Quote:
Originally Posted by mfblume
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Quote:
1. Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2. But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
3. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
8. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
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?
10. Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
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The heir of verse 1 is the Israelite who, although technically a child of God, functionally differs not a whit from a servant, even though, as heir, he is, in time, going to be heralded as the lord of the house. But while he waits to come to maturity, he, as heir, needs to be under instructors who have charge over him because he is not yet ready to assume the mantle of lordship his position as heir allows him to hold.
In the same way, Israelites under the law (note the "we" in verse 3), and not Gentiles who converted to Christian faith, even though they were the heirs who were sons, had to be under tutelage, governed by others because they were not ready for leadership. Rather, they were subjected to the rules and regulations they received from their Jewish world, that is, the Torah.
Then Jesus came, at the appointed time, a true human descended from Mary, descended from Adam, Messiah of Israel while the Torah was in full effect, to redeem the heir who was still a mere subjugated servant. He came to elevate him and move him past servant-hood and make him a true son, an heir, and lord of all. The gift of the Holy Spirit of God's Son is the evidence of that elevation. And all those who receive that Spirit are not to be considered mere servants but fully-fledged children and heirs.
However, before this occurred, these former pagan Gentiles of Galatia formerly gave themselves over to the service of idols. But now, they both know and are known of God. It is therefore not acceptable to Paul that they should return once again to their former idols and be in bondage to them.
For the Israelite, the former subjugation was to Torah. For the Gentile, the former subjugation was to idolatry. The weak and beggarly elements for these former Gentiles of Galatia is their idolatry. Paul doesn't make a claim against the Israelite and his subjugation to the Torah. There is a clear constant shifting between the subjects, as noted earlier with his use of "we" in verse 3 to "you" from that point forward. Therefore I conclude that the "days, and months, and times, and years" is a reference to pagan customs formerly practiced by these Galatians when they were idolaters. Paul then shares his concern that he has wasted his time on these former Gentiles.
Ultimately, Paul is trying to show these converted Gentiles that if they embrace the doctrine of the Judaizers and become circumcised, for them, it will be as if they were returning to their past idols and the sins thereof because to become circumcised is to deny Christ and fall from grace, that is to say, lose salvation and eternal life, because, as former heathen idolaters, if they give up on Jesus, there is nothing for them to revert back to, but heathen idolatry. They cannot embrace Torah the way the Israelite heir could because as Gentiles, they were not included in the covenant at Sinai.
So, the Israelite could deny Jesus, fall from grace, and fall back on the Torah. The Gentile, if he denies Jesus, and falls from grace, cannot fall back on the Torah because the Torah was not given to him. His only option is the idolatry of the past, even if it masquerades as being some warped and confusing form of (allegedly) Torah-observant Christianity.
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