Lesson 6
Galatians
Galatians 4:8-31 - 6:11-16
Concern for Galatians
Prayer
Lord we ask that you teach us to be more like you. Teach us through your word and show us more of you, your heart and your passion and desire.
Show us your mercy and grace and as we learn more of you help us to exhibit that true joy of salvation. That true joy that comes from knowing that salvation is through Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior and Him alone.
Open our eyes to see Lord, more and more of your love for us and that joy that fills us and over flows to everyone around us because of who we are in Christ Jesus.
Thank you Lord,
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Key Words
Zealous, alienate, figuratively, barren, desolate, persecuted
Reading Assignment
Galatians 4:8 – 31, 6:11 – 16
Lesson
Paul continues his comparison between the teaching of the Judaizers and the true gospel of freedom that comes from salvation in Christ. In this section of scripture he extends the comparison into the life of Abraham, the founder of Judaism. Abraham had a wife, Sarah, who had been unable to give him a child. With no child there was no heir to pass the inheritance to upon his death.
Sarah did not completely trust the message of the Lord that she would bear a child. She was already well past child bearing age. She used an old law from another culture to convince Abraham that his heir would come through her maidservant, Hagar, the Egyptian. Although Abraham resisted at first he submitted to her approach to God’s will. When Abraham was 86 Hagar conceived and bore a child, Ishmael, to be the heir of Abraham.
Thirteen years later God told Abraham that his wife, Sarah, now ninety years old, would conceive and bear him a child. Sure enough, Sarah conceived and gave birth to Isaac. God was going to confirm his covenant with Isaac and ordered Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. He promised to bless Ishmael and multiply him greatly as well.
Paul deftly utilizes this real life situation to compare those who wanted to be under The Law to those who wanted to live according to The Promise. The Galatians had taken the message of the Judaizers to heart and had begun to observe the special days and seasons mentioned in The Law.
He contrasts The Law and The Promise; Ishmael and Isaac; Bondage and Freedom; Slave and Freeman; Natural and Supernatural. By using the two women who bore children to Abraham he shows that God made two covenants. One was a natural covenant to care for Abraham’s son Ishmael. The other was a supernatural covenant through which The Seed who could stand between man and God while representing them both would be born.
In effect he is comparing himself to Sarah by saying that he has been in childbirth struggling until Christ is formed in them. He is also comparing the Judaizers to Hagar. While they are from a natural city, Jerusalem, he is from a supernatural Jerusalem that is in heaven.
Paul explains that they are like Isaac. They are children of The Promise. While he doesn’t clearly state it he is comparing the Judaizers to Ishmael showing that they are trusting The Law. He encourages them to embrace the freedom of The Promise and warns them that the children of The Law are to be excluded from the inheritance.
He ends his exhortation with a factual accusation that even those who attempt to follow The Law are incapable of meeting its exacting requirements and that their primary reason for taking this action is to avoid persecution that comes from being a Christian. The bottom line? Becoming a new creation is all that matters. Circumcision is irrelevant.
Word Definitions
Zealous – in this section of scripture it means to eagerly seek someone out of jealousy.
Alienate – to exclude or shut out
Figuratively – using something as an illustration without the literal sense of speaking. An allegory.
Barren – sterile. Unable to have children.
Desolate – extreme loneliness as one standing alone in a desert.
Persecuted – to press toward, to afflict or harass constantly so as to injure or oppress cruelly.
Action Assignment
- Verify whether God kept his covenants with Abraham. Did Ishmael become a great nation? If so, who are the descendants of Ishmael? Did God give a seed through Isaac? How do you know?
- Circumcision was used as the confirmation of the covenant between God and Abraham because it was a shedding of blood. Examine other blood covenants that occur in the bible.