1 - 11 Divine Sonship
Christians are like heirs freed from control by others. Again, my notes say, "the proof that Christians are children of God is the gift of the Spirit of Christ relating them intimately to God."
Question: how can you turn back to the slavery of the law? The question is posed with reference to bondage to the elemental powers because the Galatians had originally been converted to Christianity from paganism, not Judaism. (my notes: while the term can refer to earth, air, fire, and water or to elementary forms of religion, the sense here is more likely that of celestial beings that were thought in pagan circles to control the world)
12 - 20 A Fatherly Appeal by Paul
Paul asks them to listen to him as they had in the past - as a father and pastor.
21 - 31 The Two Covenents - Hagar and Sarah
Paul supports the gospel by another argument from scripture. This time it's the relationship of Abraham to his wife, Sarah (freeborn) to Hagar (slave). He contrasts the sons born to each, Isaac, child of promise, and Ishmael, son of Hagar. Only through Isaac is the promise of God preserved.
Paul then quotes Genesis: "Drive out the slave woman and her son! For the son of the slave woman shall not share the inheritance with the son" of the freeborn. This gives a scriptural basis for the Galatians to expel those who are troubling them.
2 comments:
Paul reminds them that children (both physically and spiritually) are slaves to the world and its law until God redeems them to the freedom of being HIS child and heir to the glory he has prepared for us. He is worried for them because many of them have turned to the "law" of Judaism. They were pagans worshiping false gods, then became Christians who knew the truth, now some of them have turned back to a legalistic religions which has stolen the JOY of their Christian faith.
He then illustrates the situation using Hagar and Sarah. Hagar, he says, represents Mount Sinai (Judaism, becaue they follow the law given there) and slavery. Sarah represents the freedom of God's promise and fulfillment of that promise. The children of Hagar are subject to Sarah's children according to God's promise. There are simply two schools of thought going on. Paul is telling them (and us) that they are the free children of Sarah who have inherited God's promise but they have to realize that and choose that.
Basically the Galatians, like many of us, have become confused in their faith. It's an example of the difficutly of trying to physically live in this fallen world and trying to keep focus of our minds and hearts on our new spiritual life that God has given us.
The Galatians are confused because they stopped listening to Paul and started following someone else's false teachings.
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