By Kyle Beshears
Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Christian Studies, University of Mobile
True Freedom
Galatians 4:8–20
The Problem (8–11)
In the earlier passages, Paul walked through the grand narrative of God’s plan of redemption, from Abraham to Israel, from the law given through Moses to the law fulfilled in Christ. By faith in Christ, we are given a new identity as God’s adopted kids who, in their hearts, may now approach the creator and sustainer of the universe in the same way a child approaches his or her father.
What an amazing gift we have been given! Why would we want anything less?
Yet because of sin, we become distracted by the empty promise and false comfort of obedience in exchange for God’s love rather than obedience as a result of God’s love. Forgetting God, we turn to the “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world,” and in the words of C.S. Lewis, we are like an “ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.”
Only the daily reminder of the gospel will inspire us to stand up from the mud and live a grace-filled life by the sea.
The Plea (12–14)
Paul pleads with us to follow his example. He implores believers to stop relying on obedience to the law for justification because he knows where that dead-end street leads. Consider Paul’s life. He was once a devoted Pharisee trying to capture God’s attention for love and justification through meticulous attention and obedience to the law. Yet he was liberated from legalism by grace and given the task of preaching the gospel among the Gentiles.
Paul was so serious about this mission that he shed his cultural distinctive and became like them. Without compromising the gospel, Paul became as they were — to the Greek, Paul became a Greek (1 Cor. 9:20) — so that culture could not stand in the way of his mission to bring the gospel to the Gentiles.
What cultural practices and preferences are we willing to surrender for the sake of the gospel?
The Passion (15–20)
Paul reminds his readers about their former love and dedication to him. Sadly, they later withdrew that devotion to Paul, who brought them a message of liberation, and gave it to false apostles, who brought them a message of bondage. What a terrible exchange! It may not have been what they wanted to hear, but Paul loved the churches in Galatia so much that he was willing to tell them a hard truth — they were swindled by liars.
There is a powerful lesson for evangelism and discipleship in Paul’s example. First, believers must know that speaking truth related to the gospel is offensive. The gospel is a message that calls people to repentance, humility and Christ-like living. It is an offensive message, but therein lies its power (John 15:18–21; 1 Cor. 1:23–25; Gal. 5:11–12).
Believers should not be the source of offense. In fact, we ought to always present the gospel in gentleness and respect, in a spirit of love and passion like Paul.
Are we willing to be the deliverers of an offensive message for the sake of salvation? Are we willing to receive an offensive message for the same reason?
While at times we must be like Paul, bringing an offensive message, we must also be the kind of people who are willing to receive an offensive message. We must be humble enough to receive rebuke when concerned brothers and sisters in the faith point out when we have been swindled to believe a false gospel.
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