A Study On Galatians – Chapter 4

Mystery of the Bondwoman and Freewoman

Welcome and thank you for joining in our study on the book of Galatians. In this post and podcast we will study chapter 4. In the first three chapters, we saw Paul, and those who were with him while writing the letter to the churches of Galatia, needing to set a serious tone for his letter. He begins the letter laying the foundation by giving his redemptive testimony in Chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 3 focuses on his plea for followers of Jesus Christ to refrain from the law of works as the path to salvation and he explains the distinction between the Law of Moses and the Promise to Abraham. 

You can read and/or listen to the previous studies here if you are joining in the study for the first time: 

A Study On Galatians – Intro 5/27/2024

• Study On Galatians – Chapter 1 6/06/2024
• Study On Galatians – Chapter 2 6/22/2024
• Study On Galatians – Chapter 3 6/29/2024

I want to start this study by going back to Galatians 3:26-29 and then move on to Chapter 4.

Galatians 3:26For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Paul had just finished explaining what purpose the law served versus being justified by faith. He explained that the law was put in place because of transgressions “till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made;”(Gal. 3:19)  When the Seed came (Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach) transgressions didn’t just automatically end, but rather because the law was not able to bring salvation to mankind and fulfill God’s promise to Abraham, mankind was now able to go directly to the One Messiah and be set free from their transgressions through repentance and walking out their faith. This was the Gift Yahweh gave to all who would believe in Jesus and make Him their savior. This is the grace of Yahweh and through Jesus and the Holy Spirit of Truth, He distributes His grace to us today to help us with life, salvation, preparation for ministry, and ministry. Hallelujah!

In verse 26, Paul tells us we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus and that those who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  What does putting on Christ look like? It is being born again by the Spirit of God and having put off the old man (old selfish ways of living) and now living in Christ Jesus and Him in you. It is being clothed in priestly garments with the full armor of God. It is the process of being holy because He is holy-no longer us conforming to things of the world but being transformed with a renewed spirit and mind.  If you are not familiar with the elementary doctrine of the baptisms, click here to learn about them. 

Paul continues in verse 28 stating something that is difficult to understand if you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. He has drawn a line in the sand, if you will, and the message he is emanating is that in Christ Jesus there are three major social distinctions that no longer matter:

 1) Ethnicity – neither Jew nor Greek;

 2) Socioeconomic status – neither slave nor free; 

3) Gender – neither male nor female. 

Those with a Nicodemus mindset are questioning Jesus, saying, “how can one be born twice and how can one not be a Jew or Greek let alone not be a male or female?” The transgender movement would try to have a field day with this, but the reality is that when we are filled with and led by the Holy Spirit in our walk and relationship with the Godhead and we do not let our soul (fleshly thoughts/conduct) have dominion over our spirit, we understand that we are one in Christ Jesus and God the Father because we abide in them and they in us.  This was Jesus’ prayer to the Father (John 17).

In the early christian community, both Gentiles and Jews could freely exercise their spiritual gifts. Both slaves and masters could pray or prophesy. Both women and men could enjoy the full membership in the body of “Christ” without prejudice, with Christ being all and in all (Col. 3:11). They broke down the traditional barriers of man’s traditions and social segregation and worked to make it a way of life. We can see how the adversary has worked hard to rebuild the barriers among our brothers and sisters in Christ through deception. If we are in Christ, we are family and we do His will. It’s that simple and we love one another as we love ourselves and as He loves us.

Paul continues his letter:

Galatians 4:1-11 – 1Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

6And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

8But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9But 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? 10You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

Paul is sharing a mystery about Jesus being born a Hebrew and being raised under the law. This is where many can get deceived with the notion “well Jesus followed the law while He was on earth.” Yes, He did, because His body had not yet been glorified. Jesus is the Son of God, and heir to the throne of God. When He was a child, born of a woman, he was raised just like all the other Hebrew children…though He is master of all. Upon His death and resurrection, the veil between the law and promise was torn and He redeemed the world from the law. He told his disciples that He must go to the Father so the Father could send His Holy Spirit, the Teacher of Truth and Comforter, and He also told the disciples that they were wait until the Holy Spirit came upon them before they went to preach the gospel of peace. 

Paul mentions the elements of the world in verse 2 and elements in this context mean ‘principles’ (or religious traditions of man). He was not talking about laws and ordinances of the land under public safety interests (i.e., don’t speed in your car, pay taxes, don’t break the law and go to jail, etc.) In verse 9, he calls those religious principles (the rituals and observances) weak and beggarly, and they place Christians back in bondage, when we are to be focused on the kingdom of God and our relationship with Him through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Listen with your spirit to what the Spirit of God is saying here about falling back under the law. We’ve seen the concern over circumcision in the previous chapters, and how anyone who perverts or distorts the true gospel is accursed, but now there is mention of observations of days (Sabbaths or special feasts), months and seasons (longer observances, such as Passover, unleavened bread, Pentecost, Tabernacles), and years (Jubilees where slaves and debts were made free). Paul literally says he is afraid for those who have fallen for that mindset and forsaken all he, Barnabas, and others had shared with them about their justification being through faith. This is so serious, my beloved, because many today are under the same mindset.

Let’s continue:

Galatians 4:12- 20 – 12Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. 13You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. 14And 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. 15What 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. 16Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

17They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. 18But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. 19My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, 20I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.

Paul’s plea for the brethren to become like him, for he became like them, is him reminding them that he, once being a Pharisee, strongly steeped in Judaism, has come out from that bondage and has abandoned the ceremonial rules and regulations of Judaism so that he could freely preach the gospel of Christ to Jews and Gentiles alike. 

He also makes reference to his physical infirmity about his bad eyesight. If you recall in the study of Chapter 1, we addressed Paul’s conversion and how Jesus blinded him for three days. Although he could see, it is apparent that his eyesight was not that great. This is most probably the thorn in his flesh we read about in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 when he pleads with Jesus three times to take it away and Jesus tells him “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul was to walk in faith.

Look what he says starting in verse 17:  “They zealously court you, but for no good.” Beloved, I pray you are receiving the revelation here. There are so many today who have been zealously courting believers in so many ways, and all under the name of Jesus. They use God’s name in vain. These are wolves in sheep clothing and their only mission is to steal, kill, and destroy the children of God and the bride of Jesus Christ. My heart aches so much and my spirit grieves because of how much we have been deceived. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again that the deception goes beyond just a push to return to Judaism or any part thereof. It encompasses many distorted doctrines and doctrines of demons. We must wake up and cry out to Jesus for His mercy, His spiritual wisdom, knowledge, understanding, counsel, might, and the fear Jesus Christ upon us. 

I can feel what Paul must have been feeling as he wrote the letter. His love for the people was such that He was in a place of needing to get the people to take note of what bewitched them. 

Paul once again brings home the point of faith overcomes the law and this time reveals a mystery about Jerusalem. Pay close attention to the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

21Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— 25for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— 26but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.”

28Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” 31So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. (Emphasis Mine)

Did you catch the symbolism? Not only do some desire to be under the law, but Paul asks them if they can even hear the law. He is completely taken back by the trap they’ve fallen into and reminds them of what scripture says about the bondwoman and the freewoman (freewoman being the church or body of Christ). Scripture tells us that the bondwoman (those under bondage) are spiritually barren because they are in covenant with the law given at Mt. Sinai and corresponds to the earthly Jerusalem we see today. The freewoman (those who walk in faith are justified in faith and have covenant with the Jerusalem above, which is freedom and eternal life. It is the new Jerusalem. Sadly, verse 27 says that the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Jesus Christ is returning for His bride. He will be her husband and she will be His wife, and they will be co-heirs to the throne of Yahweh in the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

Beloved, if you have been bewitched in any area that has distorted or perverted the true gospel of Jesus Christ, I urge you today to pray for forgiveness and to turn away from that which is leading you into bondage. Ask Jesus to open the eyes of your heart and show you where you may be deceived and come out from among them. Confess and Repent for the spirit of bondage, the spirit of err, and the lying spirit that is prevalent in the churches today. Return to Jesus Christ and God the Father with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, because where the Spirit of the Living God is there is freedom and justice.

I pray this study has brought revelation knowledge to you and that if you are like I was, you realized something you had never seen before that brought conviction and hope to your spirit. I literally wept while preparing this study because we still know so many people desiring to be under the law. We thank God the Father and Jesus Christ for teaching us this years ago. If you know someone who needs to hear this, please share. We are all called to be a voice that awakens others.

Join us next time as we study Chapter 5.

Chapter 5

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Note: There is a post called Batten Down the Hatches of the ‘-Ship’ that is relevant to this study as it pertains to leadership, discipleship, and sonship. I hope you’ll take time to review it.