I Timothy 1 v 8, 9a - Law is good, but not set out for the righteous

 ‘Now we appreciate that the law is good, provided someone is making use of it lawfully’, (I Timothy 1 v 8). Paul makes a similar statement to the one recorded in chapter seven of his letter to the Romans. He counters any idea that he is suggesting that divine law is bad in and of itself. Not at all, the law is good. But he adds a qualification. Divine law is good ‘provided someone is making use of it lawfully’. He says that the problem is that good divine law can be made use of unlawfully, it can be used in a way that is not according to the rules. It can be used in inappropriate circumstances, and he goes on to explain what he means.

‘Appreciating this, that law is not lying outstretched for the equitable and righteous’, (I Timothy 1 v 9a). He states an important principle that Christians have to appreciate with regard law in general. Law is not set out for the righteous, for the morally upright. Now we have understand what Paul is saying here. Paul is making one of his general statements, stating a general principle. Law – any law, civil law, religious law and so on – is not laid out for the righteous – for the innocent, morally upright or judicially approved. The context in which Paul makes this statement is that of Sinai Covenant law and Christians. Christians are righteous, not because of their own speech and labours towards godly behaviour, but because they are placed in union with the Messiah who fulfils all the requirements of Covenant law on their behalf. Christians are not placed under the written codes of Covenant law but under God’s free gift, they are not placed under the Levitical system but into a royal priesthood. 

I Timothy 1 v 6, 7 Missing the mark and law

 ‘Which some, having missed the mark, have turned away into empty talk, 7 wishing to be teachers of the law, not exercising their minds neither to understand what they are saying nor around which they emphatically assert’, (I Timothy 1 v 6, 7). 

Already, some of the teachers in the Ephesian assembly had missed the mark. They had turned away from the essence of the gospel message into unprofitable ‘empty talk’, into babbling. They desired to be teachers of Covenant law. Today, Christian legalists do not usually go this far. Although insisting on using divine law as a ‘spur’ to urge wayward Christians to turn back to the Messiah, Christian legalists do not usually become teachers, experts or consultants specialising in Covenant or Levitical law. Rather, they tend to constantly refer to the ‘Moral law’ and use ‘proof texts’ to ‘prod’ wayward Christians to turn to the Messiah in repentance. In public prayers they often talk about how Christians have fallen short of the standards and ideals of God’s ‘Moral law’, and about how unworthy Christians are in their day-to-day lives. If someone is persuaded of the importance and relevance of divine law to living a godly life, then becoming a teacher of law is a logical and consistent step to take, since they regard the law as being essential to godliness. But Paul objects to such reasoning and says that those wishing to be teachers of the law were ‘not exercising their minds’. There it is again, Paul’s emphasis on the Christian’s mind such that they think and reason things through to a conclusion in the light of the gospel. Paul says that those Christian teachers wishing to be teachers of the law are not making the effort to use their minds in order to come to the right conclusion. Furthermore, these Ephesian teachers were emphatically asserting their opinions. They were making bold, confident statements about the law as they sought to impose Levitical law on Christians at Ephesus. But Paul says that they don’t understand what they are saying. He goes on to explain what he means.

I Timothy 1 v 3 – 5 - Christian teachers missing the mark

 Paul makes reference to law in his first letter to Timothy. At the start of his letter Paul reminds Timothy of the instructions that he had given to him before Paul left for a journey to Macedonia.

‘Just as I was travelling to Macedonia, I called you near to remain in place in Ephesus so that you might give instruction from close beside to any one not to teach differently. 4 Nor to hold their mind towards fables and endless genealogies which hold near searching questions and disputes, rather than administration of God’s household which is within entrustment’, (I Timothy 1 v 3 – 4).

Paul and Timothy were both at Ephesus and as Paul was about to make a journey to Macedonia he had some concerns about the teachers in the Ephesian assembly, so he called Timothy close beside. He instructed him to remain in Ephesus because he was concerned that some in the Ephesian assembly were beginning to teach ideas and principles that were contrary to, or hindering the good news that Paul had announced to the Ephesians. The problem was similar to what Paul had faced with the Galatians – some of the Ephesian teachers were drifting away from the gospel. So he called Timothy aside and instructed him not to allow any one to teach differently from the teaching Paul had already declared. Some in the Ephesian assembly were allowing themselves to be ‘side-tracked’, to be ‘knocked off course’ because they were paying attention to myths and fables. There were many such false stories circling in society and some of these Christian teachers were paying too much attention to them in their teaching. Other Christian teachers were focussing their minds on endless genealogies, going into deep examination of them and engaging in the different opinions and disputes that arose from them. The problem was that such interests were drawing attention away from the administration of God’s household, of Christians, which does not reside in such disputes, but within faith. 

‘But the aim of the instruction is practical benevolent love from out of a clean heart, good conscience and sincere entrustment’, (I Timothy 1 v 5). Paul was not trying to be negatively critical, nor was he being divisive or merely protecting his own opinions. Rather, his aim in giving this instruction to Timothy was that the Ephesian Christians would mature into practical benevolent love from out of a deep inner core that was clean, and had a good conscience and sincere persuasion and entrustment. His concern was that some were already missing the mark. 

Romans 6 – 8 and Galatians – The case against Christian legalism

 I have presented these posts on Romans 6 - 8 and Galatians because I wanted to look at how the Apostle Paul exhorted Christians to live a godly life day-by-day. It soon became clear that Paul was no advocate of Christian legalism. Although he may have the ultimate aims and purposes of Divine law in mind – righteousness and cleanliness - he does not refer Christians to Covenant law as a means of living a godly life, just the opposite in fact. He argues that the law reveals our self-forfeiture and that the fleshly impulses within the Christian’s physical body take hold of the law and use it’s written codes as a springboard to bring themselves to completion in speech and behaviour. The law is good – it is our flesh that is the problem. Thus there is nothing good in our flesh and he calls our physical body ‘a body of death’ from which Christians will ultimately be released. Legalism leads to ‘deadness’, to criticism and judgement of other Christians, and potentially to a denial of the gospel. It leads to discouragement and a sense of failure.

Paul argues that we cannot deliver ourselves from divine judicial condemnation. Salvation is a free gift of God from start to finish. Whilst we are helpless God brings forth those He has selected by means of the Messiah and the set-apart Breath. As part of this process, the Christian’s ‘old formation’ or ‘old self’ or ‘natural earthy, sensuous self’ is crucified with the Messiah and they become a ‘new formation’ or ‘new self’, which Christians are encouraged to ‘put on’ or clothe themselves with. Possessing the indwelling of the set-apart Breath they are exhorted to walk around within the sphere of Breath. Paul’s emphasis is on Christians using their enlightened and illuminated mind that is enabled to perceive and embrace unseen realities, to reason things through to their proper conclusion. In other words he uses theological teaching. Then he says, exercise enlightened self-control and live life day-by-day in a way that is consistent with God’s calling and their enlightened understanding. The locus or ‘pivot’ of action is away from external written codes and towards the leading of the set-apart Breath. 

Paul is quite consistent when it comes to practical matters of living a godly life day-by-day. So, for example, if we were to look at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we would see that it is a letter of two halves. The first half, chapters 1 – 3, is about God’s glorious free gift of deliverance by means of Jesus. The second half is about what this means in practice. If you read chapters 4 - 6 through for yourself you find no appeals to Covenant law. Rather you find appeals to imitate and emulate the love of the Messiah, and to reflect different aspects of the relationship that the Messiah has with those whom God has selected. 

But I don’t want to spend time on these chapters because instead I now want to turn to chapter 1 of Paul’s first letter to Timothy, because once gain Paul looks at Christians who miss the mark because they want to become teachers of law.  

Galatians 6 v 11 – 16 - Paul’s concluding remarks

 ‘See what large letters I have written to you with my own hand. 12 As many as wish to have a good appearance within flesh, these are compelling you to be circumcised, but only in order that they are not pursued and persecuted for the cross of Jesus the anointed one. 13 Because not even the circumcised themselves are observing law, but they desire you to be circumcised in order that they may boast within your flesh. 14 But for me, may it never happen to be boasting if not within the cross of our Lord Jesus the anointed one, by means of which the worldly arrangement has been crucified to me, and I to the worldly order and arrangement. 15 Neither circumcision nor foreskin is anything – on the contrary, a new original formation. 16 And as many as will walk within and follow this principle, on this basis, and on the basis of the God of Israel, their peace and compassion’, (Galatians 6 v 11 – 16).

Paul obviously had someone else to actually write his letters, but here he writes this last section with his own hand, as if to emphasise his concluding remarks. He once again criticises the Judaizers who have come in to cause so much trouble. He says that those insisting on male Gentile Christians being circumcised wanted to look good within the flesh. They wanted to obtain a reputation for religiousness, like the hypocrites who ‘love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, so that they may be seen of men’ (Matthew 6 v 5). Appearing outwardly righteous in front of others, they wanted to be accounted in this way by them; and therefore they did all they could to be seen of them, and gain applause from them. They wanted by this means to keep in with their countrymen, the Jews, and to gain favour amongst them by seeming to win over proselytes to Covenant law.  

They were acting in this way in case they should suffer pursuit and persecution from fellow Jews for the cross. It is well known that the Jewish chief priests and elders were great persecutors of the disciples of Jesus, and began their persecution very early on. These Judaizers did not act from any true love for God. They escaped the bitterness that fellow Jews had against Christianity and the offence of the cross of the Messiah by making the Mosaic law a necessary preliminary for Christians. In fact, they were making Christian converts into Jewish proselytes. ‘Not even the circumcised themselves are observing law, but they desire you to be circumcised in order that they may boast within your flesh’. These Jews who were insisting on circumcision did not observe Covenant law themselves. Rather, they wanted to boast about how many Christians they had turned into Jewish proselytes. 

Paul concludes by saying that he does not want to boast about anything except the cross. By means of the cross ‘the worldly arrangement has been crucified to me, and I to the worldly order and arrangement’. Worldly values, methods and principles mean nothing to Paul and he regards the worldly arrangement as dying away so as to be superseded at the time of the harvest. (An event that he thought was quite imminent). 

His concluding remarks about circumcision? ‘Neither circumcision nor foreskin is anything – on the contrary, a new original formation’. What matters for Paul is being brought forth by God, or born again, and the Christian’s new formation or new self. ‘As many as will walk within and follow this principle, on this basis, and on the basis of the God of Israel, their peace and compassion’. 

Galatians 6 v 9, 10 - An apportioned share of the divine inheritance

 ‘And we should not grow weary in doing good, because not growing faint, in our season we will reap a harvest. 10 So then, in the manner that we have opportunity, we should be working good toward all, and especially toward those belonging to the family of faith’, (Galatians 6 v 9, 10). 

Sometimes, teaching the word faithfully and having practical beneficial love towards fellow Christians can seem to be a laborious and unrewarding endeavour. It can make us feel weary and lacking in motivation. Thus Paul encourages Christians not to grow weary in doing good. The Christian’s deliverance away from divine judicial condemnation by means of the Messiah and the set-apart Breath is given as a free gift as a result of God’s promise, a promise that He has sworn on oath on His own name. No one will snatch those who have been given to him from out of the Messiah’s hand. As Paul declares in Romans 8, no one and nothing can separate us away from the love of God. 

But for Christians, there is a prize to obtained and a harvest to reap. If Christians persist in wayward behaviour or become lazy, they will suffer ruin and loss. They will not lose their deliverance, but they will reap a smaller harvest. The ‘harvest’ is their allotted portion of the divine inheritance. It is his obtaining of the ‘harvest’ that is Paul’s motivation for persisting steadfastly in doing good. ‘…because not growing faint, in our season we will reap a harvest’. In our season, when the harvest comes, which will be at the advent of the Millennium Reign and the first rousing up from out of the dead so as to meet the Messiah in the air and enter into the unseen heavenly realms.

‘So then, in the manner that we have opportunity, we should be working good toward all’. Christians are not summoned to be antagonistic towards unbelievers, nor to negate them. Christians live in a world in which the majority of people are unbelievers. Christians are like wheat growing among weeds and wheat-like plants. So, while God continues life-breath to us and the season of sowing lasts, Christians are encouraged to live their lives as peaceably as they can. To be good marriage partners, family members, neighbours, employers, employees and work colleagues. But this is especially case when it comes to their relationships with fellow Christians, bearing in mind the primary injunction of the Messiah to show practical, beneficial love to one another.  

Galatians 6 v 6 – 8 - Sharing teaching

 ‘Now let the one being taught within the word, share the teaching within all goodness, 7 not leading astray. God is absolutely not ridiculed, because whatever a man is sowing, this also he will harvest. 8 Because sowing towards his flesh, from the flesh he will reap decay from within. But sowing towards the Breath, away from the Breath he will reap perpetual life’, (Galatians 6 v 6 – 8).

The Judaizers had come in to the Galatian assemblies with teaching. They were assertively teaching, instructing and exhorting that Christians had to follow Sinai Covenant law as the means of obtaining and maintaining divine judicial approval. So Paul goes ‘back to basics’ and says that Christians who have been taught within the word and who are sharing teaching should do so ‘within all goodness, not leading astray’. Such an individual should share the teaching honestly and faithfully. They should not twist the teaching in order to gain a good reputation, or to gain the advantages of status, material wealth or comfort.

Paul says, ‘Make no mistake. God is not ridiculed’. Why? ‘Because whatever a man is sowing, this also he will harvest’. Those who teach using malicious, deceitful motives are described as ‘sowing towards their flesh’, and the result of this is that  ‘from the flesh he will reap decay from within’. Elsewhere Paul describes the physical body and a ‘body of death’. This is because the impulses and raw passions inherent in our flesh are in opposition to God, and following these impulses – such as twisting the gospel message to obtain a good reputation – leads to withering away, to insensitivity and unresponsiveness to God and ultimately to divine disapproval and judicial condemnation. 

This is contrasted with the teacher who shares the word and the teaching accurately and faithfully. ‘… sowing towards the Breath, away from the Breath he will reap perpetual life’. The opposite of ruin, loss, withering away and death is ‘life’ – abundant life, life with a capital ‘L’, perpetual life. 

Galatians 6 v 3 – 5 – Restoring fellow Christians - Personal accountability, not self-superiority compared with others

 ‘For if someone is thinking they are someone, being nothing he is deluding himself. 4 But each one be testing his own work and action, and at that time he will hold the ground of boasting only towards himself, and absolutely not towards another, 5 for each one will bear his own burden’, (Galatians 6 v 3 - 5).

One of the dangers when Christians help to restore others is that they may see themselves as ‘superior’, as ‘rising above’ the wayward self-forfeiture that other Christians have fallen into. But ‘if someone is thinking they are someone, being nothing he is deluding himself’. No Christian is immune from wayward behaviour or from the impulses of their own flesh. No Christian is able to take the role of ‘superior judge’ over other Christians. Rather than criticising the behaviour of fellow Christians, the principle is that ‘each one be testing his own work and action, and at that time he will hold the ground of boasting only towards himself, and absolutely not towards another, 5 for each one will bear his own burden’.

Within the context of the situation that Paul has been writing about – Judaizers insisting that male Gentile Christians be circumcised in agreement with Covenant law – I suggest that Paul is primarily referring to the view that these Jews had of themselves. They thought that they had cause for self-praise arising from their self-righteous comparison of themselves with others, (Galatians 2 v 12, 13; and verses 12 and 13 below). No, says Paul. If you are about the business of adjusting and restoring fellow Christians, then don’t fall into the trap that these Judaizers have fallen into of being self-righteous and over-assertive, causing people to shrink back in fear. Rather, let a Christian judge their own work, not by comparing themselves with others, but by the ideal standard of the Messiah, then they will see what their work is worth and how much they have to boast of. Each individual will be judged by their own actions and not by any fancied superiority or inferiority to others. They will not be able to excuse themselves by drawing attention to their neighbour’s weaknesses.

In verse 2 Christians are exhorted to ‘bear the burdens’ of others in the sense of sympathising and being of practical assistance to them in their troubles. Here Christians are told that they must ‘bear their own load’ in the sense that they must answer directly to God for their own actions. Their responsibility cannot be shifted on to others. Each will bear their own ‘load’. The Greek word is different from that in verse 2. Here, self-examination will make an individual consider that he has enough to do with their own load of self-forfeiture, without comparing themselves boastfully with their neighbour.

Galatians 6 v 1, 2 - Wayward behaviour and restoring fellow Christians

 ‘Brothers, even if a man has been overtaken within some falling away from close beside, you relating to the realm of breath, properly adjust and restore this one within a breath [pneuma] of gentleness, taking heed yourself in case you also are tested. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this manner you will complete the law of the anointed one’, (Galatians 6 v 1, 2).

Paul has been explaining the opposing currents and energies that exist within Christians. There is an impetus arising from their fleshly constitution, and in opposition to this, there is the movement and impetus of the Breath of God dwelling in their deep inner core. It is clear from all that Paul has been saying that Christians are not ‘perfect’. They are not fully complete within cleanliness and godliness. Most of Paul’s letter to the Galatians has been taken up with Christians in danger of falling into wayward behaviour by turning back to observing Covenant law as a means of obtaining and maintaining divine judicial approval. And here, in verse 1, Paul turns to the problem of a Christian being ‘overtaken within some falling away from close beside’. As Paul says in his letter to the Romans, Christians are sometimes taken captive, or ‘overtaken’ by impulses arising from within their fleshly constitution. The word ‘overtaken’ suggests that some self-forfeiture springs upon an individual and overpowers them by the suddenness of the assault.

So what happens in such a situation? Paul says that those Christians walking in and relating to the realm of breath are to ‘properly adjust and restore this one within a breath [pneuma] of gentleness’. This would be an act of practical, beneficial love. ‘Properly adjusting’ includes knowledge, understanding and reasoning within what is true to the facts. It is what Paul has been doing throughout the course of this letter to the Galatians – seeking to promote consistent behaviour within correct, enlightened understanding. This ‘adjustment’ is to be done with care and gentleness. Christians are exhorted to assist and carry each other’s burdens with care so as to avoid falling into error themselves. In seeking to support and restore a fellow Christian, they may be tested themselves. 

‘…in this manner you will complete the law of the anointed one’. There is a very biting sarcasm and grave irony in Paul’s use of the word ‘law’ here. The whole of this letter has been directed against the Judaizing teachers who were cramming the written codes of Covenant law down Galatian Christian throats. This letter is addressed to their victims who had fallen into their trap. They have turned things upside down, (Galatians 5 v 12), but Paul turns this back round on them and says, ‘You want law, do you? Well, if you will have it, here it is - the law of the Messiah’. The Messiah’s life is our law, our principle of speech and behaviour. Practical Christianity is founded on emulating the Messiah, and the primary principle of the Messiah is that Christians show practical beneficial love to one another, as he has shown love to them. In this way the Messiah is brought to completion. The dynamic process is to co-work with God to bring forth the Fruit of the Breath. There is no reference to external written codes, but rather, that Christians co-work with God by walking around within the set-apart Breath, within truth, so as to carry across the Fruit of the Breath from within into speech and behaviour, mutually supporting one another. 

Galatians 5 v 23b – 26 – Law and the Fruit of the Breath

 ‘…down opposing that of this sort, there is absolutely no law that exists, 24 and those of Jesus the anointed have crucified their own flesh together with the strong emotions and lustful desires. 25 If we are alive by Breath, we should also be walking by Breath, 26 not becoming boastful, provoking one another, envying one another’, (Galatians 5 v 23b - 26).

There is no law in existence, including divine law, that comes down to oppose and condemn practical benevolent love, joy, wholeness, forbearance, useful kindness, goodness, entrustment, mildness and enlightened self-control. By co-working with God and carrying across these qualities from within into their speech and behaviour as a result of the indwelling of the set-apart Breath of God, Christians walk around in the Breath and bring the Messiah to completion, being transformed into his image or likeness. And those that are of Jesus, the anointed of God, by being immersed in union with the Messiah by means of the set-apart Breath, have crucified the flesh. They do not look to their natural, fleshly ability or strength to try to observe the written codes and regulations of Sinai Covenant law as means to obtaining or maintaining divine judicial approval. Nor do they willingly follow or submit to the raw passions, energies and impulses within their fleshly constitution in the way that they did before God brought them forth. 

Paul appeals once again to logical consistency. Christians have not been brought to a position of divine approval by means of their human nature, natural ability, or their attempts to observe the written codes of Sinai Covenant law. They have been brought forth by the work of the set-apart Breath leading them to perceive and entrust the Messiah, immersing them in union with God’s anointed deliverer. So Paul says, ‘Be consistent. If we are brought to Life by means of the set-apart Breath, then we should also be walking around by means of Breath. It is inconsistent for us to turn back to rely on our own ability – our flesh - to observe the injunctions of divine law in order to maintain divine judicial approval’. 

Finally he adds a few more practical considerations. Walking around within the sphere of the set-apart Breath not only means that Christians begin to display the qualities – the fruit – that he has listed over the previous few verses, but also it means that Christian do not do not happily indulge in certain other behaviours. The Breath is in opposition to the flesh, so if Christians are walking in the Breath then they are ‘not becoming boastful, provoking one another, envying one another’, (verse 26). This is a similar point to one that he makes in I Corinthians. There is indeed a desire for excellence in Christians, a desire for godliness, but such an aim must not lead to divisions, schisms, or to Christians boasting or provoking one another. Christians who are ambitious for honour may indeed provoke other Christians, whom they regard as inferiors, by a having a proud and contemptuous manner toward them. They may look on some other Christians with contempt, pass by some other Christians with disdain, as if they are beneath their notice, and this provokes hard feelings and even hatred. This was the problem at Corinth. 

Sometimes the opposite happens. Christians don’t celebrate the good of others, either desiring their portion, or being troubled that they fare so well. Both errors are traceable to one and the same root - the excessive wish to be thought well of by others.

Galatians 5 v 22, 23a - Defining the qualities of the Fruit of the Breath [4] - Goodness, Mildness, Entrustment, Self-control

 ‘But the fruit of the Breath is practical beneficial love, joy, peace, patient forbearance, useful kindness, goodness, entrustment, 23 mildness, self-control…’ (Galatians 5 v 22, 23a).

Paul continues to list the various aspects of the Fruit of the Breath. 

Goodness A disposition to do good to others. The word refers to a very wide description of human goodness, apparently in the sense of active benevolence. It stands in opposition to maliciousness or ‘badness’. 

Entrustment This does not mean that Christians fail to discriminate between what is to be believed and what is to be rejected. Nor that Christians are naively prone to believe falsehood as being the truth, or make no effort to inquire what is true and what is false, what is right and what is wrong. Rather, Paul means that they have a disposition to put the best construction on someone else’s speech, behaviour and attitude. They entrust that a fellow Christian has good motives and that they intend no injury. In other words, Christians are not walking around with a pessimistic, distrustful, suspicious or accusatory attitude. The word may also be used in the sense of ‘fidelity’, denoting that a Christian will be faithful to his or her word and promises, who can be trusted or confided in. 

Mildness A forbearance of passion, rash anger and hastiness of emotions. Mildness is humble submissiveness to the teachings of Divine revelation, to which this term probably points, and stands in contrast to self-reliant, headstrong impetuosity.

Illuminated self-control The Greek word ‘egkrateia’ implies self-restraint that arises from the perception and persuasion of unseen realities, self-regulation when it comes to the Christian’s fleshly desires and impulses. It has reference to the power that Christians have over all kinds of fleshly impulses and energies. The sense here is that the movement and current of the set-apart Breath within the deep inner core of the Christian helps them to self-moderate and self-regulate indulgent speech and behaviour, to restrain passions, and govern themselves as a result of their enlightened perception and persuasion.

Galatians 5 v 22 - Defining the qualities of the Fruit of the Breath [3] – Forbearance and Useful Kindness

 ‘But the fruit of the Breath is practical beneficial love, joy, peace, patient forbearance, useful kindness,’ (Galatians 5 v 22).

‘Benevolent, practical love is forbearing, usefully kind and gentle’, (I Corinthians 13 v 4a).

In both I Corinthians and Galatians Paul presents two more aspects of the practical beneficial love that Christians show to one another as members of one body bringing forth the Fruit of the Breath.

Forbearance Paul uses the Greek word ‘makrothumeó’, which means the opposite of ‘short-tempered’. It means waiting for a sufficient time so as to avoid premature displays of passion, frustration or retribution that often arise from out of a quick temper, or from intolerant impatience. Forbearance is patient longsuffering, it is enlightened self-restraint that does not hastily retaliate in response to wrongfulness. We all know that we can annoy and irritate ourselves about other people at times, including fellow Christians, especially when we are passionate, eager or ambitious for something or other. Sometimes we consider that fellow Christians are being unfair to us, but having the quality of forbearance means that we do not hastily react against such perceived injustice from fellow Christians. When exercising forbearance, a Christian bringing forth the Fruit of the Breath does not launch into malicious gossip, insults, criticism or arguments with them by way of response.

Gentle useful kindness In Corinthians the Greek word that Paul uses is ‘chrésteuomai’, a verb meaning ‘to be usefully kind, mild and gentle’. In Galatians it is used as a noun. It is not just a kindly attitude or the expression of kindly sentiments, but rather it means to be of useful, suitable or appropriate service in contrast to being burdensome. It is from the adjective ‘chréstos’ which appears seven times in the New Testament. When Christians display love to one another it means that they are courteous and gentle. They have a desire to do good so as to be of practical service and help to fellow Christians, accommodating his or herself to the weaknesses, capacities, manners and circumstances of other Christians in everything that they can. 

I ask again whether we can see these distinctive practical qualities in our own daily life when it comes to our relationship to with fellow Christians. 

Galatians 5 v 22 - Defining the qualities of the Fruit of the Breath [2] – Joy and Peace

 ‘But the fruit of the Breath is practical beneficial love, joy, peace, patient forbearance, useful kindness,’ (Galatians 5 v 22).

The first three qualities of the Fruit of the Breath are love, joy and peace. The source of all three of these lies in the Christian’s relation to God and they are the result of union with the Messiah by means of the Breath. The free gift of the practical, beneficial love of the Messiah is the source of these other aspects of the Fruit of the Breath. Having looked at ‘love’ in the previous section, I now move on to look at these other qualities.

Joy, gladness, delight The objects of this joy, gladness and delight are God the Father and His only-begotten Son. God is the God of deliverance, clothing the Christian with the robe of his Son's righteousness, pardoning their self-forfeiture, with full atonement being made by the sacrifice of the Messiah. The foundation of this joy and delight lies in these spiritual realities, and arises from the Christian’s apprehension and persuasion of their interest in them, resulting in divine judicial approval, pardon, peace, adoption, and eternal praise. This joy and gladness also extends to a joy in fellow Christians as those brought forth by God, and these affections to God, the Messiah and fellow Christians are unique to those who possess the Breath and shared between them.

 

Peace. Meaning ‘wholeness when all essential parts are joined together’. The Breath of God produces wholeness in consequence of the enlightenment and persuasion of the reconciliation being made by the spilt lifeblood of the Messiah. The lifeblood of the Messiah is applied to Christians for the sending away of their self-forfeiture. The set-apart Breath establishes union with the Messiah, applying divine judicial approval to the Christian. The result is peace – wholeness – down from reconciliation with God. This wholeness is once again unique to those who possess the Breath – Christians - and it is shared between them.

Galatians 5 v 22 - Defining practical, beneficial love [1]

 ‘But the fruit of the Breath is practical beneficial love, joy, peace, patient forbearance, useful kindness,’ (Galatians 5 v 22).

Paul famously defines love in I Corinthians 13. He is not talking about sentiment. He is not talking about romantic or poetic notions of love, nor about merely ‘wishing people well’, nor about making expressions of affection of the kind that we see in Valentine’s Day cards, or in marriage ceremonies, or showing superficial cursory displays of affection. Instead, he is talking about practical speech, attitudes and behaviours in day-by-day Christian life. 

The practical love that he is describing is distinctive in that it is - 

Primarily directed toward fellow Christians, and 

Arises from enlightened perception and knowledge that is unveiled by the Breath of God

As John explains in his first letter, ‘outsiders’ or unbelievers do not love the Messiah, nor do they love those who are persuaded of him to the point of obedience. The Messiah and the Gospel are absurd foolishness to unbelievers. They reject and separate themselves away from the spiritual base – the enlightened perception and persuasion of unseen realities – that underpins and provides the exemplars for the practical love that Paul is talking about. Instead, ‘unbelievers’ prefer darkness to light such that their affections are centred on fleshly impulses and sensations. Possession of the love that Paul is talking about – a practical beneficial love that imitates the love of the Messiah and is directed toward fellow Christians – is therefore a distinctive mark of Christian assurance. This is because such love is beyond the ability of unbelievers. It is a primary Fruit of the Breath of God and His Messiah. This practical love ‘identifies with and rejoices in truth’.

‘Benevolent, practical love is forbearing, usefully kind and gentle’, (I Corinthians 13 v 4a).

In I Corinthians 12 v 31 Paul says ‘I show you a way superlatively beyond measure in excellence’. This way of excellence is the way of love, and without it, Paul says that Christians are nothing but a distracting noise. The Greek word that he uses is ‘agape’, which means ‘love’, ‘benevolence’ or ‘good will’. It also contains the aspect of having a preference for these qualities. These are very practical qualities in the Christian’s day-to-day life, so I translate the word as ‘practical beneficial love’. Its fullest meaning is ‘having a preference for practical beneficial love’. 

But the word ‘love’ is still somewhat vague, so Paul defines what he means in more detail. In both Galatians and I Corinthians he presents two over-arching qualities of love – forbearance and useful gentle kindness. 

The ‘love’ that Paul is talking about serves as a distinctive mark that reveals that an individual is selected by God, it is also mark of Christian assurance, because possession and use of this love is beyond the ability of ‘outsiders’. We probably all know of ‘outsiders’ who are forbearing, usefully kind and gentle. It may well be that we know of some ‘outsiders’ who possess forbearance and useful gentle kindness to a greater degree than we do as Christians. So in what way do these qualities constitute a distinctive Fruit of the Breath of God and His Messiah? 

In I Corinthians, Paul’s teaching about ‘love’ is an aspect of the principle of ‘diversity within union in the Messiah’. Christians are diverse members of the one body of the Messiah, and the primary instruction is that Christians show practical beneficial love to one another as members of this body. By contrast, unbelievers reject enlightened persuasion of the unseen realities that underpin and provide exemplars for the practical love that Paul is talking about, preferring darkness to light such that their affections, goals and ambitions lie elsewhere. So the love that Paul is talking about is distinctively Christian. It is beyond the ability of unbelievers in this respect – it is love expressed towards fellow Christians. The qualities of forbearance and useful gentle kindness shown towards Christians constitute distinctive aspects of the Fruit of the Breath of God and His Messiah coming to completion by being displayed toward fellow Christians. ‘If anyone is saying, ‘I love God’ but is hating and detesting his brother, he is a deceiver, because the one not loving his brother whom he sees is not able to love God whom he has not seen. 21 This is the end result of the instruction that we have away from Him - that the one loving God should also be loving his brother. Everyone believing that Jesus is the Messiah of God has been brought forth; and everyone loving the One who brings forth also loves him who is brought forth from out of Him’, (I John 4 v 20, 21; 5 v 1).

Galatians 5 v 22 – 24 - The Fruit of the Breath

 ‘But the fruit of the Breath is practical beneficial love, joy, peace, patient forbearance, useful kindness, goodness, entrustment, 23 mildness, self-control; down opposing that of this sort there is absolutely no law that exists, 24 and those of Jesus the anointed have crucified the flesh together with the strong emotions and lustful desires’, (Galatians 5 v 22 - 24).

The Breath [Pneuma] dwells within the Christian’s heart or deep inner core, and inclines and leads them to speech and behaviour that is pleasing and acceptable to God. As Christians co-operate with the inner movement, current or impetus of the Breath of God, godly speech and behaviour is thoroughly carried across from within into practical speech and action. Paul terms these behaviours as ‘fruit’, the ‘produce’ and ‘outworking’ of the Breath. When he lists the fruit he places love first. Love is the primary Fruit of the Breath, (Galatians 5 v 22). But of course the ‘labours’ and raw passions inherent in the Christian’s flesh, in their physical constitution, work in opposition to the impetus that is away from the Breath of God, (I John 4 v 16). These fleshly energies mean that the impetus of the Breath does not always come to fruition in the Christian’s speech and behaviour. There is a ‘warfare’ arising from this conflict of energies within the Christian.

The exercising of practical beneficial love towards fellow Christians is the primary injunction of the Lord Jesus, (John 13 v 34, 35; 15 v 12, I John 3 v 23, 4 v 21; II John 1 v 5). The Apostles support this injunction, (Ephesians 5 v 1, 2, 25, 28, Philippians 1 v 9; 2 v 1, 2; Colossians 2 v 2, 3 v 14; I Thessalonians 4 v 9, Hebrews 10 v 24; I Peter 4 v 8, I John 2 v 10, 3 v 11). Exercising practical beneficial love fulfils the greatest, the most important injunctions within Covenant law, (Mark 12 v 30, 31). The exercise of practical beneficial love brings the Law to completion, (Romans 13 v 8 – 10; Galatians 5 v 14; James 2 v 8). The Christian’s faith or inner persuasion with regard to unseen realities expresses itself through the Christian exercising practical beneficial love, (Galatians 5 v 6). Love is made complete by means of obedience to the word of God and His Messiah, (I John 2 v 5). ‘Within this, love is completed and consummated with us…just as that one over there is, also we are within this orderly arrangement’, (I John 4 v 17). ‘If we [Christians] are loving one another, God remains within us and His love is completed and consummated within us’, (I John 4 v 12). The body of fellow Christians is built up and edified by means of Christians exercising practical beneficial love, (Ephesians 4 v 15, 16).

Given the prominence ascribed to practical beneficial love, as I come to define and describe what practical beneficial love is, Christians might ask themselves to what degree they see evidence of these qualities of love in their own lives. Many Christians measure themselves in terms of what they believe. This is of course important, but knowledge – even theological knowledge - can lead to arrogance and pride. Knowledge has to be accompanied with practical, beneficial love if the body is to be built up and divisiveness is to be reduced. 

Paul exhorts Christians to ‘walk around within the sphere of the Breath’, (Galatians 5 v 16). He does not mean that they become ‘mystics’ or become detached from everyday life by being lost in contemplation or transcendent experiences. Rather he means that Christians walk around paying attention to the movement of the Breath within them in the light of Truth. ‘Walking around in the Breath’ means that the Christian brings forth the Fruit of the Breath in their speech and behaviour, the primary fruit being practical, beneficial love toward fellow Christians, as they look to the love of God and His Messiah as their primary exemplars. 

Finally, I want to note that because love is the Fruit of the Breath, then this means that the practical beneficial love that Paul is talking about is unique to Christians, because only Christians are indwelt by the Breath. 

The love that Paul is talking about and about to define is distinctive and beyond the ability of ‘outsiders’.

Galatians 5 v 19 – 21 - The working energies of the flesh

 ‘And the energies and workings of the flesh are clear. Whatever is selling off sexual purity, uncleanness, brutal rejection of restraint, 20 idol worship and service, drug-related enchantments, hostility, contentions, passionate jealousy, outbursts of hot passion, mercenary self-seeking, division and standing apart, strong personal opinions, 21 jealous grudges, intoxications, revelries and similar to these, which I am forewarning you, just as I warned before, that the doing of such things will not acquire the Kingdom of God’, (Galatians 5 v 19 – 21). 

The energies of the flesh and what the flesh labours to produce in terms of our speech and behaviour is, says Paul, obvious and clear. But if we are in any doubt, he lists what the flesh leads us to construct. Briefly, since they are mostly self-explicit, there is ‘selling off sexual purity’ – by which he means prostitution, adultery, sexual permissiveness, sodomy and lesbianism. ‘Uncleanness’, which covers a wider range of sensual behaviour, as well as impure motivations. The kind of behaviour that leads us to call someone ‘dirty’. ‘Brutal rejection of restraint’. A strong rejection of the idea of thoughtful self-moderation, such that instead, the preference is for following instincts, emotions, ‘gut feelings’, lusts and desires. Acting like wild animals. ‘Idol worship and service’, compliance with idolatrous customs, taking part in idol feasts, or eating food offered to idols. Worshipping and serving other gods, or carved or moulded images. ‘Drug-related enchantments’. Using drugs to create ecstatic or mystical religious experiences. ‘Hostility, contentions, passionate jealousy, outbursts of hot passion’. Quarrelling, being contradictory or displaying angry emotional outbursts. ‘Mercenary self-seeking, division and standing apart, strong personal opinions’. Acting out of personal ambition, working for personal gain, being divisive, schisms, partisanship, cliques, elite groups, having intolerant strong opinions. ‘Jealous grudges, intoxications, revelries and similar to these’. Being governed by envy, ‘marking other people’s cards’, seeking revenge, drunkenness, partying, night time drinking, dancing, singing, sexual permissiveness, wantonness and excessive behaviour. 

Concerning these kinds of behaviours, Paul says, ‘I am forewarning you just as I warned before, that the doing of such things will not acquire the Kingdom of God’. These are the kinds of behaviours that God disapproves of and that oppose God. They are not the behaviours that admit entry into the Kingdom of God or lead to an allotted share in the divine inheritance. Those who happily and unconcernedly regularly engage in these kinds of behaviours will not inherit the Kingdom. For Christians to behave in these kinds of ways without worry or concern is quite inconsistent with their calling by God, and certainly not examples of being led to by the Breath of God. Rather, such behaviours risk ruination, loss and death.

Galatians 5 v 16 – 18 - The path of godliness - walking around within the Breath

 ‘But I am saying, Be walking around Breath, and absolutely do not bring flesh-desire to end completion, 17 because the flesh is set upon passionate desire and lust, down opposite the Breath, and the Breath down opposite the flesh. For these are lying opposite one another in order that if you are desiring or intending these things, you are not constructing., 18 And if you are being led by Breath, you are absolutely not under law’, (Galatians 5 v 16 – 18).

How do Christians live a godly life? That is the fundamental question that is being asked in Galatians. Christian and Jewish legalists would have Christians turning backwards. They turn things upside down by directing Christians to the external written codes of Covenant law. ‘Are you stealing? What do the Ten Commandments say? You shall not steal!’. That is what they say. But what does the Apostle say? ‘Be walking around Breath’. The phrase ‘walking around’ refers to how we speak and behave moment-by-moment in our daily lives. ‘Walking’ signifies the direction of our speech and behaviour day-by-day. Walking also denotes activity. The metaphor is very common in the writings of both Paul and John - walking in truth, in darkness, according to the flesh and so on are familiar examples. 

The grammar used in reference to ‘Breath’ – ‘in’ or ‘by’ Breath, refers to 

The sphere or realm of Breath, and/or 

The governing principle of the Breath, along with 

The enabling power of the Breath 

Paul exhorts Christians to conduct their daily lives, moment-by-moment, ‘breathfully’ if you like. The meaning is, Walk around within the current, movement and disposition of the Breath deep within as your guide, and the free gift of the Breath as your strength, moment-by-moment in the course of your life. Paul later expresses this as being ‘led by the Breath’, (verse 18), and as an ‘orderly walking by means of the Breath’, (verse 25).

The exhortation implies two things. First, that Christians have received the gift of the set-apart Breath. Second, that the Breath alone will not succeed in the actual setting apart of their life in cleanliness and godliness without diligent endeavours on the Christian’s own part as they co-work with God ‘and absolutely do not bring flesh-desire to end completion’. The idea is that it is impossible for someone who is walking within the sphere of the Breath to carry into full effect any desire or raw passion within their flesh. Why? ‘Because the flesh is set upon passionate desire and lust, down opposite the Breath, and the Breath down opposite the flesh’, (verse 17). These are two opposing currents, movements or impulses existing within Christians. Unbelievers do not possess the opposing movement of the set-apart Breath within their deep inner core.

These opposing movements exist within Christians ‘in order that….’ Paul gives two reasons why Christians possess the gift of the set-apart Breath when it comes to living a godly life.

First, ‘if you are desiring or intending these things, you are not constructing’. Christians still retain their ‘vessel of clay’, their ‘earthy, fleshly body’ at this present time, a fleshly body that has impulses, energies and raw-passions that are opposed to God. So Christians sometimes find these passions and desires coming down from the fabric of their flesh, inclining them to intend to speak and/or behave in ways that God disapproves of. 

But if a Christian is walking around within the sphere or realm of set-apart Breath, they find an opposing current and energy within them that opposes these fleshly impulses. By co-working with God and paying attention to the set-apart Breath dwelling within their deep inner core, they absolutely do not bring flesh-desire to end completion

Second, ‘if you are being led by Breath, you are absolutely not under law’, (verse 18). 

The phrase ‘being led’ is a primary verb that indicates a dynamic process. 

Christians are being brought, guided or inclined down from the set-apart Breath dwelling in their deep inner core or heart, at the ground or foundation of their thoughts, emotions and intentions. This movement is in opposition to the impulses and energies of their fleshly constitution

That is the dynamic process by which Christians live a godly life moment-by-moment. And if they are ‘walking around within the sphere of the Breath’ in this way then they ‘are absolutely not under law’, (verse 18). ‘Flesh’ and ‘law’ are correlated: to be free from one is to be free from the other. Flesh is human nature, and law is the standard to which human nature has to strive to observe to obtain divine approval. But if Christians are led by and walk around moment-by-moment within the sphere of the set-apart Breath, then they are not under the ruling authority of the external written codes of Sinai Covenant law. They are under a different Covenant, the New Covenant of the blood of the Messiah, and are engaged in a different dynamic process. They are free from enslavement to flesh as well as Sinai Covenant law, and are under the influence of the set-apart Breath of God and His Messiah. The movement and activity of the Breath of Life, dwelling within their heart, enables them to perceive and know the will of God, and through their co-working with God, to walk within divine approval and bring to completion the fundamental principles of the law, (II Corinthians 3 v 6 - 11).

Galatians 5 v 13 – 15 - The boundaries of Christian freedom

 ‘For you were summoned and called on the basis of freedom, brothers, but not the freedom to penetrate into a starting point of the flesh. On the contrary, we are serving one another by means of practical beneficial love. 14 For the whole law is made full and complete within one saying, within this: ‘You will beneficially love those close by in the manner of yourself’. 15 But if you are biting and eating up one another, look, in case you are consumed under one another’, (Galatians 5 v 13 – 15).

Paul says that the Judaizers are undoing the whole object for which Christians were called. Christians are not called to legal bondage, or enslavement to the Sinai Covenant with its written codes of law, but to freedom. ‘We are not like Moses putting a veil over his face, toward the sons of Israel not intently looking towards the completion of that which is being rendered idle. 14 But their minds were hardened. For up until the present day, the same veil remains on the basis of the reading of the old Covenant - unless uncovered, for it is rendered idle within the Messiah. 15 But up until today, when Moses is being read a veil lies over their heart. 16 But whenever, if turning back toward the Lord, the veil is completely removed’, (II Corinthians 3 v 13 – 16). 

Now we come to one of the usual opposing arguments presented by Jewish and Christian legalists. If Christians are freed away from the written codes of law, then this will penetrate into a starting point of the flesh. The desires, impulses, energies and raw passions inherent in our fleshly constitution will be unleashed and unrestrained if the law is removed. If Christians are free, away from the written codes of law, then what is being introduced is lawlessness, permissiveness, a licence to speak and behave in any way that they please. And so legalists argue that Christians need Covenant law so as to avoid falling into wayward behaviour, and they direct Christians back to being governed and ruled by the written codes of Sinai Covenant law. 

‘On the contrary’, says Paul. ‘We are serving one another by means of practical beneficial love’. There is the principle of living a godly life. This is not a rosy, ‘Barbie Doll’ sentimentalised view of love. This principle arises from out of spiritual considerations that Christians are able to comprehend by means of the set-apart Breath. It is beyond the ability of unbelievers. It is the primary fruit of the Breath that indwells the Christian’s heart or deep inner core. It is directed at Christians serving one another.   

In response to legalists, Paul says, ‘For the whole law is made full and complete within one saying, within this: ‘You will beneficially love those close by in the manner of yourself’.

There it is, the primary principle of Christians living a godly life – 

The whole law is made full and complete within this: ‘You will beneficially love those close by in the manner of yourself

This is contrasted with Christians ‘biting and eating up one another’ – criticising and picking fault with one another. The allusion is to beasts of prey falling upon and devouring one another. For wolves or dogs to worry sheep is not a strange event, but for sheep to distress one another is unnatural. Paul does not say, ‘if grievous wolves should enter in among you and not spare the flock’, but warns against Christians themselves acting the part of wolves in relation to one another, devouring one another like wild beasts. Such attacks would consist of abuse, slander, sarcasm, invective or innuendo. The result can only be mutual destruction - the ruin of both parties because in due course there is an utter end to what constitutes the Christian community, the organic life of which is mutually destroyed by its own members.

Galatians 5 v 7 – 12 - Divine condemnation of those leading the Galatian Christians astray

 ‘You were running well. Who cut into you, not being persuaded of the truth, 8 the self-produced persuasion absolutely not from out of your summons and calling? 9 A little yeast is fermenting the whole lump. 10 I, on my part, am convinced towards you within the Lord that you will have no other mindset. But the one disturbing, troubling and agitating you will carry the judicial decision, whoever he is. 11 Now brothers if I still, even now, am proclaiming circumcision, why am I still pursued and persecuted, since the cause of stumbling, the cross, has been rendered entirely idle? 12 Oh that those turning you upside down will also ‘cut themselves off’, (Galatians 5 v 7 - 12).

Paul is very abrupt in style in verses 7 – 12. His thought jumps from subject to subject, not stopping to insert links of connection. He says that the Galatian Christians were ‘running well’ – elsewhere he likens the Christian life to athletes running a race in order to win the prize and he says that they were doing well, but then he asks, ‘Who, not being persuaded of the truth, cut in?’ Who, as it were, knocked them sideways so as to lead them to take another route? In turning back to the written codes of the Sinai Covenant, the Galatian Christians have persuaded themselves. What they are holding to is not from out of their calling by God. The belief that it is necessary to obey the laws of Moses and blend the observance of Jewish law with Christian teaching in order to be delivered and maintain a godly life, cannot be traced to God, even though those who are teaching it pretended to be commissioned by Him. Those who are wayward in the fellowship may be few, but they will soon ruin the whole assembly, because a small portion of legalism, if mixed with the Gospel, corrupts its purity and undermines the whole. Though they had been led astray and had embraced many false opinions, yet, on the whole, Paul had confidence in them and believed they would yet return and embrace the truth, as Paul had taught it. 

‘But the one disturbing, troubling and agitating you…’. Paul seems to have a particular individual in mind, perhaps the leader of the false teachers who was causing the most mischief among them. This agitator had unsettled the minds of the Galatian Christians and caused them to halt between two mutually exclusive Covenants, Moses and the Messiah, law and Gospel, and divine approval attained by working to observe the law or by means of the atoning sacrifice of the Messiah. Paul says that this individual ‘will carry the judicial decision, whoever he is’. Whoever endeavoured to lead them astray, whatever their status, God will reward them according to their behaviour. They will carry the consequences of God’s judicial decision. 

‘Now brothers…’. Another abrupt transition by Paul. It may well be that Paul had at one time seemed to preach, or at least permit, circumcision. This may have arisen from the fact that he had circumcised Timothy, (Acts 16 v 3) ‘on account of the Jews in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek’. This would have been so that the Jews did not immediately reject Timothy as he and Paul sought to announce the gospel to them. It was done to avoid the opposition and reproaches of the Jews. But Paul did not want any misunderstanding. He was not teaching that male Gentile Christians had to be circumcised. Paul had never complied with Jewish customs where there was danger that his behaviour would be understood. He did not want people to think that he regarded such customs and laws indispensable, or as furnishing a basis for divine approval. The fact that Jews are still persecuting me, he says, is full demonstration that I am not regarded as teaching the necessity to be circumcised. Circumcision is the special badge of Jewish religion; it implies all the rest, and if I preach the necessity of it, then this would satisfy the Jews and save me from persecution. But if I teach the necessity of circumcision, as alleged, then the cause of stumbling for Jews, the cross, is removed - ‘If you let yourselves be circumcised, the Messiah will be of no value to you at all’, (Galatians 5 v 2). It is because I preach the Messiah crucified, and not Mosaic law as the sole basis of divine approval that they persecute me.

Paul says, ‘I am so far from agreeing with them, so far from preaching the necessity to be circumcised, that I sincerely wish that they were excluded from the assembly, as being unworthy of having a place among the children of God’.

Galatians 5 v 1b – 6 - The Messiah frees Christians from the Sinai Covenant and its written codes of law

 ‘The anointed has set us free, therefore, stand firm, not holding yourselves within the yoke of slavery once more. 2 Look, I Paul am saying to you that if you become circumcised, the anointed will benefit you nothing 3 and I call to witness once more, that every man being circumcised is indebted to continue constructing the whole of the law. 4 Whosoever being judicially approved and right-wise within law, you are idle and inactive away from the anointed one, you have dropped away from the freely extended favour, 5 for we are eagerly awaiting judicial approval and being made right wise with confident expectation from out of Breathful [Pneuma] persuasion. 6 For within Jesus the anointed one, neither circumcision nor foreskin has any power, strength or ability, on the contrary, persuasion to the point of obedience, effectively working by means of practical beneficial love’, (Galatians 5 v 1b - 6).

What is the practical application and result of this allegory of Sarah and Hagar? It is that God’s anointed, Jesus, has set us Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, free. Jewish Christians in particular have been set free from being enslaved to the Sinai Covenant with its written codes of law. Therefore – stand firm within this freedom. Persevere within it. Maintain it. Hold on to it. Don’t turn back to the Sinai Covenant and its written codes of law so as to be enslaved again. 

Then in verse 2 Paul addresses a wider audience. He turns his attention to those male Gentile Christians who were being pressured by these visiting Jews to be circumcised according to Covenant law. Paul says, ‘Look, it’s me, Paul, an Apostle, who is speaking to you’. He sets out his own delegated authority in opposition to these Judaizers. 

First of all he says to these Gentile Christians, ‘If you submit to circumcision then the Messiah will benefit you nothing at all. You are entering into a completely different Covenant or set arrangement that negates or bypasses the Messiah’. 

Second, he reminds them of what he has told them before. ‘Every man being circumcised is indebted to begin and continue constructing the whole of the law’. Failure to observe just one aspect of divine law results in self-forfeiture and loss. When it comes to combating legalism it is important that the law is correctly perceived as an integrated unified whole containing both moral and ceremonial aspects. 

Third, whoever is seeking ongoing and final divine judicial approval within the sphere of Covenant law is ‘idle and inactive away from the anointed one’. These two set arrangements cannot be mixed or blended together. Within the Messiah, an individual is rendered idle and inactive away from the external written codes of Covenant law. If an individual turns to seeking ongoing divine judicial approval by means of obedience to Covenant law, then they are rendered idle and inactive away from the Messiah, [they] have dropped away from the freely extended favour’. These two Covenants are mutually exclusive. They are two different orders of priesthood. 

By contrast, we Christians ‘are eagerly awaiting judicial approval with confident expectation from out of Breathful persuasion’…NOT by seeking to observe all of the written codes of Covenant law. Thus we come back to Paul’s earlier statement, that ‘within Jesus the anointed one, neither circumcision nor foreskin has any power, strength or ability’  - there is no difference, there is neither Jew nor Gentile. Where is the power, strength or ability? It is found in ‘persuasion to the point of obedience, effectively working by means of practical beneficial love’ – persuasion carried across into the primary fruit of the set apart Breath of God – practical beneficial love. 

Galatians 4 v 30, 31, 5 v 1a - The exclusion of Hagar the slave girl and her son Ishmael from the inheritance

 ‘But what is Scripture saying? ‘Be throwing out the slave girl and her son, because the son of the slave girl will absolutely not inherit in company with the son of the free woman’. 31 Therefore on this basis brothers, we are absolutely not children of the slave girl, but on the contrary, of the free woman, the free’, (Galatians 4 v 30, 31, 5 v 1a).

Paul refers to the language of Sarah to Abraham when she requested him to throw out Hagar and Ishmael, (Genesis 21 v 10). Her words received endorsement, ‘And rulers and judges said to Abraham, ‘Don’t let it be displeasing in your sight because of the boy or your concubine. All, whatever Sarah has said to you, listen and pay attention to her voice, because your seed will be called out within Isaac’, (Genesis 21 v 12). Thus, as the Galatians could read for themselves in the Scriptures, delegated rulers and judges said that Hagar and Ishmael were indeed to be sent away from Abraham’s family. The son of the slave girl was not to share the inheritance with Isaac. In the same way, on this account, all Jews who continue to exist under 'Jerusalem' and the legal Covenant of Sinai, enslaved to seeking to obtain judicial approval by observing its written codes of law, are excluded from the ‘family’ of those brought forth as a result of the announced promise. They are excluded from the divine inheritance. Thus Jesus says to Jews, ‘Struggle to go in by means of the narrow door. For I am saying to you, many will seek after entering in and will not be able, 25 away from which the master of the house having roused up and shut the door. And you begin to stand outside, knocking the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us’. Answering, he will say to you, ‘I don’t know you, from what place you are’. 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in front of you, and you taught in our streets’. 27 And he will say, ‘I am telling you, I don’t know where you are from, stand away from me all workers of injustice. 28 There will be the lamentation and the grinding of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets within the Kingdom of God, but you being thrown out. 29 They will come from the east and west, and from north and south, and will recline in the Kingdom of God. 30 And look! Those existing last who will be first, and those existing first who will be last’, (Luke 13 v 24 – 30). 

Paul comes to a conclusion. ‘Therefore on this basis brothers…’. They are his brothers on account of being fellow Jews, but more especially they are his brothers because along with Paul, they ‘are absolutely not children of the slave girl, but on the contrary, of the free woman, the free’. Paul applies the allegory and brings it to its conclusion. Paul said earlier ‘Now if you [are] of the anointed, then you are existing Abraham’s seed, heirs down from announced promise’, (Galatians 3 v 29). And again, So therefore, you are no longer existing a slave, but if a son by means of God, also an heir, allotted a share, (Galatians 4 v 7). His logic then is this, if we are heirs, ‘we are not children of the slave girl’, whose son, according to Scripture, was ‘not to be heir’ (verse 30). But we are of the free woman whose son was, according to Scripture, to be heir. We Hebrew Christians are not ‘thrown out’ like Ishmael, but accepted as sons and heirs in God’s household on the basis of God’s announced promise.

Galatians 4 v 28, 29 - The children and heirs of God’s announced promise

 ‘But you brothers are down from Isaac, are children of announced promise. 29 But just as at that time the one having been procreated down from flesh persecuted the down from Breath, [Pneuma], in this manner also at this present time. 30 But what is Scripture saying? ‘Throw out the slave girl and her son, because the son of the slave girl will absolutely not inherit in company with the son of the free’. 31 Therefore on this account brothers, we are absolutely not children of the slave girl, but on the contrary, of the free’, (Galatians 4 v 28, 29).

‘But you brothers are down from Isaac’. Paul continues the allegory that he introduced in verse 23. He is not talking about physical descent from Abraham and Isaac, but about a line of ‘children of promise’, as he confirms in the next phrase – you ‘are children of announced promise’. Remember, Paul is speaking to and about Jews, and the contrast is between -

Jews existing under the Sinai Covenant and its written codes of law, and

 

Jews existing under the announced promise of God, by means of entrustment

The allegory describes -

Jews under the Sinai Covenant in terms of Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael

Jews under the announced promise in terms of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac

Scripture describes the animosity between Ishmael, born of the flesh, and Isaac who was brought forth as a result of the announced promise, down from the Breath. The particular reference made by Paul is doubtless to Genesis 21 v 9 where Ishmael treated Isaac with ‘outright scornful laughing’, jeering and deriding him. Jewish commentators pretty much also agree that Ishmael took his bow and shot an arrow at Isaac, with an intention to kill him, though he pretended it was but in play. The incident is recorded in the non-canonical Book of Jasher. ‘And Ishmael the son of Abraham was grown up in those days; he was fourteen years old when Sarah bare Isaac to Abraham. 12 And God was with Ishmael the son of Abraham, and he grew up, and he learned to use the bow and became an archer. 13 And when Isaac was five years old he was sitting with Ishmael at the door of the tent. 14 And Ishmael came to Isaac and seated himself opposite to him, and he took the bow and drew it and put the arrow in it, and intended to slay Isaac. 15 And Sarah saw the act which Ishmael desired to do to her son Isaac, and it grieved her exceedingly on account of her son, and she sent for Abraham and said to him, ‘Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for her son shall not be heir with my son, for thus did he seek to do unto him this day’.’, (Book of Jasher 21 v 11 – 15). Other commentators suggest that there was also contention about the inheritance, which Sarah’s words to Abraham seem to confirm. Ishmael claimed the birthright, despising Isaac as the younger son, and insisting on his right to the inheritance. He mocked the promise of God with respect to Isaac and threatened what he intended to do to Isaac should Isaac claim it.  Mocking has been always reckoned as a form of persecution.

Paul applies this animosity to the present situation. Just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so now at this present time, Jews under the Sinai Covenant with its written codes of law pursue and persecute Jews, and indeed Gentiles, who are ‘down from the Breath’.

Galatians 4 v 27 - The cry of the deserted woman and her children

 ‘For it has been written: ‘Be well understanding, the barren, the not bringing forth, break forth and shout, the one not labouring in birth pangs; because many the children of the desolate woman, more than of her possessing the husband’, (Galatians 4 v 27).

The quotation Paul refers to is from Isaiah. ‘‘Cry out, you sterile, not bringing forth; burst forth a ringing cry and cry shrilly you not writhing in birth pains, because many more the sons of the desolated woman than sons from the married woman’, says Yahweh’, (Isaiah 54 v 1). 

‘Jerusalem above’ - the delegated leadership and leadership infrastructure within the heavenly realm - is free and unbound, (verse 26). This statement is placed in contrast to ‘Jerusalem below at this present time’ - the enslaved delegated leadership and infrastructure of Israel. Given this context, the ‘the barren and not bringing forth’ refers to ‘Jerusalem at this present time’. The delegated rulers, authorities and judges of Israel – metaphorically referred to as ‘Jerusalem’ – are barren and not bringing forth, and are enslaved to law and flesh. Thus the delegated rulers, judges and authorities in Israel - ‘Jerusalem’ - are exhorted to be ‘well understanding’ (verse 27), to perceive their position and to ‘cry out with a ringing, shrill cry’, (Isaiah 54 v 1). The phrase ‘well understanding’ is from the Greek word ‘euphrainó’, usually translated into English as ‘Rejoice’, ‘Sing’, or ‘Be glad’, but it is actually an imperative to have a ‘good mind’. It can indeed refer to rejoicing and being glad, but this is not necessarily the case, and such a meaning is not intended here. In Isaiah the Hebrew word is ‘ranan’, meaning is ‘to cry out’, ‘to shout’. This is not a call to rejoice or be glad – just the opposite. Isaiah 54 ultimately leads to a prophecy concerning the Millennium Reign and the restoration of Israel. In verse 1 Israel is in a barren state and the call is to cry out. In verse 2 expansion is exhorted, because in verse 3 and the verse following, their restoration is prophesied. 

In Galatians it is the enslaved delegated leadership and leadership infrastructure of Israel, and given the quote from Isaiah, Israel itself, that is to cry out and shout with a shrill voice. Why? ‘Because many the children of the desolated woman, more than of her possessing the husband’ and ‘because many more the sons of the desolated woman than sons from the married woman’. 

By way of explanation Paul continues to refer to Hagar and Sarah. Hagar, points to the Sinai Covenant and its written codes, she is the ‘desolated woman’. The Greek word is ‘erémos’ meaning ‘deserted, abandoned’. Following the birth of Sarah’s son, Isaac, immediate animosity arose between Ishmael and Isaac, and between Sarah and Hagar, such that Sarah insisted to Abraham that Hagar and Ishmael be removed. Accordingly they were given some provisions and sent away into the desert – they were ‘deserted’. However, earlier, an angel/messenger had delivered a promise to Hagar, as recorded in Genesis 16 v 10, ‘I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count’. Hagar fled toward Egypt, and when in despair at the want of water, an angel/messenger again appeared to her, pointed out a supply of water close by, and renewed the former promises to her, (Genesis 21 v 9 - 21). Ishmael afterwards established himself in the wilderness of Paran, where he married an Egyptian, (Genesis 21 v 20, 21). Paul will refer to some of these events in verse 30. 

In the allegory here in Galatians, Hagar and her descendants point to Israel’s delegated rulers, and Israel’s leadership infrastructure at present, together with Jews themselves, as being enslaved under the Sinai Covenant with its written codes of law, from whom God's honour and praiseworthiness has departed. They are compared to Hebrew Christians who are described as ‘sons of the married woman’ – Sarah, who is free and unbound. 

Why is Israel to be ‘well understanding, and break forth and shout’? Because many are those who are under the Sinai Covenant, whereas few are brought forth by means of the announced promise. Jesus put what is being referred to here in another way - ‘Wide the gate and broad the way leading towards ruin and loss, and many are those going through it. Because small the gate and pressed in the way leading towards Life, and few are those finding it’, (Matthew 7 v 13, 14). There are many more descendants of Abraham who are seeking divine approval by means of Covenant law, leading to their ruin, loss and withering away, than there are descendants of Abraham who are children of God’s announced promise leading towards Life. 

Galatians 4 v 24b – 26 - Jerusalem and Jerusalem above

 ‘For these are two set arrangements, one indeed away from Mount Sinai, penetrating towards bringing forth enslavement – which is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai within Arabia, and she ranks together with Jerusalem at this present time, because she is a slave in company with her children. 26 But Jerusalem above, who is our mother, is free and unbound’, (Galatians 4 v 24b - 26).

The later imposition of chapter and verse numbers onto the original text, whilst very useful for reference purposes, does not always fit well with the logical reasoning of the Apostle. Such is the case here, where I have to divide verses in half in order to bring out the structure of Paul’s logical argument.

These two events, 

Ishmael brought forth down from flesh

by means of Hagar, the slave-woman and thus

born a slave

Isaac brought forth by means of an announced promise

by means of Sarah, wife and free-woman, and thus

born free and unbound

speak allegorically to Jews by pointing to two Covenants or set arrangements. 

Hagar points to the Covenant away from Mount Sinai, with its attendant written codes of law given to Jews, that penetrates towards bringing forth enslavement as we have seen in the previous verses. That is the first part of Paul’s argument here. Hagar points to the set arrangement under which many Jews labour and work to attain divine approval by means of their own ability and strength as they seek to observe the written codes of Sinai Covenant law. But this leads to their enslavement to the impulses of their own fleshly constitution and to being tied to self-forfeiture and loss. 

That is what Paul explains in verse 25. ‘Now Hagar is Mount Sinai within Arabia, and she ranks together with Jerusalem at this present time’.  The first clause has been the subject of much conflicting opinion. The reading of the Greek text is itself much debated, and in the original manuscripts it appears in a great variety of forms. But detailed discussion of this latter point would be out of place here. 

So let’s break down what Paul is saying into manageable pieces. ‘Now Hagar is Mount Sinai’ means that Hagar allegorically points to Mount Sinai. ‘Mount Sinai’ refers to the whole Covenant infrastructure for Jews that was brought forth from there at the time of Moses. So the Levitical priests, injunctions of law and so on were brought forth from Sinai as part of the Sinai Covenant. 

Then Paul introduces a new element of this allegory. Hagar is ‘in alignment together with’ or ‘marches in order together with’ ‘Jerusalem at this present time’. Hagar resembles Jerusalem at the time of the Apostle. In metaphorical terms, ‘Jerusalem’ points to the delegated leadership infrastructure of Jews – of the temple, the high priest, priests, sacrifices, Covenant laws and so on. Why does Hagar allegorically point to Mount Sinai and Jerusalem at the time of the Apostle? ‘Because she is a slave in company with her children’. The delegated leadership of Jews, together with their infrastructure, meant that Jews and their leaders were existing within enslavement. ‘With her Children’ means ‘all who are dependent upon her’ - the Jewish system and all who belong to it. Israel’s delegated leadership and leadership infrastructure is portrayed as a mother bringing forth her children. But the delegated leadership authority of Jews, along with those dependent upon it, were in subjection to and enslaved to many legal observances, and under a sentence of divine condemnation if they committed the least wilful offence. In literal terms they were also in bondage to the Romans to whom they were now tributaries as an occupying force. 

Paul then contrasts ‘Jerusalem at this present time’ with ‘Jerusalem above’. This maintains the interpretation of ‘Jerusalem’ in allegorical terms as the ‘delegated leadership infrastructure’ of God’s chosen people. But the reference here is not to delegated leaders such as the high priest, or the Sanhedrin, or Levitical priests and scribes, but to God and His delegated rulers and authorities in the unseen heavenly realm. ‘Jerusalem above, who is our mother, is free’. Christians, including Hebrew Christians, are those chosen by God and brought forth down from the government and delegated leadership above, in the unseen heavenly realm. It is God, and His anointed deliverer and the set-apart clean Breath that bring forth Christians, as a free gift, free from slavery to the written codes of divine law and condemnation.  

Thus we have – 

Hagar 

Represents the Sinai Covenant and its written codes of law

Stands in line with present day Jerusalem

‘Jerusalem’ is a metaphor for Israel’s leadership and infrastructure

‘Jerusalem’ is enslaved in company with her children

But,

Jerusalem above 

Is the leadership and infrastructure within the heavenly realm

Constitutes the Christian’s ‘mother’

Is free and unbound

Galatians 4 v 23, 24a - Hagar and Sarah, allegories of two Covenants [2]

 ‘But on the one hand, the from out of the slave girl was brought forth down from flesh; but the from out of the free by means of an announced promise, 24 which are speaking allegorically. For these are two set arrangements’, (Galatians 4 v 23, 24a).

Paul makes one last attempt to restore the Hebrew Christians who were turning back to Covenant law, and he addresses their failure to listen to divine law so as to hear or comprehend what it says. He turns their attention to their patriarch, Abraham, and the birth of his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. He contrasts them like this – 

Ishmael was brought forth down from flesh

By means of Hagar, the slave-woman and thus

born a slave

Isaac was brought forth by means of an announced promise

By means of Sarah, his wife and free-woman, and thus

born free

Paul says that these are ‘speaking allegorically’. The Greek word is ‘allégoreó’ - from ‘allos’, meaning ‘other’, and ‘agoreuó’, meaning ‘to speak in the assembly or broad gathering’. The word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament, nor is it found in the Septuagint, though it often occurs in the classic writers. An ‘allegory’ is a sustained metaphor in which known events and experiences are used as ‘stepping stones’ to point to unseen realities. Paul says that Abraham’s situation says something to Jews in general, something other than what the words themselves imply. Within the Jewish assembly or community, they speak beyond the literal sense, in a way that reveals a hidden or parallel truth, often pointing to unseen heavenly realities. Sarah and Hagar were allegorised by Philo the Jew, before Paul did so. 

The allegory points to ‘two set arrangements’, (verse 24a). The Greek word is ‘diathéké’, usually translated into English as ‘covenant’ - a set-arrangement or disposition that has complete terms determined by the initiating party. The Apostle goes on to explain what these covenants are. They point to the difference between those who rested in the Messiah only, and those who trusted in obeying the law, and this is pointed to by the histories of these two women and their sons, as Paul goes on to explain.

Galatians 4 v 21 – 24a - Hagar and Sarah, allegories of two Covenants [1]

 ‘Tell me, those wishing to exist under law, are you not listening to and comprehending law? 22 Because it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from out of the slave girl, and one from out of the free, unbound woman. 23 But on the one hand, the from out of the slave girl was procreated down from flesh; but the from out of the free by means of an announced promise, 24 which are speaking allegorically, because these are two set arrangements’, (Galatians 4 v 21 – 24a).

After gathering his thoughts together, Paul has one last attempt to restore the Hebrew Christians who were turning back to Covenant law. He addresses them directly and begins to point out their inconsistency. You who are ‘wishing to exist under law, are you not listening to and comprehending law?’. He implies that they are turning to Covenant law but are not listening to it so as to hear or comprehend what it says. 

He turns their attention once again to their patriarch, Abraham, from whom Jews were keen to show their physical descent. Abraham was married to Sarah who was ‘barren’, or unable to bear children. Nevertheless, God announced a promise to Abraham that he would have a son. However, the promise of a son was not immediately fulfilled, and the years went by. So after a time, Abraham and Sarah concluded that since Sarah was barren, God must mean that Abraham would have a son by means of him entering into union with their slave-girl, making Hagar Abraham’s concubine. So Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham so that he would not be completely without descendants, and in this way fulfil God’s promise, (Genesis 16 v 3). The son of Abraham and Hagar was named Ishmael. But God told Abraham that Ishmael was not the announced promised son. In due course, contrary to expectation, Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to Isaac, who was the son of the announced promise. Thus Paul tells us, it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from out of the slave girl and one from out of the free, unbound woman’ (verse 22). The word ‘freewoman’ is never applied to Sarah in the story in Genesis, not even in the Genesis passage that is freely quoted later in verse 30, but it is an obviously true description, and it is introduced in complete fairness as an antithesis to Hagar. 

Abraham’s two sons are contrasted in this way –

   

Ishmael was procreated down from flesh

born a slave

Isaac by means of an announced promise

born free

Now why did Paul decide to look at the events surrounding Abraham and the birth of his two sons? It is because these two situations are ‘speaking allegorically, because these are two set arrangements’. Paul will go on to explain what he means. 

Galatians 4 v 12 – 20 - The Apostle Paul’s exasperation with Christians under the influence of legalists

 ‘I am imploring you brothers, become even like me, [ego], because I also am like you. You have wronged me in nothing. 13 But you know that by means of weakness of the flesh I previously announced and proclaimed the good news to you, 14 and within your putting my flesh to proof, not despising or treating with contempt, nor spitting out in disgust. But you received me like a messenger from God, like Jesus the anointed. 15 Therefore, where is your benefit? For I am bearing you witness, that if possible, your eyes having been gouged out, you would haven them to me. 16 So have I become your hateful enemy, speaking the truth to you? 17 They are not burning with passion after you in the right way, but are separating and excluding you. They wish that you might be passionate and zealous after them. 18 But it is good to be zealous within good and virtue at all times, and not only within my being present with you. 19 My children, whom I am once more labouring in birth pangs as far as that the anointed is formed and fashioned within you, 20 I am indeed wishing to be present with you at this moment and to be changing my tone, because I am without a way within you’, (Galatians 4 v 12 – 20).

Paul implores the Hebrew Christians to be like him because like them he is a Jew, and a Hebrew Christian, himself. Despite the strength of his letters, Paul was not an eloquent, gifted orator. He was described as ‘unimpressive in person’ and he declared the gospel in the weakness of his flesh, yet the Jews in Galatia received him with warmth and loyalty. But where is their benefit? Paul asks if he has become their hated enemy because he is speaking the truth to them. 

Paul then turns his attention to the Jews who had come into Galatia away from James – the ‘Judaizers’ who were leading Peter and Barnabas astray and insisting that male Gentile Christians be circumcised as required by Covenant law. These Jews were passionate, burning with zeal, focused and intense. But not in the right way, says Paul. By turning Hebrew Christians back to Covenant law, they were being divisive, separating and excluding Hebrew Christians away from Gentile Christians. He accuses these Jews as being self-interested and wanting their fellow countrymen to be passionate and zealous after them. Paul acknowledges that to be zealous at all times is praiseworthy, as long as such passion is within the boundaries of what is good and virtuous. He does not expect the Hebrew Christians to put on a zealous, passionate attitude for show only at the times when he was present with them.

If you are a Christian who has been or is exasperated in relating to Christian legalists, then you are not alone. Paul is exasperated with these Hebrew Christians who are being drawn back under Covenant law. He longs to be present with them, and he finds himself ‘once more labouring in birth pangs as far as that the anointed is formed and fashioned within you’. He is right back to basics with them, seeking to be present with them to assist in bringing them forth so that the Messiah is formed and fashioned within them, then he can change his tone and manner with them. Finally he says ‘I am without a way within you’. He does not know what to do or say next. 

Galatians 4 v 9 – 11 - Legalism - Christians turning to Covenant law is a backward step

 ‘But at this present time, having known God, or rather, having been known under God, how are you turning back once more on the basis of weak and destitute basic principles which you are desiring to be enslaved to afresh once more? 10 You are scrupulously observing days, months, seasons and years. 11 I am fearful for you in case I have perhaps laboured towards you penetrating into no purpose’, (Galatians 4 v 9 – 11).

Paul applies what he has just been saying to those Hebrew Christians who were turning back to the written codes of Covenant law. He says, ‘At this present time, you know God – or to put it in a better way, you have been known under God – so why are you turning back? Why are you going backwards, turning back once more on the basis of weak, destitute, rudimentary principles? (Galatians 3 v 23, 24; 4 v 1 – 3). Why do you desire to be enslaved to the Sinai Covenant, it’s written codes of law, and human nature once again?’ 

What is it that these Hebrew Christians were doing? They were ‘scrupulously observing days, months, seasons and years’. They were being very careful in observing Jewish Sabbaths and other fasting-days or festivals right down to observing specific single days. Jews had also added many other days, such as commemorating the destruction and rebuilding of the temple, and other important events in their history. Then there was the observance of the first day of the month, the new moon, and they were also paying close attention to seasons, such as the Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. They were observing years, such as the sabbatical year, which was about the time of the writing this Epistle, and the year of jubilee. 

Paul sums this situation up by saying ‘I am fearful for you in case I have perhaps laboured towards you penetrating into no purpose’. These Hebrew Christians had gone so far backwards down this route of observing the law that they had reached a point where Paul wondered whether they were Christians after all. He begins to speculate whether his endeavours have been without purpose, without a viable result.

Galatians 4 v 4 – 8 - Christians – adopted sons and heirs

 ‘But when the completion of the season had come, God sent away His son, having  come into being from out of a woman, having come into being under law, 5 in order that he buy back those under law, in order that we receive placing as a son. 6 And because you are sons, God sends forth the Breath of His Son penetrating into our hearts, our deep inner core, crying aloud and shrieking ‘Abba, Father!’. 7 So therefore, you are no longer existing a slave, but if a son by means of God, also an heir, allotted a share. 8 But indeed, at that time, absolutely not knowing God, you were the enslaved by nature, lest being gods’, (Galatians 4 v 4 - 8). 

Paul has just said that Jews existed like under-age heirs, enslaved under the orderly system of rudimentary elements and first principles of the Sinai Covenant with its written codes of law, until the time appointed by the Father. That season of under-age enslavement of Jews was completed when ‘God sent away His son’. The only-begotten Son pre-existed his ‘coming into being from out of a woman’. Indeed, the Son of God is ‘the image of the invisible God, firstborn of the whole in terms of the individual parts of what is originally formed’, (Colossians 1 v 15). ‘By means of him all came into being, and apart from him, not even one was caused to be that has come into being’, (John 1 v 3). Thus ‘God sent away His son’ from out of the heavenly realm to ‘come into being from out of a woman, having come into being under law’. God’s purpose was ‘that [His son] buy back those under law, in order that we receive placing as a son'. The details of this forms the details of the gospel or ‘good news’ of course. But Paul is not interested here in explaining the gospel in detail. He is interested to present the concept of ‘sonship’, because ‘if children, also heirs, indeed, God’s heirs, and fellow-heirs with the Messiah’, (Romans 8 v 17). 

But there is more, ‘because you are sons, God sends forth the Breath of His Son penetrating into our hearts, our deep inner core’. Over the course of his writings, Paul places two pairs of principles that are in opposition to one another - 

     Covenant Law vs God’s Promise (Galatians)

    Fleshly impulses towards death vs Breath penetrating into Life (Romans 7, 8)

The Breath of the Messiah penetrating within the Christian’s heart, including the heart or deep inner core of Hebrew Christians, is ‘crying aloud and shrieking ‘Abba, Father!’. 

Paul then reaches his conclusion in verses 7 and 8. ‘So therefore, you are no longer existing a slave, but if a son by means of God, also an heir, allotted a share. 8 But indeed, at that time, absolutely not knowing God, you were the enslaved by nature, lest being gods’ 

Paul’s conclusion is that Jews who are entrusting the Messiah are adopted sons and fellow heirs with the Messiah as a result of God fulfilling His promises through giving His only-begotten son and His Breath. Hebrew Christians are no longer enslaved to Covenant law, and no longer ‘the enslaved by nature’, by the impulses of their flesh. Why? Because of the opposing impetus and movement of the Breath of God within them in their deepest inner core. But previously, before entrusting the Messiah, Jews were enslaved, by their own human nature. Paul then adds sarcastically, ‘lest being gods’ – unless you Jews were gods with superhuman ability and strength. 

Galatians 4 v 1 – 3 - Divine law – A rudimentary system for infants

 ‘Now on this basis I am saying however long the time that the heir, existing owner of all, is an infant, he is carried across nothing different than a slave, 2 existing rather under tutors and house managers up until the time appointed beforehand by the father. 3 In this manner we also, were enslaved at the time we existed infants, under the row of rudiments of the ordered system’, (Galatians 4 v 1 - 3).   

Paul has just said that Hebrew Christians, like Gentile Christians, exist as Abraham’s seed (plural), heirs down from God’s announced promise. Having introduced the concept of heirs of the divine inheritance, he now begins to expand on this theme. 

He presents the illustration of a single heir who is still not yet of sufficient age to take full control of what he possesses. Such a young infant heir may own everything, but he is carried across just like a slave. Because he is still a child, he does not make decisions about buying and selling his possessions or about investments. Such decisions are made on his behalf and he has no say in the matter. He is under the authority of trustees – of house managers and governors. He does as he is told until he reaches the age, determined by his father, that he is able to take full control and possession of his inheritance. 

Paul then applies this to Jews, ‘In this manner we also’. Although they were God’s chosen ethnic group, Jews nevertheless existed as infants before the Messiah came. They were like children enslaved to the rudimentary, first principles of the ordered system.  The ‘ordered system’ is that of the Sinai Covenant with its written codes of law, as he says later, ‘scrupulously observing days, months, seasons and years’. 

Many translations read, ‘enslaved under the basic principles of the world’, but the word ‘world’ is not present in the Greek. The word ‘stoicheion’ means ‘rudimentary elements’, ‘orderly arrangement’, or ‘first principles’, and though often associated with the world so as to mean ‘the orderly arrangement of the world’ it does not necessarily refer to ‘the world’. Paul is talking here to Jews. The context of these verses is that Paul is talking to Jewish Christians about the law. So I suggest that the Sinai Covenant and its written codes of laws is the orderly system of rudimentary elements and first principles that Jews were enslaved under, existing like under-age heirs until the time appointed by the Father – the coming of the promised Messiah. This interpretation seems to be confirmed by what Paul says next.