09/23/2018

TRUE HEIRS
Believers are granted redemption and are adopted into God’s family.

GALATIANS 3:23-29; 4:1-7

GENERAL BACKGROUND – Biblical adoption has a meaning different from that of our modern society. We think of it in
relationship with a couple that may not have children of their own. They may go to a place where there are
children for adoption and see a precious little baby there. Their hearts go out to him, and they adopt him into
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. This was done through an adoption
ceremony called the toga virilis which 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.

UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT (Galatians 3:19-4:7) – How do people get into God’s family? Paul addressed that question
during his argument for salvation by faith alone. However, Paul anticipates the objections from the Judaizers
regarding the purpose for the giving of the law. Paul clarified why God gave the law in the first place (Gal. 19-
22). The law exposed sin, but it did not cure our sin problem. What humans need is not simply to be told how
wrong we are in God’s eyes. We also need to know how we can be brought into right standing with God.

The law revealed the need for a Savior (3:23-25). Paul explained this by means of two illustrations. He pictured
spiritual imprisonment because of sin. Freedom comes only through faith. He also depicted the law as a task
master. It set up boundaries for human living until people responded to salvation in faith. Faith took
precedence over the law because faith completed a work that the law could not.

Jesus’ coming unites all the people of God in a new relationship (Gal. 3:26-28). What unites us? Salvation by
faith unities us. Paul stressed that God included Gentiles in this unified family. Racial, cultural, and gender
difference created no barriers to inclusion in God’s family. What came from salvation by faith? Deliverance
from the spiritual prison of sin and freedom to enjoy this intimate relationship with the creator of the universe
by faith in Christ (Gal. 3:29-4:7). Paul exposed the real difference between Jewish legalism and the gospel of
grace. One enslaves; the other releases. God has no step-children. All believers receive the full rights and
privileges as heirs to the promise of faith.

I AN OLD GUARDIAN (GAL. 3:23-25)

Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. The
law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. But since that faith has come,
we are no longer under a guardian.

V 23– In verse 19 Paul asked, “Why was the law given?” He explained that the law was established to control the sins
of the people till the Seed (Christ) of the promise came to earth in fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. He explained
that the law was not “contrary to God’s promises” (v. 21). Now, he explains its purpose. Before Jesus came, people
were confined under the law. The KJV uses “kept,” the concept of being guarded by someone or something. The word
imprisoned has the idea of protective custody. Until the Lord Jesus came, the law had in it, mercy because of the mercy
seat. It had an alter where animal sacrifices for sin could be brought and temporary forgiveness could be obtained. All
the sacrifices pointed to Christ. Jesus’ coming negated the need for the law. He revealed a new and better way.

V 24-25 – A second illustration pictured the law as a guardian. No similar role exists in our culture. In the Roman
Empire, the wealthy would assign a slave to their male children as a personal attendant. The slave took an active part in
the child’s development. Although not a teacher, the guardian brought the child to his tutor and made sure the child did
his lessons. Supervision included discipline, which might be harsh. As a guardian, the law disciplined God’s people:
“You’re not measuring up,” “You need to step it up.” It filled in temporarily until the perfect and permanent solution,
Christ, arrived. The guardian, the law brings us to the realization that we will never meet its demands, to make us
desperate to seek Jesus Christ. Jesus made the way for people to be justified by faith.

Paul is making it very clear here that the Mosaic Law could not save. Romans 4:5 tells us, “But to him who does
not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” God refuses to accept
the works of humanity for salvation. God says all our righteousness are as filthy rags (Isa. 64.6). The law does not
remove sin; it reveals sin. It will not keep you from sin, because we sin by nature. The law was meant to bring us to
despair and for us to seek another way. The law contained no such avenue. Only Jesus accomplished that purpose.
Awareness of sin points people to the need for a Savior. Because faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
Paul’s illustrations about the law revealed the teachings of the Judaizers to be false. These teachers agreed that faith
was needed but argued obedience to the law was required for salvation. Paul, however, argued that faith alone is all
that is needed for salvation, a point he is about to make.

II A NEW COMMUNITY (GAL. 3:26-28)

For through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus. For those of you who were baptized into Christ have
been clothed with Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; since you are all one in Christ
Jesus.

V 26-27 – Paul is going to show in the rest of this study, some of the benefits that come to us by trusting Christ that
we could never receive under the law. The law never could give the believer the nature of a child of God. Christ
can do that. Only through faith in Christ can make us children of God. The word all includes both Jews and
uncircumcised Gentiles who put their faith in Christ.

This verse refutes some of the worst heresies around today, “the universal Fatherhood of God and the universal
brotherhood of man.” This is the teaching from liberalism that leads people down prim rose path to
destruction. We are supposed to talk about being honest and honorable, that we are children of God, and we
must act like children of God. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ never said anything like that. He once looked at a
group of religious leaders and said to them, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you
want to do” (John 8:44). Evidently there were some people in His day who were not sons of God. The only way
you can become a child of God is through faith in Jesus Christ.

A phrase often used by Paul, in Christ Jesus, carried important meaning. It shows the uniting of believers with
the object of their faith. God uniquely binds believers in a spiritual union with Christ (see John 14:23). This
verse is not a reference to water baptism. Water baptism is ritual baptism that symbolizes real baptism, which is
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. To be baptized into Christ is when the Holy Spirit places you in the body of
 believers. Paul says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, whether
slaves or free-and have been all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). This means we are identified, we are
put in reality and truth into the body of believers, the church. God sees you in Christ. Therefore He sees you as
perfect! Paul used the language of clothed with Christ like a garment to further emphasize this inward change
in the believer. His illustration of taking off old garments and putting on new garments displays a spiritual
reality. The Galatian believers had stripped off the old clothing of the law and put on Jesus’ robes of
righteousness (see Eph. 4:23-24)

V 28 – Paul declared all believers to be one in Christ, regardless of race, social status, or gender. First, he stated that in
God’s family no difference between Jew or Greek existed. Second, Paul mentioned cultural prejudices: slave or
free. God makes no distinction between people on the basis social position. In the Roman world, slaves were
considered objects, and had no rights. In Christ, however, all social and cultural barriers are done away with.
Third, the gender distinction between male or female held potential for division in the family of God. At this
time in history, women were less than equal to men in the law and society. God is restoring women’s equal
standing with men, as it was in the beginning. That is not to say that there are no gender distinctions. The Bible
declares gender differences, God created us male and female. Both male and female come to God the same
way-through faith in Christ Jesus. Also, the divinely assigned responsibility of race, position, or sex carries a
command of office to be accepted as an opportunity for obedience in service and glory to the Lord.

III A NEW POSITION (GAL. 3:29; 4:1-7)

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise. Now I say that as
long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. Instead, he
is under guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were
children, were in slavery under the elements of the world. When the time came to completion, God sent His
Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption
as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So
you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.

V 29 – How can we be Abraham’s descendants? Because of the fact that Abraham was declared righteous by his faith.
Abraham looked forward to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God (See Gen. 22:7-14). In our day, Christ has already
come, and you and I can look back in history and say, “Over nineteen hundred years ago the Son of God came
and died for me that I might have life.” Paul described believers as Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the
promise. Paul had earlier declared that Jesus was the true Seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:16). All who believe in Jesus
become the offspring of the promise God gave to Abraham (Gen. 12:2-3). Paul ruled out circumcision as the
identifier of Abraham’s seed. Gentile believers also spring from Abraham because they belong to Christ, the
true Seed. The Jews were blood heirs of Abraham. Gentile believers become his spiritual heirs. All that God
promised to Abraham, He also promised to the Gentiles through faith.

CHAPTER 4; V 1-3 – In the ancient world, a wealthy young child had no right to his inheritance. He owned nothing.
In this way, the child differs in no way from a slave. In life, the child did not live as free but as a slave. The child
was under guardians and trustees, as were the Jews under the law. They looked after the child and prepared
him to be a responsible owner when the child’s father determined he was ready to take his inheritance.
Trustees probably managed the child’s property. In the case of a farm, a trustee would employ laborers, buy
and sell on behalf of the child. The guardians and trustees protected the child’s inheritance until he was old
 enough to receive the inheritance. Paul reminded the Jews that this was their existence before the work of
Christ. They did not have the full understanding of what it meant to live as an heir to the King. They lived in
slavery under the elements of the world. This like the ABC’s of the law helped one to know one’s need for God
and of God’s holiness prior to the work of Christ. But only through faith in Jesus Christ could someone become
an heir of God. It was time for the Galatians to move from the ABC’s to the heart of the matter-Jesus Christ.

V 4 – Jesus’ arrival signaled that the time came to completion. As in the case of the earthly father in ancient Rome set
the time for a child to be granted authority over his inheritance, God the Father also set the time for a drastic
change. He sent His Son to complete the grand plan He promised to do. Jesus’ coming was the turning point of
history. No person or event forced God’s plan to be enacted at any time other than when God determined.
Why did the timing matter? The Greek word translated completion can also mean “the time when everything is
perfected.” The Roman Empire brought a measure of peace and stability. The Romans built roads connecting
their Empire and provided freedom of travel. This paved the way for the gospel to spread quickly all over the
western world. God saw the right time to break into history in a world-changing way.

Though there was never a time when Jesus did not exist, He came into the world born of a woman. After the
fall of Adam and Eve, God provided the first promise of a Savior, “the seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15). This
phrase emphasizes the full humanity of Jesus, even though He was fully God. The apostle John put it this way,
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus also was born under the law. Jesus was born of the tribe of
Judah, circumcised on the eighth day in accordance with Jewish law, and lived under the Jewish law all His
earthly life. He also perfectly fulfilled the law in every way. He was without sin, qualifying Him as the perfect
Lamb of God that could be offered as our sacrifice (see 2 Cor. 5:21).

V 5 – Jesus came at the perfect time with a clear mission to redeem those under the law. The law made slaves of
those who tried and failed to obey its hard demands. Slaves possessed no legal right, they were property. The
word redeem was borrowed from the slave market. To redeem meant to buy a slave or release him to freedom.
Jesus redeems us to free us from sin’s grip. Redemption through Christ provides the new standing of adoption
as sons. Roman law allowed emperors and others to adopt sons to ensure continuation of the family line. The
son gained the full legal rights of a child born to the father. A child from outside the family became an insider.
Believers are insiders and full-fledged children of God (see Rom. 8:15-17).

V 6 – Adoption as God’s children results in the receiving of the Spirit of his Son. A Roman adoption required witnesses
to confirm it. The Spirit serves as a witness to verify God’s work. The Spirit empowers us when He enters our
hearts to give evidence of sonship. As children of God we demonstrate our sonship by taking on the personality
and character of our Father. The Spirit gave the adopted child the privilege of crying, “Abba, Father!” Jesus
addressed God as Abba (Mark 14:36), an Aramaic term for Father/Daddy. The personal, intimate relationship of
a son with his father shows the truth that God is not distant or disinterested in His children.

V 7 – Paul summed things up, saying that a believer is no longer a slave but a son. Salvation through faith by grace
alone offers a freedom that places us in a position to receive the full blessings of God. Obedience to the law and
good works fail to provide that blessing. An adopted son received the right to a full share of any inheritance
from his family. God, not the law, makes every believer an heir. Paul clarified that the inheritance of faith came
as a gift from God. Neither Jewish nor Roman law made spiritual adoption legal. Only God’s grace by faith in
Jesus Christ does that.