Galatians Part 26 - Galatians 4:8-11

F. The order of the O.T. was that of a servant but the order of the N.T. is that of sons, a position of excellence which shall not be abrogated but perfected eternally. EPH 3:21. (1) Remember Jesus’s words: “And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever” (JOH 8:35). (2) This agrees with what Paul addresses later in this chapter: the casting away of false claims on heirship via bondage. GAL 4:30-31. (3) The prophesied kingdom of God, once it was set up, would “...not be left to other people...” (DAN 2:44). a. It is not a temporary order to be set aside by a reversion to the old order. b. It is the true and enduring order and relationship to God which requires the Spirit in the worshipper and in the worship. JOH 4:23-24 c/w PHIL 3:3. vs. 8-11. 1. In their pre-conversion experience the Galatians “...knew not God...” (v. 8). Their service was one of ignorance and superstition. c/w ACT 17:22-23. A. They served “...them which by nature are no gods.” c/w 1CO 8:4-5. Galatians 1-1-17 Page 46  (1) A god which man makes is by nature not God, and worthless. ISA 44:10. (2) Idolatry is the worship of the creature, not the Creator. ROM 1:25. (3) It was/is the worship of devils because the idol is a lie. 1CO 10:20 c/w JOH 8:44. B. Typical adjuncts of idolatry were sex and human sacrifice, especially the sacrifice of infants. That those dynamics continue in atheistic culture only underscores that the false religions were guises for raw human nature, the sacraments of which are uninhibited sex and child sacrifice/abortion. C. These gods gratified human wisdom and fleshly lusts, and so gained a stronghold in the heart and mind, regardless of the obvious ridiculousness, perversion and horror associated with them. Their principles were laughably deemed critical to the public good. ACT 19:24-27, 35-36. D. Israel was uniquely blessed to have God’s inspired revelation (ROM 3:1-2) which gave them a service of God that respected human life and sexual morality but even they sometimes became as heathen worshippers with all attendant corruption. PSA 106:35-39; 1CO 10:7-8. 2. “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God...” (v. 9). A. By the gospel, they had seen Jesus Christ (GAL 3:1) by Whom men may know God. JOH 1:18; MAT 11:27. B. They were known of God. (1) God knows His elect sheep particularly, covenantly. JOH 10:14-15; 2TI 2:19. (2) The middle wall of partition being broken down (EPH 2:14) and the door of faith opened unto the Gentiles (ACT 14:27), Israel alone could no longer lay claim to being the only people known of God via His truth. c/w AMO 3:1-2. C. For one to truly know God: (1) God must first know him in covenant election as His foreknown. 1PE 1:2. (2) he must have eternal life. JOH 17:3. (3) he must be convinced that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 1JO 5:20. (4) he must be willing to be fully conformed to Christ. PHIL 3:9-10. 3. “...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” (vs. 9-10). A. Inasmuch as these were former pagans, their turning again and desiring again what they had been delivered from implies that they were synthesizing paganism and Christianity. (1) This is a chronically popular error and forbidden in both Testaments. DEU 12:30-32; JER 10:2-4; MAT 6:7; 2CO 6:16-18. (2) High days were very much part of paganism as they observed the cycles of the sun, moon and stars, and the apostate Jews sometimes joined to these observances. EZE 8:13-16. (3) Such a synthesis produces a polluted form of Christianity more palatable to the pagan mind and also reduces the potential persecution that a Christian convert among pagans might face. (4) NOTE: Conversion is a matter of turning to God from idols (1TH 1:9), not with them or their adjuncts/customs. B. It is conceivable that, under the influence of the Judaizers who were trying to impose the the Mosaic code upon the Gentile believers (ACT 15:5), these Galatians may have been adopting Jewish holy day observances. (1) But Jewish holy days like the sabbath were for Israel, not Gentiles. EXO 31:12-17. (2) The Jewish holy days themselves were shadows of Christ and part of the Old Covenant which was set aside by the New Covenant. COL 2:16-17; HEB 8:13. Galatians 1-1-17 Page 47  C. Some affirm that the only error of the Galatians was that they were relying on calendar observances as rituals for justification (and such a notion would be a grave error). But the calendar observances of themselves were errant. (1) It is wrong to synthesize pagan holy days and practices with the religion of Christ. (2) It is wrong to persist in the shadows of Jewish holy days now that the Light of the world, Jesus Christ, has come to fulfil and dispel those shadows, even abolishing them by His death under a New Testament. COL 2:14. a. Carrying over O.T. Jewish customs like their holy days would also justify carrying over incense-burning, red heifer’s ashes, the curious ointment of the apothecary, menorahs, etc. b. We are to be New Testament Christians! (3) A preacher recently told me that the Galatians were erring only because they were insisting on ceremonial holy days for justification while also telling me that the church needs to observe ceremonial holy days like Christmas to facilitate the justification of lost sinners! 4. Paul was afraid his labors had been in vain. GAL 4:11, 20. 1. His words echo ISA 49:4, a passage which he knew to include himself. ISA 49:6 c/w ACT 13:47. 2. Contrast the Galatians with the Philippians. PHIL 2:16. Galatians 1-1-17 Page 48