Paul Perplexed on Principle

Gal 4:8-20 Paul Perplexed on Principle

Let’s open our bibles to Galatians 4. We will pick up where we left off last week.

While you turn there, let’s recall the immediate context.

Over the past 2 weeks, we have looked at Paul’s description of Israel’s history as God’s covenant community. Paul spoke of Israel as a people in terms of a life-span of a person. A person is conceived, born, is an infant, then a child, then matures into adulthood. In the Greco-roman culture, a child was under a pedagogue, a slave who was essentially part of the family who would be responsible for teaching and disciplining the child. This role lasted only until the child reached adulthood. Then, the child was a mature adult and the role of the pedagogue was no longer necessary.

Israel went through this same cycle of life. The 1500 year period of God’s covenant community defined by ethnicity, in the promised land, worshiping at a physical temple, circumcising the flesh, under the Law represented Israel’s childhood. So for Israel, the Law was the pedagogue that taught and disciplined Israel throughout childhood. When the time had fully come, in the first century, a ripe time in redemptive history, Israel was on the brink of adulthood and the role of the pedagogue was becoming obsolete and unnecessary. Once Israel reached full maturity in Christ, the Law was no longer necessary.

Further, Paul discusses inheritance. True Israel would receive the true inheritance. Christ is the true Israel, thus, those in Christ are the true Israel and they would receive the true inheritance, which was the kingdom. But, a child cannot receive the inheritance – he would squander it – he isn’t mature enough to manage it. So a child is under guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. For Israel, the Law was that guardian & trustee that was in place till the time set by the father. Then, when the time had fully come, the first century, Israel was approaching adulthood, maturity, and was ready to receive the inheritance – the kingdom.

In the first century, Israel was moving from childhood to adulthood and was ready to shed the child-conductor manifest by the Law. Israel was ready to move out from under the supervision of the guardian-trustee manifest by the Law. The Law had served its purpose and Israel was ready to be a mature adult.

It is interesting that Paul called Israel’s time under law a time of slavery to elementary principles.

On that note, look with me beginning in verse 1. We walked through this text last week, so we won’t spend time unpacking the substance of it, as I have already reviewed that. What I want you to do this time is pay close attention to the pronouns.

It is very important to pay attention to pronouns when reading the Scriptures. We, us, you, them, they. Each of those pronouns points to a specific person or people and in order to rightly divide the word, we must rightly assign pronouns.

For example, We can sometimes mean

• We Christians
• We Jews
• We apostles
• We, Paul, Silas and Timothy

Context will determine who “we” refers to. It will determine who “you” refers to.

So let’s read back through last week’s text while paying special attention to the pronouns.

Galatians 4:

¹ What I (Paul) am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he (the heir) is no different from a slave, although he (the heir) owns the whole estate.² He (the heir) is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his (the heir’s) father. ³ So also, when we (Israel) were children, we (Israel) were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. ⁴But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, ⁵ to redeem those under law (Israel), that we (Israel) might receive the full rights of sons. (So far so good. Paul is referring to what he and the rest of Israel experienced as God’s covenant community. Thus far, it’s been we, Israel. Now in v6, we have a shift – a change in pronouns) ⁶Because you (Gentile Galatians who believe) are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our (we who believe, both Jew and Gentile) hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ So you (Gentile Galatians who believe) are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you (Gentile Galatians who believe) are a son, God has made you (Gentile Galatians who believe) also an heir.

That switch is interesting. Paul had been saying that Israel was in slavery under the Law to the elementary principles. The Gentiles were not. The Gentiles were not in slavery under the Law, only “WE” Israel was. Yet, in verse 7, Paul says, so YOU are no longer a slave, but a son. That sounds like a leap. How did he go from saying “we Jews” were slaves under the elementary principles of law but now are sons in Christ, to saying that you Gentiles are no longer a slave, but a son?

He’s about to connect those dots for us. Let’s continue in v8

Gal 4:8-20 ⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 

Paul says when you didn’t know God, before you became a Christian, you Gentiles were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. He is referring to their former practices of Pagan religion, bowing down to idols and false gods. Just as the Jews were in slavery to the Law, the Gentiles were in slavery to a false religion of their own in which they worshiped those who they called Gods but weren’t really gods. An idol is nothing at all – deaf, dumb, mute. It is fashioned by the hands of men. By nature it is creation, not Creator. If there is anything at all behind what these pagans once worshiped it was demonic (1 Cor 10).

When you didn’t know God, you also were slaves to something else – those who by nature are not gods. He continues:

⁹ But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 

At one point, before you knew God, you were slaves, but, now you know God. Through Christ, they came to know God. He inserts an interesting phrase here – or rather are known by God.

Perhaps Paul is making the following point. Track with me. Let’s say that you met Vanilla Ice at an airport or at a concert. Let’s say that you talked with him and he even autographed his album for you. So you come back boasting, “I know Vanilla Ice.” I met him, I know him. Do you know how many people have met Vanilla Ice? Do you know how many people boast that they know Vanilla Ice? The real question is not do you know Vanilla Ice, but does Vanilla Ice know you? If he saw you today, would he say, I know that girl, that’s my kinfolk? Or would he say, “I’m sorry, I’ve met so many people, I don’t remember you. I don’t know you.” Everyone knows Vanilla Ice. His name has been made known through VH1, MTV, BET, the radio. But he doesn’t know everyone who claims to know him.

In the same way, everyone knows Jehovah. His name has been made great through all of his mighty acts and deeds in history. The real question is not do you know God, but does He know you? Or would he say, “Away from me you worker of iniquity; I never knew you”?

Perhaps that is what Paul is indicating here. It’s one thing to know God – everybody kinda does. But it’s really something for God to know you.

Before you knew God, you were slaves to false gods and the practices of your pagan religion.

⁹ But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 

The same word Paul used to speak of the elementary principles of the Law, he now uses to refer to the A,B,C’s of their false religion in pagan worship. And he says that they (Galatians) were enslaved to them. In other words,

• you were slaves to the elementary principles of paganism
• then you were redeemed from that slavery and made free in Christ
• you went from slave status to son status.
• now, you are letting the Judaizers put the elementary principles of Judaism on you.

You went from slavery to elementary principles of paganism to freedom in Christ back to slavery to elementary principles – this time under Judaism instead of paganism.

The elementary principles of their false religion in paganism were works of the flesh. By them, the people sought favor with God (the gods) and tried to be in relationship with Him, but the works of the flesh don’t produce a relationship with God. Those elementary principles fall short.

In the same way, the elementary principles of Judaism were works of the flesh by which the Jews sought favor with God and tried to be in relationship with Him. But works of the flesh don’t produce a relationship with God. Those elementary principles fall short.

So the elementary principles of the world refer to works of the flesh and encompass the elementary principles of paganism and Judaism. They fall under the same heading of those things that people do in the flesh to try to be in relationship to God, but fall short.

The only thing that produces relationship with God is Jesus. He sheds light on what he means here in v10.

¹⁰ You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 

Quote from Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Paul marvels that they should wish to revert to the slavery brought on by fear of cosmic powers – such as the star deities that once ruled their lives – by imposing a regime of observing “special days” when good luck may be expected for an enterprise (a typical sentiment of Greco-Roman religion with its recourse to magic, omens, and horoscope predictions). Their interest was in what “days” were good for business or travel or marriage and which “seasons” were favored by the gods to produce fertile ground for harvest yield.”

They went from that to freedom in Christ, to now following the special days, months, seasons and years in Judaism. Sabbath Days, feast days, New moon celebration.

They are now doing the same thing they were doing as pagans – celebrating special days, months and seasons and years as works of the flesh as if they could bring the Galatians into relationship with God. These elementary principles of the world cannot – only Christ can.

¹¹ I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. Imagine if I was a slave to Adam. And Dustin came along and showed me how I could get my freedom. He taught me how to plead my case in court and what I needed to do to become free; he worked hard to help free me. So my freedom was secured and I was no longer a slave to Adam. Then Dustin went away and I met Josh and became his slave.

• You were a slave to Adam.
• I essentially freed you.
• Now you’re a slave to Josh?
• You went from slavery to freedom, back to slavery.
• You’re a slave again only with a different master.

That would be frustrating. He would feel like he wasted his efforts.

Paul feels the same way.

At this point Paul appeals to the lifestyle produced in them by believing the gospel.

 ¹² I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong. ¹³ As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 

This illness seems to pertain to his eyes based on some of the context.

¹⁴ Even though my illness was a trial to you, An illness can certainly be a trial for those who interact with the ill. Back in February, Bre and the girls went to California on vacation. I had the house all clean and ready for them to come home. I was looking forward to seeing and spending quality time with my family. They came home with a present from California – the flu. I had to miss a day of work (without pay), take my family to the doctor. The house that was spotless became littered with suitcases and stuff from the trip and Bre was too sick to do anything. It was a bit of a trial to me.

Paul had an illness and it was a trial to the Galatians. But look at how they responded.

¹⁴ Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. The Galatians served him joyfully and self-sacrificially – with love.

 ¹⁵ What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. (there’s that reference to the eyes)

Again, he is pointing to the type of life produced by the gospel: a life of joy and selfless love –a life of joyful self-sacrifice for the sake of others.

What has happened to all your joy? He knows the answer. The Law happened to it. Legalism kills joy.

It is as if Paul is saying, “I preached the gospel. You believed it, received it with joy.” We are no longer slaves to the pagan gods and the false religion. We now know God and have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. That produced in the Galatians this amazing outlook on life.

Remember when you got saved, how thankful you were to those who shared the gospel with you? When I got saved, I was on a 10-year trek to find the girl named Crystal Hamn who shared the gospel with me in 7^th grade so that I could thank her.

No doubt, they were thankful that Paul had shared the truth with them. But the Judaizers twisted it all up and said, no…Paul didn’t share the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He forgot some stuff. Let me tell you the whole scoop. And they painted Paul in a bad light. So he says in v16 ¹⁶ Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

 ¹⁷ Those people are zealous to win you over, What people? You know, those people. Who are those people? The Judaizers. This right here is why it is so important to know the story behind the Scriptures. If you just jump into Galatians 4 and start reading, you come across “those people” and you don’t know who those people are. In order to understand Paul’s argument you have to understand the context of the letter. Here we go again, “Paul preached the gospel to the Galatians and they believed. Then after he left, some people – those people – came through – the Judaizers, saying that these gentile believers must, in addition to faith in Christ, circumcise the flesh and obey the Law of Moses.” If you don’t understand the greater context, you won’t properly interpret the text. You must know the story behind the Scripture.

 ¹⁷ Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. Their intentions were bad. They wanted to paint Paul in a bad light and gain followers of themselves, not true followers of Jesus. They wanted the Galatians to be zealous for them.

¹⁸ It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you.  Paul says, hey, being zealous isn’t a bad thing, but the zeal needs to be based on the right thing and it needs to be consistent and not fluctuate based on who is around.

¹⁹ My dear children, This is a refreshing change of tone. We can see Paul’s heart and the love that he has for them. Look what he calls them – my dear children.

Remember how he started chapter 3? You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you???

That’s a parent for you. Those who have children of your own understand how Paul must feel to see his spiritual children going astray from the way he taught them.

By spiritual children, I mean those who Paul saw come to Christ through his ministry. He considered them his children in the faith. Just as our biological or adopted children are precious to us as parents, there is a deep love that Paul has for his spiritual children.

That deep love can lead to pain and frustration when the spiritual children depart from the truth and are led astray after having poured truth into them and cared so deeply for them. We see that in Paul.

¹⁹ My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, Now, he builds on this idea of spiritual children who he spiritually gave birth to.

Giving birth is not an easy process. It can be painful. I can only imagine. I have watched my wife do it 3 times and it doesn’t look fun. It’s similar with giving birth to spiritual children. There are labor pains so to speak as you work through their doubts and questions and struggles as his or her paradigm shifts from me-centric to God-centered. It’s a process, much like giving birth.

Paul is conveying the idea, “We’ve been through this. I thought Christ was already formed in you. I thought I had already given birth to you, but apparently, we need to start the process all over again. These Judaizers have put you back in the spiritual womb and I am again in the pains of childbirth.”

²⁰ how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

Paul mentions changing his tone. It seems that at this point he has become aware of how his tone may come across. (you foolish Galatians!!!) Tone is difficult in letters. He wants to be with them face to face to communicate these frustrations so that they can see his expression of love for them.

²⁰ how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you! Paul, in his love for his spiritual children is perplexed. How can he not be? He has brought them out of slavery and into freedom in Christ. He is now finding out that they are putting themselves back into slavery only under a different master, the Law.

This is perplexing, indeed.

In Galatians 4:8-20 Paul does 2 things:

1. Shows that going to Law is like going back to slavery (equating Judaism to Paganism in its inability to create relationship with God). Powerful argument in Paul’s arsenal.
2. Shows his heart. He is truly and deeply concerned for his children in the faith.

Now let’s draw out some abiding principles from the text.

The first thing I think we see in the text is a sense of universal slavery. Not only were the Jews in slavery to the Law of Moses, these Gentiles were enslaved to the false gods and elementary principles of their pagan religion. There is a sense in which anyone who is not in Christ is enslaved and that true freedom is only found in Christ.

2 Pet 2:19 A man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

In my life, I have been a slave to:

• Cars
• Clothes
• Girls
• Music
• Success
• Alcohol
• Tobacco
• SELF

Those things had mastery over me. I was a slave to them. They consumed my mind and drove my actions.

In our text, Paul is teaching that a believer is free in Christ and should not return to slavery. Slavery is not a favorable condition. Freedom is. If we are not careful, we may become enslaved again. This is a slippery slope and requires wisdom and discernment.

This is what I mean. I mentioned earlier that at one point I was enslaved to alcohol. If this isn’t carefully articulated, it may come across like “anything you did BC is slavery – don’t do it.” You were a slave to alcohol, don’t drink. Hang on. This is where wisdom and discernment are necessary. While I was a slave to alcohol, you may not have ever been. I was in school and all I could think about was how I was going to get one of the older guys in class to take me to the liquor store to buy booze after class and how drunk I was going to get. I couldn’t have fun at a function unless I was drinking. It had mastery over me. I was a slave to alcohol. That’s different from having an occasional drink. There is freedom in Christ to drink alcohol responsibly. Not to get drunk but to drink. To say don’t drink is now to impose a Law – and that would be a form of slavery.

In Christ, we must function in the realm of freedom. BUT While operating in freedom and exercising our Christian liberty, we must also not let such things have mastery over us. We must not say, I am free in Christ to drink and then allow drinking to enslave us.

That’s just one example, but hopefully it illustrates the point. We are all different and have different walks of life, so we should all:

• examine our own hearts and
• act on our own convictions – not imposing those on others,
• being sensitive to the Holy Spirit,

so that in wisdom we can discern what may be vying for mastery over us. The goal is freedom.

A good litmus test is to ask yourself, “Can I do without this?” If not, you may be a slave to that particular thing. But again, be careful not to impose a law on yourself in the process. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Believers should, in wisdom and discernment, identify that which enslaves, remove it and be free.

The next abiding principle I’d like to draw out is that the gospel creates joyous, loving, self-sacrificing servants. Look at the way Paul points to the Galatians’ interactions with him when he was ill. They didn’t treat him with scorn or contempt, but welcomed him. They would have torn out their eyes and given them to him.

The gospel message says, Jesus did for you what you have been trying to do and couldn’t. Jesus is for you everything you have been searching for but have never found. When someone believes the gospel message, the result is a life change. It is a paradigm shift in which one says it used to be all about me, but now, I realize that’s wrong. It’s all about God. He did something amazing for me in Christ and now I am just bursting at the seams with gratitude and I can never do anything to pay Him back, but I sure do want to serve Him. How can I express this gratitude? Do you need anything? What can I do for you? Your eyes are jacked up? If I could tear mine out, you could have them. The gospel results in an overwhelming joy, an attitude of gratitude and a love marked by selfless sacrifice and service.

And look what happened when the Judaizers rolled through and put them under the law. It killed their joy. Legalism kills joy. The focus becomes inward on what I did or didn’t do. If I did well and could check off all the boxes today, I’ll probably be puffed up with pride and boast in my flesh. If I fall short and fail to check off a box, it’s woe is me, condemnation and self loathing. Legalism kills joy and shifts the focus from God and others to self.

The gospel cultivates joy. The gospel cultivates an attitude of gratitude. The gospel cultivates a lifestyle of love marked by self-sacrifice and service.

Next abiding principle: We must know the story behind the Scripture. Every passage has a story behind it. It’s not as if Paul said, I like the Scriptures and all, but they’re getting kinda old. I think I’ll sit down and just write a New Testament. The NT was compiled of writings that were occasional. They were written because of certain occasions. Paul wrote this particular letter to remedy the ill-effects of the Judaizers. That is important to know in all of your reading of Scripture. Know the story behind the Scriptures.

Why is this is such an important precept? If we don’t know the story behind the Scripture, if we don’t understand the context, that will lead to wrong interpretation. Wrong interpretation leads to wrong application. In order to make right application, we need proper interpretation, thus we need to know the story behind the Scripture. Otherwise you might get hurt real bad like I did last week when I thought Phil 4:13 meant that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, even a quadruple backflip off the top of my 2^nd story roof. Know the story behind the Scripture.

The next abiding precept is zeal is only good when it is based on truth, when the purpose is good and when it is consistent.

Zeal can be great. But sometimes zeal is based on falsehood and misdirected. That can be extremely harmful. Consider Saul of Tarsus before the Damascus road. He was zealous for the traditions of his fathers and zealously persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. That zeal was harmful. It was not based on truth. Its purpose was not good.

Zeal should first and foremost be based on truth. You can be zealous for the end of the world on May 21, 2011. What good is that, when it’s not based on truth? It’s no good. It cost jobs and assets and reputations and ended in disappointment. We should only be zealous for truth. The purpose must be good and it should be consistent.

So let’s use wisdom and discernment to determine what things in our lives can be enslaving. As those who are free in Christ, let’s enjoy that freedom, but not allow that freedom to lead to slavery.

Let’s exercise our freedom to live the life that the gospel naturally produces – a life of joy, a life of love marked by self-sacrificial service to others.

Let’s know the story behind the Scriptures so we can interpret the Scriptures rightly, and thus make right application.

And let’s base our zeal on the truth with good purpose and consistency that we might bring glory to God.