From Slave to Heir
Galatians 3:26-4:7
INTRODUCTION: In the Roman world of Jesus' day when a young man
achieved legal status, it was customary for his father to take him into the
Forum. From a public platform he would
say to the citizens of the city, "This is my son; he has now come of age;
he inherits my name, my property, and my social position!" Then he would take off the boy's youthful
toga praetexta and put on him the toga virilis, or the coat of a man. This act was known as
"adoption." God has already
made believers in Christ His children by the new birth, but full realization of
our blessed standing in Christ awaits the time when we receive our resurrection
bodies! Then the Lord will set us on the
forum of the universe and publicly bear witness to every created being that we
are joint heirs with Him of all things.
THESIS: We ought to live as
children of God.
The Apostle
has expounded our position under the law – He has shown that one purpose that
the law was given was to make plain our condemnation
Now he turns
towards explaining our position in Christ…
Position in Christ (
Illustration (4:1-7)
(1) Infancy under the law (4:1-3)
(2) Adulthood in Christ (4:4-7)
FIRST, Let us see our position in Christ (
·
Paul summarizes this in three points….
·
First,
all those in Christ
become sons of God.
·
The
change in the pronoun from “we” to “you” indicates that Paul is now speaking of
the Galatians, who were Gentiles
·
Law was
a discipling pedagogue, we were considered as children…
·
Now we
are clothed in Christ through baptism…
·
What
Baptism??? The symbol and rite???…No
baptism represents our being in relationship with Christ…This is spiritual in
nature… The sign represents the inward grace…
·
1 Cor. 12:12-13
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the
members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into
one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made
to drink of one Spirit.
·
Secondly, WE ARE ONE IN CHRIST NOW WITHOUT DISTINCTION – Greek, Jew, bond or free, male or
female….
·
This is why the sign of the covenant (baptism) is applied to women
as well as men – OT circumcision was only for men…women did not receive the
sign of the covenant…
·
THIS IS NOT SAYING THAT THERE IS NO LONGER ANY SOCIAL DISTI
·
THERE ARE STILL ROLES IN SOCIETY…HU
·
SPIRITUALLY…THERE
IS NO ADVANTAGE OF ONE RACE<SEX<OR NATIONAL HERITAGE OVER ANOTHER IN
CHRIST…
·
Robert
Deffinbaugh puts it well, “So far as our standing before God is
concerned, all human distinctions are done away with in Christ. This frees the
Christian from seeking a superior spiritual status by striving to change his
social, economic, ethnic, or sexual status. Why do women strive and
demand to be like men? I would suggest that it is because they feel that having
man-like status makes them a more significant person. Paul taught just the opposite.
In Christ, human distinctions of man’s worth are abolished, thus giving all
Christians equality before God.”
·
Thirdly, believers are not only
adopted, are without distinction in Christ, PAUL DECLARES THAT WE ARE ALL
ABRAHAM’S SEED (Verse 29)
·
We are in line to inherit
EVERYTHING…DOMINION IN THIS WORLD IS DESTINED FOR US…
·
Romans 4:13-16
For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the
world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14For if those who are of the Law are heirs,
faith is made void and the promise is nullified;
·
Roderick Campbell writes:
“Possession of the land is
explicitly affirmed in the promise. The
history makes it very plain that it had to be won by the literal sword. But it
is also expressly affirmed, and the history makes it equally plain, that the
continued and secure possession of the land was conditioned upon the good
behavior, vigilance, and valor of the possessors. Thus we have in a figure (or parable) the conditions
under which the wider world embracing promises to Abraham will be
fulfilled. The new crusade takes place
on the higher (but still historical) plane of redemption and of New Covenant
reality. It will be fulfilled by ‘the
sword of the Spirit’ in the hands of a zealous, faithful and obedient
church. It will be a church which sees
clearly the nature and the purpose of the unlimited power that has been given
to Christ. And it will be a church which
sees the nature of the ‘all things’ that were commanded by Christ. It will be a church humble enough to obey the
commandments of Christ-‘all things whatsoever I have commanded you. (Israel
and the New Covenant, p. 160).”
·
WE SHOULD BE GLORIOUSLY OPPTIMISTIC ABOUT OUR FUTURE….
APPLICATION: Paul’s point is that rather than continuing to find
acceptance and forgiveness through law keeping, we should be living like heirs
of God….
I
graduated from high school in 1975. What
would you think if I decided to return as an entering freshman again? That would be crazy! Then why do Christians live at times like
they must keep the law meticulously in order to get into heaven? If you keep the law meticulously, don’t live
under the illusion that God accepts and loves you more for it than he does by
His grace….WE NEED TO GROW UP! WE SERVE
HIM BECAUSE HE GRACIO
SECONDLY,
Let us see Paul’s illustration of these points (4:1-7)
·
Those who lived under
the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament were like a son who was too young who
were treated like a servant…
·
A young heir lived
under the basic principles (Stoiceia)…basic principles of life…he needed to
learn how life worked before becoming a son who inherited everything.
·
Like the Jews, the
Gentiles were under the basic principles of the world…
·
God sent Christ at
just the right time in Mankind’s history, to free us…
·
The Holy Spirit came
as a result of Christ’s work, The Spirit gives us testimony that we are
children of God…”DADDY”
·
Galatians 4:7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a
son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
[
IT NEEDS TO BE CAREFULLY SAID THROW OUT THE LAW FOR SALVATION, BUT
NOT FOR SANCTIFICATION AND HOLINESS…NOT FOR A RULE OF JUSTICE…
Our attitude toward obedience to
God’s law should not be one of slavish fear, or pride in our own obedience or
always trying to meet the standard that some man made standard asserts is right….We
should keep God’s law from gratitude and freedom….
Augustine…Love God and do as you
please…
Let us suppose that there was a lady with a serious kidney
problem on dialysis …The doctor tells her that a kidney donor had been located,
and a transplant was scheduled for the next morning. Several weeks after
successful surgery the doctors informed her that her body had accepted the
kidney and that she would never again need to use the machine. She has been
cured. How ludicrous it would be for her to return, once more, to the kidney
machine. Now if she returned to the machine her kidney would stop functioning,
for it would be competing with the machine. What was once necessary, but
confining and restrictive, would no longer be required (or allowed), due to the
reception of a kidney.
CONCLUSION
CHRIST HAS DIED…HE FULFILLED THE LAW FOR US….WE ARE