Galatians 4:6-10

 

Gal 4:6 (KJB)

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

 

Since we have been adopted into the family of God, God sent forth the Spirit of Christ to live in our hearts. This is another name for the Holy Spirit and because He dwells in us as true children of God, we are allowed, by this relationship, to call God “Father.” The word “Abba” is an Aramaic term which carries with it the meaning of “daddy.” We have such an intimate relationship with God that we are able to view Him in the manner of our Daddy. This word signifies that we have a family relationship with God, even though we have been adopted into His family, it is like we have been born into rather than placed there by adoption. In other words, the believer has an intimate relationship with God that the rest of the world does not have.

 

Gal 4:7 (KJB)

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

 

Servant - Slave

 

Now that we have come to the saving knowledge of Christ through grace alone and have been placed into the family of God by adoption, we are no longer slaves under the law of God but instead we are like the heir who has reached the age of inheritance and is now a full heir. As sons of God we are entitled to the full rights of family membership as if we were born into that family. As the verse states, we do not just inherit a family but because of Christ, we inherit God Himself, that is why we may call Him “Abba.” I think this is explained better in the following verse. (Gen 15:1 KJV) After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Abraham not only inherited a tract of land from the Lord, but because of faith, Abraham received God as his great reward. How much more can a person ask for who was once a lost sinner and now is a Saint with God as their Father and great reward. This means we will inherit all the promises of God according to His will and heaven itself will be our eternal abode.

 

Gal 4:8 (KJB)

Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

 

Ye did service - You were enslaved

 

Now Paul speaks to the Gentiles and reminds them that when they were still unsaved (and one cannot know God in an unsaved state) and were serving idols such as Artemis or Chemosh, they were in essence, enslaved to them. This is like today where millions of people are enslaved to false religions and serving gods of their own making. They may think that they are worshipping God but their own systems of religion create a god in their own image. (John 4:21-22 KJV) Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. {22} Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. Just like the Samaritan woman who thought that she was worshipping God, Jesus assures her that she does not know who she worships. Paul had stated that even though the Gentiles were worshipping these false images, they were not real gods just figments of man’s religious imagination. These false religions were designed to enslave people to a religious system and to get them to work their whole lives within that system. I remember a good line that Yul Brynner, as Pharaoh in The Ten Commandments, said to Charlton Heston as Moses, “What gods? You prophets and priests made the gods so you can prey on the fears of men.” How true this is of false religion when someone concocts a system of religion and forces their adherents to continue in it by threats and coercion built into the false system. The false religions tend to create a false, non-existent god to fit right into the false teachings. Of course, we know the Bible teaches that there is only one God in three persons and no other gods exist in the universe except the ones created by man’s satanically guided imagination.

 

Gal 4:9 (KJB)

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?

 

Beggarly - Destitute or poor

Elements - Fundamental principles or rudiments (in series)

 

Paul now tells these Galatians that in their life before salvation, they were worshipping false gods but now it is a different life. Now that they know God or better yet are known of God. Paul rewords it so they will not think that it was because of something which they did. God is the one who knows us because He is the one who initiates salvation in the lives of His elect. So Paul goes on stating that now that God knows you, why would you once again want to place yourselves into bondage? If these saved Gentiles and Jews go under the law again, then they are placing themselves back in bondage to the law. Saved people are free from the keeping of the law because it was kept for them perfectly by Christ. This is the essence of Christian liberty, that we do not have to keep any aspects of the law for salvation. This situation would be like someone in a false works gospel becoming saved and then going back to that false gospel and continuing on with those works. It would be placing themselves back under bondage again. Salvation by grace alone is freedom from the law and any of its requirements.

 

Gal 4:10 (KJB)

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

 

Observe - Watch or observe carefully

 

Paul specifies some of the things which they were observing which were all tied to the law. They would be observing the days of the Jewish festivals and also the Old Testament Sabbath. (Num 10:10 KJV) Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God. Then they would be observing new moon festivals and Jubilee years. They did these things so they could receive the approval of God. The problem is that once Christ completed His stint on earth and went back to Heaven, they became null and void because all of these feasts and festivals were fulfilled in Him. They were only shadows of His coming and were not to be celebrated forever.

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