Galatians 4:21 Commentary and Bible Study

After the very personal comments which Paul has made since verse 12 which were designed to appeal to the affections of the Galatians, he now turns again to arguments from Scripture. ‘Tell me’ – a very lively way of writing, for though he is writing and not speaking face-to-face, his words invite a response to get them thinking. And what will they say? He will not let them get away with such inconsistency for, though he loves them, he is going to pin them down.‘You that desire to be under the law’. This is not how the Galatians would have seen themselves, but it was an accurate description of their position. They had to face up to the very serious implications of their willingness to accept circumcision from the Judaizers. This could not be done, Paul says, without them submitting to the whole law. They thought that they could have Christ and circumcision and follow a mixture of Paul’s teaching and that of the Judaizers, but Paul tells them it is one or the other, but not both. The net result is that they will end up having a relationship only with the law and losing Christ altogether. ‘You think that you can submit to this significant ordinance of the law and yet escape its full authority, but the law will not share any with Christ, and nor will Christ share any with the law.’ Did they really desire to be under the law? Well, they had better ask himself that question, and promptly. We must bring home to those who turn to some false path the destination to which they are heading, for often they do not see it themselves, or do not want to see it. If they had seen it, they would have been shocked at what they are doing.‘Do ye not hear the law?’ The law is not what you think it is. It is not tolerant of any departure from it standards, and does not include any possibility of forgiveness. The Galatians desire to be under the law, but don’t they know what the law says about itself, and how incompatible its terms are with those of the gospel? Before someone agrees to serve a master who will have absolute control over him, he had better find out what kind of man he is, because once he is in that master’s power it will be too late to free himself. But the Galatians did not need to be in any doubt about the nature of the law for the law speaks with a very clear voice and says exactly what terms it operates by.