Gospel Freedom in Galatians
Background: What was the key issue in the early church? Race. Culture. Issues that are still with us today. The church at its inception on Pentecost was essentially 100% Jewish and the Apostles and the church in Jerusalem seemed content to keep it that way. Then God called a Pharisee named Saul to salvation and set him aside as an Apostle to the Gentiles. Over the next 30 years, the church became primarily Gentile with a Jewish minority, and many Jews fought it.
Galatians was Paul's first letter, written at the end of his first missionary journey when Gentiles began to come to Christ in droves. A group, sometimes called Judaizers and sometimes the circumcision party, opposed the inclusion of Gentiles in the church. If they were to be part of the church, they needed to become Jewish - follow the law and Jewish rituals. Paul fought them tooth and nail his entire ministry. The gospel was for the whole world.
Galatians is a powerful argument for a gospel free from the works of the law.
As often as time allows, the reader is encouraged to read the entire book - it will not take more than a few minutes. Each day we will work our way through the book passage by passage.
Today's Reading: Galatians 1-6 Focus Passage - Galatians 4:1-7
Now I say that as long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. 2 Instead, he is under guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were in slavery under the elements of the world. 4 When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.
Through the Bible Readings: Ezekiel19-20, 2 Timothy 4:9–22, Titus 1, Psalm 119:129–136, Proverbs 27:7–8
If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings.
Devotional: Adopted
The Bible has many metaphors of salvation, each of which tells a grand truth and is a unique part of the work of Christ in us. God SAVES us - rescuing us from the threat brought on by our own sin, which separated us from God and destined us for eternal hell. He also REDEEMED us, purchasing our lives with the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ. That blood CLEANSES us from sin. We are BORN AGAIN by God's grace - given new life and made new creatures in Christ.
Then, in Galatians 4:4-6. Paul used another metaphor for the grace of God that brings salvation - ADOPTION.
When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!”
Adoption is not a difficult concept. A child is born into one family, then another family comes along, for a variety of reasons, and adopts the child. That child now is a part of the new family and ties to the old family are generally severed. You cannot get a better picture of salvation than that.
Because of sin, we are born into the family of this world - this sinful, fallen, hell-bent world. We are part of the family - looking like our family, acting like our family, living like our family. Then along comes God the Father, who says, "I want you to be part of my family." He sent Jesus Christ into the world (at just the right time - see below) to do everything that needed to be done to secure our salvation. Then, he sent the Holy Spirit to woo us and invite us to join God's family. When we repent and believe in Jesus Christ, the adoption papers are signed and we who were part of the family of sinners are now part of God's family of grace.
And that carries with it a beautiful privilege. We get to call God our "Father." Abba. God is not some distant ruler who cannot be accessed or approached. He is our Abba, our Father in heaven, who loves us and receives us and provides for us and...well, so much more.
Oh, and one more thing, revealed in verse 7.
So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.
We are not only part of God's family, but we are heirs of the Father, destined to inherit what belongs to him. Think about that - Dave Miller, a sinner, weak, unworthy, flawed in so many ways, destined to inherit the world because I have been adopted by grace into the Father's family.
Wow. Wow. Wow. Did I mention, wow?
Imagine a child born to a family of impoverished, low-class thieves, and con artists. His destiny is to grow up and join the family business. But one day a rich man traveling through town sees the poor child and "redeems" him from his family. He adopts the child and brings him to live in his glorious home, in a place of privilege. He instructs him about how things are in this new home, using love and discipline to cause him to leave behind the dishonest ways of his birth family and to adopt the ways of his new home. He is an heir to all that his new father has and slowly becomes a part of his new family, living out their values.
That is pretty much what salvation in Christ is like. Thank God, today, that he took you from your birth family - the world of sin - and brought you into his glorious family through adoption.
Father. Father. Father! The privilege of calling you that is beyond anything I deserve. Thank you for adopting me, for including me in Christ and in your family. May I, every day, became more like you and live out the values of my heavenly home!
Think and Pray:
Thank God today that you are adopted in Christ, that you are a joint-heir with him and part of God's eternal family through the grace of God.
Consider and meditate on what that means to your life today.
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