Galatians 4 Study Notes

4:1 In the ancient world, an underage heir had no right to his inheritance and was temporarily in the same legal situation as a slave, owning nothing.

4:2 Guardians (Gk paidagogos) does not refer to the same idea as in 3:24-25 (see note there). In this case, a “guardian” was a slave who protected the underage heir, while trustees were responsible for the heir’s other needs until he came of age (the time set by his father). The analogy was to illustrate that God had everything under control during the period of the Mosaic law, setting things up perfectly for the coming of Christ.

4:3 The elements of the world are called “things that by nature are not gods” in v. 8 and “the weak and worthless elements” in v. 9. Since these descriptions are linked to the observance of “special days, months, seasons, and years” in v. 10, it appears they are related to religious observances based in the laws and rhythms of nature.

4:4 The Greek word translated completion is pleroma, indicating that Christ came at the perfect time. Factors that made this such a suitable time included widespread peace (Pax Romana), excellent Roman roads, and the dominance of one language (Koine Greek) across the empire. By these means the gospel spread in ways that would not have been possible in earlier times. God sent his Son, born of a woman looks back to God’s promise in regard to the offspring of the woman in Gn 3:15, and it may allude to Christ’s virgin birth (Is 7:14; Mt 1:18-25). Born under the law refers to the fact that Jesus knew what it was like to live under the Mosaic law. This phrase implies that he perfectly kept the whole law, which no other human being could do (see notes at 3:10,21-23).

4:5-6 One big difference between unbelievers and the underage heir of vv. 1-2 is that, apart from a relationship with Christ, all people are actually spiritual slaves to sin, which is made clear by the law. Thus, it was necessary for Jesus to die; to redeem (Gk exagorazo, “set free by purchase”) sinners out of the slave market. A second great difference is that Christians receive adoption as sons instead of being a son of the bloodline. Jesus Christ is the only Son naturally related to God the Father. All other sons (including females, since “sonship” was a legal status) are by adoption. Abba means “Father” in Aramaic, but it has a personal tone, such as “Daddy” or “Papa.” On Jesus’s use of “Abba,” see Mk 14:36.

4:7 Paul’s appeal to those in the churches in Galatia was that the person who tries to be justified before God by works is a slave to the Mosaic law. But he who is justified by faith in Christ is no longer a slave, but a son, with full rights as an heir to God’s infinite treasures.

4:8-11 Paul’s readers had established a true relationship with God through faith in Christ. He asked how they could turn back again and be enslaved to a viewpoint of justification by works that was as weak and worthless as the elements they had worshiped before (v. 3). The presence of the Jewish teachers in Galatia makes it likely that the special days were Sabbath observances, while months and seasons had to do with longer seasons of the Jewish calendar (e.g., the time from Passover to Pentecost). Years would be sabbatical years or the year of Jubilee. Since those in the Galatian churches were back where they started before Paul arrived—enslaved spiritually—he feared that his best efforts had been wasted.

4:12 Paul wanted his readers to become like him—free from the law. When he exchanged adherence to the law for faith in Christ, he became like them. So it would not make sense for them to subject themselves to the law like Jews.

4:13 Paul probably originally wanted to go somewhere else, perhaps to Ephesus, but was waylaid by an illness and had to stop in Galatia.

4:14-15 It is not known what the exact nature of Paul’s physical condition was. One theory holds that Paul was stoned and left for dead (Ac 14:19) while in the area on his first missionary journey. That could cause many kinds of injuries, including those related to eyesight. Some think eye problems were Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2Co 12:7). Others think Paul contracted malaria in the lowlands of southern Asia Minor (Ac 13:13-14).

4:16 Paul was saddened that the Galatians now viewed him as an enemy simply because he told them what they needed to hear (the truth), rather than what they wanted to hear.

4:17-18 Zeal can be deluded (see note at 1:13-14), as it was with the false teachers in Galatia. The only way these teachers could maintain the zeal of the Galatian churches was to exclude them from the other Gentile churches who were not trying to be justified by the “works of the law” (2:16).

4:19 Paul wished the Galatians could be “born again” (see Jn 3:3,5-8) a second time, which was not possible (Heb 6:4-6). Emotionally, he felt like a woman in labor giving birth to the same baby for the second time (i.e., in trying to bring the Galatians back around to justification by faith, thus ditching the misguided emphasis on works of the law).

4:20 Paul did not enjoy being stern with those whom he cared about, but he didn’t know what else to do about their situation since he could not be with them physically.

4:21 The law does not refer specifically to the law of Moses, but to the Books of the Law—the Pentateuch (i.e., Genesis-Deuteronomy). Paul’s logic was that even the law itself would dispute the view of the false teachers.

4:22-23 Genesis records the births of these two sons—Ishmael, born to Hagar, a slave, and Isaac, born to Sarah, a free woman. Ishmael was born as a result of the flesh, because Sarah and Abraham used Hagar to have a son by their own ingenuity, not through patient trust in God’s promise (Gn 16). Isaac was born as God promised (Gn 15:4; 17:16-17; 21:1-3) after many years of waiting by Abraham and Sarah.

4:24-26 Paul declared that he was using these things . . . figuratively in an elaborate allegory. On one side of the comparison of covenants is (a) Mount Sinai, where the law of Moses was given, (b) Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, and (c) the present Jerusalem, from which the false teachers had come to Syrian Antioch (2:11-13) and Galatia. This side of the comparison represents spiritual slavery through the law. On the other side of the comparison is the Jerusalem above, a Jewish hope that will be fully realized only in the new heavens and new earth (Rv 21:2,9-22:5). Interestingly, Sarah is not referred to as the mother at this point, but “the Jerusalem above” is.

4:27 The quote from Is 54:1 in this verse deals with the fact that the children born after the exile were more fortunate and greater in number than those righteously judged for breaking the law. The implication is that those who still rely on the law are being replaced by the church and its law-free gospel.

4:28-30 Paul assumed that those in the Galatian churches would return to his view and show themselves to be children of promise (i.e., Abraham’s seed through faith in Christ; 3:29). But, as Ishmael persecuted Isaac in Gn 21:9-10, it is to be expected that the Judaizers will persecute true Christians. Paul was confident that eventually his opponents would be exiled from among God’s people, while his own view would receive the inheritance.

4:31 Paul placed himself and the Galatians on the side of Isaac and his descendants, the Jews, while his opponents are children of a slave, making them non-Jews.