In my last post, I wrote about how the Galatians had been bewitched into believing they needed to do something in addition to believing on Jesus to receive salvation. The Word implies an appealing to their sin nature, in that they were fascinated by the idea of earning God’s salvation and favor through good works. It also implies a spiritual deception that comes along with it as the devil often hits us where we are vulnerable. I also wrote about how although the Law cannot make us righteous, it still has a purpose in revealing our sin and need for a Savior. At the end of Chapter 3, Paul wrote that if we belong to Jesus Christ, we are Abraham’s seed and heirs of the promises of God. He continues this idea into the next chapter.
When the heir is a child they are no different than a servant. They have no ability to make decisions or exercise authority, but are under tutors and governors until the right time comes. This is the same with us: we were under the bondage and tutelage of the Law until we come to faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a woman, fulfilling a prophecy given clear back in the first book of the Bible (Genesis 3:15). He was under the Law, He did not break it at any point, and He gave His life to redeem us from its demands. Because of this we are adopted into the family of God through faith, and the Spirit of God dwells within us. So then, we are no longer as a servant, but a child of God and an heir of God through Jesus Christ. We have the privilege of receiving the Lord and all He has for us, and this is for all eternity.
Paul then tells them that seeing how they used to not know God and worshiped idols, but now have become heirs of God, why would they want to go back into that same bondage they were delivered from? The Jewish people were required to keep the Sabbath, various feasts, and other religious rituals that apparently also were being imposed on the Galatians. I want to take some time here to comment on a similar movement we see today. In different areas of Christendom we see some of these teachings emerge. For example, the Seventh Day Adventists teach that we must still keep the Sabbath and adhere to the dietary laws found in the Old Testament. I have also seen in main-streamed evangelicalism the teaching that we should keep the Jewish feasts as a matter of obedience. However, Paul wrote to the Colossians, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17) We are not to let anyone pass judgment on us or attempt to impose these rules on us, for they are a shadow of what is to come. Jesus has taken these things away by nailing it to His cross (Colossians 2:14) The Scriptures actually speak against these things in several different places. For more study on your own you can read Acts 15:13-31, Romans 14, Colossians 2:8-23, and 1 Timothy 4:1-6. Even if these things are taught simply as a matter of obedience as opposed to salvation, it is not a far cry to then say these things are necessary in order to be saved. I do not believe there is any harm in observing a feast as a teaching tool, for the Jewish feasts point to Jesus in some amazing ways. The problem arises when we believe and teach we are required to do so. I am no more spiritual if I keep the Jewish feasts, and no less if I do not. I am no more spiritual if I do not eat bacon, and no less if I do (thank the Lord). When people are drawn away into these different rules and regulations, it is an indicator of where their hearts are with the Lord. Those who believe they must follow all sorts of rules not found in the Scriptures are often the most carnal. It is the Christian who truly believes and walks in the grace of God that is the most obedient and free in his daily life.
So concerned was Paul for the Galatians that he was afraid that his labor among them had been in vain. He then asked them had he become their enemy because he told them the truth? There are many today who are offended at the truth, and consequently Christians try to water it down to make it more palatable. Although the way we share the truth may vary depending on our audience, the content of our message cannot and should not change. As I have told our children, Jesus Himself is the truth, and He wants us always to speak the truth. In writing about godly wisdom, Solomon wrote, “For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.” (Proverbs 8:7) Paul stated to the Corinthians that love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). If we truly love people, and if we truly want to be wise, we will always tell them the truth. This was far from a warm and fuzzy letter Paul was writing to the Galatians, but it was most necessary for their spiritual well-being. The Galatians had been drawn away by the Judaizers, and it was not for the good of the Galatians. The judaizers wanted to draw them away from the grace of God so that they could receive the credit. They apparently were zealous in their attempts, but their zeal was misplaced. We should be zealous for the Lord; not to get something from Him, but because we have already received it.
Paul then takes them back to Abraham in the book of Genesis: The Lord had promised Abraham a son, but his wife Sarah was barren. Upon his wife’s advice, he took Sarah’s maid, Hagar, to wife and had a son through her. This child was Ishmael. This was not the Lord’s plan, but Abraham and Sarah’s attempt to help God out. God had intended all along for Abraham to have a son through his wife Sarah. So Ishmael was after the flesh, and Isaac was born by promise. Paul states these things are an allegory: Ishmael represents the Law that was given on Mount Sinai in Arabia, and it answers to Jerusalem, the birth place of the Church. So too, we are children of promise through Jesus Christ whom Isaac foreshadowed. In the Genesis account, Ishmael mocked and persecuted Isaac, and as a result the Lord told Abraham to listen to his wife and to cast out the bondwoman and her son. And so did Abraham. The answer to legalism is not to indulge in it a little, but to cast it out. We are not to give place to a works based theology, for as Paul would later write to them a little leaven leavens the whole lump. We have begun in the Spirit through faith, and we are truly set free. When you look at it through the lens of the Scriptures, there is no reason anyone of us should want to go back.
Paul will finish his thoughts on legalism in the next chapter, and then go on to explain the proper place that works have in the Christian life.
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