From Slaves to Sons

Read aloud

Paul uses the picture of a child who is heir to everything but is treated no differently from a slave while still under guardians and trustees. The child is already the owner, but remains under others' supervision until the date his father has set.

Paul applies that picture to the time before Christ. He describes enslavement under the world's basic principles. Then, when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman and born under the law. The Son entered our human life and redeemed those under the law so that we might receive adoption.

God did not stop at legal release. He sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” The cry is intimate but not casual. It is the Spirit teaching adopted people to approach God as their Father.

So the believer is no longer a slave, but a son; and since he is a son, he is also an heir through God. The promise includes every believer: Paul has just said that male and female are one in Christ and heirs of the promise. God gives His children both a place in His family and an inheritance.

The Galatians once served beings that were not gods. Now they know God, or rather, Paul says, are known by God. Why return to weak and worthless principles after such a change? They are observing days, months, seasons, and years as though calendar practice could secure what God has already given. Paul fears that his labor among them may have been in vain.