Home -- English -- Galatians - 018 (Our adoption by God is a result of the chastening of the law, the redemption of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit in us)
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GALATIANS - I Have Been Crucified With Christ
Studies in the Letter of Paul to the Galatians
PART 3: THE LAW OF MOSES AND THE GOSPEL, THEIR INTENTION AND THEIR RESULTS (Galatians 3:1 – 4:31)
5. Our adoption by God is a result of the chastening of the law, the redemption of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit in us (Galatians 4:1-7)
GALATIANS 4:1-7
1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
The apostle summed up his distinctive teaching on salvation by grace, and showed his hearers that God’s plan of salvation came first with the law as a hammer, which broke the heads of the proud. Then, the Son of God came to release the slaves of sin from the prison of the law, to save them, and justify them freely. The Holy Spirit dwelt in the believers, and realized the salvation, which Christ accomplished on the cross.
Are you in accord with God’s plan of salvation? Did your meditation on the law lead you to brokenness of your pride? Did you make every effort to become a good man in the ways of the law, and then you failed in this strife, and recognized your unclean heart? Did the law complete its educating work in you, leading you to repentance and brokenness of the soul, or are you still unripe in faith, a slave of sins, and under the complaint of the law?
If you recognized that you are sinful, corrupt, and most unhappy, the law had reached its proper end in you; and then we bring the good news to you, and assure you, with great joy, that God sent his Son to the world, born of a woman, of the Holy Spirit, and this God who is in the form of man is the axis of history, for God himself came to us in his Son, submitted himself to the mortal body, and bore the obligations of the law, which was put for the slaves of sin, without contradicting his holiness, for he himself is the essence of the law.
Christ observed all the commandments through his love, and purchased us with his blood from the curse of law, which befell on us because of our sins. The death of the Crucified delivered you completely from the bondage of sin, and the condemnation of the law. The Son of God has paid your spiritual debts, and now you are freed from the everlasting punishment, which you deserve, not because you are rich, good, or beautiful, but because God loved you, while you were ugly and evil. He gave his only Son instead of you. God paid the price of what had been purchased for you lost sinner.
What is the divine purpose of your deliverance? No less than adopting you. Jesus made you a partner in his right of sonship that you might become by faith a legitimate son of the great God. So, do you walk as is proper for the name of your Father?
Because your heavenly Father knows that you are unable to observe his commandments of yourself, he sent his Holy Spirit, who fulfills the salvation of Christ in you. The first thing, which this divine Spirit establishes in you, is the cry: “Father”. This Spirit confirms to you that God is one hundred percent the Father, and you are his son born of the heavenly race. Thus, you can pray to God, the Father in the name of Christ, your brother, Redeemer, and Lord.
The second birth is not the end of God’s plan of salvation in you, but he raises you from the rank of slave in sin to the level of an inheritor of the glory of God. The second coming of Christ will realize in every believer a real change and fulfillment of salvation that we may rejoice with joy inexpressible. Did you deny yourself to be clothed with Christ?
PRAYER: O heavenly Father, we glorify your unique name, and thank your only Son because he delivered us from our sins, and from the yoke of the law, and the thorn of death, and poured out his Holy Spirit in us that we might believe and love as is fitting in the Lord. Since you intend to save all men, therefore we ask that many of the children of your Spirit be born to you that the world today may be filled with your name.
QUESTION:
- What are the four steps of God’s plan of salvation?