Galatians For You Sample

DAL

Could someone who owns Galatians For You (https://www.logos.com/product/163202/galatians-for-you) post what the content for Galatians 4:4 about the "Fulness of Time"? I'm trying to see if they have the list some mention concerning the fulness of time referring to how everything in history was perfect for the coming of Christ (Greek language, social need, Roman Peace, Roads, etc.).

Thanks in advance if someone helps!

DAL

Ps.  Also, can someone explain why each lesson has a title and then it's divided into Part 1 and Part 2? Is there a specific design or reason for that? Thanks!

Ted Hans

Could someone who owns Galatians For You (https://www.logos.com/product/163202/galatians-for-you) post what the content for Galatians 4:4 about the "Fulness of Time"? I'm trying to see if they have the list some mention concerning the fulness of time referring to how everything in history was perfect for the coming of Christ (Greek language, social need, Roman Peace, Roads, etc.).

Thanks in advance if someone helps!

DAL

Here we go, verse 4 in bold below

GALATIANS 3 VERSE 26 TO 4 VERSE 7

7. CHILDREN OF GOD

We’ve reached the climax of everything that Paul has said so far. In fact, we’ve reached the climax of the gospel:

“The notion that we are children of God, His own sons and daughters … is the mainspring of Christian living … Our sonship to God is the apex of creation and the goal of redemption”
(Sinclair Ferguson, Children of the Living God, pages 5–6).

If we want to understand who a Christian is, and why being a Christian is a privilege, we need to appreciate divine adoption. If Jesus, as “the Seed” (3:19), gets all of Abraham’s promised blessings, then anyone who belongs to Christ through faith automatically becomes an heir of the promises to Abraham (v 29). How does this inheritance come to us? Through the Son, we become God’s children legally (4:4–5), receiving a new status; and through the Spirit, we become God’s children experientially (v 6–7).

PART ONE

Sons of God

The heart of the Christian life is 3:26: “You are all sons of God”. We already are sons. It is not something we are aiming at; it is not a future attainment. It is something that we have already, in our present state.
But this sonship is not a universal given. We are not “children of God” in some general way, by virtue of having been created by Him. There is a sense in which all human beings are God’s offspring because all humans have been made in His image (Acts 17:29). But Paul is speaking of a much deeper kind of relationship here. This sonship comes “through faith in Christ Jesus”. We are only His sons when we have faith in the Son. It is through faith that God adopts us.
Many take offense at using the masculine word “sons” to refer to all Christians, male and female. Some would prefer to translate verse 26: “You are all children of God” (as the NIV 2011 does). But if we are too quick to correct the biblical language, we miss the revolutionary (and radically EGALITARIAN) nature of what Paul is saying. In most ancient cultures, daughters could not inherit property. Therefore, “son” meant “legal heir”, which was a status forbidden to women. But the gospel tells us we are all sons of God in Christ. We are all heirs. Similarly, the Bible describes all Christians together, including men, as the “bride of Christ” (Revelation 21:2). God is evenhanded in His gender-specific metaphors. Men are part of His Son’s bride; and women are His sons, His heirs. If we don’t let Paul call Christian women “sons of God”, we miss how radical and wonderful a claim this is.

Clothed with Christ

How does faith in Christ mean we are treated as God’s sons? Verse 27: through faith (the public sign of which is being “baptized into Christ”), Paul tells these believers they “have clothed yourselves with Christ”. This clothing image is a favorite metaphor of Paul’s (see Romans 13:12; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:12). Here, he likens Christ Himself to a garment. And this idea of clothing ourselves with Christ implies four amazing things:

1. Our primary identity is in Christ. Our clothing tells people who we are. Nearly every kind of clothing is actually a uniform showing that we are identified with others of the same gender, social class or national group. But to say that Christ is our clothing is to say that our ultimate identity is found, not in any of these classifications, but in Christ.
2. The closeness of our relationship to Christ. Your clothes are kept closer to you than any other possession. You rely on them for shelter every moment. They go everywhere with you. So to say Christ is our clothing is to call us to moment-by-moment dependence and existential awareness of Christ. We are spiritually to “practice His presence”.
3. The imitation of Christ. To practice the presence of Christ entails that we continually think and act as if we were directly before His face. A similar biblical phrase is to “walk before him” (see, for instance, Genesis 17:1; Psalm 56:13). It means to take Jesus into every area of life and change it in accordance with His will and Spirit. We are to “put on” His virtues and actions. We are to “dress up like Jesus”.
4. Our acceptability to God. Finally, clothing is worn as adornment. It covers our nakedness; and God has been providing clothes which cover our shame since the fall (see Genesis 3:7, 21). To say that Christ is our clothing is to say that in God’s sight, we are loved because of Jesus’ work and salvation. When God looks at us, He sees us as His sons because He sees His Son. The Lord Jesus has given us His righteousness, His perfection, to wear.

So Galatians 3:27 is a daring and comprehensive metaphor for a whole new life. It means to think of Christ constantly, to have His Spirit and His character infuse and permeate everything you think, say and do. This goes so far beyond the keeping of rules and regulations. This goes even beyond simple obedience. This is to be in love with Him, bathed in Him, awash in Him. A Christian can never need some additional commitment to the law of Moses in order to receive or maintain full acceptance with God. He or she is clothed with Christ.

One in Christ

Verse 26 reveals to us the amazing intimacy that exists between Christians and the Creator God, our Father. Verse 27 outlines the wonderful closeness between Christians and God the Son, our Savior. Verse 28 flows out of these two verses and shows us the unity between Christians. There is no division between different races, social strata, or genders.
This is not to say that there is no longer any distinction inside the church. It does not mean, for example, that Greeks should not keep their distinct Greek culture and consciousness—that they must become identical to Jews (that is one of the main points of the whole letter!). It cannot mean, therefore, that there should be no distinctions between male and female in the way we live. Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 5:21–6:9 and Colossians 3:18–4:1 shows that he did not mean this statement to obliterate distinctive duties and practices for different cultures, classes, and genders. We are not all identical or interchangeable, but we are all “one.”
The gospel has radical social implications. It means I am a Christian before I am anyone or anything else. It means that all the barriers that separate people in the world into warring factions come down in Christ.
Paul picks up on the three barriers that usually divide people:

1. The cultural barrier: “neither Jew nor Greek”. Cultural divisions are to have no part in the church of Christ. People of one culture do not need to become like another culture in order to be accepted by God. So we should accept one another without one group feeling or declaring the superiority of its cultural ways over another. Inside the church, we should associate with and love one another across racial and cultural barriers.
2. The class barrier: “neither … slave nor free”. Again, economic stratification should not extend into the church. People should not associate (as in the world) according to class but across such barriers. The poor or modestly paid worker must not be made to feel inferior in any way. On the other hand, the well-off must not be resented or shunned.
3. The gender barrier: “neither … male nor female”. This was perhaps the strongest barrier of Paul’s day. Women were considered absolutely inferior to men. Even today, the application of this principle is the most explosive and controversial. But, in any case, it was clearly revolutionary. Because women are equal in Christ before God, they must be seen to be equally gifted and able as men.

It is natural to ask: what was Paul’s understanding of the implications of verse 28 for society in general? Was “neither … slave nor free” a call for the abolition of slavery? If so, why does he tell slaves to be diligent in their work in Ephesians 6:5–8 and Colossians 3:22–25? Notice that his thesis in Galatians 3 is that this radical equality is for those who are in Christ. The implications of this for broader society were just that—implications, that have had to work themselves out over the years. For example, most of ancient society followed the law of “primogeniture”: the oldest son inherited virtually the whole family estate. In this passage, Paul plays off of this custom to tell every Christian, male and female, that he or she is equally God’s heir, heir to all of which Jesus is heir. Obviously, Paul is not forbidding the law of primogeniture in this text. That is not his direct concern. But just as obviously, Christian families who begin to think in this way, so subversive to pagan social attitudes, will have a tendency to drop the practice of primogeniture. In the long run, this truth of Paul’s was bound to have an effect on how Christians lived in society at large.
The freedom of the gospel has to change our attitude toward everything in life. But broader social change is not Paul’s immediate concern in this teaching. He wants the gospel to bring down barriers within the Christian community.
Only the truths of verses 26–27 lead to this kind of unity. How? First, the good news of the gospel creates unity. The privileges we get in the gospel (sonship, v 26; the Spirit, v 14; perfect righteousness, v 10; all because of our union with Christ, v 27) are so stupendous that they have to surpass the greatest earthly merited or inherited advantages. How can I look down on someone who is clothed with Christ? Why would I ever be jealous of anyone else when I am a son of God?
Second, the bad news of the gospel creates unity. As recipients of grace, we know that our blessings come unearned, and so our pride in our race, status, or gender is removed. We know we are sinners like everyone else. There is no reason for us to think of ourselves as better than, or exclude, others. We are sinners, adopted by grace.

Heirs through Christ

Every verse of this section stretches our horizons, thrilling our hearts with all that we are through faith. Verse 26 reaches upwards—we are sons of the Creator! Verse 28 spans the globe—we are united with every other Christian, one in Christ regardless of anything that the world suggests should divide us.
Verse 29 looks back through history. By clothing ourselves with Christ through faith, “you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”. All that God promised Abraham, He has fulfilled and will fulfill in His Son, Jesus; and so all that God promised, we will enjoy as His adopted sons.

Questions for reflection

1. How do you feel about being an adopted son of God?

2. In which area of your life do you most struggle to remember that you’re clothed with Christ? What difference would it make to practice the presence of Christ?

3. What barriers divide people in the area where you live? How are those broken down within your church; and what do you do to help this?

PART TWO

Coming of Age

The great truths of chapter 3:26–29 reach up, out and back. They will take a lifetime to appreciate, and they give us an eternity to enjoy them. So at the start of chapter 4, Paul pauses on these truths to help us continue to grasp what it means to be adopted by God.
To illustrate our sonship, Paul uses the illustration of a young child who is the heir of a great estate. When he is a minor he is “no different from a slave” (4:1), since “he is subject to guardians and trustees” (v 2). But when he comes of age, he comes into his inheritance.
In ancient times, the process of “coming of age” was an important and well-defined process. A Roman child-heir was a minor under guardians until age 14, and was still to some degree under trustees until age 25. Not until then could the youth exercise complete, independent control over his estate.
What does it mean to be a “child … no different from a slave” (v 1)? Paul’s illustration applies to us spiritually on three different levels. Different commentators choose different levels, but I think they are all implied by the text.
First, it shows that, in the time of Moses’ leadership, the people of God had spiritual liberty promised to them in their covenant with God made at MOUNT SINAI, but they had not yet come to possess and experience it. With a few exceptions, people under the Mosaic covenant did not experience the promised intimacy and freedom, because the means and assurance of forgiveness was general and vague (see Hebrews 10:1–4).
On a second level, this is a picture of all human beings. “So also when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world” (v 3). Paul will outline more fully what he means by “basic principles” in verses 8–11 (see next chapter). But since most of the Galatians had not been born Jews, Paul must mean that all human beings are spiritual “slaves” before coming to Christ. We are all in a sense “under the law,” even if we have never heard of the Bible or Moses. Why? Because we are all desperately trying to live up to some standards. We are anxious and burdened. Our relationship with the divine is remote or non-existent.
Finally, on a third level, this is a picture of how Christians may to some degree fail to experience the freedom and joy of their salvation. Christians can continue to live day by day as slaves, instead of as the adopted sons of God that they are. Paul will return to this in verses 8–9 (and 5:1). Though we are rich in the gospel, adopted children of God with complete and direct access to the Father, we can go back to relating to Him only through our record and moral merits. It’s as though we are given a gift, but give it back to the giver so that we can strive to earn it.
Slavery is our natural state. But Paul is going to show first how people can “come of age”; and then how people can enjoy being of age.

The Work of the Son

“When the time had fully come” (v 4)—in history, and in our own experience—”God sent his Son”. It is the Son who makes us “of age”.
How? First by “redeem[ing] those under the law” (v 5), removing all penalty or debt. In a sense we belong to the law—we are “under” its mastery, slaves to it. We are obligated to keep it, but we cannot.
So God sent His Son “born of a woman” (v 4)—a real human being—and He sent Him “born under law”. Jesus was born, as all human beings are, into a state of obligation to God’s law. But Jesus is uniquely able to “redeem those under the law.” This is the same word that is used for “redeem” in 3:13. It means to release a slave from his or her owner by paying the slave’s full price. Here, the slave master is the law. Jesus pays our full price to the law. He completely fulfills all the law’s demands on us. And so He is able to free us from it.
Second, Jesus procures for us “the full rights of sons” (v 5). The RSV translation renders this “adoption as sons”. Both the NIV and RSV are trying to convey the sense of a single word. Literally, through Christ we receive “the sonship”. This is a legal term. In the Greco-Roman world, a childless, wealthy man could take one of his servants and adopt him. At the moment of adoption, he ceased to be a slave and received all the financial and legal privileges within the estate and outside in the world as the son and heir. Though by birth he was a slave without a relationship with the father, he now receives the legal status of son. It is a new life of privilege. It is a remarkable metaphor for what Jesus has given us.
So to understand what God sent His Son to do, we need to travel to an ancient slave market to appreciate redemption, and to an ancient wealthy household to grasp the concept of sonship. Only together do they give us a complete picture of what Christ has accomplished for us.
Yet it is very easy and common to think of our salvation only in terms of the first and not the second—that is, only as the transfer from us of our sins, but not as the transfer to us of the Son’s rights and privileges. When we think like that, we are really only “half-saved by grace”. We can get pardon, but now we have to live a good life to earn and maintain God’s favor and rewards. Paul wants to show the Galatians, and us, that not only did Christ remove the curse we deserved (3:13; 4:5a), but He also gives us the blessing He deserved (3:14; 4:5b). God’s honor and reward are just as secure and guaranteed as our pardon.
To use another image, Jesus’ salvation is not only like receiving a pardon and release from death row and prison. Then we’d be free, but on our own, left to make our own way in the world, thrown back on our own efforts if we’re to make anything of ourselves.
But in the gospel, we discover that Jesus has taken us off death row and then has hung around our neck the Congressional Medal of Honor. We are received and welcomed as heroes, as if we had accomplished extraordinary deeds.
Unless we remember this, we will be anxious and even despairing when we sin or fail. We will think our slate has been wiped clean, but now it is up to us to write good deeds on that slate so that God will love us and accept us. That is where we are left if we remember only half of verse 5. But our slate has been wiped clean and Jesus has written His righteousness onto it. Our inheritance is not a prize to be won. It is a gift from Christ.

Keller, T. (2013). Galatians for You (pp. 89–99). Purcellville, VA: The Good Book Company.