The Law Always Pointed To The Coming Messiah Christ, Galatians 4

Welcome back to our study of the book of Galatians with the late Dr. John Gerstner. Today we’ll look at Chapter 4 as we continue to consider the law as a covenant of preparation for the coming Messiah. As we saw in our previous session, the law was never intended to replace, but rather to demonstrate the need for Grace. There has always been a symbiotic relationship between the law and grace. However, because of man’s inability to comprehend God’s purpose, a distortion has arisen that asserts that the law and grace are diametrically opposed. I recommend that you read our previous session so that you can understand today’s lecture.

The Law Always Pointed To The coming Messiah Christ

Sonship in Christ

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave,[a] though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles[b] of the world.4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has 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 an heir through God.

Even though we are starting a new chapter, Paul’s train of thoughts hasn’t stopped. We need to remember that there were no chapter divisions when he sent out this epistle to Galatia. It was meant to be read to the entire congregation. Paul realizes that what he had just said in verses 23-29 in chapter 3 might be hard to understand, so he endeavors to explain it to the Galatians. He is again using an everyday life example rooted in Jewish culture to make his point clear. He presents the example in verses 1-2, and he is going to explain how it relates to the Law’s function as a covenant of preparation for the covenant of Grace. God instituted the stipulations of the Law (as we saw in chapter 3 )  to prepare us for the coming of the heir through whom the promise has been made, that is Christ. So the stipulations of the Law were our guardians until the coming of Jesus. Now that Jesus has come, the guardians ( the function of the Law as a covenant of preparation) are no longer needed. Because that particular function of the Law ( as a covenant of preparation) is over with. It was meant to lead us to Christ ( to maturity). In other words, the law as a covenant of preparation finds its fulfillment in Christ. This is why Paul said -when the fullness of time had come ( when the time set by the Father to grant His children the inheritance had come). So Jesus out of all the descendants of Abraham was the seed that fulfilled all the stipulations of the Law ( he was born under the Law). While the law exposed our sinfulness , the LAW highlighted JESUS RIGHTEOUSNESS to show us that HE was indeed the offspring through whom the promise to Abraham would be put into effect. The term born of a woman was to highlight his humanity as well, after all he was the seed of Abraham. Verses 6-7 highlight the position and benefits of those God is giving the blessing of Abraham to. Because of Jesus’s sacrificial death, the Scripture tells us in 

John 1:12-14 

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Paul is highlighting that in these verses. Because of Christ’s work, we have been granted the privilege of referring to God as Abba ( a word that indicates intimacy with God) and also Father ( a term that conveys that HE has authority over our lives). So the idea of intimacy and reverence go hand in hand in this verse. While we have been granted the privilege of being called children of God, we are also saying that HE has authority over our lives, which means keeping His Law. And God has actually written his laws on our hearts that we might live to Him. Paul concludes his point by saying that  Galatians, Jews and those who have been converted are no longer slaves, but sons, and heirs through the grace of God in Christ ( the seed of Abraham). This is what it means to no longer be under the Law ( as a covenant of preparation).

Paul Expresses His Deep Concern For The Galatians

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

12 Brothers,[c] I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.

In these verses, Paul is going to express his concern for the Galatians. He just couldn’t fathom how they were being lured into adopting the traditional Judaizers ‘ distorted gospel. In the case of the Galatians, they didn’t grow up like the Jews ( they didn’t have the Law) and by nature were in bondage to demonic powers. Before their conversion, the Galatians didn’t have an intimate relationship with God, and were by nature objects of wrath. Paul isn’t saying that they didn’t know that God existed, because Scripture tells us in Romans 1 18-32 that no one can honestly claim that they don’t believe in the existence of God. But what Paul is conveying is that the Galatians didn’t have a covenantal relationship with God. And the apostle is taken aback because, having professed to be converted, they were returning to old practices (it may not have been the idolatrous practices they engaged in prior to their conversion), but accepting the traditional Judaizers’ distorted Gospel was synonymous with returning to idolatry. When the apostle says, “I have become as you are,” he does not mean he is now a gentile. What is being communicated is very simple, and we must look at what he said in Chapter 3:27-29 to understand it. We’ll also take a look at a section of Romans. Let us now turn to Romans 3:27-30.

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

These verses help us understand what Paul is saying in Galatians 4, verse 12. By becoming like the Galatians, Paul was essentially saying that none of his Jewishness mattered when it came to salvation; he, like the gentiles, could only be saved through faith and faith alone in Christ’s work.  He wasn’t saying he lost his identity as a Jew; I’m sure Paul still lived as a Jew, but he understood that salvation came through faith in Jesus.

Paul Appeals To The Galatians’ Conversion Experience

You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?[d] 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

The apostle is once again appealing to the Galatians’ conversion experience. When he presented the Gospel to them, he was going through a serious health condition ( I believe it had to do with his eyesight). Yet that didn’t prevent the Galatians from receiving his words with grace. Indeed, he stated that their reception would have been as if he (the apostle) were Jesus Christ Himself. What is he talking about? We must remember that the Galatians were pagan before they were converted. And I’m sure they had a lot of superstitions. Paul being sick and presenting the gospel to them could have made them laugh him to scorn. In the sense that he claimed Jesus was the Messiah who restored sight to the blind, yet he himself had a handicap. Paganism would have rejected Paul and his message because they would’ve seemed incompatible. But that didn’t even stop the Galatians from receiving the gospel with grace. In fact , Paul is saying that they were so receptive of the message that they would have gladly ( if it was possible) offer their own eyesight if it was possible. This is why Paul was so grieved with how quickly they deserted the Gospel he had preached to them. I like how verses 16-20 read in the Complete Jewish Bible translation, let me quote it:

16 Have I now become your enemy because I tell you the truth? 17 True, these teachers are zealous for you, but their motives are not good. They want to separate you from us so that you will become zealous for them. 18 To be zealous is good, provided always that the cause is good. Indeed, whether I am present with you or not, 19 my dear children, I am suffering the pains of giving birth to you all over again — and this will go on until the Messiah takes shape in you. 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone of voice. I don’t know what to do with you.

Paul was not an eloquent or sophisticated preacher, as he mentions in the book of Corinthians. But he spoke the truth. The traditional Judaizers may have appeared charismatic, bold, and eloquent, but their primary goal, according to Paul, was to gain followers. Paul was given supernatural insight into their motives and true intent, which he revealed to the Galatians. These false teachers were only interested in gathering a large number of followers, people they could control. This is why they preached salvation by faith plus circumcision, which  appeared very conservative on the surface but was false. Paul already said in the beginning of his epistle that he wasn’t an apostle from Man or by Man, he was commissioned by God. And his genuine concern for the Galatians showed how much he wanted them to be acquainted with the Truth. His whole purpose was that Christ may be totally formed in them, meaning that they would mature in their faith until it was apparent to a watching world that they were true children of God, according to Romans 8:27-34. He will continue his discourse with the Law, this time using allegory to compare and contrast those who misinterpret the Law as a means of Salvation and those who truly understand the Law’s function as pointing to Salvation by faith.

Slavery or Freedom Through Faith In Christ

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?

Paul teaches us an important lesson about dividing God’s Word correctly. We do not use our own imaginations to interpret God’s word, but rather allow the word of God to be its own interpreter. He is addressing his audience ( the traditional Judaizers, the Galatians and anyone who thinks doing the works of the Law is how one obtains the inheritance, salvation). Because the Judaizers claimed that keeping the law leads to eternal life, Paul will allow the Law to explain itself so they could see how misled they were. This is why he uses the phrase- do you not listen to the Law? He is basically saying to them, don’t you understand what the LAW is all about?? And he is going to present his argument by using allegory. 

22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;[e]she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;

    break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!

For the children of the desolate one will be more

    than those of the one who has a husband.”

Paul did not say, “I think…” He stated that it is written, thus teaching us some very important lessons in how to interpret the Word of God. The Bible serves as its own interpreter. The account of Hagar and Sarah was told to help us understand the purpose of the Law. It is recorded in Genesis 16. The Lord had previously promised Abraham that he would have a child ( the child of promise). But Abraham and Sarah were getting older, and years had passed with no child. As a result, they both did what all humans do. They took control of the situation ( probably misinterpreted the promise of God). Sarah decided to give Hagar ( her slave/servant) to Abraham as a wife so she could bear children through her ( it was a practice that was done in ancient times). So Ishmael was born out of that relationship ( between Abraham and Hagar). Later on though, Sarah ( the free woman, Abraham’s legitimate wife) also bore Isaac in keeping with the promise of God. And these two children represented something important. Ishmael was born according to the flesh ( human means) while Isaac was born according to the promise of God ( not by human means since Sarah  was past the child bearing age and Abraham’s body was as good as dead). Why is this so important? There is nothing wrong with the covenant of Mount Sinai but there is everything wrong with those who misinterpret the covenant of Mount Sinai. The example of Ishmael’s birth was given so that mankind would understand that those who want to please God by human means are under a curse, bearing children of slavery. Because the natural man ( the old nature) cannot submit to God and His Laws. Those who are of this school of thought are those from the present Jerusalem ( those traditional Judaizers who think that one attains eternal life by keeping the Law). Isaac on the other hand represents those who have understood that one attains eternal life by faith in Christ, they are the free ones, they are the one from above in keeping with the promise of God to Abraham. Free ones in the sense that they have been freed from the bondage of the sinful nature. It is that sinful nature that led Abraham, Sarah and Hagar to bring about Ishmael, who would not inherit the promise pronounced by God. And Paul quotes another Old Testament Scripture to make his point clear, in verse 27 and applies it to Sarah.

28 Now you,[f] brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

Now Paul will apply the passage to the current crisis in the Galatian church. He refers to them as brothers and tells them that they, like Isaac, are the children of the promise. And the apostle adds another crucial observation. In the same way that Ishmael persecuted Isaac, those who were of the flesh (in slavery under the sinful nature), those who promoted salvation by keeping the works of the LAW were persecuting those who understood that salvation was only possible through faith in Christ alone. As we saw, Ishmael was born according to human will, whereas Isaac was born according to God’s will. In the same way those who promote a salvation by the works of the law  are under a curse while those who are of faith are the ones who will inherit eternal life because they were born according to the Spirit, the promise of God. In Verse 30, Paul makes his punchline by using Scripture to prove what becomes of those who misinterpret the Law as means for salvation. God said the following to Abraham in Genesis 21

 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.[b] 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named

Paul made his point clear at this moment. God himself testified to Abraham that only through Isaac his offspring would be named. We already said that while Isaac was the immediate fulfillment of the promise of God, Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of that promise. God only gave Isaac to Abraham as a guarantee of what was to come through Jesus later. Paul was making an application to the Galatians by saying to them that they were like Isaac, sons of the promise. In the same way those of faith are the true children of God.

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PS: All the videos series from RC Sproul and Dr John Gerstner added to the website have been thoroughly listened to by myself. And I highly recommend them to anyone looking to deepen his/her faith in Christ. We live in the age of relativism and now more than ever understanding what we believe, and why believe what believe is not optional.