Scripture reading – Galatians 4; Galatians 5
Today’s Scripture reading is packed with doctrinal content, and I hardly know how to begin. For brevity’s sake, I will limit our devotional to a portion of Galatians 4.
In Galatians 3, Paul presented “the law [as] our schoolmaster [instructor, teacher] to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (3:24). The law of God instructs man regarding sin, and shows him how to live to please God. It is the revelation of God’s promises of grace, mercy, and forgiveness that brings sinners to saving faith. As God’s spiritual instructor [schoolmaster], the law serves to lead sinners to Christ as Savior Redeemer (3:24; 4:5).
From Slavery to Sonship as a Child of God (4:1-5)
The introductory portrait found in the opening verses of Galatians 4 contrasted a servant\tutor with the law of God. It was common in that day for a wealthy master to choose a servant who was charged with the responsibility to instruct his son. Though the son’s standing was as his father’s heir, as a child he was nevertheless subject to the servant\teacher. Only when the father declared his son mature enough to oversee his inheritance and matters of the home (4:2) was he no longer subject to the servant.
Keeping in mind the illustration of the master’s son being subject to the servant, consider Galatians 4:3-7.
Every one was born into the world under the bondage and curse of sin (for we are sinners by nature, 4:3; Romans 3:10, 23). God the Father, knowing man’s bondage to sin, sent His Son into the world when the law had fulfilled its purpose. Having instructed man concerning his sinfulness, “the time was come” on God’s timetable when Jesus was born (4:4a).
How did God’s Son come? (4:4)
The implication of God sending His Son is that He was with the Father eternally, before He was sent forth “made of a woman, made under the law” (4:4). The Son of God was in essence Eternal God, and “equal with God” (Philippians 2:6). Being “made of a woman” (4:4) he became flesh (“form of a servant…likeness of men,” Philippians 2:6), and was therefore “made under [subject to] the law” (4:5). By being “subject to the Law, Jesus was subject to the demands of the law, and yet He was “without sin (Hebrews 4:14; 9:28).
Why did God’s Son Come? (4:5)
“To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (4:5). As sinners, we are born in bondage to sin, and condemned by our own sinfulness. The law and commandments serve to convince man of his sinfulness, and bring him into a right standing with God. Because we are slaves to sin, no amount of works or “deeds of the law” can justify us in the sight of God (Romans 3:19-20; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8-9), nor indeed ever could. The Law was never intended to save mankind. Only God can save. The law was given to help us walk pleasing to the Father.
God the Father, seeing man’s universal need of a Redeemer, sent His Son to “redeem them that were under the law” (4:5). Who needs redemption? Every one of us, for “there is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:19). We also know from the Scriptures that “all the world [is] guilty before God” (Romans 3:19), “for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).
What does redemption accomplish?
Those who receive the gift of God’s redemption by faith, the sacrifice of His Son, are no longer slaves to sin, but adopted as sons (4:5). We read in John 1:12, “But as many as received him [Jesus], to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
Through our redemption in Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin or aliens to God. We are “sons” (or children of God), and have the assurance “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into [our] hearts” (4:6). Because we are sons, we are able to cry, “Abba, Father” (4:6). We who are redeemed are no more slaves to sin, but sons and heirs “of God through Christ” (4:7). When we sin, we must confess our sin (1 John 1:9), knowing “we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
Closing thoughts – “Abba, Father”—what a loving, wonderful expression of a believer’s personal and intimate relationship with God. We are no longer slaves bearing the burden of a spiritual debt we cannot pay. Instead, we are through Christ, redeemed, adopted as children of God, and through our relationship with Christ, able to pray, “Abba, Father!” What a wonderful, blessed relationship!
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Copyright © 2022 – Travis D. Smith
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