2 Corinthians 4

CHAPTER 4

 

Heirs Through Faith (4:1-7)

1-2 In Paul’s time, an heir who was not of age had no more authority than a household slave. He remained completely under the authority of guardians and trustees.

3 Before Christ came, we also were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. That is, we were slaves to worldly beliefs and practices; we were slaves, in fact, of Satan and his evil spirits (Galatians 3:23; Colossians 2:20). We were like heirs who had not come of age. We were under the authority of a “guardian,” that is, the law. But at the same time, we were slaves under the basic principles of the world.

These basic principles that Paul mentions here are all man’s rituals, traditions, and customs. Included here would be idol worship, and all the religious laws and regulations established by men. Included also would be all of man’s works of law, all his attempts to become holy by his own effort. Also included would be evil spirits, under whose servitude man does all these works (see Galatians 4:8-9; Ephesians 2:1-2).

4 But when the time had fully come—that is, when we heirs had come of age—God sent his Son, Christ (see Romans 5:6). Christ was born of a woman, just as we were (see Matthew 1:18; Philippians 2:6-8). He experienced all man’s temptations and weaknesses (Hebrews 2:15,18; 4:15). He was born under law. God, the lawgiver, came to earth as a man, and put Himself under His own law. In this way He was able to completely fulfill the law. Not only that, He also paid the price for our sins according to the law. That price was His own life—because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

5 Why did God send His Son? He sent Him to redeem those under law—that is, those under the basic principles of the world, both Jews and Gentiles. We were once like slaves, and our master was Satan, the prince of this world (John 12:31). Therefore, because we were Satan’s “property,” Christ had to pay a price to redeem us from Satan (Galatians 3:13).

But when Christ “purchases” us, we are no longer slaves as before. We become Christ’s brothers and sisters, that is, adopted children and full heirs of God (Ephesians 1:5; 1 John 3:1).

What does it mean to be an adopted child of God? An adopted son is one who has been made the heir of someone who is not his natural father. Even though he is the natural son of another man, the adopted son receives the full inheritance of his new father.

Similarly, in a spiritual sense, believers in Christ are also adopted children. First, according to the flesh we were children of darkness, that is, children of Satan (Ephesians 2:3; 5:8). But now we are children of God, not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. We have received the full rights of sons—that is, we have been adopted as sons (see John 1:12-13).

Here let us remember one thing. If we choose not to leave the basic principles of the world—that is, Satan’s kingdom—Christ will not purchase us. He will only redeem those who turn to Him in faith. He never forces people to enter His kingdom against their will.

6 Having become adopted children, what is our inheritance? Our inheritance is eternal life in heaven. Do we also get any inheritance in this life? Yes, we receive the Holy Spirit now as an advance on our full inheritance. And the Holy Spirit is not only an advance on our heavenly inheritance; He is also like a sign, a seal, placed on us, which gives proof that we are God’s adopted children, now and forever (see 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13-14).

As soon as Christ redeems us, God sends the Spirit of his Son (the Holy Spirit) into our hearts. To obtain salvation, to become adopted children of God, to receive the Holy Spirit—these always go together. They are all aspects of the same salvation. Through the Holy Spirit we know with complete certainty that we are God’s children. We personally experience the heavenly Father’s presence in our lives. We can call out to Him: “Abba,²⁰ Father.” Because of the witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we have no doubt that we are fully children of God (see Romans 8:14-16).

7 As soon as the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Christ) enters our hearts, we are set free. We are no longer slaves, but sons. And if we are sons, we are also heirs (Romans 8:17). Think of the greatness of God’s possessions. And we are the inheritors of them!

Let us reflect for a moment on what it means to be an adopted son or daughter of God Himself. It is the highest of all the blessings God gives to us. Some people believe that all men are children of God, but this is not true. Yes, God is the Creator of all men, but He is not the Father of all men. Only those who believe in Christ can legitimately call God their Father (see John 1:12-13; Galatians 3:16).

In no other religion is God called Father. The followers of other religions cannot fully know God, because they do not know Him as Father. Yes, they know that God is living, holy, all-powerful, all-knowing. But God is more than all this. God is also our loving and merciful heavenly Father. And we who believe in Christ are His children.

Paul’s Concern for the Galatians (4:8-20)

8-9 The Galatians were formerly slaves of Satan and his evil spirits. They worshiped idols, who were no gods (1 Corinthians 8:4), and who could neither hear them nor help them in any way. They were slaves of the basic principles of the world (verse 3).

But now they know the true living God. He is their Father. He has made them His own children, and the inheritors of all His spiritual possessions. He has given them freedom. He has given them eternal life. How then can the Galatians turn back and allow themselves to be enslaved again by those weak and miserable principles (verse 9), which have no power to save them? (see Colossians 2:8). The weak and miserable principles Paul mentions here are the same as the basic principles of the world he mentioned in verse 3. In particular, Paul is thinking here of the ceremonial regulations of the Jewish law.

Here an important question arises: What is the reason that men seek to please God? The followers of other religions seek to please God in order to obtain blessings for themselves. But we who believe in

Christ seek to please God because of the blessings He has already given us. We desire to show our gratitude. Because we are His children we want to act like His children. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: … you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (Ephesians 5:8). From this we can see the difference between the Christian religion and all other religions. Other religions say: Obey, so that you might be saved. The Christian religion says: Obey, because you have been saved. On the one hand men obey God in order to receive some benefit. On the other hand Christians, having already received the benefit, obey God in order to show their gratitude.

But the followers of other religions are misled, because it is not possible for man to be saved by obeying religious rules and regulations. To seek salvation by following a religion is of no avail. Salvation is obtained only by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). The Galatians had already begun to forget that.

Let us, therefore, ask ourselves: Why do we try to please God? Why do we try to do His will? Is it in order to obtain salvation? In order to obtain some blessing? If so, then we are acting like the foolish Galatians (Galatians 3:1). Rather, we should be obeying God because of the grace He has showered upon us. The Apostle John has written: We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). If God’s love and grace had not first been poured out upon us, we would never have been able to please Him.

Outwardly the behavior of Christians and the behavior of followers of other religions may appear to be similar. They both are trying to please God. But the difference lies in their reason or motive for pleasing God. The followers of other religions try to please God for their own sake. The followers of Christ try to please God for God’s sake.

10-11 In these verses Paul expresses his despair over the Galatians. They have begun again to follow the Jewish customs and rituals. They are observing all the Jewish special days and ceremonies (see Colombians 2:20). Paul fears that his work among them has been in vain.

12 … become like me (see 1 Corinthians 11:1). “Become like me,” says Paul. “I am free of the law, free of the basic principles of the world (verse 3). You can be free too. Don’t seek to become like the Jews.”

Then Paul adds: … for I became like you. That is, Paul is saying, “I, a Jew, have become like you Gentiles. I no longer rely on the works of the law; I have accepted Christ through faith alone, just as you Gentile Galatians have done.”

The Galatians had done Paul no wrong. Rather, they had loved him. Paul now asks them not to oppose him, but to love him as they did at first.

13 When Paul first went to Galatia, he developed an illness. Perhaps because of this illness he was not able to travel on, but was obliged to remain in Galatia to recover. Thus, the Galatians gained the opportunity to hear Paul’s Gospel.

What Paul’s illness was is not known with certainty. Some think it was the result of being stoned in the Galatian city of Lystra (Acts 14:19-21). Others think it was the thorn in Paul’s flesh that Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 12:7.

14 In spite of his illness and weakness, the Galatians could see the power of Christ in Paul’s life and speech (1 Corinthians 2:3-4; 2 Corinthians 4:7). God had told Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). The Galatians had regarded Paul as if he were an angel, as if he were Christ Himself (see Acts 14:815). Why, then, do they now turn away from him?

15-16 What has happened to all your joy? asks Paul. In other words, what had become of the Galatians’ joy in their new freedom, in their salvation? They had once been joyful and free. Now Satan was taking away their joy and freedom. Satan cannot take away a Christian’s salvation (John 10:18), but he surely can take away a Christian’s joy and his sense of freedom.

When Paul speaks of joy here, he is really talking about spiritual joy, a joy that does not depend on worldly circumstances. Joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). We experience joy because we are no longer in bondage to the law, to the world. But now these Galatians had begun to turn back to the “basic principles” of the world, to the Jewish rules and regulations; and, as a result, they had lost their joy.

When we observe followers of other religions carrying out their various rituals, do we see joy and satisfaction on their faces? No, more often we see fear. They fear lest they fail to observe some rule or ritual, and thereby incur the anger of their gods.

But those who are in Christ have no such fear. God is their loving Father. For them rules and rituals are no longer necessary. There is freedom and joy in God’s family. Paul does not want to see the Galatians lose this freedom and joy.

Those of other religions often suppose that the Christian religion is very easy to follow: There are no rules! And in one way they are right (see Matthew 11:2829). But it is not because there are no rules that it is easy to follow Christ. Rather, it is easy to follow Christ because He gives to us through the Holy Spirit the power to follow Him, as well as the joy of doing so.

In the beginning the Galatians had been so joyful and grateful for hearing Paul’s Gospel that they would have done anything for him. They would even have torn out their own eyes²¹ and given them to him, had it been possible. Paul hopes that they will not now become his enemies simply because he has told them the truth about their errors.

How easy it is for those who were once our friends to become our enemies! And how quick we are to count as enemies those who tell us the truth about our faults!

Nevertheless, we must always be prepared to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), even if in so doing we sometimes make an enemy. But let us be sure it is the truth that we speak! And let us be sure that we speak it in love, face to face, and not behind a person’s back. If we follow these precautions we shall avoid speaking many unwise and harmful words.

17 Paul says: Those people (the false Jewish teachers) are zealous to win you over. These teachers were zealous to persuade the Galatians to follow them. They wanted to be big and important and to have many disciples. They wanted the Galatians to serve them instead of serving Paul. Therefore, they tried to alienate the Galatians from us; that is, they tried to separate the Galatians from Paul, so that the Galatians would be zealous for them.

18 In the beginning the Galatians had been zealous for Paul. They had zealously sought to hear his Gospel. But now Paul was no longer with them, so they were beginning to be zealous for these false teachers, whose purpose was no good (verse 17). Let this not be, urges Paul. Even though he is now absent from them, let them not abandon the true teaching he has given them.

19-20 Paul, like a mother, has given birth to the churches in Galatia. But now again he is in the pains of childbirth. The reason is because the Galatians have turned from the Gospel. They will have to be “born” all over again.

Paul’s main goal and desire is that Christ be formed in the Galatians (verse 19). This is the goal of every true pastor and preacher. Just as a mother’s birth pains do not cease until the child is formed (delivered), so Paul’s pain will not cease until Christ is formed in the Galatians.

… until Christ is formed in you. To have Christ formed in us means to have Christ live in us through His Spirit (Romans 8:10-11). It also means to be conformed to the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18). And finally, it means to become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

The Example of Hagar and Sarah (4:21-31)

21 If the foolish Galatians really want to live under the Jewish law again, then they had better learn what the law says! Here, by the word law Paul means the first five books of the Old Testament.²²

22-23 Here Paul mentions two women, one slave, one free. The slave woman is Hagar, who was the slave of Abraham’s wife Sarah. Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, was born from Hagar (Genesis 16:1-4,15).

The free woman is Sarah. Sarah had been barren all her life. She had reached ninety years of age. It was physically impossible for her to have a child (Genesis 16:1; 17:17). Yet God had promised that she would conceive and bear a son for Abraham (Genesis 17:15-16). Sarah’s son was born by the power of the Spirit (verse 29), that is, by God’s power. His name was Isaac (Genesis 21:1-3).

24-25 Hagar represents the law, that is, the old covenant (or Old Testament). Sarah represents grace, that is, the new covenant (or New Testament).

Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai (verse 25); that is, she represents Mount Sinai. It was on top of Mount Sinai that God gave the Jewish law to Moses (Exodus 31:18). Hagar, therefore, represents all those who are under the law, namely, the Jews. She also represents Jerusalem, because Jerusalem is the holy city of the Jews. (Recall that it was from Jerusalem that the false Jewish teachers had come to Galatia in the first place; it was because of them that Paul has written this letter.)

Because Hagar was a slave, her children are slaves also. They are slaves to the law. The Jews prided themselves that they were the true sons of Abraham according to the flesh, that is, by natural descent. But here Paul says that they are not sons, but slaves. They are like the sons of the slave woman.

26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free. The Jerusalem that is above is the heavenly Jerusalem—that is, the kingdom of God (see Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 21:2). It is the city where Christ lives, and where there is freedom from the law.

Sarah corresponds to the Jerusalem that is above. She is the “mother” of all believers in Christ. She is the mother of all true heirs of Abraham born as the result of a promise (verse 23)—that is, born as a result of the promise God gave to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child.

27 Here Paul quotes from Isaiah 54:1. The barren woman is Sarah. Let her break forth and cry aloud with joy. Because she will have more descendants than Hagar who has a husband.²³

28 God’s promise—that is, His word—is powerful. It is a living word. It gives life. Through God’s word Sarah gave birth to a child, Isaac, even though she was ninety years old! In the same way, through God’s word of grace, the Galatians have been born by the power of the Spirit (verse 29). They too are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, the true off spring of Abraham, not by natural descent but by the grace of God. Why should the Galatians now turn back and seek to live like children of Hagar the slave woman?

29 According to Genesis 21:9, Hagar’s son Ishmael, who was born in the ordinary way according to the flesh, persecuted Sarah’s son Isaac, who was born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now, Paul says. In Paul’s time, believers in Christ, born according to the Spirit, were being persecuted by the Romans and Jews, who had been born according to the flesh. The heirs of the flesh always persecute the heirs of the Spirit.

30 According to Genesis 21:10, which Paul quotes here, Sarah said to Abraham, “Get rid of the slave woman (Hagar) and her son (Ishmael).” And Abraham did as Sarah said (Genesis 21:12-14). In the same way, the Galatians should get rid of the false Jewish teachers, who were sons of the flesh.

31 We who believe in Christ are children of the free woman, Sarah. We are children of promise (verse 28). We are God’s children by grace, that is, by the gift of God. We have been made His children by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14), which we have received through faith in Christ (Galatians 3:26).

Therefore, let us not throw away so great a gift. Let us not throw away the grace of God by putting our faith in the works of any law or any religion. Let our faith be in Christ, and in Christ alone.

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