Galatians 4:9 Commentary

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Galatians 4:9

Comments

‘It is no great surprise’, Paul says, ‘that previously, like all fallen human beings, you did service to those who were no true gods, but it is a matter of amazement that after being released from such bondage, you should now want to return to it all over again.’ They were more excusable for their original idolatry, than for corrupting the gospel after they had known its freedom. The astonishing thing about this argument is that Paul is ready to equate their service to false gods with their reliance on the rites and ceremonies of the law of Moses. The word ‘again’ refers to the idolatry of verse 8; this he characterises as weak and beggarly elements. But the Galatians were in danger of renewing their bondage to these elements all over again, not this time in the form of idolatry but in the form of ordinances prescribed by the law. The great change that takes place at conversion is only adequately described by saying that whereas a man did not know God, now he does know God. He knows for certain that there is a God and he knows something of the character of God: his kindness, mercy, wisdom and forgiveness; he knows this by personal experience. He knows God as he knows someone who he has heard of for many years and has imagined certain things about, but who he has now met for the first time and spoken with and listened to, and finds to be quite different to what he imagined. But this knowledge is in part, for now we see through a glass darkly, but then we shall see face to face. By contrast God’s knowledge of us is perfect. He knows what he will make of us and how he will bless us; he knows us as individuals, each one being unique; he knows each word we speak before we say it; he knows the number of days we will live on earth; he knows whether we will die as believers or unbelievers; his knowledge surrounds us so that we cannot step outside of it. God has known his people from eternity, but only at conversion when we exercise faith can we know that we are loved by him. Before then it is his secret knowledge. Our knowledge is a knowledge of observation after the event, but God’s knowledge brings about his eternal will.

Application

Let our gratitude to God for deliverance from our former ignorance, make it impossible that we should ever return to what we were before.

Did they really desire again to be in bondage? Certainly they would not have described what they sought as bondage, but Paul expresses their actions in this bald way to wake them up to the foolishness of what they were doing. Sometimes we need to be shocked with a sight of our own folly for we are on the point of dreaming our way into a position of great danger. The apostle therefore in kindness shakes the Galatians to wake them out of their spiritual sleep.

Questions

The list given in the next verse includes practices which were all ordained of God. How can the law which was given by God, which is essentially good (Romans 7:12), and which Israel was commanded to keep, be compared with the worship of false gods which is universally condemned by God? The law was given to bring people to Christ, but if it is so misunderstood and so misused that it is treated as the source of salvation, then it is no longer the law as God gave it but something new, something horrible invented by men. The moral law was designed to make men conscious of their sin, but if they distort it to teach them instead that they are righteous, then they no longer have the law as God gave it. The ceremonial law was designed to picture the work which Christ would do in laying down his life for sinners, but if men treat those ceremonies as effectual in themselves, then they have twisted them into an idol; they have become stumbling blocks to true faith in God and in Christ Jesus.

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Galatians 4:9 Commentary and Bible Study