Having clarified that only those who walked in faith could claim to be children of Abraham, because his covenant was a spiritual covenant of faith, Paul shows how the Law played a part in this spiritual adoption into Abraham.
Under civil laws going back to ancient times in many countries, a man making a will can decide when and under what conditions his heir was allowed to take full possession of the estate. Until those conditions were met, the heir remained legally a minor regardless of local custom. That is, in his own household the heir was hardly better off than a servant, required to obey the will of those appointed over him until he reached majority status under the will. The terms Paul uses describes the typical will, which would nominate an executor or trustee, and house-parent or manager. The equivalent of such appointees in the Kingdom was the Law of Moses and its earthly custodians. The inheritance was the full revelation of God.
Paul describes the Law in terms of elements or principles of this world. This serves to remind his readers the Law never affected one's spiritual status, but mere ritual purity. The promise of that Law was no more than a material or worldly blessing. To be under Moses was to be under guardianship as a child, not yet capable of grappling with the spiritual nature of the Kingdom of Heaven. It should serve as a warning the spiritual truth about commitment to God cannot be reduced to mere law.
At the time appointed by Him who made the will, He sent His natural born heir, born in the flesh and under the Law, to take full possession of His inheritance. This was so He could close up the period of minority by fulfilling all its conditions. This opened the door to His own ascension to the Throne of Heaven, and gave Him power to adopt us all as His brothers and sisters, as a part of His inheritance. But a parable cannot be made to walk on all fours. The one who died was not the Father, but the Son, and by His death and resurrection, He made it possible to grant the Holy Spirit to humans, to enter their lives and make them able to cling to the Father as their own Daddy. Coming through Christ ends the slavery, the bondage of the Law, the period of minority. The Law restrained sin externally, much as children respond only to external restraints. Mature people need no such restraints, because they understand the Father's will, loving to please Him from the heart.
Worse, Gentiles didn't even really know the God of Moses. They worshiped all sorts of things which were not genuine deities. How is submitting to the Law any better than that, when both require stepping away from the maturity and freedom granted by Christ, back into bondage as fools? Was Paul's mission work so pointless? If Paul, arguably the most Jewish of Jews, had forsaken his Jewishness to become like a Gentile, surely they can leave it behind, since it wasn't their heritage in the first place.
Paul spent a lot of time in the Galatian churches because physical limitations forced him to avoid travel for awhile. They took full advantage of their time with him, as if it were a gift from God, as if God had sent an angel, or His own Son. Obviously it did them some good, for they displayed the same sacrificial love which marks followers of Christ. How did they ascend such heights? Paul implies without stating they came to this change by the power of the message, not by a powerful and thrilling presentation of that truth. Suddenly, they seem to have decided that miracle power of the Word was not enough, and Paul was to be despised for his boring presentation. By contrast, the Judaizers had to really make their sales pitch appealing, largely by stroking the egos of the Galatian Christians. Yet their sales pitch essentially excluded them as "dirty Gentiles" -- how flattering.
This is cheap reverse psychology; deny your marks something to make them want it more. What happened to the strong desire from the Spirit, which seemed to maintain it's power even with Paul gone? How much Paul longed to be with them again, so that he could show them once again how that boring and quiet presentation could change their lives, making them freshly aware of their direct sonship in Christ. Unlike the smooth-talking Judaizers who flatter and insult at the same time, just so they can sell their false religion and make a profit, Paul would gladly pay his own way to be with them as a mother for their souls. He worried over them as a mother over a sick child.
The Judaizers were not their friends, much less family. Even the Law of Moses made that plain. Of the many sons born to Abraham, two played large parts in the Bible narrative, one represented the efforts of the flesh. The first was born to Hagar, a mere servant who could not consent to the covenant. The other was the result of God's promise, a gift born outside servitude. These two are major figures in the Scripture because of what they symbolize. One represents the path to Mount Sinai, the bondage of minority, which makes one no better than a servant in the household. Hagar represents the earthly Jerusalem, chained to the earth and all the limits of this world. The other child was born of freedom and spirit. That represents the spiritual Jerusalem, the one not tied to any fallen earthly location. That Jerusalem is Sarah, the spiritual mother of all who follow Christ. Paul bluntly says the Judaizers were the bastard sons of the flesh, sons of Hagar.
The spiritual realm is the antithesis of this world. The woman who had no hope of children give birth to a nation larger than any earthly nation. Death and desolation on this earth for the sake of Christ brings a far greater life and joy above. As Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael, so we who are free in Christ, full heirs to the promise of grace, should hardly be surprised at meeting the disapproval of those tied to this world, especially the Judaizers. They cling to this world, and are the spiritual descendants of Ishmael. And as Abraham was commanded to cast out Hagar and her son of bondage, so you should realize the Lord has cast them out of His Kingdom, and you should reject their message. They have come to steal your freedom in Christ.
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Ed Hurst
07 January 2008
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