Galatians 4

Galatians 4:1-7

Chapter 20 Adoption Accomplished “Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Galatians 4:1-7 In the passage before us the Holy Spirit has given us an inspired commentary on that statement made by the apostle John, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” Here Paul is asserting the great truth of our adoption into God’s family and all the privileges associated with our adoption. In the Old Testament, before Christ came, God’s people were like minor children, under the law of Moses as a schoolmaster. Now that Christ has come, fulfilled the law, and given us his Spirit, the Spirit of adoption, the church in this gospel age is as children who have come of age and entered into their maturity. We have entered into “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21), which shall be fully enjoyed in the resurrection. There are many who try to place a yoke of legal servitude upon the people of God, which none of us can bear. The apostle Paul was anxious that we should serve God, but not as fearful slaves. Rather, he would have us to serve God as loving sons. Here he is showing us that we are no longer under the bondage of the law, but in the liberty of the gospel. Let us then forsake the law and cling to Christ. “No strength of nature can suffice To serve the Lord aright; And what she has she misapplies, For want of clearer light. How long beneath the law I lay In bondage and distress! I toiled the precept to obey, But toiled without success. Then, to abstain from outward sin, Was more than I could do; Now if I feel its power within, I feel I hate it too. Then all my servile works were done A righteousness to raise; Now, freely chosen in the Son, I freely choose His ways. What shall I do, was then the word, That I may worthier grow? What shall I render to the Lord? Is my inquiry now. To see the law by Christ fulfilled, And hear His pardoning voice, Changes a slave into a child, And duty into choice.” Our obedience to Christ should arise from a spirit of adoption within our hearts causing us to love the Savior. The apostle clearly tells us that service done out of legal constraint, grudgingly, is accounted as no service at all. If we could but apprehend the privileges that are ours as a result of our being adopted into the family of God, we would never cease to marvel and serve the Lord with gladness. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God!” If we are the sons of God we ought to live in the liberty of sons, magnifying the grace of God. We ought never to entangle ourselves with the yoke of bondage suitable only for servants. God graciously adopted all his elect into his family, taking us into union with Christ before the world began, and thus declaring us to be his sons (Ephesians 1:3-4). At Calvary the Lord Jesus Christ actually made us accepted as sons. And in regeneration and effectual calling the Holy Spirit gives us the nature of the sons of God. Here Paul teaches us that our adoption is an accomplished fact and that we ought to live in the joyous comfort of it. “Behold what wondrous grace The Father hath bestowed; On sinners of a mortal race, To call them sons of God! If in my Father’s love, I share a filial part, Send down Thy Spirit, like a dove, To rest upon my heart.” Sons, Not Servants In Galatians 4:1-2 Paul tells us that we are no longer under the law that was our schoolmaster. It was the schoolmaster’s work to care for and instruct his master’s children until the time of their maturity. Once the child came of age he would receive his inheritance. Until he reached adulthood, the child was as a servant in his father’s house, under complete subjection to the schoolmaster, though he was a child. The schoolmaster would often punish the child because of disobedience. The schoolmaster, as we have seen, represents the law. The law deals with men as a schoolmaster. It is a letter that kills (2 Corinthians 3:6). It is the strength of sin (1 Corinthians 15:56). It is the ministration of death (2 Corinthians 3:7). Yet, in the Old Testament the people of God were subject to the law in this manner for a season. Though the law was never given to the Gentiles, the same is true of unbelieving men and women in this gospel age, because the law (its moral commandments) is written upon the hearts of all men by creation (Romans 2:14-15), condemning all by a guilty conscience. As John Calvin wrote, “The elect, though they are children of God from the womb, yet, until by faith they come to the possession of freedom, they remain like slaves under the law, but from the moment they know Christ, they remain no longer under this bondage.”How long are men under the bondage of the law? “Until the time appointed of the Father.” The legal dispensation continued until the time of God’s appointment ended it, with the coming of our all-glorious Savior. When Christ comes to the hearts of his elect, by the power of the Holy Spirit at the time appointed by the Father, the sons of God receive the earnest of their inheritance (Galatians 1:15-16; Ezekiel 16:8-9; Ezekiel 16:11-12; Ezekiel 16:14; Isaiah 42:16). Hope RevealedIn Galatians 4:3-5 Paul tells us that the incarnation of Christ revealed the hope of liberty from the law for all the sons of God. Until Christ came we were children, but children under bondage to the law. As long as the heir is a minor, he has no advantage over a slave. Though, as a son, he owns the entire inheritance, he is subject to tutors and governors until the time set by his father for his freedom. ¯ “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world” (Galatians 4:3). The church was in a state of infancy from the coming up out of Egypt until the coming of the Messiah (Hosea 11:1; Hosea 11:3). The Old Testament church was in servile, fearful bondage to the law. All that was revealed was revealed only in type and shadow and prophecy. There was no way of free access to God. The church of the New Testament, or gospel dispensation, is the church of mature age. We are no longer “in bondage under the elements of the world.” All of God’s elect, though they are chosen sons of God, are also in bondage by nature (Ephesians 2:1-3). When Paul says, we were by nature “children of wrath, even as others,” he is not suggesting that God’s elect were the objects of his wrath, but wrathful children. That is to say, before we trusted Christ, we were under the sense of guilt and of wrath, condemned by the law in our own consciences. We were governed and controlled by the “elements of the world,” by the dread and fear of the law (1 Timothy 1:9-10). We walked according to the course of this world. In our rebellion and unbelief, we were by nature “children of wrath,” “alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked works” (Colossians 1:21). Galatians 4:4-5 ¯ “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” God adopted his elect in union with Christ before the world began. In the counsel of peace and the covenant of his grace it was agreed that Christ would reconcile them to the Father. So, at the appointed time, Christ came. When the time arrived that was fixed by God the Father in eternal predestination, God sent his Son into the world, made of a woman, made subject to the law, so that he might redeem God’s sons from the bondage of the law. Once the law was fulfilled and satisfied by Christ, the way was open for all God’s adopted children to experience and enjoy all their rightful heritage of grace. Fulness of Time Those words, “the fullness of time,” are full of instruction. The time was fixed and set by God in eternal predestination. Indeed, there is a time set by God in his eternal purpose for all things that come to pass in this world. And everything is accomplished exactly according to God’s purpose, precisely at his appointed time. Nothing comes to pass before its time; and nothing comes to pass after its time. Our great God never gets in a hurry and never comes too late. He works all things according to his own timetable. Christ came into the world at the appointed time agreed upon in eternity (Genesis 49:10; Daniel 9:24; Mark 1:15; Ephesians 1:10). A brief look at history will reveal the fact that God was sovereignly arranging all things for the coming of his Son. The Jews had been carried into the Babylonian captivity and delivered by the hand of God, just as he had promised. Afterward, they were never again given over to open idolatry. Ezra and the scribes compiled the Scriptures and taught them. Synagogues were established for teaching the Scriptures throughout the known world. All these things prepared the way for Christ’s entrance into the world. Through the conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek became the language of the world. God raised up the Roman Empire and the Romans built roads everywhere. They formed a strange system of taxation that required every man to return to his hometown to pay taxes. Perhaps you ask, “What do these things have to do with preparing the world for Christ’s incarnation at the precise time it came to pass?” Compare just two passages of Scripture with one another, and you will see (Micah 5:2; Luke 2:1-7). Christ Sent “God sent forth his Son.” ¯ The fact that the Father sent forth the Son out of heaven implies the Son’s eternal preexistence with the Father. Though he is One with and altogether equal with the Father in his eternal deity, the Son of God voluntarily subjected himself to the Father’s will as our Surety, that he might redeem and save his people (Hebrews 10:5-14). In infinite love for us our Father sent his Son to redeem us. In that same infinite love the Son willingly came here to redeem us by the sacrifice of himself (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 1 John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10). In Philippians 2 the apostle Paul uses the example of Christ’s voluntary subjection to the Father’s will as an inspiration for believers to willingly surrender themselves to the will and glory of God (Philippians 2:5-11). The apostle Peter uses it to stir our hearts to patience in suffering (1 Peter 2:21-24). “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman.” ¯ Our Redeemer’s human body and soul were made of a woman (Genesis 3:15; John 1:14; Romans 1:3; Philippians 2:7; Hebrews 2:14), without the aid of man. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:21-25). God the Holy Spirit formed and prepared a human body for the Son of God in the womb of a virgin (Hebrews 10:5), that he might perform all the work of redemption for us as a perfect man who had no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). Being made of a woman, the infinite God became our near kinsman, to whom the right of redemption belongs (Leviticus 25:24-32; Rth 4:4; Jeremiah 32:7).

“God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” ¯ He who gave the law at Sinai made himself to be under the law that he might perfectly fulfill the law for his people, thereby establishing the righteousness of God and bringing in everlasting righteousness for us. He was made under and perfectly obeyed all the law, civil, ceremonial, and moral. He would not allow one jot or tittle of the law to fall to the ground, but fulfilled it completely, establishing a righteousness for his people that exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:17-20). From the beginning of his incarnation until the end of his earthly life, the Lord Jesus was making for us a perfect record, a record that stands opposite our names in the record books of God in heaven as a reason why we should and must enter in. Christ kept the commandments for us, which we could not keep. By his blood poured out unto death under the wrath of God as our Substitute, our blessed Savior cancelled the penalty of the law; and by his obedience, he fulfilled the law. In the light of Christ’s accomplished life and death as our Substitute, the Holy Spirit declares, “Christ is the end of the law” (Romans 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 10:4; Acts 13:39). We did not send for Christ; but God sent Christ for us (Isaiah 59:16; Isaiah 63:5; 1 John 4:10). As it was in redemption, so it is in regeneration. It is God who comes to us in grace that causes us to come to him in faith. It is not us coming to God in faith that causes him to come to us in grace. To Redeem “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” ¯ The purpose of Christ in coming into this world in human flesh was the redemption of his people. This was the mission upon which he was sent by the Father as his Righteous Servant (John 10:16-18). This was the work he came to perform (Matthew 1:21; Matthew 20:28; 1 Peter 1:18; 1 Timothy 1:15). This was the thing the Father trusted to his Son as our Surety (Ephesians 1:12). Of him it was written, “He shall not fail” (Isaiah 42:4); and he did not fail. All his people were redeemed from the curse of the law by his one great sacrifice for sin (Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 1:7). All this was done “that we might receive the adoption of sons.” It was not possible for chosen sinners, though loved of God with an everlasting love, to enter into heaven as the sons of God and be accepted of him, except upon the ground of righteousness established and justice satisfied by the blood of Christ (Romans 3:24-26). And now that Christ has redeemed them, it is impossible for any of them to miss their predestined inheritance, not only because God’s purpose is sure; but, also, because justice demands the salvation of all for whom Christ died. All the redeemed shall be brought to receive the adoption of sons at God’s appointed time. The death of Christ secured for the elect all the blessings of grace (Romans 8:32-39; 2 Corinthians 8:9). Because You Are Sons We did not become God’s children by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Holy Spirit came to us in grace and gave us faith to trust our Savior because we were adopted as the children of God from eternity. At God’s appointed time, every chosen child shall be made the recipient of God’s saving grace and given the Spirit of adoption in the new birth. This is what Paul declares in Galatians 4:6-7 ¯ “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Chosen sinners come to know their election and adoption as the children of God, only as God sends his Spirit into their hearts in the saving operations of his grace, giving them faith in Christ. At the time of love, God sends his Spirit and causes his adopted sons to gladly receive the adoption of sons. When he creates faith in us, he gives us the right in our own consciences to be called the sons of God, enabling us to lift our hearts to heaven and call God himself our Father. ¯ “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God” (1 John 3:1-2). “This is a privilege that exceeds all others. It is better to be a son than to be a saint. Angels are saints, but not sons. They are servants. It is better to be a child of God than to be redeemed, pardoned, and justified. It is great grace to redeem from slavery, to pardon criminals, and justify the ungodly; but it is another and a higher act of grace to make them sons; and which makes them infinitely more honorable, than to be the sons and daughters of the greatest potentate upon earth; yea, gives them an honor which Adam had not in innocence, nor the angels in heaven, who though sons by creation, yet not by adoption.” John Gill To be called a son of God is the most noble title in heaven or earth. If we are sons, we should not live like slaves in bondage, under the terror of the law. Let every sinner who believes on the Son of God constantly enjoy all the privileges of full-grown sons in the family of God. Soon, we shall know fully and perfectly what Paul meant when he spoke of “the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

Galatians 4:8-12

Chapter 21 “I Am Afraid of You”“Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.” Galatians 4:8-12 The last words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, his son in the ministry and the young pastor of the church at Ephesus, were in the form of a charge. Those words form the charge and make up the binding oath of every faithful gospel preacher. In those words the Holy Spirit makes an unmistakable assertion of the duties of those who labor in the gospel. “I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (2 Timothy 4:1-5). Paul was as good as his word. He loved the souls of God’s people and was faithful to them, proving himself to be the servant of Jesus Christ. He was watchful over the souls of men. He did the work of an evangelist. He carefully declared all the counsel of God, when it was popular to do so and when it was unpopular to do so. When the people of God erred, he was faithful and longsuffering, reproving their backslidings, rebuking their sins, and exhorting them to repentance. For all of this, he was abused, criticized, misunderstood, misrepresented, afflicted, and imprisoned. But he was, nonetheless, faithful to his calling; and when no man stood with him, notwithstanding, the Lord stood with him and strengthened him. That is what is involved in the work of the ministry. The greatest blessing that God can give to any community is a faithful gospel preacher and a church wherein the gospel is freely proclaimed and boldly upheld. And the most terrible curse that can be brought upon any society of men is for God to stop the mouths of his servants. How clearly this is proven both in the Word of God and in history. The Apostle Paul was, in the broadest sense of the term, a man of God. His work in the gospel was truly a labor of love. He had gone, at great sacrifice to himself, into the region of Galatia preaching the gospel of God’s redeeming grace and many were brought to Christ. As a result of his faithful labors, a gospel church was formed in Galatia. But after he left, the Galatians became influenced by Judaism and began to “heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts.” These teachers pampered their “itching ears,” caring more for their popularity and good name than for the souls of men. Soon, the Galatians would no longer stand for the sharp, but loving rebukes of Paul.

He had become an enemy to them. Yet, he remained faithful to their souls. He loved them. Therefore, in the passage before us we see this broken hearted, loving preacher pleading with the erring children of God to repent of their evil ways and return to Christ. The Galatians seemed ready to sacrifice all the blessings of the gospel: Full redemption by the blood of Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit giving them the assurance of sons before the Father and free access to heaven, and eternal glory. They seemed ready to give all of this up and return to their former state of slavery. For this, Paul’s heart was breaking. And now he pleads with their very souls. Once Idolaters Paul knew that perhaps the surest way to win the hearts of these believers back to Christ and his gospel was to remind them of what he had done for them. Therefore, Paul reminds the Galatians of what they were before God, by his free-grace, called them. God had saved them out of heathen idolatry. ¯ “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods” (Galatians 4:8). Let us be reminded of what God has done for us by his grace (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Men by nature are ignorant of God. Paul does not here teach that men have no knowledge of God at all, but that they have no proper, saving knowledge of him. All men by nature know that there is a God (Romans 1:19-20); and the law of God is written in their hearts (Romans 2:14-15). They suppress this knowledge in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18). Their rebellion to that which they know, because God has revealed himself in creation, renders all men without excuse; but it can never save them. They refuse to acknowledge God (Romans 1:21). And, refusing to acknowledge him, all men are by nature ignorant of the glory of God revealed in Christ (Ephesians 2:12). They are blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4). Yet, all men have a God consciousness, from which they cannot escape. Man is both a spiritual and a physical creature. Therefore, he must have an object of worship. Yet, all are so depraved and blind to all things spiritual that they turn to some creature of their own hands and worship it (Romans 1:25; 1 Thessalonians 1:9). Men delight to have a god after their own image. It may be a physical object, or it may be a mental concept. Such idols are, as Paul puts it here, “no gods.” All the idols of men are nothing Romans 10:19; Romans 8:4-5). Not only are they not gods, they are nothing. These Galatians had been delivered from heathen idolatry by the grace of God. And now they were despising God’s free-grace and returning to the doctrines of men. For this, Paul sharply rebukes them. ¯ “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain” (Galatians 4:9-11). Knowing God Salvation is knowing God (John 17:3). It is the result of being known of God (Isaiah 53:11). Paul asserts that those who were born of God and taught of God at Galatia knew God. This saving knowledge of God is the promise of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:33-34). This knowledge of God is the knowledge of Christ (John 6:44-46; John 1:14; John 1:18; 2 Corinthians 4:6; Hebrews 1:3). It is knowing God as he is revealed in Christ. It comes to chosen, redeemed sinners by divine revelation, by the irresistible power and grace of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4-7). Paul brought the knowledge of God to these Galatians by the preaching of the gospel (Isaiah 52:7; Romans 10:15). They knew God because they were “known of God.” Those words are full of instruction. Paul is saying, “You were actively known by God before there was any action on your part to win his knowledge.” God’s knowledge of us is more than a bare, factual acquaintance of our existence and acts. It is an active, loving, eternal knowledge (John 10:14; 2 Timothy 2:19; Exodus 3:12; Exodus 3:17; Nahum 1:7; John 10:28; Romans 8:28-29). God’s knowledge of his elect is particular (Matthew 7:23), distinguishing (Romans 8:29-30), and eternal. His knowledge of us is his everlasting love for and delight with us in Christ. All our acquaintance with God begins with him. We know him because he first knew us. “Beggarly Elements” Paul was shocked that those men and women who had experienced such rich and bounteous grace at the hands of God would now turn from the riches of Christ (Ephesians 1:18) to the “beggarly elements” of the law. Therefore, he gives them this sharp, but loving rebuke. ¯ “How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” These “weak and beggarly elements” are the vain traditions of sinful men, the religious ideas and principles that sinful men come to by nature as a means of finding favor with God. Jewish legalists and pagan idolaters alike are subject to them. They are the attempts of lost religionists to obtain salvation by something they do. Specifically, the Galatian saints, Gentiles to whom the law was never given, were being seduced into law observance by Jewish teachers who claimed to be followers of Christ. Paul used words of scorn, words that were sure to offend the Judaizers and hopefully shame those who were being influenced by them. He speaks of all those ordinances of divine worship in the Old Testament, which have now been fulfilled by Christ, as “weak and beggarly elements.” The law is weak, so weak that it is utterly incapable of helping anyone. It cannot give life. It is a ministration of death. It cannot give joy. It cannot give peace. It cannot give comfort. It cannot produce righteousness. It cannot bring salvation. The law is beggarly, too. It lies in the observation of poor things (meat and drinks and holy days), in comparison with Christ, in whom we have grace and mercy and life. The law is only a shadow of the riches of grace and glory revealed in Christ. Serving the law is nothing more than bondage and will-worship (Colossians 2:18-23). Martin Luther wrote, “People who prefer the law to the gospel are like Aesop’s dog who let go of the meat to snatch at the shadow in the water…The law is weak and poor, the sinner is weak and poor: two feeble beggars trying to help each other. They cannot do it. They only wear each other out. But through Christ a weak and poor sinner is revived and enriched unto eternal life.”“Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years” (Galatians 4:10). ¯ Paul’s obvious reference is to the Old Testament law requiring the Jews to observe certain holy days and the sabbath days prescribed in the Mosaic age (Colossians 2:16). The Judaizers were trying to impose these things upon Gentile believers, to whom such laws were never given. Legal ritualism and human tradition are the ruin of religion. They numb the soul and harden the heart. All human religion is freewill/works religion, inherently legalistic and ritualistic, substituting the choice and works of man and the bondage of the law for a living, saving knowledge of God and eternal life in Christ, the life of liberty in the Spirit by faith in Christ alone, the glorious liberty of free justification by faith in Christ, a life ruled, animated, and motivated by grace, love, and gratitude. Christ has delivered us from that by his grace. Let us ever cling to him, refusing to be “entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Having found that life that is worthy to be called life, why would anyone think of giving it up to go back to the bondage and futility of the law? The question is rhetorical, of course. The reason should be obvious. The human heart, as Calvin put it, is an “idol factory.” And, as Charles Simeon wrote, “The human mind is very fond of fetters, and is apt to forge them for itself.” Sin makes fools of us all! Paul’s Fear “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain” (Galatians 4:11). ¯ True gospel preachers are men who labor in the work of the gospel for the souls of men and the glory of God. They labor in the study of the Scriptures (1 Timothy 4:12-15) and in prayer, under the burden of the Lord. Paul knew that the servant of God never labors in vain (Isaiah 49:5; 2 Corinthians 2:14-16). He is speaking here with reference to those who were following the Judaizers back to Moses. If they persisted in mixing legal ceremonies and human works with the grace of God and the work of Christ to make God’s grace and Christ’s redemptive work effectual, they would prove that for them his labor had been in vain. Any such mixture is a frustration of grace and damning (Galatians 2:21; Galatians 5:1-4). “Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all” (Galatians 4:12). ¯ Here Paul calls upon the Galatian believers and us, in love and tenderness, to turn from their backsliding ways and return to the worship and service of the Savior. He says, “I want you to be like me, free from the bondage of the law.” Reckon yourselves to be dead to the law, which has been fulfilled by Christ. Count these things as loss and rubbish for Christ (Philippians 3:7-11). “I am as ye are.” ¯ He became as they (Gentiles) were with respect to things spiritual. We are both alike in Christ: chosen in him, redeemed in him, perfected in him and free in him. “Ye have not injured me at all.” ¯ They had not injured Paul by their behavior, but only themselves. His feelings for them had not changed. Rather, their feelings toward him had changed (Galatians 4:16). Paul wanted them to cling to Christ alone, as he did (Galatians 6:14). He would have us renounce all personal righteousness for Christ, that we might be found in him, not having our “own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Multitudes forsake Christ and the gospel of God’s free grace in him, while claiming to uphold and defend it. They even do so without knowing it. They introduce works (self-salvation) into their “gospel” and make it another gospel, but are thoroughly convinced that their new works “gospel” is the gospel of God. These Gentile believers at Galatia, I am sure, did not think they had fundamentally shifted the foundation of their faith. They did not think they were returning to their former bondage. They did not imagine that they were abandoning the faith they had embraced, when by their baptism they professed faith in Christ.

They would have vigorously denied that they had in any sense turned their backs on the knowledge of God. They did not see that their embracing Jewish ceremonies was nothing but idolatry and the same thing as embracing the human traditions and barbaric religious rituals of their idolatrous ancestors. They never dreamed that their law observance was a repudiation of the gospel. They thought they would be more holy, more spiritual, stronger Christians by keeping the law. Paul had to tell them what a catastrophic mistake they were making, how immense the error was; and he had to do so with such blunt force that they could not misunderstand him. They would never have imagined it otherwise. The Scriptures teach us that vast multitudes of people will be surprised on the Day of Judgment to discover that their religion, with all their religious works and ceremonies, will be as a mill stone around their necks to drag them forever down to hell (Matthew 7:21-23). Let us not be numbered among them (Romans 4:16; Romans 11:6; Colossians 2:6; Colossians 2:8; Colossians 2:16-23). “Nothing, either great or small; Nothing, sinner, no; Jesus did it, did it all, Long, long ago! When He, from His lofty throne, Stooped to do and die, Everything was fully done; Hearken to His cry - ‘It is finished!’ Yes indeed, Finished every jot. Sinner, this is all you need. Tell me, Is it not? Weary, working, plodding one, Why toil you so? Cease your doing, all was done Long, long ago! Till to Jesus’ work you cling By a simple faith, Doing is a deadly thing. Doing ends in death! Cast your deadly ‘doing’ down, Down at Jesus’ feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone, Gloriously complete!” James Procter

Galatians 4:12-20

Chapter 22 “Until Christ Be Formed in You” “Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.

But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.” Galatians 4:12-20 God’s saints in this world are often compared to sheep. Pastors are called “shepherds” because it is their responsibility to tend the sheep. God’s people are sheep. Like sheep they must be guided, protected, and cared for. They frequently leave the prescribed path. They are easily led astray. They are in danger because of deceptive wolves. It is the duty of God’s appointed shepherds to feed his lambs, to protect them from the dangers they face, instruct them in the way of righteousness, and to faithfully restore them when they fall, when they turn aside, or when they are taken in a snare. The Galatian saints were foolishly turning aside to Judaism, the works of the law, being taken in the snare of Satan’s messengers of self-righteousness. They had been flattered into thinking that their good works could supplement the free-grace of God in Jesus Christ. And they had foolishly accepted this doctrine of will-worship to the great dishonor of Christ and the gospel, and to the grief and anguish of the man who first brought the gospel to them. Paul had been the instrument of their conversion and he loved their souls. He was a faithful shepherd to their souls. Therefore, he sharply rebuked them for their sin. Rather than loving Paul for his faithfulness to God and to their souls, the Galatians were treating him as though he were their enemy. Paul would not allow their abuse of him to hinder his love and faithfulness to them. In Galatians 4:8-11 he had sharply reproved them. Here, he makes an urgent, intensely personal plea, appealing to them as one who loved them and as one they had once received “as an angel of God” to their souls. He writes as one who is in agony because he cannot endure the thought that a people, who at one time had treated him with so much sympathetic consideration and received the gospel preached by him with such enthusiasm, were continuing to wander farther and farther away from the truth. Therefore, he lovingly pleads with them as a parent to his children. “As I Am” Galatians 4:12 “Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.” ¯ Paul addresses the Galatians as his “brethren” in Christ, taking them at their word. They professed to be his brethren. They professed faith in Christ. And, though they had gone so far backward and appeared to have departed from the faith, yet hopes the best concerning them. His hopes are truly born of God. Because he tenderly loved them and cared for them, he wanted them to be as he was, completely free from the tyranny and bondage of the law.

He wanted them to reckon themselves dead indeed to the law (Galatians 2:19). He wanted them to forever relinquish the observance of sabbath days, all Mosaic ceremonies, and all personal righteousness according to the law, counting all but dung for Christ and his righteousness Colossians 2:16-23; Philippians 3:7-14). “For I am as ye are” ¯ Anxious lest he should do more harm than good, Paul carefully shows the Galatians that his heart is with them, that he loves them as himself, as one with him. He wants them to know that his sharp rebukes have come, not from a man who despises them but from one who loves them. Commenting on this phrase, Martin Luther wrote… “Like Paul, all pastors and ministers ought to have much sympathy for their poor straying sheep, and instruct them in the spirit of meekness. They cannot be straightened out in any other way. Over sharp criticism provokes anger and despair, but no repentance. And here let us note, by the way, that true doctrine always produces concord. When men embrace errors, the tie of Christian love is broken. At the beginning of the Reformation we were honored as the true ministers of Christ. Suddenly certain false brethren began to hate us. We had given them no offense, no occasion to hate us. They knew then as they know now that ours is the singular desire to publish the Gospel of Christ everywhere. What changed their attitude toward us? False doctrine. Seduced into error by the false apostles, the Galatians refused to acknowledge St. Paul as their pastor. The name and doctrine of Paul became obnoxious to them. I fear this Epistle recalled very few from their error. Paul knew that the false apostles would misconstrue his censure of the Galatians to their own advantage and say: ‘So this is your Paul whom you praise so much. What sweet names he is calling you in his letter. When he was with you he acted like a father, but now he acts like a dictator.’ Paul knew what to expect of the false apostles and therefore he is worried. He does not know what to say. It is hard for a man to defend his cause at a distance, especially when he has reason to think that he personally has fallen into disfavor.” Paul is saying, “I am as you are, and you are as I am with respect to things spiritual.” We are alike in Christ, chosen in him, and redeemed by him. We are equally regenerated by his Spirit. We are all the children of God by faith in Christ. We are no more servants, but sons. We are all equally his free men. Therefore, be as I am, free in Christ. “Ye have not injured me at all.” ¯ Paul has shown them how that their doctrine injures the character of God, the work of Christ who fulfilled the law, the gospel of God’s grace, and their own souls; but he wanted them to know that they had not injured him. Their rejection of Paul was not injury to him. It was rather a rejection of Jesus Christ, whose servant Paul was (1 Samuel 8:6-7; Exodus 16:8). They must not imagine that the things he wrote in this epistle were written out of resentment. Paul desired that the Galatians be bound to him as their faithful and loving pastor. He acted toward them as though he and they were one. Above that, Paul wanted these Galatians once again to be bound to Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:20; Galatians 6:14; Philippians 3:7-10). “An Angel of God” Galatians 4:13-16 - “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? For I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” When he first came among them, the Galatians had received Paul “as an angel of God, even as Jesus Christ.” They received him as God’s messenger to their souls, as though Christ himself spoke to them by him. Indeed, that is exactly what God’s servants are to his people. Faithful pastors are described as God’s angels to his churches (Revelation 1-3), through whom God speaks to chosen sinners by the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:20). But things had changed. The Galatians now treated Paul as an enemy. When he first preached the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ to them, he did so in much weakness, humility, persecution and bodily afflictions. They were to be commended for receiving the gospel and God’s messenger to them. Wherever he preached the gospel both Jews and Gentiles were enraged against him. All the influential and religious people of his day denounced him. But the Galatians were different. That was greatly to their honor. And Paul does not neglect to praise them for it. This praise Paul bestows on none of the other churches. Paul’s Infirmity When he speaks of the infirmity of his flesh he does not mean some physical defect or carnal lust, but the sufferings and afflictions he endured in his body. Paul tells us what these infirmities were in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. ¯ “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” He speaks in a similar manner in 2 Corinthians 11:23-25. ¯ “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep.” These are the afflictions he is talking about when he speaks of his “infirmity of the flesh.” He reminds the Galatians how he was always in peril at the hands of the Jews, Gentiles, and false brethren, and how he suffered hunger and want. Now, the afflictions of the believers always offend people. Paul knew it and, therefore, has high praise for the Galatians, because they over looked his afflictions and received him like an angel. Our Savior said, “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (Matthew 11:6). It is no easy thing to confess him as Lord and Savior who was a reproach of men and despised of the people and the laughing stock of the world (Psalms 22:7). To prize Christ, so spitefully scorned, spit upon, scourged, and crucified, more than the riches of the richest, the strength of the strongest, the wisdom of the wisest, he calls “blessed.” Paul had those outward afflictions and inward, spiritual afflictions as well. He speaks of them in 2 Corinthians 7:6. ¯ “Without were fightings, within were fears.” In his letter to the Philippians he speaks of the restoration of Epaphroditus as a special act of mercy from God, “lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.” He commends the Galatians for not being offended at him in the past, for receiving him as “an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.” They received him with all that reverence, respect, and high esteem, veneration, and affection, that might have been given to an angel sent down from heaven to bring them the gospel, as one that had his mission and commission from God. They had received Paul “even as Christ Jesus,” as his ambassador, as representing him, as speaking to them in his stead, as if Christ himself had been personally present as man among them. They could not have shown greater respect to him. The Galatians did not look upon Paul and his infirmities as offensive things. Far from it. They were so glad to hear the gospel of Christ from his lips that had it been possible they would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him. By reminding them how much they had loved him and how highly they had honored him before the invasion of the legalists, he tenderly urges them to so receive him now. They were so happy in Christ and so thankful to have heard the gospel of God’s free grace to sinners in him that they counted the man who preached the gospel to them as their dearest friend. Now that the law-preachers had influenced them, they had not only turned form the gospel of Christ alone, but had become Paul’s enemies. A more passionate appeal is not to be found in all of Paul’s writings than this ¯ “Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” They treated him as an enemy because he preached that believers are complete in Christ and have no need to be circumcised, to keep sabbath days, and to live under the yoke of bondage. Fake Devotion Galatians 4:17 - “They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.” ¯ Here Paul speaks of the false teachers at Galatia as contemptuously as possible, by not even mentioning their names. By deliberating ignoring their names, he is saying that such wicked men as those who preach righteousness by the works of the flesh must not have even their names transmitted to posterity, much less their doctrine. These false preachers were courting the saints of God, pretending great love and concern for them, but it was all beguiling flattery. Satan’s messengers soft soap people “with good words and fair speeches,” to deceive the simple (Romans 16:18). They pretend great love for others, but are motivated by nothing but love for themselves. By promoting law righteousness, they speak flatteringly to men of their righteousness, giving them an excuse to be proud of their superiority over others in the matter of righteousness, while pretending meekness before God. Their “god is their belly.” They are enemies of the cross, enemies of God, and enemies to the souls of men (Philippians 3:18-19). They seek to use the souls of men for themselves. The Judaizers at Galatia were trying to exclude and isolate the saints from Paul and the other true apostles, so that they might follow them and make them appear successful (2 Peter 2:1-3). Their zeal and enthusiasm was not to turn the Galatians to Christ, but to win popular applause unto themselves. To that end they were willing to make merchandise of men’s souls. Galatians 4:18 – “But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.” Paul is saying, “When I was present with you, you loved me and received me as an angel of God to your souls. The fact that I am now absent from you should not cause your attitude toward me to change. Though I am absent in the flesh, I am with you in spirit. You ought not reject me or my doctrine by which you received the grace of Christ and his Holy Spirit because of the evil influence of those wicked men.” Paul’s Travail Galatians 4:19 - “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” ¯ It appears that when Paul was present with them, they were devoted to him and to the gospel, but when he left, their affection to him and to the gospel he preached cooled. They turned to other teachers who convinced them that Paul had abandoned them. Nothing could have been further from the truth. “My little children” ¯ Paul speaks in the tender, affectionate language of a father to his sons. They were, he hoped, sons of God and were still babes in Christ. Therefore, the term “little children” was appropriate. But they were also Paul’s children. He was the instrument God used to bring them to faith in Christ. “Of whom I travail in birth again” ¯ Here Paul compares himself to a woman giving birth. All his pains, sufferings, and labors in preaching the gospel he compares to the sorrows of a woman in labor. At such a time, a woman is concerned about just one thing. She considers her pain and suffering worthwhile if she can give birth to a living, healthy child. Paul’s concern was not for himself, but for them. All he was concerned about and dedicated to in prayer, preaching, and suffering was that Christ might be formed in them. “Until Christ be formed in you.” ¯ To have Christ formed in you is to be saved, to be a new creature in Christ Jesus. In the new birth we are made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). “Christ in you” is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). A form of religion, with its laws, ordinances, and ceremonies, is not eternal life. A form of morality, with its laws and commandments, is not eternal life. A form of religious profession, with its decisions, baptisms and creeds, is not eternal life. Eternal life is knowing God and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent (John 17:3).

Eternal life is, as Henry Mahan put it, having, “the life of Christ, the presence of Christ, the Spirit and mind of Christ and the very glory of Christ begotten, created and formed in us (Galatians 2:20). Until this is done and unless this miracle of grace is accomplished, our religion is vain. It is no more than that of the Pharisees of old, of whom Christ said, “They neither know me nor my Father.” Salvation is Christ in you; the hope of glory is Christ in you; the life of God is Christ in you (1 John 5:11-12).” Paul’s Doubt Galatians 4:20 - “I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.” ¯ Paul wanted to be present with them. He wanted to speak to them face to face, and be assured that his concerns were ill-founded. But their concern about law obedience, circumcision, sabbath days, and ceremonies made him fearful that they did not know Christ at all. Therefore, he writes, “I stand in doubt of you.” It is significant to note that Paul never expressed such doubt regarding any other congregation. Nothing, not even the immorality and divisions in the Corinthian church, caused the apostle to express doubt concerning the genuineness of their professed faith in Christ. But when men and women embrace self-righteous works religion, when they turn again to the weak and beggarly elements of the law, it becomes obvious that they never knew the grace of God and do not trust Christ (Galatians 5:1-4). When professed believers appear to be turning away from Christ and the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in him, there is grave reason to stand in doubt of their professed faith in Christ.

Galatians 4:21-24

Chapter 23 Two Covenants “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.” (Galatians 4:21-24) In the preceding chapters of this epistle the Apostle Paul has clearly established the doctrine of justification by faith. He has shown that the law was given for the purpose of shutting sinners up to the grace of God in Jesus Christ for their justification. It has been his aim throughout the book to bring God’s children to enjoy the Spirit of adoption, who has set us free from the bondage of the law, by bringing us to faith in Christ. Now, Paul proceeds to a deeper and fuller teaching of the Scriptures. Two Covenants In Galatians 4:21-31 Paul explains the teaching of Holy Scripture regarding the two covenants of works and grace. Using Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, and their mothers, Sarah and Hager, as an allegory, the Apostle shows us that these two distinct covenants operate by two distinct principles: the flesh and the Spirit. The covenant of works, he shows us, always brings bondage, and the covenant of grace, liberty. Paul’s message is crystal clear. The covenant of works and the covenant of grace are distinct and mutually exclusive. In these verses the Holy Spirit gives us the spiritual meaning of the historical relation of Sarah and Hagar, as recorded in Genesis 16, 21. He tells us that the things recorded in those two chapters of Genesis were, by God’s design, an allegory ¯ an earthly picture of gospel truth. “We can never be sufficiently thankful to God the Holy Ghost for giving himself the spiritual meaning of those records; for never, untaught of God, could it have entered into the mind of man, that matters of so important a nature were veiled under that covering. We might, and should no doubt, have read the history of both again and again, as the different characters are there stated in the Holy Scripture, and have considered the whole an interesting memoir in the family of the patriarch Abraham, in that early age of the world; but to have supposed that it had so vast a reference to ourselves, and that in the son of Sarah was intended to show the election of grace; and in the son of the bond-woman Hagar was meant what the apostle calls ‘the rest’ (Romans 11:7), such a spiritual apprehension of the subject, untaught of God, would have been for ever impossible, (as indeed it is now, without the same divine instruction,) and must have been unknown.” (Robert Hawker) The doctrine here revealed is essential to a proper understanding of the gospel. God deals with men only in covenant relationships. You may ask, “What is a covenant?” A covenant is a promise made upon the fulfillment of stipulated conditions. The covenant of works was initiated in Eden and later more fully revealed at Sinai. It says, “Do this and live.” This is the law. The covenant of grace was initiated in eternity and gradually revealed in many promises to God’s elect. It is fully realized in the person and work of Christ, the Surety of the covenant (Hebrews 7:22). It declares that Christ has done all. The Word of God plainly teaches these two covenants. The covenant of works was that agreement made between God and Adam, and it included all of Adam’s posterity. God promised Adam life and happiness, on the condition that he would perfectly keep his commandments; and God threatened Adam with death if he broke his commandments (Matthew 19:17; Luke 10:28; Hosea 6:7). The covenant of grace is an agreement made between the persons of the Sacred Trinity. It is the agreement of salvation for God’s elect made in eternity by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It was agreed that the race should fall in Adam and be redeemed by Christ (Isaiah 53:10; Hebrews 8:6). The covenant of works stood between God and Adam. Adam fell and now it is hopelessly broken. The covenant of grace stands forever established upon Christ’s blood and righteousness.

The covenant of works said, “Do, oh man, or die!” the covenant of grace says, “Christ has done all that men may live.” All the conditions of the covenant of grace were forever and perfectly fulfilled by Christ. Every sinner, looking to Christ as his Savior, can say with David, “Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure” (2 Samuel 23:5). “My God! The covenant of Thy love Abides forever sure; And, in its matchless grace, I feel My happiness secure. What though my house be not with Thee, As nature could desire! To nobler joys than nature gives Thy servants all aspire. Since Thou, the everlasting God, My Father art become, Jesus, my Guardian, and my Friend, And heaven my final home – I welcome all Thy sovereign will, For all that will is love; And when I know not what Thou dost, I wait the light above. Thy covenant in the darkest gloom Shall heavenly rays impart, And when my eyelids close in death, Sustain my fainting heart.” No Mixture God of Glory is the God of grace. His grace is free, everlasting, and boundless. How men ought to love His grace. Yet, men are forever shunning his grace and clinging to the law. Men, by nature, prefer the covenant of works to the covenant of grace. Some do not deny grace, but simply mix it with the law. But any mixing of the two is a denial of grace (Romans 11:6; Galatians 5:1-4). Even among those who are born of God, there is a terrible, evil inclination toward works. How often we find ourselves foolishly looking within, looking to our works, our experiences, and our feelings as a basis for assurance and peace! The result is always bondage. It is God himself who has made that vast distinction between law and grace. The two covenants are as different as east and west, as light and dark, as fire and water. The law is death; grace is life. This distinction lies at the very heart of the gospel. One of the most difficult things in the world is to see the difference between law and grace, between my doing something for righteousness and salvation and another doing everything in my place for the totality of my acceptance with the holy Lord God. Even those who are clear sighted enough to realize that justification must be all of grace, are, yet, very often deluded into thinking that they are sanctified by the keeping of the law, and, thus, make themselves more acceptable to God.

Somehow, we tend to think that rituals and ceremonies and good works will give us merit and favor with God. But this can never be. We are accepted before God in our Covenant Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the covenant he is everything to God’s people. “For of him are we in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Christ is everything in the matter of salvation. We cannot make too much of our Savior or ascribe too much to him. He is the sum total of the covenant of grace. It is written, “I will give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, God forth” (Isaiah 49:8-9).

In Christ, by his obedience and death as the Surety of the covenant and Representative of his elect, the temporary covenant of works (the law of condemnation and death) has been permanently supplanted by the everlasting covenant of grace through Jesus Christ. A Question for Legalists There were many in Paul’s day, as there are many in our day, who attempted to bring God’s saints back under the bondage of the law, while professing to trust Christ as their Savior. We have seen this throughout the book of Galatians. Few would claim to perfectly obey the law. Rather, they profess that they sincerely live by the law and obey it to the best of their ability. That is the problem. Doing our best will never do for righteousness. Our best efforts will never please God. So Paul raises a question in Galatians 4:21 that needs to be answered. It is not a mere rhetorical question. ¯ “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” The question is just this: ¯ Do you who seek to make yourselves righteous, who seek acceptance with God, who seek assurance and peace before God by your obedience to the law, do you not hear what the law really says? The law never speaks peace or pardon, but declares us all to be guilty (Romans 3:19-20). It sentences us to wrath and condemnation. The law does not minister life, but death (2 Corinthians 3:7). The law does not require a sincere effort of obedience, but perfect obedience (Galatians 3:10). Do you really want to be under the yoke of bondage and death? Do you really want to be under the law? Edgar Andrews points out the fact that, “Paul is using ‘the law’ here in two different senses. His meaning is, ‘You who desire to be under the law of Moses, do you not hear (or heed) the Mosaic scripture?’ Of course, there is no sleight of hand intended. Paul is simply pointing out that the Sinaitical law forms part of a larger body of Scripture from the hand of Moses, namely the Pentateuch. Had the Galatians seen Moses’ law in the context of all Moses’ writings, implies Paul, they would have rejected the Judaizers’ advances.” The Judaizers at Galatia, like legalistic work-mongers today, interpreted the law very narrowly. The Judaizers with whom Paul contended applied only the ten commandments, circumcision, and selected holy days to believers in the gospel age. Their followers today, with rare exception, make only the ten commandments applicable, altering the laws regulating sabbath keeping to suit themselves. By such a narrow interpretation and application of the law, they take it totally out of the context of the Old Testament, particularly the five books of the Old Testament written by Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy), commonly referred to as “the law.” Thereby, they totally ignore and refuse to hear and heed what the law says. While professing to love and honor the law, they would destroy the law. The message of the law is exactly the same as the message of the gospel ¯ Salvation by Christ! The whole Word of God is the declaration of redemption, grace, and salvation by Christ (Luke 24:27; John 5:39; Hebrews 1:1-14). Paul shows us in Galatians 4:22-24 that this is the case, using Sarah and Hagar and their two sons, Isaac and Ishmael (by divine inspiration) as an allegory portraying the message of the gospel and the covenants of works and of grace. These two women and their sons were not merely people who lived long, long ago. They were, by the design and purpose of God, typical of spiritual truths. They were living parables (an allegory), demonstrating the futility of works and the efficacy of God’s free grace in Christ. Two Sons “For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman” (Galatians 4:22). Actually, Abraham had many sons (Genesis 25:1-4); but Ishmael and Isaac were specifically intended to be illustrations of works and grace. Ishmael was born of a slave, Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar. As such, he was but a servant himself and not the heir. Isaac was born of Sarah, Abraham’s wife, who was a free woman, one who was joined to Abraham in a family relationship. That made Isaac a free man, a son, and the heir. Paul uses this allegory to show us that all who are in bondage to the law are slaves, the spiritual descendants of the bondwoman, Hagar. Those who enjoy the liberty of grace are free in Christ, spiritual descendants of the freewoman, Sarah. Hagar and her son, Ishmael, owned nothing. They had none of the privileges belonging to Sarah and her son, Isaac, who possessed all things by virtue of their relationship to Abraham. Paul’s doctrine is obvious. Those who seek to obtain righteousness by works, even by trying to obey God’s holy law, are mere slaves. Though they follow after righteousness, they cannot “attain to the law of righteousness…For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 9:31 to Romans 10:4). But all who come to God by faith in Christ, without the deeds of the law, inherit all things in Christ. Though Abraham was an old man and his wife, Sarah, was an old woman, whose womb had been barren, the Lord promised Abraham a son (Genesis 13:16; Genesis 15:4-6). Though everything seemed to be against it ever happening, Abraham believed God’s promise (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:18-22). But, as the years passed and they grew older, it seemed increasingly unlikely that the child of promise would ever be born without Abraham and Sarah doing something to make it happen. So Sarah came up with an idea. She suggested, and Abraham agreed to it, that the Lord would fulfil his promise in a way that involved their own effort, by giving God a hand. So Sarah gave her handmaid, Hagar, to Abraham as his mistress for a night. Their faith wavered. They mixed human reason with divine revelation, and, as is always the case, the wisdom of the flesh flew in the face of divine revelation and was a denial of the promise of God. Therefore, Paul tells us that, “he who was born of the bondwoman was born after the flesh” (Galatians 4:23). Abraham and Sarah did not abandon God’s promise altogether. They simply decided that God needed their help to fulfil his promise. And their help produced Ishmael, a slave who caused unceasing pain and trouble as long as he was in the house. That is precisely the error of all who attempt to mix law and grace, the works of the flesh and the work of God in the matter of obtaining righteousness before God. Every attempt to obtain the promise of God by human effort (law obedience, religious ceremony, good works, decisions, etc.) is doomed to failure and only produces bondage and trouble. Isaac, on the other hand, was born of “the free woman,” Sarah, and was born “by promise” (Galatians 4:23). He was not conceived by the flesh or born in a natural way, but by the promise of God accomplished miraculously. His father was nearly 100 and his mother was 90 years old and barren (Romans 4:19). They were simply too old to have children. “With men this was impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Mark 19:26). Had it been possible for Isaac to have been born in a natural way, no faith would have been involved and no righteousness imputed to Abraham. But Isaac was born because Abraham believed God. He not only believed that God would give him a son, he believed that God would give him his Son (the Seed of woman who would crush the serpent’s head and bring the blessing of God’s salvation); and God declared him righteous (Romans 4:20-22). Being the seed of promise, Isaac was a type and picture of our Lord Jesus Christ’s incarnation (Galatians 3:16-18). His birth also illustrates the new birth. Every child of God is, like Isaac, “born after the Spirit” (Galatians 4:29). Our Savior said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). The new birth is not the work of the flesh, but of the Spirit, a sovereign, irresistible, unaided work of God’s grace, according to covenant promise (Ezekiel 36:25-27). As Isaac, not Ishmael, was Abraham’s heir, so all who are born again by God’s free grace are “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). “Isaac was born out of the common order and course of nature; his conception and birth were owing to the promise and power of God, and to his free grace and favor to Abraham. This son of promise was a type of the spiritual seed of Abraham, whether Jews or Gentiles, the children of the promise that are counted for the seed; who are born again of the will, power, and grace of God, and are heirs, according to the promise, both of grace and glory, when they that are of the law, and the works of it, are not.” (John Gill) An Allegory In Galatians 4:24 the Apostle tells us that “which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.” Paul does not mean for us to understand that these events of history just happen to illustrate what he is teaching. By divine inspiration, he is telling us they came to pass by God’s intention and purpose to teach us these things. The purpose of God in bringing them to pass and recording them in the book of Genesis was to convey to us a picture of the distinction between the old covenant of works and the new covenant of grace. We cannot understand the Bible correctly if we fail to see the constant distinction it makes between these two covenants. God established the old covenant of works in the garden with Adam and gave it to Israel through Moses at Mt. Sinai. The new covenant, the covenant of grace and promise, was established in eternity with Christ, our Surety, the Surety of the covenant (Hebrews 7:22), and was ratified in time by the shedding of his blood at Calvary (Hebrews 9:11-28). This new covenant is seen in God’s covenant with Abraham and was spoken of in prophecy by David, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel (Psalms 89; Jeremiah 31; Ezekiel 36; cf. Hebrews 8:10-13; Hebrews 10:16-22). In the old covenant of law and works God laid all responsibility upon the shoulders of men. It was a load that no man can carry. In the new covenant the Lord God laid upon his own darling Son the full weight of responsibility, making him alone totally responsible for the salvation of his people. Looking upon Christ as our Surety as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, trusting to him the whole of his glory and the whole of our salvation, the Lord God declared the whole work of redemption and grace done in that covenant before the world began (Ephesians 1:3-14; Romans 8:28-30). This new covenant of life and grace, redemption and peace, though the first made, was the last revealed. Though made in eternity, it is called the “new covenant” because it is always new and never old. The covenant of law and works is set before us in Genesis 2, where God commanded Adam to do something and threatened him with death, declaring that in the day he broke his covenant he would surely die. The new covenant, the covenant of grace, is set before us in Genesis 3 after the fall, when God promised to send his Son, the Seed of woman, to crush the serpent’s head and save his fallen children. He even pictured how the covenant would be fulfilled by Christ slaying an innocent victim and clothing Adam and Eve with the skins of the slain victim. This covenant of grace was gradually revealed in greater fulness in God’s covenant with Noah, his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and his covenant with David. But we see it fully accomplished in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. While children of the bondwoman moan in bondage, trying to work themselves into the favor of God, every believer, the children of the free woman, walk at liberty and rejoice in the free, immaculate, immutable, indestructible grace of God, singing with David, “Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow” (2 Samuel 23:5). “With David’s Lord and ours, A covenant once was made, Whose bonds are firm and sure, Whose glories ne’er shall fade; Signed by the Sacred Three in One In mutual love, ere time begun. Firm as the lasting hills This covenant shall endure, Whose potent shalls and wills Make every blessing sure; When ruin shakes all nature’s frame Its jots and tittles stand the same.”

Galatians 4:25-31

Chapter 24 Hagar and Sarah “For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” Galatians 4:25-31 Paul has stated that the history of Sarah and Hagar recorded in the book of Genesis is an allegory. In Galatians 4:21-24 he showed us that their sons, Isaac and Ishmael, represented the two covenants revealed in Holy Scripture. Ishmael represented the covenant of works (law) and Isaac the covenant of grace. Here he continues to explain the allegory, showing us the difference between the two covenants. As Isaac and Ishmael represent the two covenants, their mothers represent two Jerusalems. Two Jerusalems “For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children” (Galatians 4:25). There are but two religions in the world: works and grace. The one system declares that salvation is obtained by what man does for God. The other declares that salvation is obtained by what God does for man. Theses two systems are here represented by two Jerusalems. Hagar signifies Mount Sinai, or is a figure of the law given on that mount. She represents the covenant revealed and given to Israel on Mount Sinai. Therefore, Paul tells us that she “answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.” Being a bondwoman, she represented that state of bondage the Jews were in at the time. They were, at the time, in a state of civil, moral, and legal bondage. They were in civil bondage to the Romans. They were in moral bondage to sin, to Satan, to the world and the lusts of it. And they were in legal bondage to the law, “the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). John Gill described their state very clearly. “They were in bondage under the elements or institutions of it, such as circumcision, a yoke which neither they, nor their forefathers could bear, because it bound them over to keep the whole law; the observance of various days, months, times, and years, and the multitude of sacrifices they were obliged to offer, which yet could not take away sin, nor free their consciences from the load of guilt, but were as an handwriting of ordinances against them; every sacrifice they brought declaring their sin and guilt, and that they deserved to die as the creature did that was sacrificed for them. And besides, this law of commandments, in various instances, the breach of it was punishable with death, through fear of which they were all their life long subject to bondage. They were also in bondage to the moral law, which required perfect obedience of them, but gave them no strength to perform; showed them their sin and misery, but not their remedy; demanded a complete righteousness, but did not point out where it was to be had. It spoke not one word of peace and comfort, but all the reverse. It admitted of no repentance. It accused of sin, pronounced guilty on account of it, cursed, condemned, and threatened with death for it, all which kept them in continual bondage.” Though there were exceptions, on the whole, the Jerusalem that then was sought righteousness before God by their own works, by their “obedience” to the law of God. This only aggravated their bondage. Their obedience was a mercenary obedience, not the obedience of a son, but of a slave. It was not the obedience of love, but of fear. Such people, whether they acknowledge it or not, are in bondage. Hagar represented Jerusalem, not the geographic or political city Jerusalem, but that which it portrayed ¯ Judaism, the religious system of legalism, self-righteous, works religion. Paul is telling us here that the covenant of works gives birth to a people who live continually in spiritual bondage. Hagar represents all legal religion, all self-righteous works religion. Sarah, on the other hand, represents all true religion. She represents the covenant of grace. ¯”But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Galatians 4:26). Here Paul describes the covenant of grace and life in Christ our Mediator, Representative, and sin-atoning Savior. The kingdom of Christ is from heaven above, not from Sinai. The righteousness set forth and given in this covenant is found in his obedience, not in ours. Redemption is found in his sacrifice and his satisfaction, not in legal obedience and religious ceremonies.

In the covenant of grace we have access to and acceptance with the holy Lord God through Christ, our great High Priest, not through an earthly priesthood or by our own merit (Hebrews 10:10-22). This covenant is free from the curse and bondage of the law and is the mother of every believer, Jew and Gentile. “Jerusalem which is above” (the church of Christ) is “the mother of us all” in the sense that she embraces all who trust Christ. We are born of grace. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). God’s Church “Jerusalem which is above” is the church and kingdom of Christ. Christ’s church and kingdom lives by covenant grace. The apostle John uses the same imagery in describing God’s church in Revelation 21. He writes, “I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband…And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal…And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. (And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” The church is called Jerusalem because the name signifies peace. The church and kingdom of God is under the government and rule of Christ the Prince of peace. God’s saints are children of peace. We have been given peace and called to peace, and by faith in Christ enjoy peace with God. The gospel of Christ is the gospel of peace. And the covenant of grace, of which Paul is speaking, is the covenant of peace. Jerusalem, the object of God’s choice, the palace of the great King, the place of divine worship, was compact together, and well fortified. As such, it stands in Scripture as a picture of the church and kingdom of our God. As Hagar and Sarah gave birth to two distinct sons (a slave and an heir), the covenant of works and the covenant of grace give birth to two distinct nations (a nation of bondmen and a nation of free born sons). It is impossible for anyone to belong to both nations at the same time. Edgar Andrews writes, “We cannot simultaneously be under the law and under grace. We are either children of the earthly Jerusalem, in bondage to a fruitless religion of works; or we are children of the heavenly Jerusalem, and enjoy the glorious liberty of the children of God. We are either slaves like Ishmael, or heirs like Isaac.” Bondage Paul tells us that Hagar “is in bondage with her children.” What is this bondage? How are all who seek righteousness by the law brought into bondage? How are men brought into bondage by the law? They are in bondage because they set about to do that which cannot be done. They pursue righteousness by the works of the law, but never attain it. The law requires men to work for reward; but they can never do the work.

The law demands both righteousness and satisfaction for sin, but man can produce neither. Everything man does, both regenerate men and unregenerate men, is tainted by sin and can never satisfy the law, which requires perfection (Leviticus 22:21; Galatians 3:10). Being ignorant of God’s righteousness, they go about to establish their own righteousness, refusing to trust Christ, refusing to submit to the righteousness of God in Christ. They simply cannot grasp the fact that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 9:31 to Romans 10:4). Consequently, they can never rest. They can never cease from their work.

They are doomed to endless bondage and slavery. Every religion that teaches sinners to perform works of any kind to obtain righteousness is a prison. Again, to quote Edgar Andrews, “This is true, even if the work required is to ‘believe’, or ‘trust’, or ‘commit’, or ‘surrender.’“ Such things are just as truly ‘works’ as circumcision, sabbath keeping, penances and pilgrimages. Legalism tells sinners to work for grace. The gospel of Christ declares that grace comes freely. Good works follow God’s operations of grace. They do not cause them (Ephesians 2:8-10). “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). He does not wait for you to do something for him. Do not make the mistake that most do in thinking that the bondage of legalism refers only to those who seek justifying righteousness by works. It also applies to those who seek righteousness and holiness in sanctification by their own works. In fact, that is precisely what Paul is dealing with in Galatians 3, 4 (Galatians 3:1-3; Galatians 3:10). Sanctification, like justification, is the free gift of God’s grace in Christ, enjoyed by faith, without works (1 Corinthians 1:30-31; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:14). Even true believers can bring themselves into bondage by such ignorance, as is evidenced by this epistle. Throughout the six chapters of this book Paul treats the Galatians as believers, as we have seen (Galatians 3:1-3; Galatians 3:26-29; Galatians 4:6-9; Galatians 5:7-10; Galatians 5:13; Galatians 6:1). He regarded them as believers who were being confused and led astray by false doctrine, the false doctrine of works righteousness. We seek to honor God our Savior in all things, ever striving against sin, not to attain righteousness before God, but because our great and gracious God has made us righteous in Christ (1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:31). Freedom “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Galatians 4:26). The heavenly Jerusalem, the church of Christ, is founded on the covenant of promise, which has its fulfillment in the new covenant ratified by the blood of Christ. “For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband” (Galatians 4:27). Paul here quotes from Isaiah 54:1, promising the continual enlargement of God’s church and kingdom in this world until all Israel (all God’s elect) is saved in fulfillment of his covenant purpose (Romans 11:26-27). Sarah’s inability to give birth to Isaac was no hindrance to God fulfilling his promise. Rather, her inability was the very thing that demonstrated that God alone could fulfil the promise. So it is with us. If the Lord God left salvation, in any measure, to us, none could ever be saved. But that which is impossible with man is possible with God. Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds (Romans 5:20). By God’s free and sovereign grace “Jerusalem which is above” shall be a city fully inhabited (Revelation 21:10-17). “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise” (Galatians 4:28). Believers are the children of promise, as Isaac was. As Isaac was promised to Abraham, we were promised and given to the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3-4; John 6:37-39). As Isaac was conceived and born by the power of God, we are born spiritually by God’s omnipotent grace (John 1:12-13; Ephesians 1:19-20; Colossians 2:12). As Isaac was the heir of Abraham, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17). The inhabitants of this city of grace, “Jerusalem which is above,” are “the children of promise,” being born of God in fulfillment of the covenant of promise in Christ. We are free from the law, no longer subject to its requirements or its penalties. That does not mean that God’s saints are a lawless people. We are under a new law, the rule and law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2). It is written in our hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-33). In all things we are motivated by the love of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14). The Son of God has made us free; and we are free indeed (John 8:36). Ishmael the Persecutor “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now” (Galatians 4:29). Ishmael, the son of the flesh, mocked and persecuted the son of promise. Nothing has changed. False prophets, teaching righteousness by works, trying to bring God’s saints back under the yoke of legal bondage, mock and deride, slander and persecute all who trust Christ alone for righteousness. Salvation by works and salvation by grace are mutually exclusive. Legalists are threatened by grace, just as Ishmael was threatened by Isaac.

He was not threatened by anything Isaac did, but by the mere fact that Isaac lived as Abraham’s free born son. And legalists are not threatened by anything God’s people do. Believers do not mock and persecute others. Legalists are threatened by the mere fact that we live in this world as God’s free born children, walking in the liberty of grace. Ishmael Cast Out Grace and works, as stated above, are mutually exclusive. Therefore Paul writes, “Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman” (Galatians 4:30). This was God’s command to Abraham (Genesis 21:10-12). Ishmael, the child of flesh, the fruit of Abraham’s works, had to be cast out along with the mother who produced him, and cast out by Abraham. God would not allow Ishmael to be an heir with Isaac, the true son.

He will not allow any mixture of works and grace (Romans 11:6). We must cast aside the filthy rags of our own righteousness, if we would wear the righteousness of Christ. All systems of works and human merit must be forsaken from our hearts. Works religion must be cast out of our churches. We must have “no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness” (Ephesians 5:11). The heirs of God are the children of grace in Christ Jesus.

The self-righteous, those who seek righteousness by works, those who are “part Christ and part flesh,” “part grace and part works” advocates, cannot be heirs with children of promise. “So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free” (Galatians 4:31). There can be no marriage of law and grace. Believers are not hybrids or mongrels. We are the children of free grace and heirs of all that God promised his sons and daughters in the covenant of grace before the world began, “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.”