Today’s Text is lengthy, the Verse we’re going to study.

For that reason, I have opted to discuss its first line today, then more tomorrow morning.

Galatians 4:9 … “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?”

Paul is so burdened about these fairly new Christians in Galatia. Most of whom have trusted Christ under Paul’s ministry. Or at least … he was the founding Pastor of those congregations. (Galatia is a whole area or district, not just a single city … thus several Churches are involved, included.)

The Apostle fears these folks are about to “leave” a strict adhering to the Grace of God and go back to something less!

Now, watch this truth unfold: “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God …” Today’s clause.

Here are two ways of expressing one’s relationship with God! (I know Him … and … He knows me!)

And this delightful state is one which the Galatians were enjoying at that very moment, as Paul penned those words around two thousand years ago. That’s the significance of the adverb “now.”

“But NOW, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God …”

As I’ve said before … there’s here no doubt in Paul’s mind here that the Galatians are really saved, genuine born-again children of God!

They NOW know God!

Through Jesus Christ His Son!

Listen to the Lord Jesus define eternal life in John 17:3, as He prayed. “And this is life eternal, that they might know (“ginosko” in Greek) thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

And our Text?

“But now, after that ye have known (“ginosko” in Greek) God, or rather are known (“ginosko” again) of God …”

Wow, same verb in both places!

Yes, the Galatians have been redeemed, indeed!

They “have known” God, their relationship with Him began somewhere in time past. (The verb is Aorist here, past tense.) The day they were “apprehended” of Christ, Paul would have later expressed it. The day they exercised faith in Jesus as God’s only begotten Son.

Do YOU know Him like that, dear friend studying with us here today?

Paul loves that word picture! Knowing God! Listen to him elsewhere: “For I KNOW whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” 2 Timothy 1:12

But then, immediately, in today’s Text … Paul rephrases his wording!

It’s not just our knowing God!

It is God knowing us too!

This is the “balance” of salvation!

I know Him (I love Him) because He first knew me (first loved me)! See 1st John 4:9 … “We love him, because he first loved us.”

Or … remember Jesus’ first words to (and concerning) Nathaniel: “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, WHENCE KNOWEST THOU ME? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I SAW THEE. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, THOU ART THE SON OF GOD; thou art the King of Israel.” John 1:45-49

I know Jesus!

I know God!

But also … and Paul wants to express it this precise way, here emphasizing less the (wavering) Galatians and emphasizing more God (the never-wavering Faithful One) the Saviour: “But now, after that ye have known God, or RATHER ARE KNOWN OF GOD …”

He knows me!

Rejoice in 2 Timothy 2:19 … “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, THE LORD KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS.”

Wow!

Even Nahum writes: “The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; AND HE KNOWETH THEM THAT TRUST IN HIM.”

Jesus again, in John 10:14 as well: “I am the good shepherd, and KNOW MY SHEEP, and AM KNOWN OF MINE.” (The very same “balance” here!)

I know Him, as Saviour!

And He knows me, as one of His children!

What blessedness!

Let’s delight in this fact today, this truth.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Song of Solomon 2:16 nearly says the same thing, just worded differently. “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” Hallelujah!

What lovely Balance!

 

Today’s Bible Text (Verse) is quite straightforward, really.

Yet it is also just a “piece” of the puzzle Paul is solving … as he reasons with his Galatian followers of Christ. It takes an overall view of our whole paragraph (not JUST today’s verse) to get the whole picture!

Nonetheless … “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.” Galatians 4:8

I believe this is a passing reference to the background out of which the Galatian believers were saved.

In essence Paul suggests … When you all were sinners, and heathen ones at that ….  (In the King James Version: “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God …”)

They regularly (naturally) did something back in those days … you served other gods, idols, fake deities! (” … ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.”)

The Apostle is now (nearly) implying that the Galatians now do know God! That they are saved indeed! (A possibility he really doubts a couple of times here in Galatians!)

So frankly, there is nothing surprising in this verse today. (In a way one could aver that ALL of us … before we “knew” the living God … served (as slaves) other man-made gods and goddesses! 

Sad but so!

Romans 6:16 illustrates the principle. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Everyone is either serving evil (meaning sin which leads to death) … or good (righteousness which is via the Blood of Jesus)!”

But overall, I think Paul (in today’s Text) is saying this to the Galatians:

Once when you were lost … you served idols.

But now you have been born-again … and are indeed free from those old entanglements!

Then WHY, WHY, WHY would you go back under a list of 613 commandments (both prohibitions and injunctions as contained in the Law of Moses) and serve them, spurning the true Liberty you now have in Jesus?

A logical question, a logical thought process … supremely so!

Tomorrow’s verse, the Lord willing, adds further clarity to this line of reasoning.

But at least we readers in the 21st century can pause and THANK GOD we no longer live according to the old ways, but have been made new creatures in Christ Jesus our Lord!

The very fact that we so “know” God is shouting ground!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Really, not a bad testimony … “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.” But now, things are different! Very much so!

 

Read with me today’s Bible Study Verse … “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. “ Galatians 4:7

No more a “servant,” a “doulos” in Greek, just meaning “a common slave!”  No more under a harsh taskmaster! One no longer needing a tutor! Having now reached the legal age/stage of “sonship!”

” … Thou art no more a servant, but a son ….”

Wow!

“But a son!”

Paul here uses the noun “huios,” a child (genuine and blood related) with all the honor and dignity pertaining thereunto!

My lexicon says of “huios” … ” The word is rarely used for the young of animals! But generally used of the offspring of men!” Human beings! 

John as an elder Christian statesman captures the gravitas here. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, THAT WE SHOULD BE CALLED THE SONS OF GOD: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” 1st John 3:1

Thrilling!

Paul to the Christians as Galatia … “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Still today’s Verse!

A “son” who is made an “heir!” 

This “heir” noun, spelled “kleronomos,” is a bit interesting. Its prefix, “kleros” indicates some object (not “dice” as we know them, but a similar idea is present) used in deciding matters. (Stones or sticks, just two examples.)

Then attached to “kleronomos” is “nomos,” the Greek word for “law!” (Strange usage here … particularly since Paul is combatting the Law of Moses!)

Actually now “kleronomos” means “the law of the lot!” (As in “casting lots.”)

Something that is being given (apportioned) to you as a love gift from your Father! 

Your share of the Father’s Estate. Yes, He has named you in the Will, His Will!

We are “heirs!” 

Paul says a lot about this aspect of the Christian life, about our being “heirs,” certainly more than Peter or John or James!

Heirs of God’s Grace!

Heirs literally of all God possesses!

“Therefore let no man glory in men. For ALL THINGS ARE YOURS; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; ALL ARE YOURS; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” 1st Corinthians 3:21-23, almost incomprehensible!

He has given me (and you) a share of “everything” it seems, of all His Bounty!

Paul once again … “But trust in the living GOD, who GIVETH US RICHLY ALL THINGS to enjoy.” 1st Timothy 6:17

We are, because of faith in Jesus, “heirs” of God … “through Christ. “

Here’s the preposition “dia,” Jesus being the “channel” or the “avenue” or the “medium” through Whom these blessings come!

All we enjoy in God … is because of Jesus our Lord!

Ephesians 1:6 words it this way. We are “accepted” (of God) “in the Beloved,” in our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Beloved Son!

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I am feeling (at least spiritually) wealthy this morning!

How about you, dear Christian friend?

 

Paul just keeps writing one great verse after another!

In this Section of the Epistle to the Galatians.

And today’s Text is no exception!

“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” Galatians 4:6

The Greek “conjunction” (which “joins” this sentence to the previous verse) “because” translates “hoti,” which is simply the neuter gender of “hostis.” And in our New Testaments that word (“hostis”) is surprisingly translated “whosoever” 12 times!

Brother Bagwell, identify these “sons” of God, please. These to whom God has sent forth His Spirit! They are the “whosoevers” for whom Jesus died! The “red and yellow and black and white” people for whom the Blood was shed! Yes, I believe my Saviour is indeed “the Christ, the Saviour of the world,” quoting John 4:42. Not (of course) that everybody will be saved … but Jesus died for everybody, nonetheless! (1st John 2:2 comes to mind here. “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Amen!)

Look what God has done to/for His “sons!” 

Now here is the Greek noun “huios,” a child/son in full legal standing before the world, Roman or Greek! A genuine scion with all the legal rights he or she could possess! In other words, not a baby, not an infant, certainly not an embryo! An “adopted” (though possibly young) adult, not a minor, once more I say! (In the “born-again” sense, we are/were “newborn babes,” so says Simon Peter. But in Paul’s higher  “adoption” sense, we are adult sons and daughters, from the very moment of salvation!)

Wow!

God, for those sincere believers, has “dispatched” the Holy Spirit “into” their lives! “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,” per our Verse today, Galatians 4:6b. Yes, “sent forth” is “exapostello,” meaning “deputized!” God has “charged with an official mission” His Holy Spirit “to live in our hearts” and be more (much more) to us that the Law of Moses could have ever hoped!

Note too … here the Third Member of the Godhead is not called “Holy Spirit,” His usual Name! He is termed “the Spirit of His Son,” the Spirit of Jesus!

Wow!

God being God, what’s the Difference? None theologically, but this is a beautiful “turn of phrase!” A beautiful Title for the Spirit! (Only once elsewhere can I find a like Expression! In Philippians 1:19 Paul refers to “the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Still to me, ultra Lovely!)

And just “where” did God send His (Jesus’) Spirit? “God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son INTO your hearts.” Here is “eis,” a major New Testament preposition! It means (with an accusative case object, as here) “in, by, near, among, concerning,” and such. Close enough for me! Paul specifies further when later writing the Corinthians, though. “Your body is the TEMPLE of the Holy Ghost which is IN you, which ye have of God!” Amazing, that’s “in” all right, 1st Corinthians 6:19.

One more clause today.

When this “Spirit of God’s Son” comes … He is “crying!” Translating “krazo” here, the Holy Spirit is “speaking, enunciating with a LOUD VOICE!” Clearly emphasizing something, “sonship!” The verb here is a present participle, too! Ongoing action, durative action, never ending action! Habitual action, ABBA, ABBA, ABBA!

The noun “Abba” is not even Hebrew! Rather, it’s Aramaic. Some scholars say “Chaldean!” Either way, it’s a term of endearment, and very personal! (Some illustrate “Abba” with the idea of it being quite near the vocative “Daddy” that we tenderly use in the South here!)

“Abba” is only used in three different Texts in Scripture. Once in Mark’s Gospel (Mark 14:36) and then twice by Paul (Romans 8:15 then here in Galatians 4:6).

And in all those cases, “Abba” is immediately attached to the Greek noun “Pater” or just “Father!” As in “Abba Father!” And ultimately the Name became the culture’s favorite way of addressing God the Father when one was in prayer! 

Dads do often grant their son’s and daughter’s requests!

Note: “Abba” (Daddy) in Greek is very close to “Ab” (Father) in Hebrew! (Yet again, Aramaic and Chaldean are both Semitic languages, as is Hebrew!)

“Abba,” it’s pretty isn’t it? Peaceful, and secure, thus very comforting!

And only the Holy Spirit can “implant” that “desire” in you, that “hunger” to call your Heavenly Father “ABBA!”

Wow, I’m doing it now.

Think I’ll quit writing now and go pray!

To “Abba Father!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Galatians 4:5 has a great ending! Jesus came to earth (over 2,000 years ago) … “to redeem them (us) that were under the law, that we might receive the ADOPTION OF SONS.”

By the way, the verb “receive” is “apolambano” in Greek. It means “to take,” particularly “to take that which has been promised to you!” (Literally it is “to receive” and then “take unto yourself!”) To appropriate personally, to apply individually!

It (“might receive,” the verb here) is written in the subjunctive mood, telling us this blessing (“adoption of sons”) is NOT automatic! NOT necessarily everybody will experience this blessing! Just those who have trusted Jesus! By Grace through faith, apart from the works of the law of Moses! The humble, repenting “whosoever wills” Jesus and Paul loved to mention so long ago!

This implies that if we will think about (ponder, meditate upon) our Adoption into Christ … we will enjoy our Christian lives to the fullest!

But now … what does that word “adoption” mean?

In fact, the phrase “adoption of sons” is one word in Greek.

As in: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the ADOPTION OF SONS.” Our elongated Text for the past few mornings, Galatians 4:4-5.

And that single word is “huiothesia.”

It’s really a blend of two words, a verb and a noun.

“Tithemi” (the “thesia” part of adoption) is the verb. And it means “to set something in place.” Or even “to lay something down properly.” It is translated “make” 10 times in the King James Version, God having “made” us His sons! And it is expressed “appoint” 6 more times, God having “appointed” us His sons!

Wow!

Sounds “official!”

The other part of “huiothesia” is “huios,” the noun meaning “sons.” Important: not babies, mind you! But SONS, more than implying adult sons! 

Fully grown, mature … legally apt to be placed in the Father’s Will!

My lexicon states of “huios” … “the word gives prominence to the inward, ethical, legal aspects of parentage.” Thrilling!

God has legally placed us (who believe in Jesus) into His Family!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

In one real sense. we have been “born-again” into the Family!

Now today we learn, in another sense, we’ve been “adopted” into It!

Doubly blessed, I’d say!

Thus, not under a “schoolmaster,” a slave whose job was to prepare me for adulthood!

Thus, Paul’s very “point” here, not under the Law!