Galatians 4:8-31 GOING BACKWARDS The liberating power of the Gospel had been experienced by the Galatian Christians to whom Paul was writing this letter. They worshiped idols made by men because they didn't know any better. Those idols were not gods and were of no value, but behind them were demons that made them slaves to the power of darkness. But now, they were turning back again to something that was similar. Those weak principles they had once been slaves to, Paul compares to the law. When one comes to know God, they have eternal life. This has nothing to do with the law. Of even more importance is the fact that God knows us. For one to turn their back on the One who saved us by His grace, and to put ourselves back under bondage to another weak and beggarly form of religious dogma, seems incomprehensible. When ceremonies and forms take the place of worshiping the Father in spirit and in truth; that is a major step backward into the darkness of this world. Those who teach law-keeping, sinless perfection, or "second blessing" in order to be saved, may say they have scriptural proof for that teaching. They add the things that were taught in the Old Testament to the Jews and teach they are supposed to be added to the doctrine of Christ.
Paul had labored long and hard to teach the liberty we have been brought into by the sacrifice of Christ. Now the believers were going back into another slavery. The ceremonies and days of law keeping were part of the purpose of the law to give knowledge and awareness of sin. Instead of one day, the Sabbath, being a holy day, to believers every day is a holy day. The reason the first day of the week is marked out by Christians as being different from other days of the week is on the first day of the week Christ rose from the dead. On the first day of the week, the risen Lord appeared to His own disciples. On the first day of the week, the Holy Spirit came to indwell believers in Christ. Disciples then, and now, gather to break bread in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ and to show His death in a public gathering. We also bring the offerings that we have set aside to give to the Lord on the first day of the week. God's people came together for teaching and preaching on the first day as well. That day is not set aside for us but in scripture, it has been the day these things were carried out. So, the first day is the "lordly day;" the "Lord's Day," in which we honor Him. it is not the "Christian Sabbath" but it is the Lord's Day in which we engage in the Lord's things.
Those who have children in the faith can easily understand Paul's dismay at the defection of the saints of God when they leave what they have been taught to follow false teachers. Paul knew the truths he taught them were true to the word of God and his own personal experience. He had been in bondage to the law and had been set free from that. In great earnestness of heart, he appeals to the Galatians to think of his example when he came preaching the Gospel at first. Despite his illness, they received him and listened to him like they would an angel from heaven or even the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes we just can't understand why some of our spiritual children leave the place to which God called them. Paul loved them as a father loves his children, and loved him. Still, they turned away to false teachers. We cannot help loving those whom God has saved by His grace, but we do not always love what they do.
When God's people lose the joy of their salvation and then they go into some kind of spiritual bondage, they lose the joy of fellowship with the Lord and His people, as well as the joy of walking in the light. There are feelings of guilt and failure instead of experiencing the humility that grace produces. The performance of law keeping takes the place of spiritual relationships with those of "like precious faith." The shortcoming we are conscious of usurps authority over our gratitude and we become overwhelmed with our failures rather than our spiritual blessings in Christ. To give up the power of the true Gospel for the vain attempts of men to please God seems so backward to what God intends. Paul was perplexed that Christ had been supplanted in the lives of the saints with the demands of the law - and it seemed to have happened quickly. When or if such an attraction come to us from those who seem to have the answers in their new teaching, we need Christ to again be formed in us. We need to get back to the words of the four Gospels and focus on Christ, who He is, and what He has done for us.
There seemed to be a hostile attitude against Paul on the part of those Galatian believers. That was probably introduced by the false teachers, or at least promoted by them. Truth faithfully taught may cause antagonism on the part of those who attack or reject the truth of God's word. Behind that kind of response is usually a motive that is neither honorable nor right. Some will reject biblical teaching because they already have an agenda of their own, which they want others to accept. Religious practitioners have the desire to put people under bondage to their "form of godliness" in order to claim power, fame, or finances - or maybe all three. A spiritual father longs to be with those he has seen saved when they go astray. It is his heart's desire to see them quickly recovered and back again in fellowship with God, and with him.
In order to explain further what was happening to them, Paul used the illustration of Sarah (freedom) and Hagar (bondage). The point he was making was not who was the father, but who was the mother. Both those of the Jewish religion and Christians were joined to the father of faith - Abraham. The character and position of the child came from the mother - the one who was in bondage, or the one who was free. There was a difference in their birth. The new birth by the Spirit of God places the new believer in the position of freedom in Christ. Ishmael was born of the flesh. Isaac's birth was a miracle by the power of God. The Lord Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." A spiritual birth gives freedom from the bondage of sin.
There are also two "Jerusalem’s" mentioned in this illustration. One is earthly, the Jews are God's earthly people; one is heavenly. Christians are born of the Spirit and belong to the heavenly Jerusalem. Hagar, Mt. Sinai and Jerusalem belong to the line of the law and leads to the bondage the law produces. Christians are born to freedom and belong to the Jerusalem in heaven that is the center of our attraction. Our citizenship is in heaven so we pray to "our Father which art in heaven." Our hopes are centered on the One who ascended into heaven and will "descend from heaven with a shout."
The earthly Jerusalem of that time was destroyed. The "house" was made desolate as prophesied. The "mother of us all" remains untouched by human sin and the efforts of the flesh. Freedom has come to the people of God. So, what should we do with that which produces bondage? "Cast out" is that which would return us to what we left and take us back to where grace is ineffective to believers even though they have been saved by grace. Step forward in confidence and live in the blessings of the freedom we have in Christ. Refuse to go backward in any way to the ideas, plans, and teachings of men who would tie you to those things that are unscriptural and designed by men to attract others to that which is false. It may seem attractive by human standards that we adapt to that which is popular, but the fact remains that true liberty is what we have in Christ.
When the Gospel came first to our town
People thought it was really quite strange.
That someone who to everyone was unknown
Would preach to us it was necessary to change
In order for us to be accepted by God
We needed to have a spiritual rebirth
The basis of the challenge was right in God’s Word
That’s what gave the message such great worth.
So, some in our town on the Lord Jesus believed
And there was no difficulty to see a real difference
They said it was a personal choice when they received
Jesus as their Savior, had taken their sentence
They talked about their faith and God’s amazing grace
And said they knew now they had eternal life
It is true, what happened to them made a change in this place
Where there was darkness, now there is some light.
How strange it seems that they are turning back
What they left and what they said were wrong
I wonder if what they said they believed was a fact
Or were we being fooled by them all along
Maybe they are just trying to do what pleases us now
We were beginning to believe they were right
I had been thinking about asking them how
I could believe and learn to walk by faith, not sight.