Galatians 4

CHAPTER 4THEME: Justification by faith; allegory of Hagar and SaraiChapter 4 continues the section of justification by faith. Here we see that there is something else that comes through faith in Christ that we could never get by the works of the Law: it gives us the position of sons of God. It brings us to the place of full-grown sons. When we start out in the Christian life, we are babes and we are to grow to maturation. However, God gives us the position of a full-grown son to furnish us with a capacity that we would not otherwise have.

Galatians 4:1

The word child in this verse is not the same as child in Gal_3:26 where it is from the Greek word huios, meaning “son.” Here it is nepios, meaning a little child without full power of speech. “The heir, as long as he is a child (a little one in the family), differeth nothing from a servant.” Again we will have to go back to the Roman customs to see Paul’s illustration in action. In a Roman home servants had charge of different possessions of the master. Some had charge of the chattels, others of the livestock, others kept books for him, and others had charge of his children. When a little one was born into the home, the servants cared for him and dressed him in playclothes so that he didn’t look any different from the children of the servants with whom he was playing. And he had to obey the servants just like the other children did.

Galatians 4:2

“Until the time appointed of the father.” What time was that? It was the time when the father recognized that his son was capable of making decisions of his own, and he brought him into the position of a full-grown son. Notice that it is the father who determined when his son reached the age of maturity. It wasn’t an arbitrary law as we have in our society. It used to be that a young person became of age at twenty-one; now it’s eighteen. I think that some folk are as mature at eighteen as they are at twenty-one. Also there are other folk who haven’t reached maturity at sixty-five. But in Paul’s day, it was the father who decided when the age of maturity was reached. Then they held a ceremony, known as the toga virilis, which gave him the position of a full-grown son in the family. In a Roman home it must have worked something like this. Suppose the father is a centurion in Caesar’s army. Caesar carries on a campaign way up in Gaul, and the man is up there several yearsbecause that is where our ancestors were, and believe me, they were heathen! So he has trouble with them. He has to put them down, and it takes several years to do it. Because the army is pushing back the frontier of the Roman Empire, the father of the home is away for several years.

Finally he returns home. He goes in to shave, and all of a sudden you hear him yell out, “Who’s been using my razor?” Well, I tell you, all the servants come running, because he is the head of the house. They say to him, “Your son.” He says, “You mean to tell me that my boy is old enough to use a razor!” The boy has grown to be a great big fellow. And the father says, “Bring him here.” So they bring him inhe’s a fine strapping boyand the father says, “Well, now we must have the toga virilis, and we’ll send out invitations to the grandmas, the grandpas, the aunts, and the uncles.” So they all come in for the ceremony of the toga virilis, and that day the father puts around the boy a toga, a robe. That is what our Lord meant in His parable of the Prodigal Son. When the boy came home the father didn’t receive him as just an ordinary son, he received him as a full-grown son, put the robe around him, and put a ring on his finger.

The ring had on it the signet of his father, which was equivalent to his signature and gave him the father’s authority. You could see that boy walking down the street now with that robe on. The servant better not say anything to correct him now, and he’d better not try to paddle him now. In fact, he’ll be paddling the servant from here on because he has now reached the age of a full-grown son. That is what Paul meant when he went on to say:

Galatians 4:3

“Under the elements of the world” means under the Law. Paul is saying that it was the childhood of the nation Israel when they were under rules and regulations.

Galatians 4:4

At the time determined by God, God the Father sent forth God the Son, born of a woman, born under the Law. Mary was a Jewish woman. Out here on the West Coast there is a woman who is saying that Jesus did not belong to any race. How absolutely puerile and senseless! It is an attempt to take a saccharine sweet position which has no meaning whatsoever. The woman at the well (as recorded in the fourth chapter of John’s gospel) knew more than the woman out here today.

She said, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? …” (Joh_4:9, italics mine). She thought He was a Jew, and our Lord didn’t correct her; so I conclude that she was accurate. If you don’t mind, I’ll follow her rather than some of my contemporaries who try to play down the fact that Jesus, according to the flesh, was a Jew. He had a perfect humanity. He also was God manifest in the flesh. In my day that is being questioned.

However, the only historical Jesus that we have is the One who is described in one of the oldest creeds of the church as “very man of very man and very God of very God.” I agree with that creed because it is exactly what the Word of God teaches. Now what was God’s purpose in sending forth His Son?

Galatians 4:5

God had a twofold purpose: (1) To redeem those under the Law. They were children under the Law. You see, the Law never made anyone a son of God. (2) That they might receive the adoption of sons. Adoption has a meaning different from that of our contemporary society. We think of it in relationship with a couple that may not have children of their own. They go to a home where there are children for adoption and see a precious little baby there. Their hearts go out to him, and they adopt him in their family by going through legal action. When the little one becomes their child we call that adoption. However, the Roman custom in Paul’s day was to adopt one’s own son. That, you recall, was what was done in the toga virilis ceremony. Adpotion (the Greek word is huiothesia) means “to place as a son.” A believer is placed in the family of God as a full-grown son, capable of understanding divine truth. In 1Co_2:9-10 we read, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” This simply means that the truth in the Word of God can be interpreted only by the Spirit of God, and until He interprets it, man cannot understand it. The Holy Spirit alone can interpret the Word of God for us. That is what makes the difference today in certain men. A man can bring to the Word of God a brilliant mind. He can learn something about history, archaeology, and language.

He can become an expert in Hebrew and Greek but can still miss the meaning. Why? Because the Spirit of God is the teacher. Even Isaiah the prophet said that: “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him” (Isa_64:4). If you want to know about Christ, only the Spirit of God can reveal Him to you. Even a mature Christian who has been in the Word for years is as helpless in studying the Bible as a newborn babe in Christ, because the Spirit of God will have to teach each of them. I hope you will pardon my using a personal illustration. The only way I know a lot of these things is by pouring them through my own hopperexperiencing these truths myself. When I first started my schooling I was the youngest one in my class. When my father died, I had to quit school for three or four years in order to go to work. At that time I was the youngest one in my class. When I started my training for the ministry, I had those years of high school to make up, and when I went back to school, I was the oldest one in my class.

When I entered seminary, I found that I was very ignorant of the Bible. I had never seen a Bible in my home. I had never heard a prayer in my home. I did not know the books of the Bible. I was ignorant, friend. No one could have been more ignorant of the Word of God than I was, and I felt it.

I had to spend a lot of time memorizing the books of the Bible and many other basic things that I did not know when I first started studying. I developed an inferiority complex. When I preached as a young man, and I saw people with gray hair in the congregation, I would say to myself, What I am going to say will be baby stuff for those folks because they really know the Bible. However, I really had my eyes opened. I found out that there are still many people with gray hair who are babes in Christ. They have never grown up.

The great truth which was given to me at this time was that the Spirit of God could teach me as a young believer as much as He could teach a mature Christian. We both could understand it if the Spirit of God was our teacher. This was a brand new truth for me, and it was a great encouragement as I was starting out in the ministry. My friend, if you are a new believer, the same Spirit of God who is teaching me can teach you. If you are God’s child, He has brought you into the position of a full-grown son, into the adoption. And, my friend, there is nothing quite as wonderful as that! That gave me confidence when I was a young believer and it gives me confidence to this good day. My friend, the Spirit of God will lead you and guide you into all truth if you want to know it, if you are willing for Him to be your teacher. This brings us to the third thing that faith in Christ does for us that the Law could never do for us, which is the experience of sons of God.

Galatians 4:6

“And because ye are sons” is a very strong statement. Rom_8:16 says it this way, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children [the sons] of God.” Paul continues to say in Romans, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live [as sons]. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom_8:11-14). If you are a child of God, you will want to be led by the Spirit of God. The flesh may get a victory in your life, but it will never make you happy.

You will never be satisfied with it, because “…ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.” You don’t need to say, “My, I’m not living as I should live, and I wonder if I’m a child of God.” My friend, “ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Rom_8:15-16). This passage in the Epistle to the Romans is the unabridged edition of the parallel passage in Galatians. I wanted you to see all of it. The word Abba was not translated, I am told, because the translators of the King James Version had a great reverence for the Word of God. When they came to the word Abba, they didn’t dare translate it into English because it was such an intimate word. It could be translated “my daddy.” God is my wonderful heavenly Father, but I would hesitate to call him “daddy.”

Galatians 4:7

The Spirit, therefore, gives us an experience of being a son of God, whereby we can cry outnot just saying the word or putting on a false “piosity"and call God our Father, because the Spirit is bearing witness with our spirit. This gives us the experience of being a son of God. There are many folk who believe that the only way you can have an experience is either by reaching a high degree of sanctificationyou’ve got to become holyor you have to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as they call it. They insist that if you don’t get up to that level, you will never have an experience. My friend, let me assure you, if you are a new believer or a weak believer, that you can have an experience as a son of God without reaching those levels, because sonship comes to you through faith in Jesus Christ. When folk have reached a high level of spirituality, they tend to think they are superior to the rest of us. However, we are always God’s foolish little children. We are always filled with ignorance and stubbornness and sin and fears and weaknesses.

We are never wonderful; He is wonderful. The Lord Jesus is wonderful, and faith in Him will give us an experience. I believe in experience, and I feel that a great many folk today need an experience with God. Paul Rader, who was one of the greatest preachers this country has ever produced, used some very striking expressions. One day on the platform he said, “The old nature that you and I have is just like an old dead cat. What you need to do is reach down and get that old dead cat by the tail and throw it as far away as you can.” I can say “amen” to that. I wish I could get rid of my old nature. One day Dr. Chafer heard him use this illustration, and he said to him afterward, “Paul, you forget that the old dead cat has nine lives.

When you throw him away, he is going to be right back tomorrow.” We will never become perfect saints of God, but we can experience being sons of God by faith in Jesus Christ. “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Many times you and I plod along in our Christian lives, and we don’t have an experience with God. Sometimes life becomes very drab and a little monotonous. But there are other times, especially when God puts us on trial and really tests us, that we have a wonderful experience with our Heavenly Father. I recall when I was taken to the hospital to be operated on for cancer. No one was ever as frightened as I was because I am a coward, and I don’t like hospitals. (I thank God for them, but I still don’t like them.) I put on that funny looking nightgown they give you that is open in the back instead of the front, and I was trying to get up into the bed. I just couldn’t make it. A nurse came in and said, “What’s the matter? Are you sick?” I said, “No, I’m scared to death!” Then, when she came to get me ready for the operation, I said, “Just let me have a few moments alone.” I had visited in that hospital many times as a pastorin fact, several hundred times. Now I turned my face to the wall just like Hezekiah did and I said, “Lord, I want you to know that I have been here many times, and I have patted people on the hand and told them that You would be with them.

As their pastor I prayed for them and then walked out. But I am not walking out today. I am going to have to stay and be operated on myself. I don’t know what the outcome will be.” I had some things I wanted to tell God. I wanted to tell Him how He ought to work it out. But I just welled up inside, and said, “My Father, I’m in Your hands.

Whatever You want done, You do it. You’re my Father.” He was so wonderful to me. That is when He becomes a reality, my beloved. We need to experience Him as our Abba, Father. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children [sons] of God” (Rom_8:16). Now, I don’t wish you any trouble, but I think it is generally in times of trouble that God makes Himself real to us. I hope that someday you will have such an experience with our wonderful heavenly Father. There is one illustration I want to use before I move on. John G. Paton was a pioneer missionary in the New Hebrides. He went to the mission field as a young man with a young bride. When their first child was born, the child died and the wife died. He buried them with his own hands. Because he was among cannibals, he sat over the grave for many days and nights to prevent them from digging up the bodies and eating them. His testimony was that if the Lord Jesus Christ had not made Himself real to him during that time, he would have gone mad. God makes Himself real during times of distress. When Paul was in prison, he could say, “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me …” (2Ti_4:16-17). The Lord stood by Paul. He stood by John Paton. He stood by me. He will stand by you. How reassuring it is to have a Father like that! At such a time He says, “…I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb_13:5). I trust you are His son.

Galatians 4:8

Paul is speaking of the fact that the Galatians had been idolaters. When I visited that Galatian country in Asia Minor, where the seven churches were located, I saw how completely the population then was given over to the worship of idols. Paul describes idols as vanities"nothings.” In 1Co_12:2 Paul called them “dumb idols.” They were nothing and could say nothing. He is telling the Galatians that idols are not real and cannot make themselves real to those who worship them.

Galatians 4:9

“Known of God” actually means approved of God or to be acknowledged of God. They had come to Christ through faith and God accepts that. Most of the believers in the Galatian churches were Gentiles. Now that they were Christians, they were turning to the Mosaic Law, which is, as Paul says, like going back into the idolatry they came out of.

Galatians 4:10

“Ye observe days,” meaning the sabbath days. Paul said to the Colossians, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days” (Col_2:16). “Months” probably refers to the observance of the “new moon” practiced by the people of Israel in the time of the kings. The prophets warned them against it. “Times” should be translated seasons, meaning feasts. God had given Israel seven feasts, but they all had pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. “Years” of course would refer to the sabbatic years. The observance of all these things would put these gentile believers completely back under the Mosaic Law. Today I hear legalists claim they are keeping the Mosaic Law, yet they are keeping only the sabbath day. My friend, all the law comes in one package, including the sabbatic year and the Year of Jubilee. James in his epistle said, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (Jas_2:10). That is, he is guilty of being a lawbreaker.

Galatians 4:11

Paul is saying, in a nice way, that he thinks he has wasted his time among them. Since they have been saved by grace, their returning to the Law is the same as returning to their former idolatry. He reminded them that they had not known God by means of the Mosaic Law but by faith in Jesus Christ. We have come now to a personal section (vv. Gal_4:12-18). It is a polite word that Paul is injecting in this epistle.

Galatians 4:12

“Be as I am” is better translated become as I am. The Galatians had been listening to false teachers, and they were looking upon Paul as an enemy because he told them the truth. Paul is saying, “We are all on the same plane. We are all believers, all in the body of Christ. In view of this we ought to be very polite to one another.”

Galatians 4:13

Now Paul makes an appeal to them on the basis of his thorn in the flesh. What was that thorn? Let’s read on.

Galatians 4:14

“And my temptation which was in my flesh” means the trial, which elsewhere he calls his thorn in the flesh.

Galatians 4:15

Probably Paul’s thorn in the flesh was some sort of eye trouble, and it evidently made him very unattractive. I cannot conceive of them wanting to pluck out their eyes and give them to Paul if what he really needed was another leg. Apparently Paul had an eye disease which is common in that land and is characterized by excessive pus that runs out of the eyes. You can well understand how unattractive that would be to look at while he was ministering to them. Paul says, “You just ignored it, and received me so wonderfully when I preached the gospel to you.”

Galatians 4:16

I had always wanted to place on the pulpit, facing the preacher, the words, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” A very fine officer of the church I served in downtown Los Angeles did this for me after he heard me express this desire. There is another verse I wanted to place on the audience side of the pulpit, but I never had the nerve to do it. It is these words of Paul: “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” As you know, many folk today really don’t want the preacher to tell the truth from the pulpit. They would much rather he would say something complimentary that would smooth their feathers and make them feel good. We all like to have our backs rubbed, and there is a lot of back-rubbing from the contemporary pulpit rather than the declaration of the truth.

Galatians 4:17

These verses are more easily understood in the American Standard Version which says, “They zealously seek you in no good way; nay, they desire to shut you out, that ye may seek them. But it is good to be zealously sought in a good matter at all times, and not only when I am present with you.” Paul is saying that it is good to seek that which is the very best, but these Judaizers are after you in order to scalp you. They want to put your scalp on their belt and be able to say, “We were over at Galatia, and we had so many converts"which, of course, would not be actually true. Paul had somewhat the same thing to say to the Corinthian believers: “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2Co_12:12-15). You see, this same crowd of Judaizers had gone to Corinth. The Corinthian believers had loved Paul also, and Paul had to warn them of these men. False teachers are often very attractive. I am amazed at the very fine presentation the cults make. I have watched them on television programs that are done to perfection. That is the subtle part of it.

Everything is beautiful to look at, and those taking part are attractive individuals. Also they present a certain amount of truth. For example, I listened to a man who is a liberal give the Christmas story during the Christmas season. No one could have told it better than he did. It was an excellent presentation. But when he began to interpret it, I realized that he didn’t even believe in the virgin birth of Christ.

You see, the warning of Paul both to the Galatian and Corinthian believers is very timely for our generation also.

Galatians 4:19

ALLEGORY OF HAGAR AND SARAIThis chapter concludes with an allegory of Hagar and Sarai. All is contrast in this section between these two women. Hagar, and every reference to her under other figures of speech, represents the Law. Sarai, and every reference to her under other figures of speech, represents faith in Christ. Paul addresses his allegory to the Galatian believers by using this tender expression, “My little children” children is the Greek word teknia meaning “born one.” Paul has a very tender heart, and he likens himself to a mother.

Galatians 4:20

Paul wanted to be present so that he could speak differently. He was deeply concerned about these people. He had been using strong language in his letter, but you can see his tender heart.

Galatians 4:21

There are people who talk about the Ten Commandments or some legal system, but they don’t talk about the penalty imposed by the Law. They don’t present the Law in the full orb of its ministry of condemnation. Notice what happened when God called Moses to the mountain to give the Law: “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish” (Exo_19:16-21). God told the people to stand back, actually to stand afar off, when He gave Moses the Law. Exo_20:18-19 says, “And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” We cannot conceive of how holy God is. You and I are renegades in God’s universe. We are in the position of being lost sinners in God’s universe with no capacity to follow or obey Him. Rom_8:6 says, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” The carnal mind is enmity against God. My friend, the world is against God; it is not for God. The world is not getting better. It is becoming more evil each day, and it has been bad since the day God put Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. Romans 8;7 goes on to say, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” No wonder the children of Israel trembled and moved away from the mountain and said, “We will die.” Now, my friend, God is high and holy and lifted up, and He dwells in glory. You and I are down here making mud pies in the world because physically we are made out of mud. We creatures walk about here on earth and have the audacity to walk contrary to the will of God! The carnal mind is enmity against God. That is man’s position in the world. Paul says, “Listen to the Law. You haven’t even heard it yet.” It was true. The Galatians had not actually heard the Law. The giving of the Law was not beautiful and cozy, but terrifying. The Galatians seemed to want to be under law so Paul was going to let them hear it.

Galatians 4:22

Using an illustration from the life of Abraham (Gen. 16; 17; 18; 20; 21), Paul is going to make a contrast between these two boys that were born, one to Hagar and one to Sarai. One was the son of a bondwoman; the other was the son of a freewoman. The freewoman represents grace, and the bondwoman represents the Mosaic Law. He is going to point out the contrast between them in what he calls an allegory. Paul is not saying that the story of Abraham is an allegorysome have interpreted this statement as meaning thatbut Paul is saying that the incident of the two women who bore Abraham sons contains an allegory. It has a message for us today.

Galatians 4:23

“He who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh.” The Code of Hammurabi, which governed the culture in Abraham’s day, stated that the son of a slave woman was a slave. So even though Ishmael was Abraham’s son, he was a slave. “He of the freewoman was by promise.” Isaac was a miracle child, that is, his birth was miraculous. Abraham was too old to father a child, and Paul says that the womb of Sarai was dead. She had passed the age of childbearing. The womb of Sarai was like a tomb, and out of death God brought life.

Galatians 4:24

“Which things are an allegory,” meaning that these events in Abraham’s life contain an allegory. Paul is going to draw a lesson from it. “For these are the two covenants"the first is the covenant of the Law which Moses received from God on Mount Sinai. “Which is Agar” (Agar is the Greek form of the name Hagar). Paul compares Hagar to Mount Sinai which is synonymous with the Mosaic Law.

Galatians 4:25

In Paul’s allegory Hagar is Mount Sinai which corresponds to Jerusalem (the earthly Jerusalem of Paul’s day), because she was still in slavery with her children. In other words, Jerusalem (representing the nation of Israel) was still under the bondage of the Law.

Galatians 4:26

“Jerusalem which is above” is the New Jerusalem which is presented to us in the twentieth chapter of Revelation as it comes down from God out of heaven. As old Jerusalem is the mother city of those under the law, so the New Jerusalem is the mother city of the believer under grace. The believer neither here nor hereafter has any connection with legalism.

Galatians 4:27

From Sarai (who was barren until the birth of Isaac) there came more descendants than ever came from Hagar. Today the Arabs are fewer than the children of Israel. In this allegory, Paul is saying that God is saving under grace more members of the human family than He ever saved under the Mosaic Law by the sacrificial system.

Galatians 4:28

Believers today are also children of promise. Our birth is a new birth, which comes about by our believing God’s promise: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Joh_3:16). God has said that if we trust Him, we’ll be born again. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1Pe_1:23).

Galatians 4:29

My friend, the legalist hates the gospel of the free grace of God. When I was first ordained to the ministry, I preached a sermon on prophecy and made the comment that preaching on prophecy would get me into trouble. After the service, an elder came to me and said, “Vernon, you are mistaken. Preaching on prophecy will never get you into trouble. In fact, you’ll generally get a good crowd. People like to hear prophecy.

But if you preach the grace of God, you’re going to get into trouble.” This is the reason that the gospel is trimmed down as it is today. I hear very little gospel, that is, the pure grace of God, preached these days. And I know whyif you preach that, you get a barrage of criticism. Folk insist that I have to also do something or seek something from another sourcefrom the Holy Spirit, for instance, or go through some ceremony in order to receive something that I did not get when I trusted Jesus Christ. My friend, to say that is calling Christ a curse. If you have to add anything to what He did for you, then His death on the cross was in vain.

Christ was made a curse for us; but if you don’t accept what He did for you, you are saying that you are not guilty, but that He is guilty. These words of Paul are as relevant in our day as they were in his day: “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.” The natural man hates the gospel of the grace of God. My friend, it is in us to hate it, because it doesn’t require any doing on our part. Rather, it glorifies Christ and turns our eyes to Him.

Galatians 4:30

God commanded the expulsion of the bondwoman and her son (see Gen_21:10). Today God is saying to you and to me, “Get rid of your legalism. Put all of the emphasis on Jesus Christ.”

Galatians 4:31

Abraham could not have both the son of Hagar and the son of Sarai. He had to make a choice. Paul is saying that you can’t be saved by law and grace. You have to make a choice. If you try to be saved by Christ and also by law, you are not saved. Let me ask you, have you really trusted Christ, or are you carrying a spare tire on your little omnibus; that is, do you feel that you are doing something or being something or trying to attain to something which adds to what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross? If you do, forget it and look to Christ alone; receive everything from Him. He is our Savior. He is our Lord. He is to receive all praise and glory.