Galatians, Part 5

Posted by Michael Bunker
editor@lazarusunbound.com

CHAPTER 4

This chapter immediately resumes the theme and teaching from the last chapter, continuing on with Paul's point that if the Galatian professors truly belonged to Christ, then they were Abraham's spiritual seed and the heirs of the Faith according to the promise. Now, Paul begins a dissertation on what it is to be an heir, and expands the allegory, comparing the elect Jews to small children, in bondage under tutors and governors (the ceremonial laws and statutes) until the time when they are freed of such restraints and permitted to assume their birthright.

Paul continues a very in-depth explanation of the folly of those who have fallen prey to false teachings by false apostles; he begins this chapter with the very gracious supposition (verse 6) that these Galatians may indeed be Sons of God (although this is not a supposition that he maintains throughout the chapter or the book), he continues to warn them that they may not be saved at all, despite all of his best desires for them, and that his hope was that he had not bestowed work upon them in vain. The warnings in this chapter are very stark ones, and really bring to a climax Paul's case against both the legalists who were afflicting the Galatians, and the Judaistic teachings which seemed to already be pervasive this early in the life of the Church. Specifically, and by contrast, Paul then examines the birthright claims of the legalistic Jews, and proves by both scripture and logic that it is they who are the rejected of God (having rejected His Grace) and therefore are to be rejected by the Church. Paul's examination by allegory of the Jew's connection to physical Jerusalem and Mt. Sinai and thus with Hagar, unveils the shocking and revolutionary mystery that the legalistic Jews tied to physical Jerusalem and the ceremonial/sacrificial system were actually Ishmaelites (at least in Spirit, but likely in blood as well) and thus were not to be heirs with Spiritual Israel – The elect Church of Jesus Christ.


Verses 1-3 - 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

Paul again brings to the minds of the Galatians their understanding of how certain spiritual realities are mirrored in the practices and traditions of men. An heir, even of a mighty King, so long as he is a child and has not ascended to his birthright, is treated much like a servant, and is in bondage to teachers and governors until the time when the Father determines that he is to receive the inheritance. Likewise, the elect Jews, who were placed under the guardianship of the ceremonial law at Mt. Sinai, were kept in bondage to the law (which Paul calls “the elements of the world”). We examined in the last chapter just why the law was given (to restrain sin, and to expose the heart's condition and need), and here Paul says that until the appointed time was come when the types and shadows which pointed to Christ and the gracious works done by Him on the behalf of His elect co-heirs was full, that there was still a need for the types and shadows (or tutors and governors) for the purposes purposed according to God's will.


Verses 4-7 - 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. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ

When the appointed time did come, when the heirs of God were to receive the promise, God sent forth Jesus Christ as one born under the law, in order to redeem and unveil God's elect children, that they might receive the great news (the Gospel) that they were now being revealed as the Sons of God. Now, it is evident that although Christ was sent forth as the Son of God and the firstborn of many brethren (Rom. 8:29), and that He was made of a woman so that He could rightly stand in the place of all those who are subject to the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), that He was not sent to redeem all those (without exception) who were born under the law and subject to its curse; if He were, why would it be necessary to “mark” those who are truly the Sons of God by sending forth the Spirit of God into their hearts that they would see Jesus Christ and shout “Abba, Father” (which is to use the most familiar and affectionate term in order to identify ones Father)? It is plain that most of those who called themselves “Jews” and who followed the religion of the Jerusalem Jews, were not the elect “Sons of God”, because the Spirit of his Son was not manifest in their hearts, identifying Him as God and their Father. The scriptures here teach what Paul also taught in the letter to the Christians in Rome, that “...he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God (Rom 2:28-29)”. This lays the perfect, Biblical foundation for the claim that Paul will make later in this chapter concerning the real identity of those who “...say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan (Rev 2:9)”.

Those who have manifest the Spirit in their hearts by truly crying “Abba, Father” are now evidenced as the true heirs of Christ, and therefore they are no longer servants under the bondage of tutors and governors, but are heirs of God in Christ Jesus.


Verses 7-9 - Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But 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?

Paul now moves to a conclusion of this argument, and begins to transition into a stern rebuke of those who have fallen into the error of the Judaizers. He concludes that a man is no longer a household servant once he has been revealed as a son; and likewise, when a man has been revealed as a son of God, then he is reckoned among those who are heirs of the promises of God through Jesus Christ. In the last chapter, Paul revealed that the heirs of God in Christ were those who would receive the promises made to the seed of Abraham, and here we see that Paul is bringing this claim forward in order to emphasize the rebuke which will follow. Based on what has gone before, and assuming that some in the audience may indeed be sons and heirs of God, Paul brings forth a rhetorical question that is designed to make the Galatians feel ashamed for their behavior. Paul notes that back when they did not know God (this involves both the recognition and understanding of the true God, and the affection that is due Him), they did service unto them which by nature are no gods. This primarily gentile audience, who was once separated from God and from His covenant, had once served and worshiped things which were not gods at all. Most gentiles at the time had come from the worship of stones, statues, created things, beasts, even their rulers (Caesar worship), which by their very nature were not gods and could offer no benefit to the worshiper. Paul likens this “service” to bondage, and parallels the plight of these gentiles with that of the legalistic Jews, saying that these Galatians desire to be in bondage, though they have claimed to know God (or be known of Him). If they are truly known of God, why would they desire to return to a similar bondage from which they had been freed?

It is here that Paul refers to law-service as “the weak and beggarly elements”. These elements of the ceremonial law were unprofitable for righteousness, unable to save those who desired to come to God by them, where unable to give life to those who chose to serve them, and were ineffective for the removing of sin, for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin (Hebrews 10:4). The word “beggarly” has the connotation of one who is bent over from begging, poor and wretched. So I believe Paul is saying here, “Why would you go begging from a weak pauper when you are the son of God and an heir of God in Christ?” And Paul will now specifically list the ways in which these Galatians were begging at the foot of a pauper...


Verses 10-11 - Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain

This term “days, and months, and times, and years” has respect to the observances of the Jews as a work for salvation and righteousness sake. We see the parallel usage of this term in the Old Testament in 1 Chronicles 23:31 and 2 Chronicles 31:3 where they are called “Sabbaths, new moons, and set feasts” and in Colossians as “holy day”, “new moon”, and “Sabbaths”. This remark shows that the Galatians had been taught by false teachers to observe and keep these days as a form of meritorious work, salvific in nature (in like manner that they had claimed that no man might be saved without being circumcised). Now the keeping of days, months, times and years as some means of meriting salvation is utterly antithetical to true Christianity, and no apostle of God ever taught such a thing; so here is an opportunity for the Antinomians to utilize the words of God's apostle in order to wrest or twist what he is saying in order to make war against he moral law. Paul is not saying that the 4th commandment (or any other commandment) has been abrogated just because he is condemning the concept that any feasts, Sabbaths, holy days, or such things could have any basis or weight towards the meriting of salvation (which would be impossible). We know an enemy of God because they are constantly pitting one part of scripture against another, one apostle against another, or one true doctrine against another. Paul says here, “You Galatians are trying to merit salvation by observing Jewish days, traditions and practices! I am afraid for you, because I might have bestowed my own labor on you in vain”. So, once again, the legalist says, “You must do these things in order to be saved”, while the antinomian says, “Since you cannot be saved by any works, you must refrain from doing any – even if they are commanded elsewhere in scripture”. Neither of these positions are true. We are responsible to be obedient to the commandments of God, yet none of our obediences are valid claims (or liens) on God's salvation, which is a gift and is bestowed according to His will and plan and not according to the works of men.


Verses 12-16 - Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

Paul here encourages the Galatians, and takes a bit of a pause to begin to remind them of his long service among them, and of their previous strong affections towards him and towards his ministry. He wants them to know that they have not caused him harm, though what they have done has been a grievous sin indeed, but it has been a sin against God and not against him. He says these things to preface his attempts to get them to see how far they have fallen from their early affections towards him and the Gospel he preached among them.

The Galatians had once received Paul as if he were Christ Himself, and despite his infirmities and weaknesses they had not despised or rejected him at all, rather, they had received him as a blessed messenger of God. What had happened in the interim? How far had their affections fallen from him? Where once they had been willing, if he had required it, to pluck out their own eyes (in a figure) and give them to Paul, now it was evident that their love for him had grown cold, and they stood in doubt of him as an apostle and as a friend. So Paul, having proved his point concerning the place of the law in the life of the Christian, now asks them the crucial question, “Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” Now this is a curious thing, and we ought to spend some time examining it. How quickly do affections wane? How quickly do those who once thronged Paul at the preaching of the Gospel, now turn from him as if he were no messenger of God at all? We have seen this so many times that it is sad to even report it. So many, who once thanked and blessed God for the ministry of the Gospel through a chosen vessel, quickly reject that same vessel when they feel the message gets to close to their own sins. We are told that during this very age, when Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians, that the prophesy of Jesus was being fulfilled. Paul, the Apostles and disciples had been persecuted from city to city, rejected, slandered, etc. What did Jesus say would happen? In the Gospel of Matthew, immediately after Christ said that the Apostles would be hated and persecuted, he says this:

And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Mat 24:10-13).

Here we have a case where the love of the professing Christians has grown cold. False prophets have deceived many, and those who have been deceived by treacherous men, and who are now offended by the preaching of the true Gospel have now turned on Paul to hate him just because he told them the truth. We know that if it was that way in the 1st century, that we can expect it to be worse today. Every true ministry can say that those who have been the most glowing in their effusions of praise, the most insistent in their declarations of respect and admiration for the ministry, are often those who will turn and attack the minister the most ferociously when the truth begins to cut them in their consciences. For us particularly, we can say that those who now hate us or who have rejected us the most violently or publicly, are those who we fed and clothed, not just with the Gospel, but actually and physically as well. Those to whom we have delivered the fullness of the gospel, and who have supped at our table, and who have partaken of our supplies or materials – these are those who have been the most offended and violently angry at the ministry when we would not soothe their wounded consciences or gloss over their sins. So we can say with the Apostle, that we have become the enemy of many because we have been willing to tell them the truth. But how many people ever study the implications of this? If we are made the enemy of many for the truth's sake, then it can be said that many are friends (in professing “christianity”) for the sake of a lie. If Paul has gained enemies by telling them the truth, then we know that friends are easily made by telling lie. It is based on this interesting fact that we see that false prophets and false pastors thrive in the last days, and why God's servants suffer so many indignities it would be heartbreaking just to list them. We would all do well to study these several verses and pray that we have not become enemies with God's servants because we would not hear the truth.


Verses 17-18 - They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you

These verses can be easily misunderstood if we do not examine the right understanding of the word “affect” here. In this context, Paul is using the word “affect” in a way that the word is not often used today. The definition of the word “affect” here is: “to love, or regard with fondness”. Paul is saying that these false prophets have zealously shown affection or fondness towards the Galatians, “but not well”, meaning that they have done this for a false or suspicious purpose. They have shown great affection for the Galatians that they might exclude them (or exclude them from the affections of Paul and vice-versa), that their affections would be towards the false apostles and not towards Paul (their earthly father in the faith).

Paul is not condemning zeal. He would encourage zealous affections so long as they are in a good cause, but this cause that has so afflicted the Galatians with error is not good at all. Paul encourages zealous affections, like the affections the Galatians had for the truth and for him while he was with them. Concerning their falling from this true zealous affection, the commentator Albert Barnes said this:

“It seems to me that there is great adroitness and great delicacy of irony in this remark; and that the apostle intends to remind them as gently as possible, that it would have been as well for them to have shown their zeal in a good cause when he was absent, as well as when he was with them. The sense may be, “You were exceedingly zealous in a good cause when I was with you. You loved the truth; you loved me. Since I left you, and as soon almost as I was out of your sight, your zeal died away, and your ardent love for me was transferred to others. Allow me to remind you, that it would be well to be zealous of good when I am away, as well as when I am with you. There is not much true affection in that which dies away as soon as a man’s back is turned.” The doctrine is, that true zeal or love will live alike when the object is near and when it is removed; when our friends are present with us, and when they leave us; when their eye is upon us, and when it is turned away.” (Albert Barnes Commentary)


Verses 19-20 - My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you

Here Paul begins to bring to a climax both his rebuke and chastisement of the Galatians, and his condemnation of the Judaizing party. In doing so, Paul will give the clearest declaration yet about just who is the Israel of God, and how the true Israel is commanded to act towards all Judaizers. This transition is a very dramatic one, as Paul uses a very heartwarming and affectionate term for the Galatians, calling them “little children”, even as he asserts that he must travail again with them as woman giving birth. Paul desires more than anything that “Christ be formed” in these Galatian professors, but now he stands in doubt of them and their conversion and must travail again with them that they might believe the truth of the Gospel and show themselves to be the saved and elect of God. Paul says, “I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice”, which is to say that he desires that they would be able to see him and the seriousness with which he commands them to put off their former foolishness and return to the basics of the faith that had once been delivered to them.


Verses 21-23 - Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise

So Paul enters into his climactic dissertation concerning the place and eventual destination of those who are under (or who desire to be under) the law as a covenant of works and as a means of attaining righteousness. These passages do not condemn those who are under obligation to the moral law as a means that is just and holy and beneficial to our wellbeing and our witness; they speak to those who desire to be under the law as a covenant of works towards salvation and righteousness, and it is to these people that Paul will issue this challenge. You who seem to desire to be under the law, do you not hear what is written in the law? The illustration that follows will be very important for us to understand. Is it not written in the same law that these legalists were imposing on the Galatians that Abraham had two sons? Did not Abraham have a son by a bondmaid (Hagar), and the other by a freewoman (Sarah)? Is it not true that Ishmael was born “after the flesh”, and Isaac was born “by promise”?

  1. Ishmael was born after Sarai and Abram agreed to take matters into their own hands regarding the promised son, and they went outside God's proscribed means and ways to produce a son for Abram in his old age. Ishmael was born “after the flesh” (Genesis 16).

  1. Isaac was the child promised by God, and was a child of miracle and not of the flesh.


Verses 24-26 - Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all

Paul proves that the signs given in the Old Testament law were an allegory that we should continue to look to and apply today. There are two covenants, two mountains, two Jerusalems, and two people who claim to be the people and “Church” of God:

System 1 – In this system we find the covenant of works and of the flesh, and in it we find elements or parallels to the ceremonial and sacrificial law given at Mt. Sinai, and it includes ANY belief system that teaches that some type of works are necessary to gain salvation. This System looks towards the actual, physical city of Jerusalem as its holy city, and is in bondage to this very day. In this system we find:

  1. Islam

  2. Judaism

  3. Roman Catholicism

  4. Most of the modern cults

  5. Arminianism

  6. The Charismatic Movement

  7. The Post-Modern Churches

  8. Christian Zionism

  9. Dispensationalism

Since virtually all of these religious systems deny Predestination, Election, and the Sovereignty of God over all elements of salvation, we can determine that they are spiritual sons of Hagar, and are Ishmaelites, and are of physical Jerusalem, and are in bondage to this day.

System 2 – In this system we find the Covenant of Promise made by the Sovereign God of the Universe with His Son Jesus Christ, and all those who are IN HIM by election according to the good pleasure and will of God Almighty. This system rejects any system of works as efficacious towards salvation. This system is of Abraham, and Isaac through Sarah; is of Mt. Zion and not Mt. Sinai, and is of the New Jerusalem, which is spiritual and above, and not of the physical Jerusalem which is corrupt and wicked. The children of this system are the children of the promise, and are free and not in bondage with the children of System 1.

Ishmael and Isaac are signs for us... symbols of man's dealings with God. Just as Abel pleased God by offering spiritual sacrifice while his brother Cain could only offer a sacrifice of his own works, Ishmael is a sign (and the product of) man trying to 'help God' by the flesh, while Isaac is the product of God's work towards Himself for His own glory. Physical Jerusalem and those who look to her today is in bondage to this day to the false religious systems that corrupt men and blaspheme God. Spiritual Jerusalem is from above, and is of the Promise, and is the home of those who put off works as a means of salvation and right standing, and who obey God (and the moral law) by Spirit and Truth.


Verses 27-29 - For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now; The promise, then, is made to the spiritual sons of Abraham through Sarah, to whom a promise was made that she would have a son in her old age, while she was barren and beyond childbearing years, and Isaac is the physical sign of that promise, a symbol of those who would come to God by promise and not by the flesh. And just as it is true that the spiritual son was persecuted by the fleshly son, we can expect that the true Church of God will be persecuted by the false religious system that has physical Jerusalem as its center and home.

Please pay attention, because I cannot emphasize this enough. One of the greatest deceptions of our day is that the false, modernist religious system is teaching that it is persecuted and that it must therefore be protected by the state. In fact, this apostate religious system calling itself “christianity” has taken control over many elements of the State by political action, just as the physical Jews have taken control of many elements of the world government through political action. These religions, all part of System 1 described by Paul here in Galatians, are those who have historically persecuted the true Church of God! So, now we see they have vast political power to impose their wills upon the world. The political system in power in Amerika today is controlled by Jews and Christian Zionists, and they are engaging in “inquisition” and “crusade” the world over, the beginnings of which we see around us even now. The persecution prophesied by God in the Bible is persecution against the true Church by religiousites (centered spiritually in physical Jerusalem) who hate God's sovereign grace and election. Please take the time to study this and pray about it, and you will be protected from the pervasive deception that surrounds us even today.


Verses 30-31 - Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free; Paul refers directly to Genesis 21:10 which is the words of Sarah to Abraham concerning the disposition of Hagar and Ishmael. Though they were to receive some temporal blessings and promises from God, they were not to be heirs of the promise with Isaac and his spiritual progeny. Therefore they were to be “cast out”. John Gill says this concerning this casting out of the bondwoman and her son:

“The casting of Hagar and Ishmael out of Abraham's family was a type and emblem of the rejection of the carnal and self-righteous Jews from the Gospel church state; nor ought any carnal persons, any that are after the flesh, unregenerate ones, or that trust to their own righteousness, to be in a Gospel church; as they will also be excluded and thrust out of the kingdom of heaven, into which no unregenerate and unrighteous, or self-righteous persons shall enter.” (John Gill Commentary)

We can see that this type, explained so well by Paul, literally instructs us to separate from all of those people, things, and institutions within the legalistic system (System 1), and that those who are still a part of that system who are among us should be cast out from among us as the true Church of God. This false system of religion, which is directed and controlled now by the Antichrist (Romanism) and the False Prophet (modern apostate Protestantism) is all around us, and currently controls the political and cultural system of the world. We are commanded to separate from it, and put the remnants of it away from ourselves.

So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free; So, those of us who are the brethren of Christ, and the children of spiritual Jerusalem, and the Sons of God - we ought to be free of the bondage of the world system, and we ought to rebuke it by our separation from it, and purify ourselves of its influences, that we might glorify our God who has loved us enough to show us the truth, and to free us from the systems of this wicked world.

In the next Chapter, Paul will build some more on his case, and will have several specific and beneficial instructions for the people of God, and he will show us how to better identify the fruit of the first, corrupt system of religion and living, and how to identify the spiritual fruit of God's true system and His Kingdom.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker