Galatians 4: 1-10
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.
7Wherefore
thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God
through Christ.8Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them
which by nature are no gods.9But 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?10Ye observe days, and months, and
times, and years.11I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in
vain.
Paul, after showing
that Messiah is the seed and only by our living being hidden in Him can we hope
to have part in His inheritance returns to His prior example of a child and
schoolmaster.
Now I say, That the
heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be
lord of all
We must always keep in mind the difference between what is
being said in scripture and its application. If we take an application of
scripture and make it into a definition of what is being said then later it can
cause confusion to our understanding of other things.
For example I once heard of a church built on a mountain
road which had outgrown its building and parking. The church was backed up to
the mountain and without cutting a space of the mountain out there was no way
to expand. They looked into the cost of such a venture and found out it was far
beyond their budget. Not knowing what should be done the elder called a prayer
meeting asking all with “mountain moving faith” to attend. Shortly after this meeting
the elder received a call from a building contractor who was in needed a large
quantity of stone and wanted to know if they would be willing to sell to him a
portion of stone from their church property.
The area cleared was not only large enough for their expansion but the
money from the sale paid for it.
There is no problem with this elders application of a
scripture to their need unless one where to assume that this was the meaning of
the scripture in context.
In a similar way Paul talks about being a bond slave or
making ourselves a slave to righteousness but if we apply that meaning to our
present text we may believe Paul is referring to two classes of believers but
that is not what Paul is saying in this passage.
Paul understands that all men have one creator. The man who
believes he is his own master is deceiving himself by rebellion. YHWH’s
longsuffering and forbearance places all men in mercy (a delay of decreed death)
in order that those born of men who He foreknows as His children may come into
His grace (Messiah’s taking of death that we may come into life)
Paul is here telling us that the children despite being born
as a prince; has no more idea how to live as a king than anyone else. So a
young prince is put under the teaching and instruction of a tutor. This tutor
does not make this child a king but shows him who a King is. In the same way
the law can never make us Israel (a prince with YHWH) that comes from being
born from Him. It merely teaches us who He is and thereby who we are.
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.
Many read this as
saying that the law was bondage but look again at what it says; we even though
elect of YHWH had the same bondage to sin within us that every son of Adam had.
When the law had fully taught of the life we agreed with as what we should be but
clearly where not; YHWH sent forth His begotten son not of Adams seed but born
from a woman. Possessing the life described in the law to redeem those who had
been taught by the law; to the purpose that we could obtain His life by adoption.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
The same life force of YHWH in Messiah is now in us as we are
one with Him as a sons life comes forth from His father so we as sons have His
life issued to us. Most have heard it said abba means daddy as a term of endearment…I
have found nothing in my research that says it means anything other than
Father. Still let us look at a few things about why Paul uses this phrase: 1)
to repeat a word is to give it emphasis as Yeshua would say truly truly I tell
you. So Paul is saying YHWH is not just a father figure to you He is your
Father. Also to consider in a patriarch society the eldest living male was a
clan leader and even servants in His house might call him father but only his
children would call him abba. With this in mind it may well be Paul is
emphasizing that we are not servants but sons.
7Wherefore thou art
no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through
Christ.8Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by
nature are no gods.9But 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?10Ye observe days, and months, and times, and
years
In short since we are sons we are heirs to YHWH’s entire
house. When we were in bondage to our sins we attempted to have life by being a
good person which we judged by our own ability to produce actions. How can we,
who have come to know the life of YHWH in us, ever believe such could be
accomplished by our own effort? Can a man by his own ability bring himself into
the presence of YHWH? Is He indebted by our actions? How can we believe we can
generate the Life described in the law?
