The Epistles · Chapter 4 of 6

Galatians 4

Paul explains that before Christ came, God's people lived like heirs still under guardians, no better off than servants. When the time was right, God sent his Son, born of a woman under the law, to redeem us and make us sons. Now those who trust Christ receive the Spirit and cry to God as Father. Paul pleads with the Galatians not to return to bondage.

What happens in Galatians 4

Paul compares an heir who is still a child to a servant, subject to guardians until the father's appointed time. So it was with humanity, held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. Then comes the turning point: in the fullness of time God sent his Son, born of a woman and under the law, to redeem those under the law and grant them adoption as sons. Because they are sons, God sends the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying Abba, Father.

Paul grieves that the Galatians, having known God, are turning back to weak and beggarly observances. He pleads as a spiritual parent in labor until Christ is formed in them. Then he draws an allegory from Abraham's two sons, one by the bondwoman Hagar and one by the free woman Sarah, representing two covenants of bondage and of freedom. Believers, like Isaac, are children of promise and of the free woman, not the slave.

Galatians 4 in context

This chapter continues Paul's argument in Galatians against the teachers pressing circumcision and law-keeping on Gentile believers. Having established that righteousness comes by faith, Paul now shows what the coming of Christ changed for God's people: a shift from the status of minors under a guardian to full sons and heirs.

He mingles doctrine with tender personal appeal and closes with an allegory contrasting slavery and freedom.

Main themes of Galatians 4

Galatians 4 (KJV)

1Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. 8Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. 9But 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? 10Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. 12Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. 13Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. 14And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. 16Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? 17They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. 18But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. 19My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, 20I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. 21Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 22For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 28Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Verses to carry from Galatians 4

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,”Galatians 4:4

“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”Galatians 4:6

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”Galatians 4:7

Reflection

If you have known the freedom of being God's child, notice how easily the heart drifts back toward earning and rule-keeping. Galatians four calls you to live as an heir, not a servant, and to let the Spirit teach you to say Father with confidence. Stand in the freedom Christ purchased.

A prayer from Galatians 4