Study of Galatians Part 11 - Galatians 4:8-20

Last week, we heard Paul saying again that God’s Law has important functions, but that we can never be saved by trying to do what it says well enough. That is an impossible task, except for Jesus, who did it all perfectly in our place. Now, no matter who we are, we can be “Abraham’s (spiritual) offspring, heirs” of eternal life, and “sons,” children of God, “through God” and “by faith” in what he has done for us through the saving work of His Son, Jesus Christ. All this is ours, personally, “through faith” that God gives us, through His Word and promises and the gift of baptism (Galatians 3:23-4:7).

Beginning with Galatians 4:8, Paul reminded the Galatians of what they had been before they “came to know God.” They had been “enslaved” to false ideas and to what are “not gods,” though they thought they were gods. (Read, for example, Acts 14:6-18, where Paul had earlier gone to Lystra, in Galatia, and had preached the “Gospel” of Jesus and also healed a man “crippled from birth.” The people were so amazed that they thought Barnabas was the god, Zeus, and Paul was the god, Hermes, as “the chief speaker.” Even the “priest of Zeus” wanted to offer sacrifices to them, as gods. Paul had to try to convince them that he was an ordinary man, but was proclaiming the One True "living God who made all things.”)

In Galatians 4:9, Paul reminded the Galatians of how they “had come to know God” - or as Paul said, “rather, to be known by God.” (See how Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 8:2-3 and in 1 Corinthians 13:12.) He is emphasizing that the Galatians had come to true faith in Jesus; but that did not happen by their own work or effort. God Himself had known them and loved them and brought them to that faith in Him, by His grace.

Skip ahead to Galatians 4:12-15. Paul also reminded the Galatians of how open and kind and helpful they had been in accepting him and his good news in Christ, even though he had “a bodily ailment” when he was “preaching the Gospel to them at first.” We don’t know exactly what this bodily ailment was. Some think that Paul had malaria and needed time to recuperate in the better climate of Galatia and so came there to preach, even in his weakness.  Others think that Paul had eye problems and that is why Galatians 4:15 says that the people would have been willing, if it were possible and would help, to gouge their eyes out and give them to Paul to use. Still others point to Acts 14:15-23, where Paul was stoned and left for dead by crowds stirred up by Jewish enemies of Paul. It was surely a miracle that Paul could still get up and go on with his ministry in Galatia, though he must have looked very bruised and beaten. He was a living example of what he was preaching, “encouraging the people to continue in the faith” in Jesus, even though there might be “many tribulations” in their lives before “entering the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:20-22).

Whatever the situation, Paul writes to the Galatians in Galatians 4:14, “Though my condition was a trial for you, you did not scorn or despise me, but you received me as an angel of God,” as His messenger, almost as if Christ Jesus Himself was speaking to them. The people had “felt so blessed” to hear this Good News of salvation earned by Jesus and given to them by God’s grace through faith.

Because of all this, Paul was surprised and “perplexed” (Galatians 4:20) that the Galatians had so quickly listened to the false teachers who came by. These teachers were clever, as “they made much of” the Galatians and must have flattered them, but “for no good purpose” (Galatians 4:17). They were offering new ideas, but actually taking away the Galatians’ freedom and hope in Christ alone and enslaving them in another way, not a slavery to unreal Greek and Roman gods, but slavery to worldly Jewish rules and regulations which the Judaizers, the false teachers, said they must follow if they really wanted to be saved (Galatians 4:9).

Paul knew exactly what this meant, because he had been enslaved to these sorts of Jewish laws and rules himself, before he became a Christian. Circumcision was absolutely required for all males. The Sabbath Day, sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, had to be followed strictly, with no work allowed and many other limitations. Festivals like Passover and the Day of Atonement had to be followed. There were years like the year of Jubilee and on and on.

That is what Paul was referring to when he said, “You observe days and months and seasons and years” (Galatians 4:10). He said to the Galatians, “Brothers, I entreat you, became as I am” - free from all these rules and regulations as a necessary means for obtaining salvation (Galatians 4:12). Paul had Christ Jesus as His Savior, and that was enough.

Paul was afraid that he might have “labored over the Galatians in vain.” That is why he had to tell the Galatians “the truth” again and again in this letter, even if he seemed like an “enemy” of some.  (Galatians 4:11-14).. Christ Jesus’ completed work was enough for salvation. Paul wanted the Galatians to be sure about that key truth again. He knew that only God could bring faith and new life to people, so that they become “His little children.”

But Paul also wished that he could be an instrument by which “Christ might be formed" more strongly in the Galatians and in other people, too (Galatians 4:19). That would happen by God’s Word and promises, centered in Jesus, though, and not by Jewish rules and regulations.

Next week, we will hear of another example of the difference between Gospel promises and Jewish law; and we will think about what an “allegory” really is. The Lord’s continued blessings.