Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

What does Galatians Chapter 4 mean?

In Galatians 4, Paul continues teaching an important lesson to the Galatian Christians. According to Paul, it would be foolish for them to begin to follow the law of Moses in hopes of being acceptable to God. In this passage, he takes three additional approaches.

His first argument has to do with a kind of servitude endured even by heirs of a wealthy man. Paul’s illustration this time comes from the Greek culture of his day. A child might have been destined to inherit everything his father owned, but until the day of his inheritance came, he continued to live under the supervision of managers and guardians. He was not truly free.

In the same way, those under the law lived in a kind of servitude until Christ arrived on earth. We could not escape our own sinfulness, which the law revealed. Christ bought us out of that slavery by paying the price for our sins with His life. As a result, God adopts those who trust in Christ as His own full children. More than that, God sends His own Spirit to live in the hearts of these new sons and daughters (Galatians 4:1–7).

In a similar way, the Galatians themselves were slaves to false gods. Why are they beginning now to follow the law and become slaves again? This, Paul’s second argument in Galatians 4, is more of a personal appeal than a point of logic. He sounds emotional and desperate. He reminds the Galatian Christians of how openly they honored him and the message of Jesus when they first got to know each other. Even an illness suffered by Paul, described as a trial to the Galatians, did not keep them from believing (Galatians 4:8–14).

What has changed, Paul asks. “Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?” In truth, Paul knows what has changed. The Galatians have begun to see him and the message of God’s grace as untrustworthy because of the false teachers in their midst. Paul reveals the motive of these teachers. They only want to glorify themselves. Paul, on the other hand, calls them dear little children. He is suffering for them once more as a mother suffers through childbirth. He wants nothing more than to see Christ take shape in them (Galatians 4:15–20).

Finally, Paul builds a somewhat complicated allegory from the life of Abraham to show that in choosing the law, the Galatian Christians will be choosing slavery instead of freedom.

In this allegory, Abraham’s slave-wife Hagar (Genesis 16:1–3) represents living under the law of Moses and his free wife Sarah represents being justified before God by faith in Christ (Hebrews 11:11). Ishmael, born to the slave woman, is born into slavery. Isaac, though, is the child of God’s promise and born from supernatural power.

One day, Ishmael mocked Isaac. In response, Sarah demanded that Abraham kick both Hagar and Ishmael out of the family (Genesis 21:8–14). She did not want Ishmael to share in the inheritance with her birth-son Isaac. God supported Sarah’s request, and Abraham cast them out. Paul concludes that the same has happened with those who follow the law and do not trust in Christ to be justified. All who do trust in Christ are born into God’s family and share in that promise by the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 4:21–31).

Chapter Context
Galatians 3 ends with Paul stating, once more, that those who are in Christ are Abraham’s offspring, just as He is, making us heirs along with Him. Galatians 4 continues that idea, showing how Christ’s arrival signaled the moment all people could receive the inheritance with Him and be adopted as God’s children. Paul makes his appeal personal, asking why the Galatians moved from blessing him to rejecting the message of Christ. The chapter ends with Paul’s allegory about the difference between being born into slavery under the law and being born into freedom by the power of the Spirit through faith in Christ. Chapter 5 will continue by expanding on the freedom we have in Christ.

Verse by Verse

Verse 1. I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,

Paul is writing to the Christians in Galatia, helping them understand why it is not necessary for them to begin following the law of Moses. A group of false teachers known as the Judaizers has been working to convince these new believers that after trusting in Christ, they must be circumcised and follow the law in order to be truly right before God (Galatians 2:4).

In the previous verse, Galatians 3:29, Paul declared that everyone who is in Christ has become Abraham’s offspring. This refers to everyone who has faith in Jesus. In that way, along with Christ, believers are heirs to the promises God gave to Abraham. Now Paul begins to use the idea of being an heir to illustrate a different point.

In the Greek culture of Paul’s day, the child of a wealthy family lived from day to day with very little freedom. Ultimately, he would own everything the family owned. He was the lord of the estate, in the sense that everything was under his eventual authority. Still, at that age, he didn’t get to decide when to rise in the morning, when to go to bed at night, where to go, and what to do. His position as the heir didn’t entitle him to true freedom until he reached the agreed-upon age.

Paul will make the case in the following verses that something similar was going for Israel, while living under the law of Moses, before Christ came.

Verse 2. but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.

Paul loves to teach through illustration and analogy. He began a useful comparison in the previous verse, describing the son of a wealthy Greek man of that era. Such a child may be the future owner of everything around him, and yet have no more freedom than a slave, while he is still a child. Prior to the agreed-upon time, the heir’s rights are not much different from those of a servant.

Now Paul continues, explaining that this son lives under the authority of guardians and managers. While the managers oversee the estate and make decisions about property and investments, the guardians discipline the boy. His tutors guide and protect him until a specific date is reached. This date is when the boy’s father has decided to allow him to inherit his portion of the family estate. Until that day arrives, the boy will continue to live as a slave, with limited freedom over his own life.

Paul will describe in the following verses how the experience of this child is similar to Israel’s history, living under the law of Moses. In a separate, but related sense, this might apply, as well, to the Gentile believers’ previous history under the pagan philosophies of their own culture.

Verse 3. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.

Paul is making another point in his case that faith in Christ is all that is required to be right with God—to be “justified.” He has described a common scenario in Greek family life. The child of a wealthy family continues to live like a slave, under the authority of guardians and managers, until the day arrives when he is old enough to receive his portion of the inheritance.

Now Paul continues that all of us have lived under a similar condition. Though the Jewish people are heirs to the promises of Abraham by birth, and Christians are heirs by faith in Christ, all of us lived as slaves to “the elementary principles of the world” until Christ came. What are the elementary principles of the world? They include, at least, sin and death.

Paul said in Galatians 3:22 that all of us, Israelites under the law and Gentiles without Christ, were imprisoned under sin. We could not escape our own sinfulness. We were slaves to sin. This included all those who lived under the law of Moses. In fact, they were likely even more aware of their own sinfulness and their inability to escape it.

The law provided guidance, protection, and discipline for Israel, but it could not set anyone free from slavery to sin. That would not happen until the date set by God the Father to send Christ and, with Him, freedom.

Verse 4. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

Verse 4 and 5 summarize the powerful, beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ. This was the good news Paul had preached, and which the Galatians had believed.

In the previous verses, Paul compared life under the law to a child living under the care of a guardian. Though that child is entitled to a grand inheritance, the child’s daily life is similar to that of a slave until the predetermined date set by his father arrives. Others determine when and where the child will go and what he will do. He is waiting for the freedom his inheritance will bring.

Now Paul says that date has come for those who were under the law. In fact, the moment has come for all who want to share in the inheritance of Jesus. The date set by God the Father arrived right on schedule. When the “fullness of time” had come, God’s Son Jesus was born to a human woman. This woman, Mary, was a virgin (Matthew 1:18), and her pregnancy was a mysterious miracle. She carried the child of God.

Jesus was born into a Jewish family in Israel. As such, He was born “under the law.” Jesus was the only human being ever to keep the law perfectly. In doing so, He declared that He had “fulfilled” the law (Matthew 5:17). He satisfied all of its requirements, then died on the cross to pay all of the penalties for the sins of others (Galatians 3:13).

Verse 5. to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Christ has come, and with Him the opportunity to be freed from the curse of the law. In the previous verse, Paul said that God sent His Son at the exact right moment in human history to be born to a human woman.

As fully God and fully human, what was Christ’s mission on earth? Paul reports that He came to redeem those under that law. The word translated as “redeem” is from the Greek root word exagorazo. This is the same word used to buy a slave out of bondage. That’s why Jesus came: to buy those who believe in Him out of our bondage to the requirements of the law, and the out of the curse that comes with the law, because we could not keep the law perfectly. We were literally slaves to our own sinfulness with no hope of escape.

Christ didn’t redeem us just to set us free to wander on our own, however. He came to redeem us so that we can be adopted into God’s family. Through faith in Christ, we not only escape the need to follow the works of the law endlessly with no hope of ever escaping our sin. We also find a home and family as children of God the Father. We find forgiveness from sin and belonging with God.

Paul will soon ask why the liberated children of God would ever want to go back to living in slavery under the law.

Verse 6. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Paul continues to describe the amazing truth that those who come to Christ by faith are freed from slavery to the law, as well as to our own sinfulness, and are also adopted by God as His own children. Now Paul points to the Holy Spirit as the confirmation of this adoption.

God sends His Spirit to live in the hearts of every one of his adopted sons and daughters. The Holy Spirit is referred to here by Paul as the Spirit of His Son. He moves into our hearts and gives us the right, along with Jesus, to call out to God as a young child calls out to their “daddy.” Abba means “father” in the Aramaic language. Because it’s easy for young children to say, like the English term dada, it’s what most young children would call their father. Without our own sinfulness and the law standing between us and God, we can live with God as little children do with a trusted father.

This verse helps to show how each member of the Trinity is involved in our salvation. God the Father sent the Son to save us, then sent the Spirit to live in our hearts.

Verse 7. So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Prior verses used the analogy of an heir being under the control of other people, until they reached an appointed time. Then, their inheritance would take effect, and they would truly be free. Building on that idea, Paul assures his Galatian readers, and us along with them. For those who have come to God by faith in Christ, their slavery to sin and to the law is over. They have become God’s beloved little children. And, as children of God, they are also His heirs. Because they are in Christ, they are entitled to share in all the inheritance that is due to Him from God the Father.

As a result, believers in Christ are completely provided for throughout all of eternity. We are protected and loved and included in the plans and purpose of our God. Without Christ, we would have nothing. Because we are in Him by faith, we have everything a child of God can have.

Verse 8. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

Paul is writing to a group of Christians in Galatia who are beginning to be influenced by false teachers to start following the law of Moses in order to be acceptable to God (Galatians 2:4). Using several different approaches, Paul has made a case as to why it does not make sense to seek salvation through the law, when Christ came at just the right time to save them, in His grace, by faith.

Paul has also reminded the Galatians of all that comes with being saved by faith in Christ, as opposed to struggling to earn merit by trying to follow the law. They have been adopted by God as His very children. They have a share in the inheritance of Jesus Christ. God’s own Spirit has come to live in their hearts so that they can call out to God as their own Abba, a word which means “father.”

Now Paul takes the Galatians back to their spiritual condition before they trusted in Christ. Then, they were not even followers of the law of Moses. They were slaves to other figures, like Zeus and Hermes, who were not even true gods, at all. Their false religion held them captive to false hopes of being saved or favored by false gods. Paul seems to be saying that he knows the Galatians don’t want to go back to worshiping those gods.

The following verse follows from this assumption. He will ask why, then, they would want to be slaves again to the worldly principles that now come with following the law.

Context Summary
Galatians 4:8–20 reveals that the Galatian Christians have already begun legalistically following the law of Moses, by observing special days. Why would they want to go back to slavery by following the law to be justified by God, Paul asks? Why have they gone from blessing him and trusting in Christ to rejecting him for telling the truth? The false teachers are only using them to bring glory to themselves, Paul insists. Paul is in anguish for them as a mother in childbirth. He longs to see Christ formed in them.

Verse 9. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

Paul has made a bold and compelling case that the arrival of Christ created the opportunity for his Galatian readers to be made right before God—”justified”—by faith alone. They need not—they should not—begin to follow the law of Moses in hopes of being justified, when God had already given that to them through Christ.

Now Paul compares following the law to the religious beliefs these Greek Christians held before they heard of Jesus. Back then, Paul wrote in the previous verse, they were slaves to false gods like Zeus and Hermes, who were not even real beings, at all. They worshiped these gods in hopes of being favored, becoming slaves to imaginary masters.

Paul now suggests that legalistic obedience to the law of Moses, after Christ has come, brings with it the same slavery as worshiping false gods like Zeus. They will be making themselves slaves to the basic principles of the world again, just as they did before they knew Christ. What are these “basic principles”? In part, they involve the idea that human beings can somehow prove themselves worthy to the gods–or to God Himself—by leading their lives in a specific way. The attempt to “earn” one’s salvation is a common thread in all man-made religions.

Paul has already shown that this cannot be done. Humans cannot earn the favor of non-existent gods. Nor can they earn the favor of the one, true God, because they will never be able to follow His law perfectly. The law showed that we are all slaves to our own sinfulness; we must be rescued.

Now that his readers have come to know God, and God has come to know them, through their faith in Christ, why return to that slavery? There simply is no good reason.

Verse 10. You observe days and months and seasons and years!

The Galatian Christians had initially responded to Paul’s message of salvation by grace, though faith (Galatians 1:6). However, a certain group, known as the Judaizers, had begun to claim that salvation also required adherence to the law of Moses (Galatians 2:4). Paul has been pointing out how “foolish” it is for the Galatians to turn from a gospel of faith, to a gospel of works.

Paul now points to some specific works of the law that these Galatian Christians have begun to follow. They have started to observe specific “days and months and seasons and years.” He means that they have started to observe and celebrate all the special days and holidays Israel was commanded to observe under the law of Moses. These days would have included the weekly Sabbath with all of its restrictions, beginning Friday at sunset and lasting until Saturday at sunset. It would have included specific festivals and fasts and days of remembrance. From the time of Moses until the time of Christ, all Israelites were required to obey God by observing these days. Failing to observe them was reason enough for God to remove His blessing under His covenant with Israel.

Is Paul saying that it is always wrong for believers to observe any special “holy days”? Not necessarily, but one does need to be aware of motives. In Romans 14, Paul describes those kinds of actions as a matter of conscience: “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord” (Romans 14:5–6).

The problem was that these Christians were observing all the special days, not to honor the Lord, but to be honored by Him. They hoped to be more fully justified and holy as followers of Christ. They believed this because they were listening to the group of false teachers known as the Judaizers.

In doing so, the Galatian Christians showed they were not convinced God had already fully justified them by their faith in Christ. They were making themselves slaves to sin again by expecting God to approve of their works instead of simply accepting them, in love and by His grace, as His children in and through Christ.

Verse 11. I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

Paul had successfully evangelized people in Galatia by preaching a gospel of faith (Galatians 1:6). To his dismay, he learned that those same Galatians were being deceived by false teachers who claimed that salvation also required adherence to the rituals and rules of the law (Galatians 2:4). Prior verses included his explanation of why this was such an absurd and unnecessary development.

Paul, sounding exasperated with his Galatian readers, suddenly makes his plea to them very personal. He is afraid that the time and energy he has poured into helping them to understand the good news about Jesus Christ was wasted. It may have all been “in vain.” His frustration is understandable. After all, Paul had been commissioned by Christ Himself to take the good news of salvation by faith in Christ—and not by works—to the non-Jewish world. It would have been one thing to try to explain to a Jewish person, who had legalistically followed the law their entire life, the idea that those rituals could not save them. For a Jew, letting go of the idea that law-following was needed to be right before God would have been difficult.

In this situation, however, people who had never followed the law of Moses in their lives were beginning to think they needed to be circumcised and observe special days in order for God to accept them! The group of false teachers known as the Judaizers were so committed to the law that they could not abide allowing non-Jewish Christians to believe they could be saved without it.

Paul’s fear of having wasted his time with the Galatians will spur him to write in the following verses an impassioned plea for them to trust solely in the grace of God.

Verse 12. Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.

Paul has been encouraging Christians to accept that they have already been fully made right before God—”justified”—by faith in Christ’s death for their sins. To begin to follow the law of Moses, in hopes of being justified, simply makes no sense. Worse, it would make them slaves to their sin again. To depend on rituals and sacraments for salvation means asking God to judge them based on their works instead of Christ’s work on the cross.

Now, Paul calls them these Galatians “brothers.” This demonstrates that he believes what he has written earlier. In Christ, they are all one. He is not superior to them because he is Jewish, or Roman, or male, or free and not a slave (Galatians 3:28). In fact, he begs them to become as he is because he has become as they are.

In other words, Paul is asking the Galatian Christian to fully accept their status as free men and women in Christ as he, Paul, has fully abandoned his own status as a man “under the law” to live free in Christ himself.

In the following verses, Paul continues a new thought, insisting that the Galatians did no wrong to him when he was with them.

Verse 13. You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first,

Paul has been making a series of appeals to the Galatians. These are his reasons why they should abandon any hope of becoming justified before God by following the Jewish law. Instead, they should accept the truth that they are already fully justified because of their faith in Christ. The two ideas are simply incompatible.

Paul began a new thought in the previous verse when he said that, during his time with them, they did nothing wrong to him. Now he will develop that idea, reminding them of their profound kindness to him and how deeply they believed what he taught about Jesus. He will ask pointedly: “What has changed?”

He begins with the strange-sounding statement that he first preached to them about faith in Christ because of an illness or “bodily ailment.” We do not know from this passage or other books of the Bible what this illness was. We also don’t know how an illness could have caused Paul to preach to this specific group of people. Bible scholars speculate that perhaps Paul came to their region to recover from an illness, such as malaria. Or perhaps Paul intended to pass right through their region but could not proceed because he got sick.

In any case, Paul’s readers would have known exactly what he meant. They, along with him, understood Paul’s illness to have been a God-engineered occurrence that provided the opportunity for him to preach to them about Jesus. As the following verses reveal, their response to Paul’s illness was kindness and not rejection.

Verse 14. and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

Paul is reminding his Galatian readers about how they came to know each other. More specifically, he is reminding them about their own kindness to him during a difficult time in his life and how they received him and the gospel of Jesus with honor. That, in turn, is part of his continuing encouragement to them: that they would rely solely on faith in Christ, and not on rituals or other works for their salvation.

Paul was sick when he first came to the Galatians. It may have been a flare-up of a chronic “bodily ailment” that afflicted him for much of his life. In 2 Corinthians 12, he describes having a Satan-sent, harassing “thorn in the flesh” allowed by God to keep him from becoming conceited because of all that God had revealed to him (2 Corinthians 12:7). Some scholars speculate that this “thorn” took the form of physical illness. Tradition suggests he struggled with a visual impairment.

Or, perhaps the illness Paul’s refers to here was simply a disease that came and then went away. We don’t know. In any case, Paul describes his condition as a trial or burden for the Galatians. Perhaps he required medical care from them or maybe it made him physically unappealing. Again, we don’t know.

We do know that Paul saw this illness as something that could have made him look weak in the eyes of the Galatians. People often attempt to hide an illness because of a fear of appearing weak. In this era, it was even worse. Many people assumed illness to be the punishment of God or the gods for great wrongdoing. It marked a person as rejected by deity or guilty of great evil.

That’s not how the Galatians responded to Paul, however. They did not scorn or despise him. Just the opposite, they received Paul as if he were an angel or Christ Himself. They likely did not believe he was either, but they so valued his message about faith in Jesus that they refused to allow his illness to keep them from honoring him.

Verse 15. What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.

Paul has been reminding the Galatians of how they first came to know each other. He was sick, and that illness somehow became the reason for his opportunity to tell them about Jesus (Galatians 4:13–14). Paul’s “bodily ailment” could have given them reason to reject him and his message. He called his illness a trial to them. Instead of scorning Paul, however, the Galatians honored him. They received him and his message about Jesus as if he were an angel or even Jesus Christ Himself. It was a remarkable response.

Now Paul asks them what happened: “What became of your blessedness?” He wants to know what changed between their first season together, and this moment in which they are rejecting the gospel Paul preached, the truth of God’s grace through faith in Jesus. Why would they go from receiving Paul’s message of Christ with such joy, to disbelieving and beginning to volunteer as slaves under the law of Moses?

Back then, Paul remembered, they would have gouged out their eyes and given them to him. That’s a perplexing comment, given that we don’t know the full context of what happened between these believers and Paul. Scholars suggest that perhaps Paul’s illness had to do with his eyes. Maybe he is suggesting that, if eye transplants were possible, the Galatians would have willingly given him theirs. Or perhaps Paul is simply using extreme language to describe how incredibly loyal and committed the Galatians were to his teaching about Jesus.

In any case, things had clearly changed. The Judaizers had begun to succeed in convincing the Galatians that Paul and his message of grace were not trustworthy.

Verse 16. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Paul has been reminding the Galatians about how enthusiastically they received him and his message. Not only did they treat him with kindness and honor even during an illness (Galatians 4:13–14), they believed his message about salvation through faith in Jesus, and faith alone (Galatians 1:6).

Paul has asked why that has changed. He knows the answer. The false teachers known as the Judaizers have moved in among the Galatians and have begun to convince them that Paul and his teachings are not trustworthy. These former friends have lost their respect for Paul and his message. They lack confidence that faith alone in Christ alone could ever be enough reason for God to accept them as dearly loved children (Galatians 2:4). Surely, they think, Paul was wrong and they must follow the law in order to be truly included in God’s family.

Paul now asks them pointedly, “Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Though the Galatians may not describe Paul as their enemy, it is possible they feel angry with him. Perhaps they feel duped. After all, isn’t it too good to be true that God will forgive our sins in response to our simple faith? Most likely, they don’t feel angst towards Paul, but their rejection of his gospel is deeply hurtful to him.

If Paul was lying or even just wrong, anger on the part of the Galatians would be understandable. But Paul was not lying, and he challenges them now not to be misled by the Judaizers who wish to steal away their freedom and joy. He urges them to go back to the moment they believed and to be convinced again.

Verse 17. They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.

When Paul first came to the Galatians, they received the good news about Jesus with great joy (Galatians 1:6). They also honored Paul, even in spite of an unknown illness that he described as a trial to them (Galatians 4:13–14). Then some false teachers moved in. These men were known as the Judaizers. They came from Jerusalem and went to many of the places where people believed the good news Paul preached about Jesus. They taught that it was good to believe in Jesus, but that these new Christians must also follow the law of Moses to truly be saved (Galatians 2:4).

Paul had learned that the Galatians were beginning to believe this false teaching and reject the true message of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. They were starting to follow the law to earn God’s approval. They no longer honored Paul. In the previous verse, Paul asked if he had become their enemy by telling them the truth.

Now he unmasks the tactics of the false teachers who are lying to the Galatians. They use flattery to “make much of” their victims. Far from genuine encouragement and affirmation, the Judaizers puff people up to get them on their own side. It’s a manipulation of the human desire to feel important.

Part of the goal of this flattery, Paul says, is to alienate the Galatians from him—to “shut out.” If the Judaizers can get the Galatians to turn away from Paul, then these new believers will “make much of” the Judaizers. In other words, Paul reveals the ultimate motive of the false teachers: the promotion of their own glory.

Verse 18. It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you,

In the previous verse, Paul has revealed that false teachers among the Galatians are turning them away from Paul, and his gospel of salvation by faith alone, in order to put themselves in the spotlight. The way they are accomplishing this is by “making much of” or flattering the Galatians.

This flattery used by the Judaizers may have been a simple manipulation. Perhaps, though, Paul means something deeper than that. The lie that we can become acceptable to God by following the law is a lie that makes much of ourselves. Instead of being about what Christ has done for us, it becomes about what we can do for Him. All the focus of religious rule-following is on my performance. In contrast, the focus of salvation through faith in Christ is on His performance. It makes much of Him.

Paul has written that the false teachers are making much of them for no good purpose. Now Paul writes that it is fine for us to be built up, to be “made much of,” if it is for a good purpose. The idea here may be that as we make much of Christ, we are “made much of” with Him.

Paul points out that this right attitude toward being made much of, or “eagerly looked for,” should not change depending on whether he is with the Galatians or absent. In other words, they should not change their focus to fit with whatever teacher happens to be in town. Their focus on Christ should remain whether Paul is around or not.

Verse 19. my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!

Paul is in anguish. He has said clearly that the false teachers, the ones trying to convince the Galatians that faith in Christ is not enough (Galatians 2:4), are just using the Galatians to make much of themselves (Galatians 4:17).

In contrast, Paul now compares himself to a mother in childbirth. He calls the Galatians his dear, little children. His concern for them is genuine, not a ploy to get them to honor him. In fact, his heart is breaking for them as he is once again attempting to give birth to them, in a sense.

This metaphor of childbirth is not meant to communicate that Paul is the one who has saved the Galatians. Only faith in Christ can cause a person to be born again. Instead, Paul is describing his own emotional experience in suffering and celebrating for the birth of the Galatians when they believed in Christ when he was with them. Now he suffers for them again to escape the false teaching of the Judaizers and fully trust the good news about their status in Christ.

More specifically, Paul describes the moment of childbirth as being when Christ is formed in them. This is a picture Paul paints in his other letters, as well. “Christ in you” is the “hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). “…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:17).

The picture is of Christ becoming so prominent in us that He begins to do His work in the world through us, along with all the others in whom He is formed. It’s not about us and our works, as the false teachers said; it’s about Him and His work in us. Even in our own hearts, Christ must increase and we must decrease (John 3:30).

Verse 20. I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

Paul concludes this current line of thought to the Galatians, expressing a sincere wish that he could be with them. He seems to be aware that his tone toward them may being coming across harshly. After all, he has asked if they consider him an enemy now after once honoring him and the message of salvation through faith in Jesus so highly (Galatians 4:16).

He has used strong language about their beginning to follow the law because of the false teaching of the Judaizers. He even called them “foolish” (Galatians 3:1). Of course, Paul’s motivation for this approach is loving, and he is right to do so. For anyone to consider rejecting God’s grace through faith in Christ in order to be judged by their own ability to keep the law is foolish, indeed!

Here, though, Paul seems concerned that he might put the Galatians off with his harshness, even if he writes to them out of a sincere love. He wishes he could be with them face-to-face so they could see in his eyes how deeply concerned he is for them. He says that he is just honestly perplexed about them. In other words, he doesn’t get it! He struggles to understand what has happened to them.

In the following verses, Paul will leave behind his personal appeal to the Galatian Christians. Going forward, he will return to making the case from Scripture about why it is foolish to want to be under the law of Moses, instead of depending on faith in Christ.

Verse 21. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?

Paul’s message to the Galatian Christians has been one of dismay. They accepted Paul’s message of faith in Christ (Galatians 1:6), but then were deceived by false teachers claiming that they also needed to follow the law of Moses in order to be saved (Galatians 2:4). Paul made several appeals to change their minds, including a personal approach, seen in the most recent verses.

Here, Paul begins a new line of thought as he continues to explain why Christians should not add the works of the law to their faith in Christ in the hopes of being saved.

Paul is aware that other voices are arguing against him and the simple message of the gospel. After the Galatians had believed in Christ, a group of false teachers known as the Judaizers had arrived from Jerusalem to add to what Paul had taught. They apparently agreed that Gentiles (non-Jewish people) needed to believe in Christ, but they added on top of faith in Jesus the need to follow the law of Moses to be truly saved.

Paul wrote this letter because some of the Galatians, at least, were starting to believe the Judaizers. They were beginning to legalistically follow some parts of the law. In doing so, Paul has written, they were making themselves slaves again after Christ had made them free by their simple faith in the work He did in dying for their sins on the cross.

Now Paul asks his readers who seem to want to live under the law if they even know what it says. In other words, have they actually listened to the law for themselves or are they just listening to the teaching of the Judaizers?

Context Summary
Galatians 4:21–31 contains Paul’s allegory about Abraham’s two wives, and the two sons born through them. Paul sets out to use Scripture to show the difference between being born into slavery, by human effort, as opposed to being born into freedom, by the work of God through the Holy Spirit. Ishmael was born into slavery as Abraham’s son, but he was cast out when the child of promise arrived. In a similar way, living under the law became pointless when Christ arrived. Those who trust in Him become children of promise by God’s power.

Verse 22. For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.

In this and the following verses, Paul will continue to make the case that the only way to be made right with God—to be “justified”—is by faith in Christ and not by following the works of the law.

Paul turns again to the figure of Abraham, building a somewhat complicated illustration to make his point. Since the Galatians are putting so much stock in the law-based teaching of the Judaizers, Paul will also build a case from the Old Testament Scriptures. He begins by saying “it is written,” invoking the divinely inspired Scriptures as his evidence.

Paul mentions Abraham’s two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman. For the purposes of Paul’s illustration, he is not including the sons born to Abraham much later. The free woman is Sarah, formerly Sarai, Abraham’s wife. The slave woman is Hagar, Sarah’s own Egyptian slave-girl.

Abraham and Sarah had waited many, many years for God’s promise of a child to be fulfilled. Finally, Sarah gave in to impatience and gave her servant Hagar to Abraham as a slave-wife, so she might have a child by proxy (Genesis 16:2). Hagar’s son, born in this way, was Ishmael (Genesis 16:5). Eventually, though, Sarah did indeed have her own birth son, Isaac (Genesis 21:1–3).

Paul will use the differences between Ishmael and Isaac to illustrate the distinction between trying to earn salvation by works, as opposed to accepting salvation by faith.

Verse 23. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

The Galatian Christians are being deceived by a group known as the Judaizers. These false teachers claim that one must follow the law of Moses, in addition to believing in Christ, in order to be saved (Galatians 2:4). In this passage, Paul continues building an illustration based on the two sons of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac. He will compare their legal standing to slavery under the law and freedom in Christ.

In spite of the fact that God had promised a child to Abraham and his wife Sarah (Genesis 15:3–6), they eventually chose to have a child through Sarah’s Egyptian slave-girl, instead (Genesis 16:1–2). This succeeded, and Ishmael was born, but he was not the child of God’s promise. Paul describes him as being born “according to the flesh.” Eventually, Sarah did give birth to a son—when she was 90 (Genesis 21:1–3)! This boy, Isaac, was indeed the child of the promise. He was the long-awaited one. Once he was born, Ishmael’s status became even less significant.

Paul will continue by explaining that this echoes the difference between seeking salvation through works, as opposed to accepting it through faith in Christ.

Verse 24. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.

Paul is aware that the false teachers are arguing from the Old Testament Scriptures that the Galatian Christians must follow the law in order to be saved (Galatians 2:4). He has asked if they have really listened to the law (Galatians 4:21). To help them see why faith in Christ is superior, Paul is building an illustration about Christ and the law from the two sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael.

He has described Ishmael, born of a slave-girl (Genesis 16:1–2), as being born according the flesh. Isaac, however, was the child of God’s promise, born of the free woman Sarah, Abraham’s wife (Genesis 21:1–3). Now Paul lays out the careful allegory he is creating. Hagar, the slave-woman, represents one covenant, while Sarah, the free woman, represents another.

Specifically, Hagar represents the covenant from Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is where God gave His law for Israel to Moses, described beginning in Exodus chapter 19. In this letter to the Galatians, Paul has already shown that to live under the law of Moses is to live in slavery to our own sin. The law reveals our sin, but it does not offer a way to be free from it (Galatians 3:19–25).

Hagar, then, as the slave woman, represents the covenant of the law between God and His people, Israel. All born under this covenant are born into slavery, just as Ishmael, Hagar’s son with Abraham, was born into slavery. Importantly, we should note that this is not God’s ultimate plan—there is a “better way” planned for us.

Verse 25. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.

Paul is creating a specific and careful allegory about two covenants. His purpose is to show the difference between attempting to obtain salvation by works, as opposed to accepting it on the basis of faith alone. Paul uses Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael (Genesis 16:1–5) and Isaac (Genesis 21:1–3), to make his point. In the previous verse, he wrote that Abraham’s slave-wife Hagar represents the covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai. This is the covenant of the law of Moses. Just as Hagar’s child with Abraham was born into slavery, since she was a slave, all born under the covenant of the law are also born into slavery to their own sinfulness.

Now Paul adds another layer onto the allegory. Hagar, symbolic of the Mount Sinai covenant (Exodus 19), also corresponds to the Jerusalem of Paul’s day, the seat of Jewish religious authority. The false teachers misleading the Galatian Christians were from Jerusalem. As representatives of the law, they were leading the Galatians into a system of slavery to their sin. Adding to the power of Paul’s allegory, the Jerusalem of his day was also slave to the Roman government. It was a place under both political and spiritual slavery.

In the following verse, Paul will point to another Jerusalem, one that is free.

Verse 26. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

The Galatian Christians are being deceived into thinking they need to follow the law of Moses, as well as believe in Christ, in order to be saved (Galatians 2:4). Calling on the story of Abraham, Paul is refuting this idea by creating an allegory of pairs:

Abraham had two wives, Hagar and Sarah. Hagar was a slave, and Sarah was free.

Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael, born to the slave, was also a slave (Genesis 16:1–3). Isaac, born to the free woman, was also free (Genesis 21:1–3).

God made two covenants. Hagar represents the one given at Mount Sinai with the law of Moses. All born under the law are like children born to a slave woman; they are born into slavery themselves. God’s covenant with Abraham, however, promised freedom.

And now, according to Paul’s analogy, there are two Jerusalems. Hagar also corresponds to the Jerusalem of Paul’s day. It is under the slavery of the Roman government, but it is also the seat of Jewish power, representing the law of Moses. In that way, it is the Jerusalem under slavery.

There is another Jerusalem, though. Paul describes it as being “above” and being free. He writes that Jerusalem is our mother. The implication is that as Sarah, the free woman, is mother to Isaac, this “above Jerusalem,” the free one, is mother to those who trust in Christ to save them.

Other New Testament writers describe a new Jerusalem, as well. Hebrews 12:22 calls it the “heavenly Jerusalem” and the “city of the living God.” This free Jerusalem is where God Himself lives right now. John describes the day when all will be made right once and for all and this “new Jerusalem” will come down out of heaven. On that day, God will come to live with His people (Revelation 21:2–3).

Verse 27. For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!For the children of the desolate one will be morethan those of the one who has a husband.”

To explain why salvation by faith alone is God’s actual plan for mankind, rather than salvation by works and rituals, Paul is creating an allegory. He compares the slavery of those who follow the law with the freedom of those who come to God by faith in Christ. He has compared those born to a slave women, such as Abraham’s wife Hagar (Genesis 16:1–5), to those who live under the law.

Those born to the free woman Sarah, however, live in freedom. He will go on to show that this freedom comes from being born according to God’s Spirit: through faith in Christ.

Here however, Paul quotes from Isaiah 54:1 and applies it to his allegory. Isaiah was prophesying about Israel’s future after her captivity to Babylon. She would once again thrive and grow, as a formerly barren woman who now begins to have many children.

Paul connects this prophesy to his allegory about Abraham’s wife Sarah. She waited and waited and finally gave birth to a free son of her own, just as God had promised (Genesis 21:1–3). In a similar way, when the time was just right, God sent Christ to earth as a man to provide a way for those under the law to be truly free (Galatians 3:23–29).

Verse 28. Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

Paul continues his allegory about the difference between living under the law, versus being made right with God through faith in Christ. It is a difference between slavery and freedom. He has connected those under the law as being born into slavery, in the same way that those born to a slave woman—like Abraham’s slave-wife Hagar (Genesis 16:1–3)—are born into slavery.

In comparison, those born to a free woman like Abraham’s wife Sarah (Genesis 21:1–3) are born into freedom. In that way, those who have trusted in Christ, as the Galatian Christians had initially done, are like Isaac. They are born into freedom. More specifically, Christians are the children of promise, as Isaac was.

In fact, Christians become children of God by the very same promise God gave to Abraham and fulfilled in Isaac. Earlier in Galatians, Paul has written that “those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham” (Galatians 3:9) and that “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29). In that sense, Christians are truly Isaac’s siblings.

Verse 29. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

Paul is reaching the conclusion of his allegory, which contrasts living under the law of Moses to being justified by faith in Christ. He has shown this difference to be the same as that between living as a slave, or living as a free person. In this way, it is the difference between being born to Abraham’s slave-wife Hagar (Genesis 16:1–3), as the result of human efforts, and being born to Abraham’s free wife Sarah, as the result of the promise of God (Genesis 21:1–3).

Now Paul makes a further connection between the Ishmael/Isaac relationship and that between the Jewish religious leaders and the Christians of Paul’s day. Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, persecuted Isaac, the promise-fulfilling son of the free woman. This persecution took the form of Ishmael, likely a teenager at the time, laughing at or mocking baby Isaac on the day of a feast in celebration of his being weaned (Genesis 21:8–9).

If we had been there, we might not have thought much about a teenage boy mocking his baby brother, but it was significant to Isaac’s mother Sarah. That was the moment she demanded that Abraham cast out Hagar and Ishmael from their family to ensure that Ishmael did not share in Abraham’s inheritance (Genesis 21:10).

For the purpose of his allegory, Paul is connecting Ishmael’s mocking of Isaac with the Judaizers’ persecution of the Christians. As Ishmael was born merely out of human effort, the Judaizers also taught that people could become acceptable to God through our own effort. Isaac’s birth, though, was the result of God’s work and the fulfillment of a promise. In the same way, Christians become God’s children as the result of God’s working through the Holy Spirit. It is not something we can make happen on our own.

Verse 30. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”

Paul has constructed an allegory about the difference between those who trust in following the law to save them, contrasted with those who, by faith, trust in what Christ has done. It is the difference between slavery and freedom.

To illustrate this, Paul has shown that Ishmael was born into slavery as the son of Abraham’s slave-wife (Genesis 16:1–3). This was the result of human efforts, not faith. As the older son, Ishmael may have felt he was secure enough to become Abraham’s primary heir, though technically a slave. Perhaps that’s why he mocked baby Isaac on the day of a feast to celebrate his being weaned (Genesis 21:8–9).

Sarah, though, saw it happen. Protective of her son Isaac, born in freedom as a result of God’s promise (Genesis 21:1–3), she immediately demanded that Abraham cast both Ishmael and Hagar away from their family. She did not want the son of a slave woman to share any part of the inheritance with her son. Abraham resisted, but God confirmed that he should do what Sarah said (Genesis 21:10–12).

Paul’s point is very direct. Those who insisted Christians must follow the law to be truly saved correspond to Ishmael. They were still in slavery to sin, and God had cast them out, in a sense. Now that Christ had come, those who followed the law no longer had any part in the inheritance from Abraham. That inheritance is only for those who trust in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sin and a place in God’s family.

Verse 31. So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

Paul concludes his allegory comparing those who insist on living under the law, even after Christ has come, and those who trust in Christ alone to justify them before God. The law-followers are like Ishmael, Abraham’s son by a slave woman (Genesis 16:1–3), born as a result of human scheming and human efforts. They remain in slavery to their own sin, and they will not receive any part of the inheritance of God’s promises to Abraham.

Christians, those who have abandoned hope in the law to save them, trusting in Christ alone, are like Isaac. He was the son of the free woman born as a result of the promise of God (Genesis 21:1–3). He was not born as the result of human effort or good works. Christians, also, are born into God’s family by the work of the Holy Spirit, and absolutely no work of their own. They are free. As Paul writes in this verse, we—all who are saved, born-again Christians—are symbolically the children of the free woman.

End of Chapter 4.

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