Galatians 4:3-7
In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
At the end of chapter three, Paul states that all Believers are spiritual heirs of Abraham…his “offspring.” He then uses the thought of being an heir to being a child who is under “guardians and managers” (the Law) until the time set by his father (when you became an actual Christian). That brings us to the passage today…and a few very poignant points.
First, before Christ, we were like children “enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.” In the original language, those “elementary principles” were thought of as the “ABC’s” of the universe. The way of the world. The natural way of mankind. Do you remember living that way? I certainly do. My behavior, while reprehensible in the face of God, was for the most part perfectly acceptable to the world. It was understandable. Teenagers do stupid things. Men can be pigs. Sometimes we overindulge. On and on the excuses go. I was a slave to the elementary principles of the world but didn’t know it.
“But when the fullness of time had come…”
God’s answer to the ABC’s of the World was to send forth his Son, “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” We were wayward children, acting in accordance with the world, yet our Creator had a better plan for us…a better destiny. If you are adopted (or have adopted a child), you can grasp this concept far better than the rest of us. An adopted child is chosen. Picked. Elevated to a position in a family as if he/she had been born into it in the first place. So, too, has every born again Christian been adopted by the Creator of the Universe.
“So you are no longer a slave, but a son (or daughter)…an heir through God.”
WOW! I hope that reality amazes you. If you ever think of yourself as just one little Christian in a sea of churchgoers, you are far more than that. You are the heir of a King…a king you can refer to as “Abba” or “Father” or even “Daddy.” In Ephesians 2 Paul tells us that God has “seated us with him in the heavenly places” (Eph 2:6). You don’t just get invited into the room…you have a seat at the table…and you can speak directly and intimately to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I love the way Martin Luther captured the privilege of being able to cry out to God in such a manner:
“Let the Law, sin, and the devil cry out against us until their outcry fills heaven and earth. The Spirit of God outcries them all. Our feeble groans, ‘Abba, Father,’ will be heard of God sooner than the combined racket of hell, sin, and the Law.”
Amen and Amen!
