Have you moved from legalism yet?

-

Galatians 4:1-2 – 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, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.

Life for kids in the ancient world could be brutal. Lacking legal rights, kids were beaten, killed, and even babies were abandoned on garbage piles to die or be raised as a slave, prostitute, or gladiator. If a girl was born with any disability, she was commonly left to die in the wilderness, drowned, or suffocated. It’s amazing to think that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, chose to enter human history at this time.
         
In that day, the quality of your life largely depended upon the character of your father. The same is true today. A good father brings a good life. A bad father brings a bad life. 
         
A good father in the ancient world had a guardian appointed to help raise and care for the child.  In our day, we call them nannies, teachers, tutors, coaches, and youth pastors. Maturity was not defined in days past by age, but rather by the father. He would not designate you as a legal adult until he believed you were mature enough to handle the responsibilities of adulthood. Once your father declared you mature, you were free to make your own decisions and no longer expected to have the guardian running your life.
         
Paul is using a physical analogy of maturity to teach a spiritual principle. If you are a Christian who still has everyone telling you what to do, making lists of demands and rules for your life, and controlling you then you are allowing immature people to stunt your maturity.  Just like a child would graduate from a guardian, God wants you to graduate from legalism and long lists of rules and demands, to live by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is precisely how Jesus lived, and the only way to mature in Christ. This is where the rest of Galatians is headed and we will examine in future studies together.

Is there anyone in your life still bossing you around, making demands, seeking to control, and does so in the name of God and godliness? Are you like that with other people? Author: M. Driscol

Popular posts from this blog

Speaking in tongues for today - Charles Stanley

-
Image
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. … But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. … And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. … Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way - 1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, 28, 30—31 The Lord Jesus Christ had come and gone. The church—newly birthed—was in a transition time. The new covenant was seen as a threat to the Jewish leaders; therefore, there was persecution for those who had chosen to follow Christ. The new religion, in its infant stages, had no Bible, few leaders, and absolutely no support from the government. Astounding that it survived, isn’t it?  How in the world did it survive with so little going for it? Power. Not just a force, but mighty, visible power. Th...
Read more

What is the glory (kabod) of God?

-
Image
2 CORINTHIANS 4:17 "This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." Scripture places a high value on God 's glory, and it is not hard to figure out why. Since the inherent glory of the Lord is something that He will not share with others (Isa. 42:8), we know that His glory is something that He prizes highly; indeed, He prizes it more highly than anything else. We should, therefore, set the glory of God as the goal and overarching emphasis of our lives. Whatever we lose for the sake of making the Lord's glory known will be worth it when we see the dazzling light and beauty of; the divine glory (28:5; Rev. 21:23). Glory has to do with light and beauty, but those aspects do not sum up what the Bible means when it speaks of the glory of God. Interestingly, the Hebrew word kabod , which is translated into English as "glory," has the root meaning of "weight" or "heaviness....
Read more

The Holy Spirit causes us to cry out: Abba, Father

-
Image
Pentecostés. Óleo sobre lienzo, 275 × 127 cm. Madrid, Museo del Prado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) To bring out the same truth in another way, Paul says God sent Jesus (as a Man) to live under the Law in order “to redeem those under law, that we [Jews and Gentiles ] might receive the full rights [adoption] of sons” ( Galatians 4:5).  By “full rights” or “adoption” he means entering into the privileges and responsibilities of sonship. He uses it also of the sonship of Israel (Romans 9:4). Galatians 4:1, 2 indicate that the son and heir of a wealthy family in Paul’s day would be treated as a slave until he became of age.  Then he would receive the adoption, that is, all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that belonged to an adult member of that family. Adoption was also used in the modern sense, so that Gentiles who were not sons of Abraham became true heirs, true sons of God , by faith.  Jesus died, not just to save us from the fires of hell, bu...
Read more