” (singular) instead of “we”

Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir. This a very personal statement. It applies to each of the Christians to whom this letter is addressed; and to each of us who reads it today in faith. We are brought into proper relationship with God as individuals not en masse. Through faith in Christ we have been transformed from slaves to sons and daughters; adopted into God’s family and engrafted into God’s family tree.

CONCLUSION

The consequence of being a child of God is inheritance (v. 7). The Galatian believers had been told that they must be related to the descendants of Abraham through observance of the law in order to inherit the promises God made to Abraham. But Paul has now demonstrated how faith in Christ makes one a child of God and so an heir of God. None of us can make ourselves children or heirs of God. Only God can make slaves into sons and daughters, and sons and daughters into heirs. And we can only receive this gift by faith! Also, the promise of inheritance is the promise of the Spirit. (Gal.3:14b). “so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”

Our greatest inheritance is not only the abundance of things the Father gives us, but the character of his Son which the Spirit of his Son is forming within us.