Sermon Tone Analysis

Context

In Galatians 3, Paul explained that God gave Abraham a promise to bless all the families of the earth though his offspring.

His offspring centered on Jesus, but it also pointed to all who would place the same kind of faith as Abraham did in Jesus.

The church today is the offspring of Abraham because of our union to Christ.

In chapter 3, Paul also explained that God gave Moses the law, which did not annul the promise He made to Abraham, but made it clear that the promise is for those who would come to Him in faith through Christ.

The law makes it clear that it is impossible to receive the promise by means of our own effort.

We now go into chapter 4, and while Paul continues to contrast man’s condition under the law with his condition under Christ, he uses the idea of adoption to help us to see the value of what the people of God have in Christ.

Do we really know, understsnd, appreciate and value what we have in the promises of God in Christ?

It is my aim to help us to see this value more clearly as we consider this text today.

Introduction

We don’t know what we have until it’s gone.

Another phrase that sends basically the same message is absence makes the heart grow fonder.

What’s the message?

The absence of something or someone that we may have taken for granted helps us to see how much we value that thing or that person.

This is often the case in our relationships.

We may take the presence of our parents for granted, or a sibling or a friend, but when they are absent from our lives, we no longer take their presence for granted and our missing them is evidence of how much we truly valued their presence in our lives.

In this case absence clarifies the value of our treasured relationships.

In our text today, the value of what God’s people have in Christ will be clarified.

Just like the absence of someone we love and care can help us see the value we have for that person more clearly, what Paul will discuss, I think, will help us to see the value of our salvation more clearly.

This is important because

FCF: The value of God’s salvation is often lost on those whom He saves.

Main Idea

The value of our salvation is clarified by God’s adoption of us

Main Question

What do God’s people have in His adoption of them?

Freedom (1-3)

I mean or What I mean: shows a shift to a different analogy.

In 3:22-26 Paul used a prison analogy to describe the previous period of spiritual immaturity and the new life of full-grown freedom.

He goes from comparing the law to a prison warden and a slave attendant to in chapter 4, guardians and trustees.

Paul highlights the freedom Christians have been granted by God by describing the bondage they were under in their spiritual infancy, so

AQ: From what have God’s adopted children been freed?

Spiritual Blindness (1-2)

Paul’s analogy references something familiar to his audience - an heir

The heir, though possesses an inheritance, as long as he is a child (infant legally), has no legal claim to the inheritance.

I this way, the heir is no different than a slave.

That they both have no claim to the wealth is what they have in common

But to be clear, the major difference between the salve and the heir, as the end of v. 1 says, though he is the owner of everything.

Until the time comes, the heir is under guardians and managers

I suggest this is a reference to the relationship people who are not yet in Christ have to the law.

This really is a restatement of 3:23

We were blind to our spiritual need and solution, but God’s people are freed from this blindness, notice the end of v. 2: until the date set by the Father.

We will go more into this date set by the Father in a few moments, but we must recognize something here.

This is fundamental to our adoption by God.

God is the actor.

He determines how and when.

He’s in control.

In other words, no one can do anything to gain spiritual sight.

God grants it, people receive it.

And related to the spiritual blindness from which God’s adopted children have been freed is:

Spiritual Slavery (3)

Notice how v. 3 begins: in the same way we also.... Paul is comparing the Galatians with the heir discussed in vss 1-2.

Paul is saying that when the Galatians were spiritual infants, that is children, they were just like the heir who had an inheritance but no legal claim to it.

And he describes this condition in v. 3 as being enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.

So now, a more sinister shadow is cast.

The guardians and tutors in v. 2 are pictured as those in charge of the child heir as controllers of sorts.

But now, they are being compared to the elementary principles of the world.

I want to remind us what we suggested what Paul meant in 3:23, where he said, ....under the law, we were imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

Imprisoned carries both the idea of protection and judgement.

The law, in other words, protects people from themselves by making clear that obeying it to gain God’s grace is a futile, and always will be a futile effort.

It makes clear, though many suppress this reality, that we need God, and we can’t gain His favor by obeying the law or by ignoring it.

In this way, the law protects people.

But it also holds us captive to our sin.

We care shackled and condemned by our sin, and unless we are freed, we will remain bound.

And what I suggest the phrase elementary principles of the world is referring to is this slavery.

We are shut up in our sin unable to do anything about it.

It’s important to keep in mind that Paul began this chapter with the heir imagery.

This is what all Christians are.

Heirs.

But until God intervenes in our lives through Jesus, we are enslaved in our sin, and the law is a certain judgement against this truth.

But God did intervene.

God did, at just the right time, sent our Redeemer.

And because the Redeemer came, those who were once like slaves are now members of God’s royal family.

This is what God’s people have in their adoption

Family (4-5)

I want us to see this clearly.

There is an action in v. 4 and the result of that action is stated at the end of v. 5

The action: God sent forth His Son (4)

The result: that we might receive adoption as sons (5)

AQ: But what made this result possible.

It started with God sending the Son, but what did the Son’s coming display about God’s adoption of His children?

It was carried out in God’s timing (4a)

We could think of the 1st half of v. 4 as a question and answer

Q: When did God send forth His Son?

A: When the fulness of time had come.

Of course, that answer may not be particularly helpful because we need to understand what Paul means by the fulness of time.

In the immediate context, the fullness of time corresponds to the date set by the father in v. 2

But, as we have noted just last week, what helps us best to understand Scripture is Scripture, so based on Scripture, here’s what I suggest the fullness of time is referencing:

When Christ came.

Look at what 3:24 says

Galatians 3:24 (ESV)

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

The coming of Christ, that is, His incarnation is when the fullness of time came.

But the fullness of time is also referencing when God’s people place their faith in Christ.

In order for this to be so of course, Jesus had to come.

But now that He came, the fullness of time comes to full fruition when His people believe.

Remember what Paul said in 3:23, 25:

Galatians 3:23–25 (ESV)

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.....

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

As God’s people place their faith in Christ, the fullness of time comes to full fruition.