The Epistle to the Galatians Now Sons and

The Epistle to the Galatians Now Sons and Heirs: Galatians 4: 4 -7 • Gal 4: 4 – NKJV ‘But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ’ – Note verse 2 – ‘until the time appointed of the Father’ • God is not haphazard in His planning – Eph 1: 10, Psalms 102: 13 – Consider the plethora of prophecy related to this timing. – And God became proactive (also in verse 6) • What does ‘sent forth’ or ‘sent out of’ (exapostellō) imply? – His Son already existed! – Phil 2: 6, John 8: 42 – Out of a woman. - born or made (anew) • And under the demanding system of bondage. – Gal 3: 10, 13 – And like every other Jew? – Matt 5: 17 • The true God-man. 1 July 11, 2010 Bob Eckel

The Epistle to the Galatians Now Sons and Heirs: Galatians 4: 4 -7 • Gal 4: 5 – NKJV ‘to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. ’ – Two purposes • redeem them under the law – Jews only or Gentiles too? » There’s no article before law here. » ‘Here he changed from ‘them’, the third person, to ‘we’, the first person, so in Gal 4: 6 he changes from ‘ye’, the second person, to ‘our’, the first person: this he does to identify their case as Gentiles, with his own and that of his believing fellow countrymen, as Jews. ’ - JFB – Redeem – again, Gal 3: 13 » buy out » rescue from loss » purchase out of a condition with no idea of selling back » pay a price to recover from the power of another • adopt ‘us’ as sons – Adoption, huiothesia – signifies the place and condition of a son given to one to whom it does not naturally belong (Vine) 2 July 11, 2010 Bob Eckel

The Epistle to the Galatians Now Sons and Heirs: Galatians 4: 4 -7 – Not as infants or small children, but sons or full grown heirs – why? » Eph 1: 5 -12 • Gal 4: 6 – NKJV ‘And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" – Positional truth – John 1: 12 • And not as to an infant or children – Gal 4: 1 – Notice that the sending forth the Spirit of His Son is conditional. • Are you a son? • What is the principle role of the HS? – John 15: 26; 16: 13, 14 – crying out • not tears but croaking like a raven; being vociferous; a proclamation – Abba, Father • Abba is simply the Syriac for father • In Aramaic - ‘papa’ – ‘The identity-trust expression of a feeble infant’ - Merryman – Yet, we are sons not infants. 3 July 11, 2010 Bob Eckel

The Epistle to the Galatians Now Sons and Heirs: Galatians 4: 4 -7 » Implies intimacy » Christ Himself declared this relationship - Mark 14: 36 – Father » ‘Identity-confidence expression that springs from a knowledgeable, intelligent, understanding of identity. ’ – Merryman – ‘By faith ye are one with the Son, so that what is His is yours; His Sonship ensures your sonship; His Spirit ensures for you a share in the same. ’ JFB • Rom 8: 15 -17 • The application – Heb 4: 16 • Gal 4: 7 – NKJV ‘Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. ’ – Therefore – what’s it there for? – The slave here is to the Law (Israel) not to sin. – This is not ‘law-works-merit’ but ‘grace-promise-faith’ – Merryman • Gal 3: 18, Gal 5: 1 – II Cor 6: 18 "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty. " 4 July 11, 2010 Bob Eckel

The Epistle to the Galatians Now Sons and Heirs: Galatians 4: 4 -7 – He shows us that we are free and set at liberty in such a way that while here we are governed by the Spirit of Christ who while reigning in our hearts, may teach us the true service of the Father. • But this is not to serve as a slave, but rather to enjoy true liberty, as it is fitting for true sons and heirs. – By that which follows He gathers that which went before, i. e. Calvary: for if we have His Spirit, we are His sons, and if we are His sons, then we are free. Keep looking down! 5 July 11, 2010 Bob Eckel