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Galatians 4:1-11 Why Would you trade Son-ship for Slavery
4 But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed by the father. 3 So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, 5 that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as children. 6 And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba,[a] Father!” 7 So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
8 However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again? 10 You observe days, months, seasons, and years. 11 I am afraid for you, that I might have wasted my labor for you.
We all enjoy rags to riches stories. Stories where someone was down and out, and came into an inheritance, or had a major business success. And really, Christianity is a rags to riches story. Every Christian was in rags, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We all came to realize that the wages for our sin is death. But God has made us rich. The gift of God is eternal life. Every conversion story is an inspiring story.
But as much as we love rags to riches stories, we are that intrigued with the opposite; riches to rags stories. Someone who had it all, and did something stupid to lose it. I saw a video this week about lottery horror stories. The worst examples of people winning big in the lottery, then losing all the money.
One example was a woman who was married for 25 years-she buys the winning lottery ticket, but she hid it from her husband, then filed for divorce. Well, long story short, they found out about the lottery winnings, and under California law at the time, because she didn’t disclose this asset, all of the winnings went to her husband. She didn’t even get half.
Another lottery winner was a man who won 3 million, and decided to invest it. That’s good, but he invested it in his crystal meth production ring. Finally got caught and lost everything, along with his freedom.
And the one I thought was most ironic was Evelyn Adams. She won the lottery twice, 5.4 million dollars, but she lost it all, gambling in Las Vegas.
Well Paul, in this passage of Scripture today, is comparing the Galatians to a rags to riches back to rags story. They all had become believers, Christians, and in so doing had found the great treasure hidden in a field, the pearl of great price. They had, as Christ parable says, sold everything to have that treasure.
But now years later, it’s as though they are taking this priceless pearl of faith, and trading it back for their old lives, rituals, and legalism. They want their old poverty, the hut, and broken furniture back.
Paul says in Galatians 3:26-29
26 For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
But then he asks a question in chapter 4 verse 9
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again?
Well that’s the issue we are going to address in today’s message. We are looking at chapter 4 verses 1 to 11. And you can outline Paul’s message to the Galatians this way.
The first part Paul says to the Galatians; “Consider the riches that God has brought you to.” Second he says; “Consider the rags from which you came.” And third; “Consider the question, ‘Why would you want to trade in your riches for rags?’”
So let’s begin with the 1st point.
I. Consider the riches that God has brought you to.
Paul points out to the Galatians that in Christ they received great riches; they are heirs of God, and they now know God.
Now, as we consider this point, I have to remind you of an illustration Paul used. Remember that at the end of chapter 3, we were answering the question; Why did God give the covenant of the law to the Gentiles, if the covenant of faith with Abraham could save them? If Abraham’s covenant saves all people who come to God in faith, Jew and Gentile alike, Then why did God give the covenant of the law to the Jews, 430 years later?
And remember Paul’s answer; the law was the Jews pedagogue, or tutor, to take them to Christ.
A pedagogue was a slave in a Greek household whose job was to watch over the child of his master, from 6 years of age to early adolescence. That slave was responsible to keep the child from danger, to instruct them morally, and sometimes to discipline the child.
So Paul was saying, that’s what the law did for the Jews. It guarded them from sin, it instructed them, it sometimes disciplined them. But the point of the illustration in chapter 3, was to remind them that a pedagogue is temporary. Once the son of the master reached maturity, manhood, the Father made the child his heir, with full rights as an heir. So he no longer needed the pedagogue to tell him these elementary rules for living.
Now, in chapter 4, Paul continues with this illustration, but he expands it to include the Gentiles. You see, not only were the Jews under a pedagogue, the Mosaic law, the Gentiles also had religious systems that were like a pedagogue. Let’s read again, verses one through three.
But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed by the father. 3 So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental principles of the world.
Now look at verse 8
8 However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.
“you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.” He’s talking about the analogy of the pedagogue. But in chapter three, he used it to illustrate the bondage to the Mosaic law that the Jews were under. Now he expands the idea to include the Gentiles. The Jewish law pedagogue was not given by “those who by nature are not gods.” That was the Gentile pagan idolatrous system. Paul is saying to these Galatians; in the idolatrous system you grew up with, you had your own pedagogue as well.
Who was their tutor that was intended to get them to Christ, and faith? It was their religious system of morality. All the rules they grew up with that were to give them moral instruction and discipline them. What was that?
Paul is now taking the Galatians back to before they knew Christ. Many of them were involved in Greek religious systems. They worshiped supposed gods like Zeus and Hermes. And, just as earlier, he compared the slavery of Jewish legalism, to the elemental things that enslaved in other world systems, here he talks about their former bondage to “gods.”
Now we are not very familiar with the religious systems that built up around the worship of “gods” in the Greek pantheon. But I wanted to draw attention to one aspect of their worship. They had many gods. And they might daily acknowledge that god at an image in their own home, a shrine on their way, and at the god’s temple. They brought food with their prayers to the temple. They might consult an oracle for personal guidance. 12 gods and goddesses-each might be prayed to for different things. Zeus was the god of the sky, so you better consult him about when the weather will be right to travel, or plant crops. Hera was the goddess of marriage. Poseidan; god of the sea, Hades god of the dead, Aphrodite goddess of love and beauty, protector of sailors, Apollo god of music and healing, Ares god of war, Artemis goddess of hunt and childbirth, Athena goddess of wisdom, Hephaestus god of fire and forge, Hestia goddess of the hearth, Hermes messenger god, trickster, friend of thieves, Demeter goddess of the harvest, Dionysis god of wine,
Pray to this one, bring a gift, I’d need a pocket guide to keep track.
But Paul is trying to get the Galatians to remember how they’ve come out of that impoverished system, these “gods” are not even real, to being, not the child who is lead around by a slave, but the child of the master, who now inherits the authority of the master.
Look at how Paul describes that elevation.
4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, 5 that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as children.
You were redeemed- bought out of slavery. And not like some slaves in ancient times, who were bought from one slave owner, just to be owned by another master. No, you were redeemed, that you might receive the adoption as children. You were taken from poverty to riches, from shame to honor, from weakness to power.
Consider the riches that God brought you to Galatians. 1st, you have been made heirs to God.
I remember years ago, my parents bought a house, really at about the time that many people are beginning to think of retirement. So, in their late fifties, they are signing a 30 year mortgage and staring down a long tunnel of paying of that house. They were looking at having jobs well into their 70’s. But after a few years, something unexpected happened. A distant relative of my mother passed away. And because this cousin had no immediate family, the court just followed the family tree until they found the nearest relatives. My uncle, and my mom. They didn’t get rich. But they got enough money to pay off the house.
When I think about that story, I think, “I wonder if I have any distant relatives like that?” Am I the heir to any riches? If you are a Christian, you are the heir to God. And you inherited the riches of salvation when Christ died.
That’s your rags to riches story, and there’s more. You see, when you, and the Galatians came to faith, you not only got an inheritance, you got a Father, to know, and love, to be loved, to be known. Look at
6 And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba,[a] Father!”
8 However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God.
We are that 6 year old child who is being escorted around, and bossed around by a slave, a pedagogue. But when we come to faith, we enter a new relationship with our Heavenly Father. We can know the Father who is with us by His Spirit, as “Abba.” “Abba” is the Hebrew word for father. And it was an extraordinary thing when Jesus referred to God as Abba, or father. You see, for both Jews and Gentiles, God, or the gods of the Gentiles were distant, uncaring, stern, vengeful, and angry. God or gods were to be appeased. Like in the story of Jonah. When the prophet Jonah was in a ship with all these sailors in the middle of a violent storm, they all thought somebody had offended one of the gods. Maybe, somebody didn’t do the proper sacrifice before the journey. And that’s how God was viewed, a wrathful unfeeling power that had to be appeased.
But Paul says that if you are in Christ, you now know God as Father. You can know Him, and be known by Him in a loving relationship. We get to turn back the hands of time, we can walk with God as Adam and Enoch did, we can be a friend of God, as was Abram, we can know Him as the Good Shepherd as David did, we can speak to Him as Moses did on the mountain.
So Paul is setting up his final question by reminding the Galatians the riches God brought them to. Now he continues to set up his question by reminding the Galatians the rags they came from.
II. Consider the rags from which you came.
Remember the system you were under, either or Jew or Gentile.
In verse one he says, under the old religious system, you were no different than a bondservant. In verse two, in the old system, you were under guardians and stewards. In verse three, “you were held in bondage by elementary principles.” In verse eight, you Gentiles were under bondage to those who are “not gods.” In verse nine,
weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again? 10 You observe days, months, seasons, and years.
The religious system you were under was weak—it was incapable of saving you. It was miserable-it drove you to despair regarding being right with God. It was elemental-it was based in basic and childish commands and rituals.
Paul was saying this to the Galatians, this is where you came from, and now you are going back to it. You observe days, months, seasons and years. They had believed the Judaizers that in order to be saved they had to follow the Mosaic law. So they began observing “days.” Following Sabbath day laws regarding rest and work. Long lists of what they couldn’t do on the Sabbath day. They observed “months.” This refers to New moon observances, seasons refers to Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. They were trying to closely follow the Jewish calendar concerning special days, and all the rules for those days. And he throws in “years.” Years refers to Sabbatical years and the year of Jubilee for not planting crops. In other words. These Gentiles were jumping head first, into the deep end of the Jewish legalistic pool.
You might say, well how could they do that? How could anybody turn away from the freedom and grace that come to us in Christ, to go back to a legalistic system? But it happens all the time. You may not be aware of this, but the fishing hole for legalistic “Christian” cults today, is the church. They come to those who should know the truth and start feeding them the same lie that these Judaizers fed the Galatians; that you have to add legalism, a list of rules to grace. Let me give you an example. Jehovah’s Witnesses add works to grace. They say you are saved by grace, plus.
I read this article online that summarizes the salvation plan of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe salvation is a gift from God attained by being part of "God's organization" and putting faith in Jesus' ransom sacrifice. Jehovah's Witnesses teach that salvation is possible only through Christ's ransom sacrifice[1]
Salvation is described as a free gift from God, but is said to be unattainable without good works that are prompted by faith.
They talk out of both sides of their mouths. They preach grace, but you’ve got to add works. And as I’ve mentioned before, so do many so-called Christian denominations.
But Paul is saying to the Galatians, you came out of that kind of system, whether Jew or Gentile, you were in bondage, now you have been set free, you are no longer under the authority of tutors or pedagogues.
And he set the Galatians up, by reminding them of the riches they inherited in Christ, the rags they came from in religious systems, he set them up for this question,
III. Consider the question, ‘Why would you want to trade in your riches for rags?’
Look at verses 9 to 11
9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again? 10 You observe days, months, seasons, and years. 11 I am afraid for you, that I might have wasted my labor for you.
Why do you guys want to go back? It’s like Paul’s illustration in verses one and two.
But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed by the father.
Under Judaism, or paganism, you were a child at age 6 and on. You had a tutor in whatever religious system you were part of. He/it/ those laws and rituals had the job of giving you moral instruction and discipline when you needed it. And Paul was saying in verses 1 and 2. Those religious systems were oppressive. The analogy was of a child in a Greek household. The child was under a pedagogue, but the child was also under all kinds of other slaves. There was a servant in charge of the house, so you had to follow his house rules. There was a servant in charge of the farm, so you had to follow his farm rules. Everywhere this child went somebody was telling him what to do, and what not to do. But that’s okay, because you are a child. But, like Paul said, now that the pedagogue brought you to Christ, you’ve become an heir, you have a relationship with the father. You are now in charge of the house, the farm, even your own life.
But Paul is saying to the Galatians, it’s as though you’re an adult, walking into the house you now own, saying, I want something to eat, and your old pedagogue, the law says, “You can’t eat that, you’ll spoil your dinner.” You can’t touch that. You’ve got these rules to abide by. But you own the house. Only a fool would let his own servant boss him around. That’s why Paul says in verse 11
11 I am afraid for you, that I might have wasted my labor for you.
I’m afraid that all the time and instruction we spent with you for nothing. The way you are returning to rituals and laws makes me wonder if you were really saved to begin with.
Well that’s Paul’s message in this passage. Once you have been made an heir, and a child of God why would you want to go back to being a slave?
But people do it all the time. They grow up in a Bible-teaching, grace preaching church. They make some sort of faith commitment. But later, they stray from that church, and end up in some branch of legalism. Churches that give them long lists of doe’s and don’ts. Or they may even end up in some cult. The Bible actually says that as we get closer to the end of this world, that kind of seduction and falling away is going to increase. 1 Timothy 4:1-3 says
But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron, 3 forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
They are going to forbid you from getting married, and give you lists of foods to eat and not eat.
We have to be vigilant in these days, remember our riches, and our former rags, and remind ourselves that we don’t want to go back to that.
Let’s pray