Galatians 4:1-7

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 113
• Hymn — Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (#53)
• Catechism — Westminster Shorter Catechism Questions 82 & 83
• Hymn — Who Is on the Lord's Side? (#587)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Galatians 4:1-7
• Sermon
• Hymn — Amazing Grace (#460)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: Slave, Redeemed, and Son — The Inheritance of Adoption

Scripture: Galatians 4:1-7

I. Slave Heirs (Galatians 4:1-3)

A. Paul likens the people of God before Christ's coming to a child-heir placed under guardians and managers, treated as a slave until the time appointed by the father.

B. Both Jews and Gentiles are described as enslaved to the "elementary principles of the world" before the fullness of time.

1. This language appears in Colossians 2 to describe mystical paganism; here Paul applies it also to those who misuse God's law as a means of salvation.
2. Paul is not equating God's law with pagan ritual, but indicting the misuse of the Mosaic covenant as a means to salvation — the error of the Judaizers in Galatia.
3. The proper use of the law (as teacher/pedagogue, per Galatians 3) is to expose sin and drive sinners to Christ; to use it as a means of salvation is to make it an idol.

C. Warning against Pharisaism within conservative Christianity.

1. The Pharisees used God's law as an idol and missed Christ completely.
2. The Bible is not our salvation; it is revelation pointing us to where salvation is found — in Christ alone.
3. A Bible wielded as a cultural trump card rather than as a mirror revealing sin and driving us to Christ places us among those enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.

II. Redeemed Heirs (Galatians 4:4-5)

A. "God sent forth his Son" — language indicating the pre-existence of the Son, sent from heaven, born of a woman.

1. The phrase "born of a woman" (without the definite article) stresses Christ's humility and condescension, not the identity of Mary.
2. This is a polemic against elevating Mary; the emphasis is entirely on Christ and his incarnation.

B. Christ was "born under the law to redeem those who were under the law."

1. Jews were under the Mosaic law; Gentiles were under the moral law written on their hearts (Romans 2:14-16).
2. The decalogue is a codification of what is imprinted on every image-bearer's heart by nature; conscience itself bears witness to God's law.
3. Christ redeems all of Adam's race — not only Jews — from slavery to the elementary principles of the world.

C. Christ's active and passive obedience.

1. Active obedience: throughout his life Christ kept every requirement of God's law, being born in original righteousness.
2. Passive obedience: at the cross Christ bore the full condemning and exposing power of the law on behalf of sinners — knowing that condemnation as no one else ever has.
3. Illustration: unlike climbers of Mount Everest who celebrate at the summit, Christ at the peak of the law's demands laid himself on the cross at Calvary — and he did it alone, entirely for us.

D. The fullness of time (plēroma) — the moment appointed by God before the foundation of the world.

1. Time itself is God's creation (Genesis 1:14); every day, month, and year drives toward its fulfillment in Christ.
2. Time is often humanity's greatest enemy because sin and death reign, making the shortening of life a source of anxiety and fear.
3. Christ's redemption redeems time itself; believers are called to orient every moment toward the kingdom (Matthew 6; Ephesians 5:15-17).

III. Son Heirs (Galatians 4:6-7)

A. The Spirit does not make us sons; rather, because we are sons, God sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.

1. The analogy is unbroken: the heir, even while under guardians, is still the heir; sonship is the ground of receiving the Spirit, while the Spirit gives existential experience of that sonship.
2. Ridderbos: "The sonship of believers may be called the ground for the receiving of the Spirit; at another, the gift of the Spirit may be designated as the means through which believers become conscious of their kinship."

B. Adoption as sons was purposed before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3-4).

1. Our adoption is not merely experienced at conversion; it was decreed in eternity past.
2. Union with Christ in redemptive history (the cross, over 2,000 years ago) and union with Christ in the order of salvation (experienced at conversion) are both true simultaneously — the dynamic of election and salvation.

C. The Spirit cries "Abba, Father" within us.

1. This is not a cold, rote recitation but a passionate, joyful cry from the depths of the redeemed heart.
2. Ridderbos: in distinction from the law, which is an external authority unable to change the heart, the Spirit as the gift of the new covenant penetrates the heart to quicken and renew it.
3. When believers cry "Abba, Father," it is Christ himself, by his Spirit, crying it through them to the ears of his Father — the ultimate incentive for joyful, heartfelt praise.