Nakala

Sometime ago I heard about a longtime prison inmate who had completed his sentence and was released. For the first time in many years, he was a free man. Instead of enjoying his freedom, however, he ended up stealing an automobile and waiting for the police to arrive and arrest him. The truth was, he wanted to be caught. You see, prison was pretty much all he had ever known. And freedom, with all its responsibility, was not only unfamiliar to him, but somewhat frightening. He was not prepared for life on the outside. He was more at home on the inside, behind bars.

There is a spiritual analogy to this. The freedom we have in Christ is not always easy to handle. It is actually a little easier at times to retreat to familiar legalistic forms of religion. Sometimes it is more comfortable to follow a set of rules that someone hands you rather than depend on the Lord daily for wisdom. Indeed, some who have come to Christ do not fully grasp the blessings of freedom in Christ.

Paul wants the believers living in the region of Galatia—and every one of us as well—to grow in understanding the freedom Christians have in Christ. So, as we sail back into Galatians 3, Paul begins to reveal some of the benefits of the gospel of grace. His list begins with the benefit of sonship.

The apostle writes in verse 26 that in Christ, we “are all sons of God, through faith.” We all have a heavenly Father.

And we discover that we have a pretty big family too. Paul refers in verse 27 to all believers having been “baptized into Christ [and] put on Christ.” The baptism of the Spirit of God has brought us into the family of God.

Think of that moment when you meet a fellow believer for the first time—perhaps standing in line at the store or seated next to you in class or on a city bus. And as soon as you find out the person is a Christian, despite any differences you might have, you sense an immediate kinship. This is your brother or sister in Christ. You discover, as Paul writes in verse 28, whether this fellow believer is Jewish or Gentile (ethnicity), whether the person is a slave or free person (social status), whether this one is male or female (gender), you are unified as fellow members of the family of God.

Paul writes, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (verse 29). Here is another benefit of the gospel of grace. Christians are “Abraham’s offspring.” We are His spiritual descendants and heirs to the promise of belonging to God by faith alone.

When we sail into chapter 4, Paul expands on believers’ new position as heirs. He writes in verse 1, “As long as [the heir] is a child, [he] is no different from a slave, though he is owner of everything.” Legally the child will grow up and become the owner of the estate. But as a child, Paul writes in verse 2, he is still under a “guardian and managers” until the day he is declared an adult (verse 2).

Paul continues in verse 3: “In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.” Here he uses “we,” speaking specifically of Jews in the Galatian churches. “We”—Jewish people—were held in bondage to the law of Moses, which no one could keep.

But there came a time when these Jewish people “grew up” spiritually. This, we read in verse 4, was accomplished through the coming of Christ in the “fullness of time,” which means Jesus was born at the perfect time in God’s plan. Paul writes, “God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” And because God’s Son kept that law perfectly, He was qualified to “redeem those who were under the law” (verse 5). The work of Christ our Redeemer allowed both Jewish and Gentile believers alike “[to] receive adoption as sons,” meaning they have been granted all the rights of an adult heir to the Father’s estate.

Now here is Paul’s point: Why would anybody in Galatia—or anywhere else—want to go back into bondage under the law? Why would anybody want a list of rules to keep instead of enjoying freedom in Christ? Why would anybody want to trade freedom in Christ for spiritual bondage?

And with that, Paul adds this benefit in verse 6: “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” In other words, we can address our heavenly Father with the affectionate term “Abba,” which children in Paul’s day commonly used in addressing their father.

Paul then delivers some warnings against this false gospel of legalism. He asks why, having come to know God by faith, his readers would want to turn back to the law and become enslaved “once more” (verse 9). Yet this is exactly what the legalistic teachers, the Judaizers, are advocating and what some in Galatia are doing as they insist on observing Jewish Sabbaths and festivals.

Paul asks the Galatians to remember how he had lived when he was with them and how joyfully they had accepted him and the gospel he preached. Paul appeals to them in verse 12, writing, “Become as I am, for I also have become as you are.” Paul did not try to pull them back under the law; so he is asking them to resist these false teachers and live like he did when he was with them—free in Christ and living by faith.

Like a good teacher who is delivering some challenging information, Paul uses an illustration in verses 22-23 to get his point across:

Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

He is speaking of Ishmael, born to the slave woman Hagar, and Isaac, born to Abraham’s wife Sarah, a “free woman.”

Paul compares the two mothers with two covenants. Hagar represents the Mosaic covenant given at Mount Sinai—she illustrates bondage to the law. But Sarah represents the new covenant that comes from “the Jerusalem above,” or heaven—she illustrates the promise of freedom in Christ.

Now watch how Paul applies his illustration in verse 28: “You, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.” The Galatian believers had received the promise of salvation. However, just as Ishmael, the son of Hagar, persecuted Isaac, so the legalistic Jewish teachers are effectively persecuting the believers in Galatia.

So, what should they do about it? Well, Paul actually paraphrases the words of Sarah in Genesis 21:10, as his answer: “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman” (verse 30).

In other words, just as Ishamel persecuted Isaac back in Genesis chapter 21, so these Judaizers—these false teachers—are persecuting the church. Paul is calling for the Judaizers to be disciplined and sent away from the church if they do not repent of their teaching.

These are pretty strong words, but Paul is reminding us that there is no room for compromise with those who teach a false gospel of legalism—that salvation and spiritual growth come by works. Such teaching cannot be tolerated for it will harm the church and discourage the Christian. You cannot replace freedom in Christ with a list of rules. That does not mean rules are always wrong, but they can never earn for you a proper relationship with God.