My thoughts for the Itty Bitty Bible Study group on Facebook. (join if you’d like to get these in fb!)
I’ve shared my thoughts on
- Galatians 1:1-10
- Galatians 1:11-24 & 2:1-10
- Galatians 2:11-21
- Galatians 3:1-9
- Galatians 3:10-20
- Galatians 3:21-29
As you can see – I had difficulty getting out of Galatians 3.
The Bible was not written with chapters and verse, well, unless you are talking about Psalms.
So, Galatians 4:1 is a continuation of what Paul was explaining in Galatians 3
.
4:1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,
2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.
3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
From the time of Creation – when Adam and Eve sinned, God was putting into production the plan to bring us back to HIM.
The Law as a school teacher – until such time as we were ready to receive our sonship through faith in Christ Jesus!
Just like when we first have a child.
We tell them
- when to eat,
- when to drink,
- when to brush their teeth,
- wipe their toosh,
- and go to bed.
We tell them to
- pick up their toys,
- put dishes away,
- be nice to their sisters,
- don’t lie,
- don’t steal
- don’t hit
…you get the point.
Once they are old enough, the get to learn the consequences of their choices.
- hunger
- thirst
- rash on their bottom
- too tired to have fun
- broken toys
- hit in the nose by the sister…
We have adult children that are all around their 30s. Every now and then, we get a call, and we hear “I know you told me that if I did this, then that would happen.” We do NOT rejoice in the troubles of our children – we do rejoice in their growth. I will say it right now, We have been very blessed to watch our children grow into adults. The struggle is wishing we could protect them from pain! It was often through that pain that they have learned to be responsible adults.
Because of grace, our children can talk to us, and they know that we will love them through whatever. Sometimes, they wonder – but the truth is, God has taught us that a parent always loves. Nothing they can do can ever cause that to stop.
I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living
my baby you’ll be.
From the book “Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch
God has done the same thing for us, his children. He doesn’t want us to hurt. And if we had just listened to what HE said we should do, and done it…we could have saved ourselves SOOOOOOO much trouble! Just ask Adam and Eve!!! Moses! David! Peter!!! AND, He loves us forever – FOREVER.
The thing is, that humans are hard headed, and we all need a teacher. The law showed us what is right and wrong, our actions showed us how impossible it is for us!
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
10 You observe days and months and seasons and years!
11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
ENSLAVED!
Captive!
Romans 6 is such an amazing chapter on the difference between being a slave to sin and a slave to righteousness.
Jesus declared the beginning of his ministry by standing up in “church’ and reading Isaiah 61:1:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Other versions of Luke 4:18
- The Berean Study bible says:
“proclaim deliverance to the captives” - Holman Christian Bible says:
“proclaim freedom to the captives” - God’s Word Translation:
“He has sent me to announce forgiveness to the prisoners of sin and the restoring of sight to the blind, to forgive those who have been shattered by sin,” - Weymouth New Testament:
“He has sent me to announce release to the prisoners of war and recovery of sight to the blind: to send away free those whom tyranny has crushed,” - Amplified
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (the Messiah),
Because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to announce release (pardon, forgiveness) to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed (downtrodden, bruised, crushed by tragedy),
The very purpose for which Christ was sent was in jeopardy by the Galatians turning back, or turning to the law!
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Also – Read Ephesians 2:11-22 – Again, Paul is declaring to the Ephesians what GREAT deliverance God has given them!
Paul is referring back to the beginning of the letter!
In IBBS Galatians 3:1-10, I was quite struck by how serious Paul took their deception!
After he has spent time trying to explain to them how deadly the law was, and how life was given through Christ by faith – he pleads with the Galatians!
Galatians 4:12 12 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.
13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first,
14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.
15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.
16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.
18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you,
19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
This passage sometimes gets confusing to me.
What I hear here is the heart of an apostle, evangelist, preacher, pastor, shepherd – whose heart is filled with the desire for his spiritual children to follow the path laid before them, and not to wander. I hear frustration in Paul’s voice here. He does not want to see them suffer the consequences of the old ways…but to walk in the freedom of the way of Christ!
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
I can’t help stopping a moment to worship!
Paul takes the time to try to show the Galatians, and US – the difference between those of the law and those of faith:
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.
23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.
24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.
25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
27 For it is written,“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than those of the one who has a husband.”
28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”
31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
The Old Testament is a rough, raw, set of stories. Life is rough and raw.
God uses the past to teach us in our present so that we can have a different future.
Why would someone want to live under the law whe this is true?
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
When I was looking at Galatians 3:10-20, I was impressed with how impossible the requirements of the law were, and that to try to live by the law is to have to live by ALL of the law!
I can’t do it. You can’t do it. The Galatians couldn’t do it. Adam and Eve couldn’t do it. EVEN NOAH couldn’t do it. And Enoch…he was so righteous that he just ended up walking with God and was not…but, did HE do it????
Galatians 5 starts with
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
That will be my next thoughts…
Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest
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