SLAVES OR SONS?

GALATIANS 4:8-11

AUGUST 2, 1998

 

Was Paul simply concerned about some theological issues in Galatia? While he dealt with pivotal doctrinal matters, it was not for the sake of doctrine as much as it was for the sake of the souls of men that he pressed the issues of the Galatian Epistle.  He had no thought of just winning men over to his doctrinal point of view (a lesson we must pay attention to!); he wanted to make sure of the salvation of those among whom he labored in the Galatian region. 

 

I find this text to be a great motivation for perseverance. The Christian's mind and actions are not disengaged in perseverance. His faith in Christ alone is not changed in mid-stream. He is actively involved in persevering in the Christian faith, while the Holy Spirit continually preserves him for the day of Christ.

 

The threat facing the Galatians was that of drawing back or apostatizing. This would have shown them to have a spurious faith rather than a genuine one.  There is a wonderfully, fine-tuned tension at work in the true believer: (1) God's Word exhorts him to persevere and endure (cf. Col. 1:21-23); (2) God's Word assures him of the preserving work of the Holy Spirit (cf. I Pet. 1:5).  How do we add up this tension? What are we to make of it?  It is in the practice of perseverance that the child of God receives assurance that he truly belongs to Christ. He does not gain merit through his perseverance, but he does show the true nature of a new life in Christ. Those who turn back to their former slavery demonstrate an unchanged nature; they were never sons, only slaves. 

 

We must never forget that there is a war being waged for men's souls. We cannot simply presume upon our salvation so that we become too comfortable and subject to being brought down by the enemy of our souls.  The Apostle Paul exhorted his dear friend Timothy in this.  He told him that on the basis of the prophetic word made clear to him he was to "fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith."  Timothy was not to 'take it easy'.  He was to be engaged in the warfare of souls himself as a minister of the gospel and for his part, he was to keep a confident trust in the revelation of gospel truth and a conscience exercised upon obedience.  But some had failed in this, so Paul tells Timothy that they had rejected these matters of faith and obedience, essentials in perseverance, so that they "suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith."  He then goes on to name two of these who had apostatized and whom Paul himself had removed from the church (I Timothy 1:18-20). 

 

It is with this in mind that I believe we must approach our text. For Paul lays aside his theological arguments for the moment and looks squarely at the logic of turning back to spiritual slavery. He exhorts the Galatians by taking a simple look at what they were apart from Christ, what has transpired if indeed they are in Christ, and in light of this, he warns them to persevere.  Let us follow this exhortation, for like the Galatians, we can face peril in a failure to persevere in the faith, so that we suffer shipwreck in regard to our faith. 

 

I.  A condition we must not forget 

 

One key issue that ought to motivate every Christian to keep pressing on is to remember where we have come from.  We are not to live in the past and we certainly are not to wallow in the condemnations of our former life.  Yet, we are not to forget the rock from which we have been hewn.  In verse 8, Paul summarizes the unregenerate condition in two simple terms:  "However at that time, when you did not know God [i.e., when you were a slave--cf. v. 7], you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods." 

 

1.  In knowledge 

 

First he looks at our knowledge.  Does he mean that as unbelievers we did not even know that God exists?  I think not, for we are told by the Apostle in Romans 1:19-21 that the unbelieving have a knowledge of God's existence by the light of conscience--the ability to sense right and wrong--and the light of creation.  There are three ways that any of us have a knowledge of God:  conscience and creation, as Romans 1 teaches us, and the revelation of God through the Scriptures, which is the chief way we know God.  Though most of the Galatians had no knowledge of Scripture (Jews excepted!), they still had a conscience and they still saw the marvels of God's work in creation.  Their understanding of God was dim at best, and one which inevitably they corrupted through dishonoring God and giving themselves to idols. 

 

So what does he mean by the phrase, "you did not know God."  First of all, the word "know" was a common term to imply 'intimate knowledge'.  It was much more than knowing facts about a person. It was knowledge through the intimacy of personal relations that is implied.  They did not know God in person.  They had no fellowship with Him.  They had no love for Him nor desire to obey Him.  They had not experienced the living God through faith in Christ. 

 

A second insight on the word comes from the tense of this participle.  It is in the Greek perfect tense, which would imply a complete knowledge or a continued, settled knowledge of God.  What Paul describes is that the unbeliever may get a few hints about God here and there.  It may come from hearing a sermon or reading a tract.  It may take place when he hears the witness of a Christian.  But this knowledge does not take root.  It is temporary at best.  It does not affect the soul with conviction and ultimately with faith.  He may think that he has enough knowledge of God, so he normally perverts it by giving characteristics to God which do not belong to Him.   

 

An unbelieving man may feel a spark occasionally from something being said about God so that he humors himself that he knows God.  He may feel good about religion.  He may be a very devoted person, giving himself to all sorts of rituals and good deeds.  But apart from saving faith in Christ alone, he does not know God experientially and relationally. 

 

2.  In practice 

 

Because the unbeliever does not know God, he consequently is enslaved to those things which by nature are not gods.  Yes, there are false gods in this world; plenty of them!  But though we call them gods since men give homage to them, yet they are not really gods.  Paul states that they "by nature are no gods."  There is something innately wrong with them.  They have no life, no being, no character.  "For there is one God," Paul wrote in I Timothy 2:5.  The Old Testament writers often chided the foolishness of  worshipping and bringing offerings to gods who "have mouths, but they cannot speak; they have eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but they cannot hear; they have noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but they cannot feel; they have feet, but they cannot walk; they cannot make a sound with their throat" (Psalm 115:4-7). 

 

It was to these gods which are no gods that the Galatians were enslaved:  "you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods."  These people may have worshipped Caesar through the Roman Imperial cult.  Or perhaps they were devoted to one of the many mystery religions which were so common in the Hellenistic world.  Others may have been involved "the astrological lore and worship of the star gods, celestial bodies whose movement in the heavens were believed to control life on earth" [T. George, NAC, 310].  The Apostle intentionally demonstrates the foolishness of worshipping any thing other than the true God, and that only as He has revealed through the gospel.  If we are not sons and heirs (cf. v. 7), then we are enslaved to false gods.  We may go to church each Sunday.  We may have even been baptized after a profession of faith.  But if our faith is not in God through Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we are enslaved to false gods.  And as Paul demonstrates throughout this epistle, if our faith is in Christ plus something else, then we are still enslaved to false gods.  We must not leave out the context of what the Apostle has addressed up to this point of the epistle.  He is showing the danger of abandoning faith in Christ alone for justification, particularly by adding something to faith as merit before God.  If you believe that God will grant you merit in His sight through various works you accomplish, then you do not know the great sufficiency of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  Your faith has not settled upon the only Savior of sinners.  You are still enslaved to those which by nature are no gods. 

 

Every believer gathered here today came out of this same situation.  We did not know God relationally and we were enslaved to gods of our own making.  As slaves, we had no hope on our own until the Lord God graciously intervened in saving power in our lives.  We must never think that we were better than others, therefore we were saved.  We were in the same condition as the rest:  no knowledge of God and a practice of slavery to false gods. 

 

Why did Paul remind these professing believers of their past?  So that they might persevere in the present through remembering what they were apart from the grace of God in Christ.  It is in remembering our lost condition, thinking upon the foolishness of our ways, recalling our enslavement to various lusts, passions, and false gods, that stirs us to keep pressing on in the faith that we have in Jesus Christ.  Few people had a grasp of this like the 18th century hymn writer and preacher, John Newton. 

 

He was an only child and lost his mother when he was seven years old. He went to sea at the tender age of eleven and later became involved, in the words of one of his biographers, 'in the unspeakable atrocities of the African slave trade'. He plumbed the depths of human sin and degradation. When he was twenty-three, on 10 March 1748, when his ship was in imminent peril of foundering in a terrific storm, he cried to God for mercy, and he found it. He was truly converted, and he never forgot how God had had mercy upon him, a former blasphemer.  He sought diligently to remember what he had previously been, and what God had done for him. In order to imprint it on his memory, he had written in bold letters and fastened across the wall over the mantelpiece of his study the words of Deuteronomy 15:15: 'Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman (a slave) in the land of Egypt, and the Lord they God redeemed thee' [John Stott, The Message of Galatians, 110]. 

 

It is this reminder that we must keep before us. With shame we look back to our slavery and with joy we see the grace that is ours in Christ. This should fire our hearts to press on with Christ.  

 

II. A reality we must savor 

 

After reminding the Galatians of life apart from Christ, he puts before them a reality which they must savor as a means of persevering in the faith.  They were to think upon the great contrast between having no knowledge of God and now knowing Him, and even better, being known by Him.  In was in the light of this knowledge of God in Christ that the Apostle calls upon them to press on in the faith, to not draw back to their own destruction by abandoning faith alone in Christ alone for their justification. "But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?" 

 

We see the emotions of the Apostle rising as he thinks of the danger which stood before them.  Here we find that matter of perseverance in the faith confronting us.  Would they press on in the faith as genuine believers?  Or would the reality that Paul might have labored in vain (v. 11) demonstrate that their faith was spurious as they revert back to slavery? 

 

It is quite natural to ask at this juncture whether we are suggesting that a true believer can lose his salvation. How can he lose what he did not merit and what is given by God's grace alone?  His faith in Christ is secure through the electing grace of God, the finished work of Jesus Christ, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit. But how do we know that this professing Christian's faith is indeed a true faith in Christ?  It will be evidenced by his perseverance in the faith.  This is why the Scripture exhorts us over and again to endure, to be steadfast, to persevere, to continue on in the faith.  It is not to gain merit, for the only merit which pleases God is that which Jesus Christ has imputed to us.  But it is in persevering that we have the assurance that a person has truly been born of God.  Hear the words of our adopted confession of faith, The Abstract of Principles (1858 by James P. Boyce): 

Those whom God hath accepted in the Beloved, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere to the end; and though they may fall, though neglect and temptation, into sin, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, bring reproach on the Church, and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they shall be renewed again unto repentance, and be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation [article XIII].

The contrast between what we were apart from Christ and what we are in Christ is tightly woven in verses 8-9.  We find these same ideas in various portions of God's Word, e.g., Ephesians 2:1-10, 4:17-24; Colossians 1:13, 21-23; I Thessalonians 1:9-10; Galatians 5:18-24, with images of going from deadness to life, from darkness to light, from idolatry to the service of God, from alienation to reconciliation.  In our text, Paul expresses it in simplicity. 

 

1.  Divine intimacy 

 

"But now you have come to know God."  You who were enslaved to other gods, which were not even gods, you have come to know God!  You who had no knowledge of God, have now come to know Him.  You who created your own ideas of God, false ideas, blasphemous ideas, you have come to know God! 

 

The term for "knowing God" is not a simple understanding of certain facts which the Bible speaks of God.  Instead, it is an intimate knowledge of Him.  The word implies something which is experiential.  This same word is used in other passages to refer to the intimacies of marriage. Our Lord said of eternal life, "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).  We are never to think of Christianity as a cold, sterile religion of the head alone.  It is a passionate relationship of head and heart, body and soul, to God through Jesus Christ! 

 

This is what struck me as a fifteen year old.  I knew about God but I did not know Him experientially.  I was separated from Him, alienated by my sin and my only hope was to cast myself upon Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 

 

The natural bent of our natures is to be impressed with certain people in the world. For some, the ultimate in life would be to know a Mark McGwire or a Brett Favre or a Michael Jordan.  For those who care nothing about sports, if they could just know a few famous movie stars, they would believe they had climbed to the top of life. I can still see a particular man beaming with pride, sometimes to the point of arrogance, because he personally knew a well-known political figure.  But all of these people we may or may not know will one day stand with the throngs of humanity before the throne of Him who alone we have to do.  You may know someone famous but that will not help you in eternity.  Do you know Him who created all that exists?  Do you know Him who holds the worlds together by the exertion of His own power?  Do you know Him who will judge the world in righteousness before whose holy presence the heaven and the earth will flee?  The only way to know Him is through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, "who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4). 

 

2.  Divine pursuit 

 

As grand as it is to know God, Paul points to one thing that is even grander; that He knows us! "But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God," the Apostle writes. It is as if he gave thought to the glorious reality that we who are at enmity with God have now come to know Him in a relationship of experience and intimacy.  It is not just a book-knowledge of God; it is experiential. By His grace, we are sons and daughters of God! Then the thought came to mind that demonstrated the enormity of divine grace:  this great God pursued you before you ever responded to Him.  You did not come to know God because you had more integrity than other humans, so that you pursued Him until you found Him.  No, indeed!  He sought you!  Before the foundations of the world were laid, He set His eye upon you in redeeming love.  Before you ever entered your mother's womb, He provided your salvation through sending His Son in your place to the cross.  Before you ever desired Him, He pursued you.  Before you ever called out to Him for mercy, He effectually called you in the secret places of your heart.  This is why the Apostle Paul could write, in a passage that redounds to the glory of God, "But by His doing are you in Christ Jesus..." (I Corinthians 1:30). 

 

You are known by God.  Think of this for a moment.  The eternal God who is infinitely holy and glorious, knows you with intimacy and redemptive love. Prior to any demonstration of faith or obedience on your part, He pursued you and set His intimate knowledge upon you.  Timothy George points out that "our knowing God is conditioned upon his prior knowledge of us." He further points to Dr. Boyce's statement on election in The Abstract of Principles as expressing this clearly:

Election is God's eternal choice of some persons unto everlasting life--not because of foreseen merit in them, but of his mere mercy in Christ--in consequence of which choice they are called, justified, and glorified (italics added, NAC, 314). 

 

At the Founders Conference in Birmingham recently, Zambian pastor, Conrad Mbewe spoke of God's effectually calling us to Himself, which shows His knowing us.  He said that 'it was just as if God came down, shook you by the collar and said, "You and I have some business to attend to!"'  You have been known by God!  His knowledge is an active knowledge.  It is not simply that God knew about us, which Paul is expressing, but that He has set His mark upon us, calling us out of sin and darkness, bringing us into the glorious light of relationship to Himself through His Son's death at the cross on our behalf. 

 

Now, in light of this truth that you know God experientially and that God has set His eyes upon you, calling you out of spiritual deadness into life, will you even consider being enslaved again to those which are no gods?  How can you?  How can you toss aside that which was wrought through the work of Christ and received by faith alone, for that which is enslaving, temporal, and damning?  

 

III. A warning we must heed 

 

After laying a clear groundwork for the Galatian believers, Paul asks a probing question.  'You see what you were apart from Christ; you see the grace of God shown to you so that you now know the very God whom you spurned and this knowledge of God is due to His pursuit of you. Do you really want to go back to slavery?  Do you want to forfeit the life you have in Christ for that which is not life?' 

 

Baptists have long held the line on the truth that once a person is truly saved, he is forever saved.  He cannot lose his salvation due to his performance because he never earned it by his performance.  What came through grace is maintained by God's grace.  But unfortunately, with our tenacity to hold this position, we have embraced a false understanding of this doctrine.  It is not that all who make a profession of faith will forever be saved.  Many times I've heard people speak of someone who made a profession of faith when they were young and then they spend the rest of their lives apart from the fellowship of the body of Christ, with no concern for spiritual things, no love for the Word of God, no hungering for righteousness.  But because that person has made a profession of faith they are told that they are forever saved.  Yet the biblical doctrine involves the perseverance of the saints!  Those who are truly in Christ will continue on in the faith.  Those who are not truly in Christ will not have the grace to persevere, especially when times grow difficult. 

 

So, do we believe that once a person is saved he is always saved?  Yes indeed!  As long as he is first once saved, he shall surely be forever a child of God.  He has been elected before the foundation of the world by God according to His good pleasure.  He has been effectually called by the Holy Spirit so that he responds to the Word in repentance and faith in Christ.  He has been justified by faith in Christ and His atoning death.  His justification is not based on his own merit but that of Christ alone.  It is settled forever at the cross and this believer demonstrates that Christ has indeed died in his place when he turns from his sin and trusts in Jesus Christ alone for his salvation.  Now that he is justified he is being sanctified.  Those who are justified will be glorified (Rom. 8:30).  He cannot lose what God has given to him freely through Christ our Lord. 

 

So why persevere?  If we are saved forever why not just give up and live however we want to live?  If we are saved, then our natures have been changed and the way we will want to live is unto the Lord.  Perseverance demonstrates that the changes wrought in us by the Holy Spirit are genuine.  Apostatizing proves that our faith was spurious. 

 

1.  Slaves again 

 

The threat facing the Galatians was the duping which the Judaizers had put on them in thinking they needed to add something to faith alone in Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  Paul was so intent against this and saw it as such a grievous error that he said to do so would be enslavement all over again.  "How is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?  You observe days and months and seasons and years."  How can you do this?  Have you not seen that Jesus Christ is sufficient for you?  To embrace Christ plus anything is to show that you are yet a slave. 

 

The "days and months and seasons and years" involved various of the Jewish system of festivals and feasts. The days could be the Sabbath observance. The months might be the new moon rituals. The seasons could refer to annual feasts as Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.  The years could be the Year of Jubilee, the Sabbatical Year and the New Year celebration [George, NAC, 317].  All of this softened their will against the legalisms of Judaism so that they would embrace circumcision and all of the other rituals of Judaism.  The problem was that they were being taught to view these observances as a means to merit before God as if Christ and Him crucified was not adequate.  Paul says, 'You do this and you will be right back in the same slavery which you were in before'. 

 

I've noticed that historically, many of the grandest saints of God gave careful attention to their perseverance in the faith.  Though they had great confidence in the Lord, they were not presumptuous. They did not want to dishonor the Lord by proving out to be spurious. So they pressed on in the faith even to the day of their death, which oftentimes was in some violent way. 

 

So what are we to do in light of this text?  If we have cast ourselves upon Jesus Christ for our salvation, then we are to press on in the faith.  We are to find fresh motivation by reflecting upon what we were apart from Christ and the glory that we are known by God. We are not to be lazy and presumptuous. We are not to sacrifice Christ and Him crucified for some kind of new way to God or some kind of added merit before God.  For to do so would prove our faith spurious and we would find ourselves in slavery all over again. 

 

2.  False faith 

 

Perhaps this last verse of our text helps to make this clear. "I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain." What did Paul mean? He assumed that they were believers. They had professed faith in Christ. They had been baptized. They were part of the churches of the Galatian region. They had sat under the Word as Paul taught them. But if they were never sons then his labor over them was in vain. They may have had all the externals of Christianity but if they did not persevere Paul's labor was in vain and their faith was faulty from the start. The nature of their slavery would eventually prove itself out. Slaves cannot ultimately live like sons.  

 

Conclusion 

 

What does this passage put before us?  (1) We should never see how close to the "pig pen" we can live without falling in, for in doing so we may find that we still have the nature of the pig and jump right in.  (2) Many who have made professions but have borne no fruit of a Christian need to wake up and see their eternal peril.  Sons will remain sons, not slaves.  (3) As true sons, seeing where we have come from and what God has done for us in Christ ought to motivate us to press on every day in faith and obedience to the Lord, living as those who know God and are known by Him.

           

[See chapters 17 and 18 in the 1689 London Baptist Confession for an excellent summary of perseverance and assurance]

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