Galatians 4: Children of the promise

Galatians 4

We must remember the context of the previous parts of Paul's letter to the Galatians. He is writing them, strongly exhorting them, because they have fallen away from the grace of God and have been trusting in their good works and the law. Paul is reminding them of the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in them and of Jesus Christ who has set them free from bondage to the law and from their sin. 

In chapter four, we find that the Galatians are being wooed and flattered by false teachers, and must be being swayed by them. Paul attacks this attempt to tempt the Galatians toward this false teaching. He appears to become frustrated with the Galatians however and even tells them he just doesn't know what to do with them anymore. They have freedom in Christ; they no longer have to live as slaves, yet are zealously living for the law. 

Vs 28-31 NKJV

"28 Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the scripture say? 'Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.' 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free." 

NLT "28 And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. 29 But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born of human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born of the power of the Spirit. 30 But what do the scriptures say about that? 'Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman's son.' 31 So, dear brothers and sisters, we are children of the free woman."

There is so much rich truth in these verses. First, there is a promise. This promise refers back to the beginning of chapter 4, where Paul reminds the Galatians, and us, who we are in Christ. The Galatians, just like Christians, are children of God, those who believe in His Son Jesus, and are heirs to the inheritance of eternal life with Him. The Galatians, and those of us who are Christians, have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and have been adopted as sons and daughters into His family. The Galatians, like us,  have His Holy Spirit living inside of us and God is our Father. We cry out to Him and he hears us. Because of all of this, both the Galatians and present day Christians are no longer slaves, but are free. And so verse 28 is Paul's reminder that we are not slave children, but we are children of promise. This teaches us that God is faithful. God gave Abraham a promise that His children would be more numerous  than the stars in the sky...and here thousands of years after Abraham's life, Paul reminds the Galatians of this promise and that they too are heirs of this promise. They are children of Abraham and therefore their very life in Christ is proof of God's faithfulness and they are living testimonies that He has fulfilled this promise to Abraham. And the even more amazing thing is that we are too! Even now, more than 2000 years after Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians, our very lives in Christ are a living testimony to God's faithfulness! 

If only the Galatians had just clung to that promise and walked in the freedom they had been given in a Christ Jesus. But they did not. And sadly, most often, we as Christians, do not either. 

Paul addresses this very same issue with the church in Ephesus, in Ephesians 4:21-24, 

"But you have not so learned in Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." 

For most of my Christian life, I carried around the 'old woman' of my past, like these verses in Ephesians talk about. Instead of walking in the freedom that I had in Christ, living as a child of promise, heir of Abraham and Sarah...I lived a persecuted life of slavery and bondage, simply because God's grace was not enough for me. I just could not let go of all that I thought made who I was. I just could not let go of my past. I would not take my eyes off myself and put them completely on Jesus. I desperately wanted to be free, to live joyfully, and to believe in God's faithfulness. But I would not let go of the past because I feared the future being totally in God's hands...

So, like Hagar, I envied women who had had that peace, joy, and freedom I so desperately wanted but seemed always just out of my reach. I lived as Ishmael and persecuted others. My heart grew bitter and hard, even though I knew Jesus. I was a 20th century Galatian. 

Then, a dear friend sat me down and spoke to me the very things Paul speaks to the Galatians through his letter. 

Vs 12: "Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you..." NKJV

"I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you -free from tho laws." NLT

Paul is reminding the Galatians that they were NEVER under the law. They never lived in the shadow of the law, as he had as a Jew. They were born into the faith simply under God's grace. They were born into the faith free and they have willfully placed themselves under the law. 

Just as this sounds ridiculous to me, it was just a ridiculous to Paul and we can hear that frustration  in his words. 

  In Galatians 4:30, Paul teaches the Galatians the instruction for Abraham was to cast out the slave woman, Hagar, and her slave son, Ishmael. This seems harsh, because Ishmael was in fact Abraham's son. But Ishmael was never intended by God. We was born out of Abraham and Sarah's attempt to make God's perfect plan happen in their own time. So, God being all-knowing, understands far better than Abraham ever could the danger of having Hagar and Ishmael continue to be in Abraham's life and so he says to cast them out. 

We must do the same thing to anything in our life that is not in the will of God. Anything we have done in our own strength. Anything we have made happen in our own will. Anything in our life that is a result of our own fleshly desires. All of it must be cast out. Just as Ephesians 4:teaches us, we must "be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." 

After I finally let the 'old woman' die and put on the 'new woman' really for the first time, my life changed drastically. All that I had desired for so long, I finally had found. The joy, the peace, and the freedom were finally mine. 

This is the promise that we have here in Galatians. Paul is desperate for his beloved brothers and sisters of the church. He sees their wayward way and desperately desires to help them find their way back. 

I am so thankful for my friend, who was a female version of Paul in my life. She brought me back and righted my path again. Today, I will write her and thank her for being wiling to be used by God to teach me His way. Her investment in me has allowed me to live in a new way I never thought was going to be possible for me. I will also share with her how the Lord continue to use the things she taught me to continue the work He started in me