Galatians 4:9

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?

“But now…” is a beautiful phrase in the Bible, to say the least. In today’s context, it represents the moment you moved from knowing about God to actually knowing God personally, intimately, and gained access to real and lasting fellowship. This is salvation from man’s perspective. The more important knowing is to be known by God, which is salvation from His perspective. Without His “perspective,” man would have not “perspective” regarding salvation. Remember: God adopted you into His family through the shed blood of Christ (Jn. 6:44; 1 Jn. 4:10). You didn’t make that happen. You didn’t even initiate it. God did.

So, why do we turn back?

Paul is not referring to our sinful nature and activities here, but rather, the “elementary principles” of religion, or more specifically, a works-based approach to walking with God. Do this. Don’t do that. Please God. Get blessings. Avoid punishment. In other words, living under the Law. Do you ever do that? I certainly do. Why do we return to legalistic bondage when we have been set free by Christ? King Solomon wrote, “Like a dog who returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly” (Pr. 26:11). It is surely a gross thing to watch a dog eat its vomit…or a cat try to eat the furball it just choked up. When I see that happen, I always think, “How stupid are you?”

Exactly.

Warren Wiersbe wrote that the Galatians “…were giving up the power of the Gospel for the weakness of Law, and the wealth of the Gospel for the poverty of Law. The Law never made anybody rich or powerful; on the contrary, the Law could only reveal man’s weakness and spiritual bankruptcy. No wonder Paul weeps over these believers, as he sees them abandon liberty for bondage, power for weakness, and wealth for poverty.” Have you become a foolish Galatian? Do you approach God with a transactional mindset, choosing to place yourself under the old system or works-based righteousness? Why go back to being a slave?

Bible commentator Bruce Barton summed it up well:

“Religious slavery (trying to please God by legalism or works) is particularly devastating to people because it offers false hope. Thinking they will gain freedom, they instead get trapped in a cycle of effort and failure leading to more effort and failure. Opportunities to return to religious slavery occur almost every day. When we have fallen short of our expectations, we are tempted to try harder and be more disciplined. But when we fail in the Christian life, we should apply grace, not renewed effort, as the primary means for becoming right again.”

Grace needs to be the driving factor in our lives rather than works. We are already fully pleasing to God because of Christ, even though we continue to struggle with our sin. We are fully known and fully loved—there is nothing to prove and nothing to earn. Furthermore, there is nothing eternal that we can lose, even when we stumble and fall. We must never presume upon God’s grace, as Paul wrote about in Romans 2, which is why we should be quick to confess and repent. Grace is a motivator. It has already been given as a gift. Rely on its power and be set free!