Galatians 4:1-7, Sonship in Christ Means No Longer Slaves

People are often asked whether they would relive their lives again if they could, knowing what they know now. But even if we were able to go back while retaining the knowledge we have gained, would we not still be subject to our parents and other adults? Would we not be giving up a freedom that we would sorely miss? Paul argues with the Galatians that going back to the Law (circumcision, perfect obedience, dietary restrictions, etc.) means losing one’s freedom that was gained be coming of age as an adult.

4:1 So I’m saying that as long as the heir is a small child, he is no different than a slave, even though he is lord of all. 2 He is under a governor and steward until the time set by his father. 3 So we too, when we were children, we were in slavery under the elemental principles of the world. 4 Then, when the fulness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 in order to redeem those under the Law, that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth His Spirit into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you’re no longer slaves but sons. And if you are sons you are also heirs through God. (Galatians 4:1-7)

Paul is thinking of childhood and adulthood in terms of Roman law:

Roman law…had a time for the coming of age of a son, but the age when this took place does not seem to have been firmly fixed; the father apparently had discretion in setting the time of his son’s maturity. It seems likely that Paul is referring primarily to the Roman custom as he observed a child “under guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.” At that time the child was formally adopted by the father as his acknowledged son and heir and received special adult clothes. (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

Believers, whether Jew or Gentile, had all been children, spiritually speaking, who were in bondage to “the elemental principles of the world,” what Meyer calls “the elements of non-Christian humanity, the elementary things, the immature beginnings of religion, which occupy the minds of those who are still” outside of Christian faith. It may even be said of Jews that they were under the bondage Paul speaks of in 3:23. The Law was not intended as a forever governor or guardian. God had a purpose to bring in the “fulness of time” in which His Son would be sent into the world to redeem us from under the slavery of the Law.

Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might fulfill the law as a human being, become a curse by dying on a tree, and so take our curse for failure to keep the law. What made this the right time to send Jesus? Meyer suggests “The need had reached its height.” Expositor’s proposes:

It was a time when the Roman peace extended over most of the civilized earth and when travel and commerce were therefore possible in a way that had formerly been impossible. Great roads linked the empire of the Caesars, and its diverse regions were linked far more significantly by the all-pervasive language of the Greeks. Add the fact that the world was sunk in a moral abyss so low that even the pagans cried out against it and that spiritual hunger was everywhere evident, and one has a perfect time for the coming of Christ and for the early expansion of the Christian Gospel. Viewed theologically, however, it may also be said that the time was full because God himself had filled it with meaning.

All can be correct.

This is Paul’s first use of the word “redemption,” which carries the idea of purchasing from someone or something, in this case, from the bondage to the Law. To use Paul’s other metaphor, he moved us from being children who were heirs apparent to the inheritance, to fully adopted children. This was the legal procedure in Roman law for a child who reached adulthood. He or she would be adopted and gain the fullest rights as heirs of the father.

With adoption and sonship by our Heavenly Father also came the sending of the Holy Spirit into our hearts, enabling us to emotionally and intimately acknowledge God as our Father, or Abba, the term of affection and intimacy used for father. He sent forth His Son to effect our redemption objectively. He sent forth His Spirit to effect our redemption subjectively.

Conclusion: We are no longer slaves, little children spiritually speaking, living under the elemental forces of the world, including the Law, but we are sons and heirs of God, living in freedom that the gospel made possible. Would the Galatians realize this, or would they give up their freedom and go back to living under the bondage of the Law, as the false teachers would have them do?