Law AND Grace.

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. – Galatians 4:1-7 ESV

Here in chapter four, Paul continues to contrast law and grace. More specifically, he will show how faith alone is the means by which men must be saved. And to make his point, he uses yet another analogy. He has already compared the law to a jail, imprisoning everything under sin (Galatians 2:22). He also referred to it as a guardian, watching over us and managing our affairs until Christ came. The Greek word he used was παιδαγωγός (paidagōgos), which “was applied to trustworthy slaves who were charged with the duty of supervising the life and morals of boys belonging to the better class” (“G3807 - paidagōgos - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (KJV).” Blue Letter Bible). Here in chapter four, he uses the term, “guardian”, again, but it is a different Greek word. It is ἐπίτροπος (epitropos) and it refers to “one to whose care or honor anything has been instructed” (“G2012 - epitropos - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (KJV).” Blue Letter Bible). It was commonly used to refer to a steward or overseer of one’s estate or children. Paul also compares the law to a manager. He uses the Greek word, οἰκονόμος (oikonomos), which refers to a steward, manager or superintendent, who was responsible for overseeing the affairs of another (“G3623 - oikonomos - Strong's Greek Lexicon (KJV).” Blue Letter Bible).

In Paul’s day, this guardian or overseer was appointed by a father and given the responsibility to care for his child, overseeing his well-being and managing his inheritance. This, as Paul points out, was to be the arrangement “until the date set by his father” (Galatians 4:2 ESV). In a sense, the son was no different than a slave as long as he was under the responsibility of his guardian or steward. He was expected to do exactly what the guardian told him to do. He had no access to his inheritance, except through the guardian, who managed all his affairs. He was under the watchful eye of his guardian at all times, until the day appointed by his father arrived.

Paul tells his readers that this was their former situation. They were under the guardianship of the law until faith came (Galatians 3:23). Up until the time that Jesus came, they had been “enslaved to the elementary principles of the world” (Galatians 4:3 ESV). Paul does not explain what he means by this phrase, but it most certainly conveys the idea of the limited understanding available to men without the help of God. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12 ESV). Without the Spirit of God in them, men cannot understand the truths of God. They are incapable. Paul went on to say, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV). Those without Christ are limited and stunted in their understanding, incapable of grasping the truth about God or the mysteries of spirituality. In speaking of the coming Holy Spirit, Jesus told His disciples, “He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him” (John 14:17 NLT). Paul also said that “God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:21 NLT).

Man, no matter how smart he may be, cannot understand or comprehend the truth regarding God. He is “enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.” But Paul reminds his readers that, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4 ESV). At just the right time, according to His eternal plan, God sent Jesus “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:5 ESV). The amazing thing is that God, in His mercy and kindness, chose to adopt those who were not even His own. The audience to whom Paul was writing was made up primarily of Gentiles. They had not been part of the chosen people of God, the Jews. They were outsiders, aliens and strangers to the family of God. Paul told the Gentile believers in Ephesus, “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12 ESV). But he went on to tell them the good news that “you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19 ESV).

The amazing thing, Paul tells his readers, is that they were now sons and daughters of God. Because He had sent His Son into the world, “born of woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4 ESV), and His Son had kept the law to perfection, He had qualified Himself to be the sinless substitute to die in the place of sinful men. He took our place on the cross and died the death we deserved, so that we might be redeemed and restored to a right relationship with God. And those who place their faith in Christ become sons of God and receive the Spirit of God, which gives them the right to call on God as their Father. They are miraculously transformed from slaves to sons. They become princes, instead of paupers, and heirs of all the riches of God’s grace. But Paul’s point was that none of this was possible through the keeping of the law. Sonship was not achievable through hard work. The inheritance was not accessible through diligent rule-keeping. It was the gift of God made possible through faith in the Son of God and His sacrificial death on the cross. Man cannot earn a right standing with God. He cannot merit God’s favor through hard work. In fact, Paul will go on to say that, before placing their faith in Christ, his audience didn’t even know God (Galatians 4:8). They had been incapable of knowing Him. They were enemies of God. And so were we. You cannot pursue that which you do not know. Natural man cannot know the things of God. Sinful men cannot seek the things of God. But God, in His great mercy and kindness, sent His Son to make Himself known.

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father's heart. He has revealed God to us. – John 1:18 NLT

This is not about law versus grace. Paul is not pitting one against the other. He is not saying that the law was flawed, but only that the law was a temporary guardian or guide, intended to display God’s holiness and expose man’s sinfulness. But when Jesus came, He did what no other man could have done: He kept the law perfectly. He lived up to God’s holy standards, living a sinless life and proving worthy to offer Himself as the payment for the sins of mankind. We are heirs of God, not because we kept the law of God, but because His Son did so on our behalf.

The Knowledge of Sin.

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. – Romans 3:19-20 ESV Paul continues his polemic on the relationship between the Jews and the law by saying, “the law speaks to those who are under the law.” In other words, the law was given to the Jews by God and it told them exactly what God's righteous expectations of them were. No arguments. No questions. No quibbling. No excuses. But in revealing His righteous standards to the Jews, God was not inferring that everyone else was exempt from His law. In fact, Paul makes it clear that God gave His law to the Jews “to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God” (Romans 3:19 NLT). The Jews were given the privilege and responsibility of knowing God's law. But they would prove incapable of living up to it. They could not claim ignorance, only incompetence. They would find themselves completely incapable of keeping the law. “For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are” (Romans 3:20 NLT).

A little later in his letter, Paul will clarify God's purpose behind the giving of the law. Paul states, “if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” (Romans 7:7 ESV). The law said, “you shall not…”, but Paul's sin nature said, “why not?” The law revealed the righteous requirement of God, but indwelling sin took advantage of it. Paul describes it in vivid terms. “But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power” (Romans 7:8 NLT). Paul goes on to say that the law is good and holy. It is spiritual. It was given by God to men and is, therefore, righteous. Paul describes the conundrum in which man finds himself. “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:14-15 ESV). The Jews wanted to keep the law, but couldn't. They tried, but they failed. All so that God might expose man's complete incapability when it comes to earning a right standing before Him based on human effort. “For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight” (Romans 3:20 ESV). Paul expounds on this thought in his letter to the church in Galatia. “Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law” (Galatians 2:16 NLT). A little later on in that same letter, Paul states, “If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 3:21-22 NLT). But the law had a purpose. God had a perfectly good, completely righteous reason for having given it. “Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith” (Galatians 3:23-24 NLT).

The law was designed to show us the kind of righteousness God was looking for. But in revealing the righteousness of God, the law also revealed the sinfulness of man. It exposed our inherent weakness. Even on our best day and given our best efforts, we could not live up to God's holy standard. The law showed us our sin and revealed to us our need for a Savior. Augustine wrote, “The law orders, that we, after attempting to do what is ordered, and so feeling our weakness under the law, may learn to implore the help of grace.” The law was intended to drive the people of Israel to God, recognizing their desperate need for His grace, mercy, forgiveness and strength to live the lives He had called them to. The sacrificial system He provided was a constant demonstration of their sinfulness and their need for atonement. There was never a time when they could stop making sacrifices, because there was never a time when they ever stopped sinning. The writer of Hebrews tells us, “The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4 NLT). Then in verse 10, he points out the plan of God – the gospel. “For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.” The law revealed the righteous expectations of God and, in doing so, it exposed our sin and our need for a Savior. No one can save themselves. Self-righteousness is deceptive and ineffective. But the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.