October 9, 2024 - Galatians 4-6

The legalists have come into Galatia, and they have steered the believers away from the true gospel.  Paul, on the other hand, always has had the Galatians’ well-being as a priority.  He has suffered on their behalf.  He has preached the gospel to them.  He has prayed for them.  And, he has told them the truth, though they now seem not to want to hear it:  “Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (4:16).  An age old problem, huh?  Sometimes we interpret the truth telling of friends or parents or other believers as meanness or a lack of love.  Just the opposite, though.

Paul is struggling mightily with these Galatians:  “My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you . . . I am perplexed about you” (4:19,20).  But he will persevere with them.  Why?  Because he loves them!  And so, he reminds them about Hagar and Sarah, that is, that Sarah was the one who bore the son of promise, and now we are the recipients of the promise, and we are free.   The Galatians are to live lives in the Spirit, living in a way that is honoring to the God who saved them by grace and that benefits one another.  The Galatians (and we) are a “new creation” (6:15).  Not what we once were and not yet what we will be, we are new and different because we are in Jesus Christ.

Ask ye what great thing I know

that delights and stirs me so?

What the high reward I win?

Whose the name I glory in?

Jesus Christ, the Crucified.

Who defeats my fiercest foes?

Who consoles my saddest woes?

Who revives my fainting heart,

healing all its hidden smart?

Jesus Christ, the Crucified.   -- Johann C. Schwedler (1741)