8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. 12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. 13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. 14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I, therefore, become your enemy because I tell you the truth? 17 They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. 18 But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, 20 I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you (NKJV).
Our Theme: Fears for the Church
We ended our last lesson with verse 7 of Galatians 4. Our theme was sons and heirs through Christ. Paul makes it clear that we are “no longer a slave but a son, and as a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” In the verses we are looking at today, we discover that Paul has concerns for these believers, even fearing for them because of their weakness to be deceived. Unfortunately, many are in the same condition today, fooled by every wind of doctrine of men. Jude says that we are to “contend” for the faith once delivered to the saints. We are to study scripture so we might know what the apostles knew and build our lives and understanding upon the faith once and for all delivered to the saints (see Jude 3).
We begin today with verse 8 – But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. These are Gentile converts, but also Jews that were part of the churches in the region. Acts 16:6 mentions that Paul and his company had “gone through Phry’gi-a and the region of Galatia, but were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.” In Acts 11 and going forward, when the apostles came to a city, they always went to the Synagogues first to preach the word of Christ to the Jews. Remember that the first forty years of church history or in that generation it was the Jewish mission. The Gentiles also began to be added to the church. I mention this because we need to be aware that Jews who had received the word of Christ were also in the Region of Galatia and part of the churches.
The churches were made up of disciples following Jesus. You have the Gentiles who were being saved out of many false religions. But you also have Jews being saved and brought into Christ and His Messianic rule. Both Jew and Gentile received the Holy Spirit and then, by the Holy Spirit, were made “one new man” in Christ. The Gentiles brought some of their former religious baggage, which needed to be addressed. The Jews also brought their former practices, which were no longer valid in Christ and His administration as “head over all things to the church.”
This brings us to verse 9 and Paul’s question to these believers. “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? All religion has many forms of bondage. The Word of Christ stands alone from the religions of the world because it fundamentally speaks of Christ and Christ alone. This includes the promises of His coming throughout the Old Testament, in His life lived on earth, in His death, burial, and in His one and only resurrection, regeneration, enthronement, and eternal rule. All of which is believed through the operation of faith. All of which is sealed in God’s Gift of the Holy Spirit promised and given to each believer who has trusted in Christ’s salvation and submitted to His enthronement as King of all.
This brings us to verse 10, where Paul says, “You observe days and months and seasons and years.” Paul is speaking to both the Jews who were converted and to the Gentiles, of whom both had received God’s gift by faith. What is so amazing is that the Jews could never keep the law and the Gentiles never had the law, but both had come to faith through the message of the good news of the gospel of Christ and His kingdom. Both had received the promise of the Father in receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit through faith. The weak and beggarly elements are rooted in the religions of the world, including the Jewish religion. It is the worship of the creation rather than the creator that Paul deals with in the book of Romans. Paul calls this bondage!
Listen to Paul as he expresses his deep concern for these disciples in Galatia. Verse 11 “I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” Paul is dead serious about this matter. He was truly afraid for them because he knew the power of this religious spirit that was seeking to bind the work of God in these saints. The religious works of religious spirits are one of the most powerful manifestations of Satan’s kingdom. All false religion is filled with “self-effort.” It is filled with focusing on the natural creation or, as Paul says, “The beggarly elements.”
The new creation of the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 5:17, has its aim in focusing on the Father and the Son through the indwelling life of the Holy Spirit in the believer. “Behold, all things have become new.”
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
Imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
O beloved, to grasp what God has done for His creation man. In Christ, all of the old has passed away. In Christ, all is new. All things are of God. God the Father is all in all. Listen to Paul in Colossians 3:1-4
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appear, then you will also appear with Him in glory.”
Where is there any room for the elements of the world in this resurrection life in Christ? The question goes to the reason for Paul’s fear for the Galatian believers. It is so seducing to go back and trust in the flesh through fleshly and natural things like making the observation of days and months and seasons and years the focal point, rather than the relationship we have been given through Christ with the Father. A fellowship we can enjoy with heaven, even in the now, as we relate with the Godhead through the Spirit.
Paul urges the believers to know his experience in the gospel. “Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. Paul hopes that these believers would be ashamed of their “defection” from the truth of the gospel that Paul had preached to them. He is reminding them of the great affection they formally had for him. They had embraced Paul, his ministry, and even his physical issues. He is hoping that they will realize how their present behavior is wrong and very contrary to their past acceptance. Paul had given himself fully to these believers in the region of Galatia. He lived among them and they saw the life he was preaching lived out in the power of the Spirit.
13 You know that because of physical infirmity, I preached the gospel to you at the first. 14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.
Paul describes his condition as he came to them, preaching the good news of the kingdom. He came with physical infirmity. I am guessing a physical infirmity as a result of his imprisonment, beatings, stoning, and other manners of abuse resulting in his weakness in the flesh. By what he states, it had a relationship to his eyes. Paul was not rejected by these Galatians. But they received him as if he were an angel of God. They received him as if he were Christ Jesus in the flesh with them.
Paul is asking them to remember those days and reflect on the “blessings they enjoyed.” To remember their attitude toward him as he was with them. Paul says that they so embraced him with joy that they would have, if possible, plucked out their own eyes and given them to him. What changed? It was not just about doctrine, but relationship established in the deepest kind of love and sacrifice. Paul raises a very valid question in verse 16,
Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
Manipulation, deception, wrong motivations, and just plain error are behind many so-called ministers. They are not the ministers of Christ but serve to benefit themselves from ego to financial gain. Listen to how Paul phrases it in verse 17:
They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.
Those who lead people to “Exclusivity” have wrong motivations behind what drives them to bring people to their own agendas and usually their control. Paul demonstrated to these Galatians a different attitude at the beginning of his relationship with them.
Paul states that it is good to be “zealous” in a good thing, as stated in verse 18. (But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you). In other words, they were zealous for Paul and what he gave to them in Christ. Now that he is not with them, they need to remain zealous for what they had received from this apostle of Christ.
Finally, in verse 19-20, we hear the heart of a true father: My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you (NKJV).