Galatians

elementary principles. Both here and in v. 9 the expression refers to the elementary principles the Galatians previously followed, which for Jews would be the Mosaic law and for Gentiles the basic concepts of their pagan religions. But the additional overtones of demonic bondage in this phrase should not be ignored; they were, in terms of their mind-set and life situation, under a legalistic system and enslaved, and Paul explains in v. 8 that this enslavement was “to those that by nature are not gods.” Legalistic superstition and demonic domination are closely linked.

This is Paul’s only direct reference to Jesus’s virgin birth, implied in “born of a woman.” Jesus was born to fulfill the law perfectly in his life and bear its curse in his death.

when the fullness of time had come. God sent his Son at the right moment in human history, when God’s providential oversight of the events of the world had directed and prepared peoples and nations for the incarnation and ministry of Christ, and for the proclamation of the gospel.

Paul’s adoption imagery probably picks up the OT concept of God calling Israel his “son” and combines this with the Roman notion of adopting a son (usually already a grown man) in order to designate him as the heir to all the family wealth (see also note on 3:26).

because you are sons. Because Christians are now sons and “of age,” they are in a position to receive the inheritance, beginning with the promised Spirit of his Son. Abba is the Aramaic word for “father” (cf. Rom. 8:14–17).

Passing from Idolatry to the True God. The slavery that the Galatians are in danger of embracing again is not just a matter of forfeiting sonship but of abandoning the true God. They would be returning to false gods (v. 8), to worldly principles and structures (vv. 9–10). It would be as if they had never even heard the gospel from Paul (v. 11). For these Gentile Galatian Christians, turning to the Jewish law would be like returning to their paganism.

Those that by nature are not gods refers to the demonic spirits that controlled the Galatians’ former religious practice (cf. 1 Cor. 10:20).

To know God … to be known by God implies a personal relationship with God. elementary principles. See note on v. 3.

Days and months and seasons and years were all part of the ceremonial laws of the Mosaic covenant (cf. Lev. 23:5, 16, 28; 25:4). To require Christians to follow such OT laws is to forfeit the gospel of justification by faith alone, in Christ alone. This also clearly implies that Christians are no longer under the Mosaic covenant. Some see “days” in this verse as evidence that the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath commandment was also part of the ceremonial law that Christians, under the new covenant, no longer need to follow (cf. Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Col. 2:16–17). Others believe that the weekly Sabbath command is not temporary but goes back to God’s pattern in creation (Ex. 20:8–11) and that this verse relates only to other days of rest in the Jewish festal calendar.

Appeal to the Galatians’ Knowledge of Paul. As in 3:1–5, Paul reminds the Galatians of what happened when they heard the gospel and he contrasts his own ministry with that of the false teachers.

as I am. Paul is free from following Mosaic ceremonial regulations, and living by faith in Christ. as you are. Paul had become like the Gentiles in that he did not live under the Jewish law when ministering to them.

because of a bodily ailment … I preached the gospel to you. The exact nature of this illness is not known. “Because” apparently means that Paul was detained in Galatia by this illness and therefore took the opportunity to preach to them.

Your blessedness probably refers to the sense of joy and divine approval the Galatians had when they believed Paul’s gospel preaching and received the Holy Spirit (cf. 3:2).

The false teachers have been flattering the Galatians, but only to receive flattery back. to shut you out. They want to form an exclusive club of people who observe Jewish ceremonial laws, keeping out any who will not give in to their demands.

Paul’s tribute to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 1:2–9) is an example of what he means by to be made much of for a good purpose.

Though Paul chastises the Galatians for being “foolish” (3:1, 3), he nonetheless has deep emotional feelings of anguish for them—because they, like little children, have not been growing but need almost to be delivered again, and Paul’s feelings about them are as agonizing as birth pangs.

The Gospel in the OT (3): Abraham’s Sons. Paul continues to emphasize the chasm between being a free child of God and being a slave to the law, sin, and false gods. The background to this passage is Genesis 16–17 and 21. Abraham’s son Ishmael—technically the firstborn—represents the slave sons of Abraham and hence the enslaving Sinai covenant, because he was Abraham’s son through the slave woman Hagar. Isaac, on the other hand, represents the free sons of Abraham (see Gal. 3:7, 29).

law … law. Paul plays on the different senses of “law”: it can mean the commandments given by God to Moses during the wilderness wanderings (which the Galatians misguidedly want to obey in their totality), but it can also mean the first five books of the Bible as a whole.

Flesh represents human desires, principles, and the sin that contaminates them: Ishmael was the son born when Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands by trying to perpetuate their family line through Hagar. The promise is the absolute opposite of flesh, since it is a word from God that will be fulfilled by God (see Rom. 4:18–21), just as Isaac was born by God’s miraculous work.

allegorically. As an illustration that depicts a general principle (see chart).

Arabia. See note on 1:17. in slavery. The city of Jerusalem ought to be the capital city of the “Israel of God” (6:16), but instead it remains a stronghold of Israel according to the flesh, i.e., Jews who have not turned to Jesus. As a result, the city is just as it was when occupied in Isaiah’s day—enslaved.

All those who believe in Christ belong to the heavenly Jerusalem and are the true Israel. As Isaiah prophesied (Isa. 54:1), the exile did not spell the end for the people of God. God will again work supernaturally to bring about the (new) birth of children where there are none, even among the Gentiles.

like Isaac. In a way analogous to Isaac’s miraculous birth, the Galatians have become God’s children by an act of God’s gracious and miraculous power, not by human effort.

so also it is now. Just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac (not explicitly mentioned in the OT, but suggested by Gen. 21:9), so now the Jews who seek justification by human effort are persecuting Christians who trust God’s promise of justification by faith. In Gen. 16:4, when Hagar conceived, “she looked with contempt on her mistress.” This too is mirrored in the fact that now non-Christian and pseudo-Christian Jews are persecuting Christians like Paul (as seen in Gal. 6:17). History is repeating itself.

Cast out the slave woman and her son, and, by implication, all those represented by them in this allegory, i.e., those who seek justification through their own efforts. This implies that those who teach the false gospel of justification by works should not be allowed to remain and teach in a church that follows Christ.