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NT Doctrine -- Galatians 4 - Ed Hurst - 02-03-2024
Paul reiterates the imagery of preservation of an estate until the heir reaches the appointed time and condition of bequest. The emphasis is that all of God's Elect, Jew and Gentile, were the estate, and Christ was the heir. But we were minor children, as well, as part of the divine household estate. We were under the various elohim powers God appointed over the nations of the world, all of us under one law covenant or another. For us, it was no different from being slaves, just like any minor heir prior to the bequest of the estate. Jesus was the natural born heir, but we have received an adoption that elevates us to the status of true younger heirs behind Him as Firstborn. The mark of that adoption is the Presence of the Holy Spirit of Christ in our hearts. Because of this, we can call Him by the personal terms of endearment used by natural children -- "Daddy! Papa!"
Paul follows a tangent thought here: Gentiles were under the control of lesser deities, the Elohim Council in God's courts. Those were not gods, not honestly classed as such in the Creator's eyes, but they played that role, seeking to skim off some of His glory for themselves. But now that the Galatian believers had become acquainted to the true God and Creator, were they going to return to that slavery under those lesser beings who were just scam artists at best?
Paul mentions that they were now enslaving themselves under Talmudic holy days, something wholly inappropriate for Gentiles who did not inherit any of Israel's national history. There were a whole bundle of special observances that God had not commanded, but which the Pharisees had forced into civil law, choking the common Jewish people with an excuse for yet one more abusive tax. Paul kept his Jewish habits rather private, living more like a Gentile than a Jew among them. How many Jews did they know who would even admit to such a thing? Did not Jews typically hector their Gentile neighbors about pagan habits that interfered with nitpicking Jewish observances? The Galatian Christians should stand with him in rejecting that legalistic nonsense; he certainly didn't feel insulted that they would ignore the Jewish calendar.
He mentions some physical condition that compelled him to spend time in Galatia, apparently when he had planned not to even go there. There are a couple of plausible guesses what he refers to, but it doesn't matter. Whatever it was usually caused superstitious Gentiles to spit at him, but instead, the Galatians received his gospel message with frank enthusiasm. What happened? It sounds like the Judaizers had managed to turn them against Paul personally.
Was it not odd how the Judaizers treated the Galatian Christians as suckers? First they come courting the churches, appealing to their vanity. Then, they start telling them how awful they are for not embracing Judaism, using the old trick of provoking desire for the snake oil by talking about how hard it is to get. And Judaizer religion was snake oil, indeed, completely worthless. To Paul, it feels like having to give birth to the same child again, after they had grown quite a bit. Whatever it was that compelled him to struggle physically to bring them the gospel was worth it, but this pain and sorrow of countering the Judaizers was egregious and unjustified.
Do they really want the Law? Paul will give them a bit of Old Testament the Judaizers would prefer to hide. He talks about Abraham who had an elder son (Ishmael) by his household slave, Hagar. However, Isaac was his natural born heir. The distinction is that Isaac was born in response to a promise from God, whereas Ishmael was born from a mere human choice. Paul will use this story as an allegory -- in the same rabbinical style the Judaizers would.
The Covenant of Moses was like Hagar, rooted in the customs and laws of slavery. Israel as an earthly nation was purchased from slavery in Egypt. Like a concubine, her children held limited privileges, represented by earthly Jerusalem (Zion). But the legal wife was Sarah, and her children were full heirs, which is the Covenant of Abraham/Christ, represented by the spiritual Jerusalem (Heaven). The faith covenant is everything the law covenant could not be. Paul is being terse here by letting the implications seep through without words.
Continuing in that vein, Paul refers to Isaiah 54:1. The ancient prophet paints the image of what those returning from Babylon could have if they rose to faith instead of wallowing in mere law and all its limitations. Would the Judeans coming home be more like a bitter old woman who lost her children? Or would they return in full faith in Jehovah and be more like a young bride that has not yet had children? If the latter, then they could expect a whopping large faith family that would inherit the heavens.
Those who put their faith in Christ are like children of that prophetic promise. Yes, Christians would face persecution from Jews, as Isaac faced from Ishmael, and for the same reason. But those who retain their status as Jews are born for slavery to the law, while the children of faith inherit as fellow heirs with the Son of God. Only a fool would go back into the slavery of the Law Covenant.