diff --git a/content/bible_journal/galatians_4:1-11.md b/content/bible_journal/galatians_4:1-11.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c545b7f --- /dev/null +++ b/content/bible_journal/galatians_4:1-11.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ ++++ +title = "Galatians 4:1–11" +date = "2023-08-12" ++++ + +### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Galatians4.1-11) + +The word picture painting the law of Moses as a guardian is now expanded. While +an heir is a minor, he has about as many rights as a slave even though he will +be the one in charge eventually. He is told where to go and what to do for most +of his day. Paul says the pagan superstition the Galatians lived under before +Christ had enslaved them, making them act in the ways it dictated. But then +Christ came, allowing them to be set free from their enslavement and to be +adopted, becoming heirs in God's family. "Abba" means "father" in Aramaic, but +the connotation is more like "daddy". It can easily be a child's first word, at +a time when he is completely dependent on his parents. Paul says the Spirit of +the Son is saying this in our hearts toward God. + +Note the conditions for an heir to be considered a full member of the household +in verse 2: "the date set by his father". In the modern day, children become +adults automatically on their eighteenth birthday (more or less, depending on +your local laws, I suppose). In the ancient Greco-Roman world, that doesn't +appear to be the case. Instead, a son was dependent on his father to recognize +his adulthood. In the same way, we are not justified by living under any +teaching for a certain amount of time. It's wholly on the decision of the Lord. + +Paul's next point is extraordinary. He equates the pagan superstitions of their +former lives with the legalistic devotion the Judaizers are trying to put on +them. Observing holy days, ritual cleanliness, etc. all have the same power to +produce righteousness as the things they were doing before. None. Why then +would they try to go back to a system that enslaves them and puts them under a +heavy burden of obligation, especially when it doesn't actually benefit them at +all? + +* * * + +You are the source of all righteousness, and we are powerless without You.