Galatians Part 25 - Galatians 4:1-7

b. It is especially the property of believers (v. 22): they demonstrate rightful claim on the covenant of promise on the basis of their faith, not of circumcision or law-works justification, even as Abraham was shown to be righteous without circumcision or the Law of Moses. The promise of life is not in law but in Christ. v. 21 c/w 2TI 1:1. Galatians 1-1-17 Page 44  c. Believers have the assurance that: [1] they have everlasting life. JOH 5:24; 6:47. [2] they are loved and born of God and are sons of God. 1JO 5:1; 3:1. [3] they are accounted righteous before God. ROM 4:20-25. [4] Jesus will return to raise and purify them. 1TH 4:16-18; PHIL 3:20-21. [5] they will dwell with Him in a new heavens and earth. 2PE 3:13. [6] the promise of the Spirit in God’s house applies to them. v. 14 c/w ACT 2:33, 38-39. Chapter 4 vs. 1-7. 1. Paul here likens the covenant people of God included in the Abrahamic blessing to that of an heir progressing from childhood to adulthood. 2. Though a child is the rightful heir of the parents’ estate, he is deemed a servant until the defining time appointed of the father. vs. 1-2. A. Until that time, the child is in training. B. He is under regulations even as the servants of the house are under regulations. C. The servant, though, does not abide in the house continually as the son does. JOH 8:35. 3. The covenant heir under the Law was as the child who differed nothing from the servant. v. 3. A. It was subject to “Do this” and “Don’t do that” regulation which could not produce righteousness (GAL 2:21; 3:21) but did prepare it for Christ. B. The Mosaic Law Covenant was tutor and governor for the temporary task. C. Moses himself was a servant of the house but not the son/heir. NUM 12:7; HEB 3:1-6. D. God the Father in due time told the house to hear His Son rather than Moses. MAT 17:1-5; ACT 3:22-23; HEB 1:1-3. E. Moses and the Law Covenant represented bondage, the kind of bondage that the Judaizers were trying to bring the liberated church of the New Testament back under. GAL 2:4. (1) This bondage included impossible “do and live” righteousness. ROM 10:5. (2) This bondage included repetitive sacrifice which never took away sin. HEB 10:4. (3) This bondage included dietary law, ritual, ceremony, high days, sabbaths, etc. COL 2:16. (4) The entire system was imposed upon the heirs until Christ. GAL 3:19; HEB 9:10. 4. The “time appointed of the father” (v. 2) finally came. vs. 4-5. A. “...God sent forth his Son, made of a woman...” (v. 4). (1) This refers not to the incarnation but to the sending forth of the incarnate Son to begin His public ministry which began following His baptism and anointing. ACT 10:37-38; LUK 4:43 c/w JOH 20:21. (2) Christ’s beginning of public ministry was a “coming” before which John the Baptist preached. ACT 13:24 c/w MAT 3:11. B. “...made under the law,...” He was subject to Moses’s law and fulfilled its demands for both righteousness and justice. MAT 5:17; ROM 10:4. (1) His crucifixion was the culmination of His earthly ministry. (2) But before He died, He instituted a New Testament/Covenant which abolished the Old Testament/Covenant. HEB 8:13. Galatians 1-1-17 Page 45  C. “To redeem them that were under the law...” (v. 5). (1) The heirs were under the law: under its demands and its condemnation. GAL 3:10. (2) Adam sold us out but Christ bought us back by: a. His blood. EPH 1:7. b. being made a curse for us. GAL 3:13. D. “...that we might receive the adoption of sons” (v. 5). (1) By nature we were the children of wrath, not of God. EPH 2:3. (2) The legal “paperwork” to finalize our adoption was written with Christ’s blood. (3) God the Father had made His choice from the foundation of the world to predestinate the elect to this adoption in Christ. EPH 1:3-5. (4) Until Christ’s sacrifice was complete, the elect were designated adoptees in covenant, awaiting the Judge’s signature. (5) Once a New Testament had been secured in Christ’s blood, the adoption process was completed and the full benefits of sonship made of force. v. 7. 5. “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (v. 6). A. Men may adopt children and make them legally their heirs but they cannot also be their begetters. B. God not only adopts us, He begets us with the Spirit of His Son: He regenerates us. TIT 3:5. C. As a human child in due time comes to know how he came into existence and why he had to be adopted, so the church now knows the truth about its relationship to God through Jesus Christ. 2TI 1:9-10. 6. “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (v. 7). c/w ROM 8:14-17. A. Christ has emancipated us from servants to sons with all rights of inheritance. B. We have the inheritance of God, heaven and everlasting life by Christ’s blood. C. We have the inheritance of a New Testament in that blood which liberates our minds and hearts from the bondage of the Law, making our yolk bearable and our souls restful. MAT 11:28-30. D. We should guard against being again entangled with former bondage. v. 9; GAL 5:1. Galatians 1-1-17 Page 46