GALATIANS 4:21- 5:1

GRACE TO THE BARREN – “BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN”

An allegory is a narrative in which people and events teach a lesson and Paul used Genesis 16 to illustrate our freedom in Christ. Yet Paul’s teaching here is a combination of allegory and typology where persons and events are taken as prototypes of present persons or events which are explained as their fulfillment. Note the comparisons and contrasts:

Hagar was Abraham’s “second wife” and never married again. Likewise the law was added (was second – God began with grace) and was temporary and was not given to any other nation (never married again). It was a “servant” (slave) to serve as a mirror (to reveal our sin) a monitor (to control our sin and lead us to Christ) but not a “mother”. The law cannot bring forth true life (spiritual life), the fruit or gifts of the Spirit, or give us a spiritual inheritance (law-based works have no eternal value – 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 13:1-3)

Even as true believers are persecuted by legalists and unbelievers (as we proclaim Jesus is the only way to God and heaven) our flesh (the unsanctified part of our lives) persecutes our spirit-man. It says, “try harder, do better, earn your salvation and self-worth through your own self-righteousness.” So if we make the law our “mother” we will experience bondage – the tread mill of guilt and insecurity as we strive to earn acceptance with God and if not with God, with man. Everyone is always seeking acceptance consciously or unconsciously and if we don’t receive it from God (the gospel) we will try to manufacture it through our performance.

So Paul tells the Galatians (and us) to "Get rid of the slave woman (law) and her son (performance based acceptance), for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." (Gal. 4:30) Law-based living actually blocks the grace of God and the spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ. So Paul is telling them to get rid of the Judaizers and for us to get rid of performance based acceptance with God.

Legalism is spiritually barren for only God’s grace produces spiritual fruit. (See John 15:5) But poverty of spirit, knowing we need God, is what brings God’s grace and power to do His will. (See Matt. 5:3)

Paul now moves from doctrine to application. ”It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Gal. 5:1) Yet, our natural bent is to go back to law-based living (esp. religious types) and keep a mental record of how we’re doing (in comparison to others) and feel we have earned our self-worth or condemn ourselves when we fail and once again we are on the tread mill of guilt and insecurity.

God’s grace calls us to not compare ourselves with others but with ourselves (Gal 6:4) as we grow in grace and change over time. As the old country preacher put it: “I ain’t what I oughta be. I ain’t what I’m gonna be. But praise God I ain’t what I used to be.”    

Discussion Questions FOR APPLICATION OF GOD’S WORD

Where might you be under the law? (i.e., relying on your performance to gain acceptance/self-worth with God) Here are some thoughts that lead to law-based thoughts and actions. Which ones speak to you?

1) I don’t feel/believe that all my self-worth was given to me when I received Jesus as my Savior. (Note: God demonstrated how much worth we have to Him when He was willing to sacrifice His only begotten Son to have an eternal love relationship with us. (John 3:16)

2) I don’t trust God’s power (versus my self-effort) to be enough to enable me to be successful (whatever that means to you) and/or pleasing to God. Thus I spend little time in His Word or prayer crying out to Him to empower me to know and do His will.

3) Jesus said, “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44) I wrongly want man’s praise (thus seek to please them) more than God’s praise (seeking to do only what pleases Him). Thus I put more faith in man to meet my needs than I put in God to meet my needs. “How can you believe” (in God) if you do this?

4) As I see the sin related to these three points above I condemn myself and try to change myself rather than simply confessing these sins, receiving God’s free forgiveness and His purifying power as I honestly bring my sins into His light. “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  (1 John 1:5-9)

See the Scripture memory verse below. How can you get rid of the law and performance based acceptance in your life?

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man, who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:22-25) It is in doing God’s Word, not in just hearing it, that we are blessed. What action will you take to apply these truths to your life?

Scripture memory verse: "Get rid of the slave woman (law) and her son (performance based acceptance), for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." (Gal. 4:30)