«Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world» (Galatians 4:3).
WE ARE CHILDREN of God through faith in Christ, born into God’s family with all rights. When sinners are saved, they are like newborn children who need to grow, but regarding their position, they are sons and daughters with all their rights. The gateway to adoption is conversion.
In the Roman Empire, children of the wealthy were cared for by slaves and were educated under the supervision of a servant. Children were not very different from the servants who cared for them. The servants received orders from the owner, and the children received orders from the servant.
Ancient religions were dying, and ancient philosophies were empty and powerless. Strange new religions were invading the Empire. Spiritual hunger reigned everywhere. God was preparing the world for the arrival of His Son.
The birth of Christ was not accidental, but was designed by God. Christ came in the «fullness of time» (Gal. 4:4), and will also come a second time at the right time (see Eph. 1:10). The Lord did not buy us through His sacrifice for us to become slaves, but to be children with all rights. The Father sent the Son, the Son died for us, and He sent us the Holy Spirit to live in us.
The contrast here is not between children and adult children, but between slaves and children (Luke 15:19). Like the prodigal son, the Galatians wanted their Father to accept them as servants, when they were really children. The son has the same nature as the father; the slave does not. Children have a father, while slaves have a master. No slave can call his master «Father.» When sinners trust in Christ, they receive the Holy Spirit who bears witness that they are God’s children.
Children obey out of love, while slaves obey out of fear. Slaves obeyed their masters through fear of punishment; vanquished soldiers obeyed their victors through fear of death; ancient civilizations obeyed their gods through fear of receiving their wrath.
Today, fear continues to mobilize many: employees who obey their bosses through fear of being dismissed, patients who obey their doctors through fear of death, and even Christians who obey God through fear of present curses and eternal punishments.
«God has two thrones. One at the top of heaven, and one in the humblest of hearts» (D. L. Moody).
He adopts us out of love, and makes us children and heirs, so that we may live through love by depending on the Lord and doing His will.
