There is no “freedom” in anything except Christ and Him Crucified. But now, after that you have known God, or rather are known of God, how do you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto you desire again to be in bondage? (Gal. 4:9). The Galatians, who had been saved by Grace, were in the act of turning away from Grace to Law, which occasioned Paul to write this letter. Judaizers (Jews who accepted Christ as the Messiah, but claimed that it was still necessary to keep the Law of Moses, which denied the Cross) were making headway in corrupting the Gospel. The question, “How is it possible that you are turning back again to the weak and beggarly rudimentary things to which you desire to be in bondage again?”, is a rhetorical question, the purpose of which is to show the absurdity of their actions. It also calls the attention of the Galatians to the ineffectiveness and poverty of their old religion system, which actually was paganism, contrasted to the power and richness of the Gospel. Paul is, in effect, dealing with two situations: a perverted form of Judaism to which they were turning, and also to pagan religions. Both were legalistic in character, and were without a dynamic to make actual the realization of ethical principles in the life. The Apostle puts Judaism and paganism into the same category, even though Judaism was lightyears ahead of paganism. Although the Mosaic Law was originally given by God, still, it was totally and completely fulfilled in Christ. To go to that now, by either Gentiles or Jews, is, in Paul’s thinking, no different than going back into unconverted heathenism. In fact, in Verses 8 and 10, idolatry (paganism) and ritualism (Judaism) are united and presented as having the same source and operating upon the same principle. Man misuses God’s Gifts and corrupts His Truths. The Law, which taught man that he was a sinner and needed Righteousness, was used by man as an instrument to establish his own righteousness through a carnal observance of its outward requirements. On the other hand, the idolater (Gentile) similarly debased conscience and became the willing slave to gods who only existed in his imagination. The time of the Law consisted of symbols and examples, i.e., “shadows” used by God to teach His ancient People of the realities which they would find only in Christ, and only thus did these things have any value. He knew how to employ these figures in connection with a Law that tested man in the flesh and that demonstrated man’s inability to serve God. To go back, therefore, to these shadows made for man in the flesh, now that God had proved the impossibility of man by them acquiring merit before Him, and now that the substance of the shadow was come, was to go back to the position of men in the flesh, and, as men in the flesh, to seek a carnal righteousness, which, of course, was, and is, impossible. In fact, it was actually going back to the principles of idolatry. As a result, it greatly perplexed the Apostle that the Galatian Believers should wish to go back to paganism; for that, in effect, would be the import of their action if they went into Judaism under the guidance of these false teachers. Let the Reader understand: The problem presently is identical as that then. Any Believer who tries to live for God by any means other than by simple Faith in Christ and the Cross is doing exactly what some of the Galatians were doing. Such a Believer is accepting something that not only will not bring freedom, but which will thrust one into bondage. There is no “freedom” in anything except Christ and Him Crucified. Let it also be understood: The “bondage” addressed here refers to bondage to the Sin Nature. That’s the reason we speak so strongly against the “Purpose Driven Life” doctrine, the “Government of Twelve” doctrine, the “Word of Faith” doctrine, etc. These systems do not look exclusively to Christ and the Cross, but rather to legalistic demands formulated by men. The only answer is the Cross of Christ! From The Expositors Word For Everyday.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 04:38:37 +0000
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