Paul, as he segues into a major “word picture” concerning successful Christian living, asks yet another question. “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” Galatians 4:21

Well first, he starts with a command! (Paul is one “bossy” little Preacher, wonderfully so … to the Glory of God!)

“Tell me,” a stark order, a mandate! The verb being “lego,” meaning “to talk,” but here I think Paul is longing for a conversation! A “back and forth” dialogue! (By the way, “lego” is the first word in  the Greek sentence, too, indicating very high interpretive, hermeneutical priority!)

They “desire” to be under the Law, Moses’ Law, those 613 Old Testament commands written for Israel to obey? (The little word “under” is the preposition “hupo,” as in the medical term “hypoglycemia,” low blood sugar! The “u” in hupo becomes a “y” when it is anglicized.) So here the Law is towering over these Galatian Christians. And apparently they love it that way!

“Desire” translates “thelo,” showing they “get pleasure, freely choose, fully intend” to follow the Law! Doing so is their “wish!” This is a present participle too, ongoing “hunger” for the Law! 

Mercy!

Now comes Paul’s query, “Do ye not hear the Law?” Almost, “Have you never read that Law?” Implying they might be a little ignorant of the very Law they have come to espouse!

If anyone in the New Testament knew the Law, it would have been the Apostle Paul! (Acts 22:23 … “I Paul am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the LAW of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.” Add … “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the LAW, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the LAW, blameless.” Philippians 3:5-6)

I will guarantee Paul had memorized in detail all 613 of those Mosaic Statutes!

Galatians, professing Christians … “Do ye not hear the Law?”

I get the feeling they are about to “HEAR” some of it, rightly applied! 

In Greek the verb for “hear” is “akouo.” We get our word “acoustics” from this root! The “sound quality” of a given room, especially a Church!

“Do you not study that Law?”

“Do you not understand what that Law really means?”

“Have you not paid close intention to that Law?”

These questions may at least parallel what Paul is asking his converts, if not further (more fully) explain the Apostle’s interrogative.

(It is a good idea to always “learn” what we say we “believe!” To “master” what we desire “to master” us! To “comprehend” what we desire “to rule” our lives!)

Wow!

“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?”

Now tomorrow, the Lord willing … we begin that elongated illustration FROM THE LAW … that beautifully illustrates we are no longer UNDER THE LAW!!!

I’m excited!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell