Bramhall, John W: Studies In Galatians-20 ~ Galatians 4:1-5

Upon the Epistle of the Galatians. We have seen in this epistle already, in the latter part of chapter three the excellent contrast which the Holy Spirit gave between the promises and the law, revealing their entire distinctness in relation to their time, to their circumstances, character, and purpose. One fact is agreed upon. Both the promises that were given to Abraham and the law which was given four hundred and thirty years later, they both came from God. Yet we also have learned that the object for which God gave them is different. His promises were the fruit of his own love and his purpose and desire to bless, and his joy in blessing, and not only to bless the Jews, but praise his name, to bless the Gentiles also. For the Christian believer, whether believing Jew or believing Gentile, the teaching of Galatians chapter three clearly revealed that the death of Christ terminates all our problems in relation to the curse of our sins. That curse has been removed, and also the penalty of a broken law with its judgment Christ has paid, so that the bondage of the law has no more claim upon a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not under the law. We are in a blessed and a new condition, for we are now in Christ, belonging to a risen Christ. How little comprehension Christians have concerning their new condition in Christ. How feeble, unfortunately, is our apprehension of the place into which the resurrection of Christ has brought his children. May the Holy Spirit open our hearts and our minds to see this better. We now commence the study of chapter four in the Galatian epistle, and we shall be informed at the commencement of it what was the state of the old Testament believers during the period of the law, or what had been the state of any Jewish believer living when Paul wrote this epistle, and also what their present relationship to God now was if they have trusted Christ and his redemptive work. We would now read verses one through five from Galatians chapter four. 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 he 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 fullness of 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. There is one primary fact for us to understand in this section of scripture, and that is, Paul is definitely referring to the position of Jewish believers during the time they were under the law, under the old covenant. Primarily, this truth in particular is applied to Jewish believers and included in Paul's statement when he declares even so we, when we were children, in verse three. But note very carefully, now they were heirs according to verse one, and they are now spoken of as children, or each believer is a child. It is a legal expression for a person who is under a legal age and incapable of entering into contracts and acting for himself, when Paul declares even so when we were children. Now, this was the precise position of a saint previously when he or she was under the law. He had not arrived at full age, though he was really an heir, destined to sit down with Abraham, with Isaac, and Jacob when the kingdom of Christ would come. But like a child under age, he was under tutors and governors until full age was reached. This was the condition of Jewish believers. They were as infants, not yet delivered from the law. They were kept bound by its ordinances and its commands. They were in bondage under the elements of the world, as verse three declares. But when Christ came, there was a great change in the position and in the condition that was affected, as verses 4 and five very definitely declare, saying, but when the fullness of 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 the place of sons. Now note, please, three things in verse four very carefully. First, the exact time, the proper time that God sent his son, the fullness of time. It was the right moment when God knew that he must redeem Israel and deliver his earthly people from the condition they were in, to bring them even into a new state of things, when the bondage of the law would be forever broken by the death of his son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And yet the blessing of Christ's death would also be for the Gentiles. For, as we read second, in verse four, we learned that it was necessary for Christ to be a man. He was made of a woman. If Christ had not been a man, there could never have been a basis of redemption for the human race, whether Jew and whether Gentile. And then we read another fact concerning Christ. He was a Jew, for we read that he was made under the law. And if he had not been a Jew, what would happen to the law, and even the promises that were given to Abraham? How carefully God made his plans concerning the coming of his son into the world. He must be made of a woman in order for the redemption of the whole human race to be accomplished. Then also he must be a Jew, made under the law. And why? Well, this was because being both a man and a Jew, God now was able to bring into the human race a far greater blessing, and that is the blessing of redemption. So Christ came as a man, and he came under the law. And what was God's object for it in verse five? Now note, to redeem them that were under the law. For God had chosen to put the Jew in a special place for particular reasons under the law, and though his earthly people brought great dishonor upon his name, yet without the law, through the death of Christ, God provided a better redemption for them, as well as for the Gentile sinners, by sending his son into the world. Now look at what Paul continues to declare. Christ in sinning, we read, Christ redeemed them that were under the law, and better still, that we might receive the adoption of sons, writes the apostle at the close of verse five. So by the coming of Christ and his redemptive work, the servitude, the bondage, and listen very carefully, the childhood of a believing Israelite under the law was ended. That believing Israelite became a son to enter into greater privileges that God gave through Christ. For God brings the believing Israelite into a new relationship and into a sphere of greater privileges. And yet we thank God, at the same time, he has brought the Gentile believers into the same blessing. And we shall note, and may I still repeat, there is a distinction as we read these first five verses and contrast what will follow as we read in verse six. For in verse six, Paul addresses his words to the Gentile saints, to the Galatian believers in a very direct way, he says, and because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Now, beloved, may I carefully state the first five verses of this fourth chapter of Galatians. Paul is distinctly dealing with his people, Israel, who were under the law, and revealing that Christ had to come to deliver Israel from under the curse of the law. And the apostle particularly relates the relationship to Israel under the expression, we Israelites, we were children under the law, but now under the grace of God by the gospel and through the coming in of Christ, the Son of God, who has redeemed us from the curse of the law, we who believed, we have been made sons. Oh, beloved, let us recognize what a great distinction. The law could not make them children of God, but the coming of Christ did. And certainly we can say that anyone today who will believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and receive him as their savior, to them he gives the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. The law could not make an Israelite a child of God in the present relationship that he may enjoy now. And the law cannot make any other person a God, but only through faith and by the grace of the Lord Jesus can we be made such. Father, we pray that we shall clearly understand that it is by grace alone and faith in the Lord Jesus we have made the children of God for his name's sake. Amen.