Commentary - Galatians 4:1-7

Bird's-eye view

In this magnificent passage, the Apostle Paul is driving home the absolute sea change that occurred in redemptive history with the coming of Jesus Christ. He uses a common-sense illustration from Roman law and family life to explain the difference between the old covenant and the new. Before Christ, God's people were like a minor heir, a child who is legally the owner of a vast estate but who, in his day-to-day life, lives under such strict supervision that his experience is no different from that of a slave. The law, with all its regulations, was this period of guardianship. But this arrangement was never intended to be permanent. It was a temporary measure, put in place "until the date set by the father."

The central, explosive point of the passage is that the date set by the Father has arrived. "When the fullness of the time came," God executed His plan. He sent His own Son, who entered our world, lived under the same system of rules, and did so in order to purchase our freedom. The goal was not just to release us from slavery, but to bring us into the family as fully adult sons. This new status is confirmed and experienced through the gift of the Holy Spirit, who moves us to cry out to God with the intimate and confident address of a beloved child: "Abba! Father!" The conclusion is therefore inescapable: our relationship with God is no longer that of a slave to a master, but of a son to a father. And if we are sons, we are also heirs, not because of our performance, but through the sheer, unadulterated grace of God.

Outline

Context In Galatians

This passage is the culmination of the argument Paul has been building since chapter 3. There, he established that justification has always been by faith, using Abraham as the prime example. He argued that the law, given 430 years after Abraham, did not annul the promise but served as a paidagōgos, a guardian or tutor, to lead us to Christ (Gal 3:24). Now, in chapter 4, he elaborates on what that period of tutelage was like. He is fighting tooth and nail against the Judaizers, who were insisting that Gentile believers in Galatia must be circumcised and keep the Mosaic law to be truly saved. Paul sees this not as a step up into deeper spirituality, but as a catastrophic step backward into slavery. By explaining the temporary nature of the old covenant administration, he shows that to return to its regulations is to willingly put back on the chains from which Christ has set us free. This section provides the theological foundation for the impassioned plea that will follow: "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Gal 5:1).

Key Issues

From Minority to Majority

The entire argument here hinges on the difference between being a child and being a grown son. In the ancient world, the distinction was stark. A child, even if he was the designated heir of a massive fortune, had no practical control over his life or his property. He was told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. His life was governed by others. For all practical purposes, his daily experience was indistinguishable from that of a slave. But on a day appointed by his father, everything changed. He would be formally recognized as a son, an adult, and would enter into the freedom and responsibility of his inheritance.

Paul seizes this powerful social reality and applies it to redemptive history. The old covenant was Israel's childhood. It was a necessary period of instruction and restraint. But it was never the end goal. The goal was always mature sonship. The Judaizers wanted to keep the church in a state of perpetual childhood, forever under the thumb of guardians and stewards. Paul declares that the Father's appointed day has come. In Christ, we have come of age. To go back to the regulations of the law is not a sign of piety; it is a refusal to grow up.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything,

Paul begins with a statement of fact that his readers would have immediately understood. He lays down the premise of his analogy. Consider an heir, a boy who is the legal owner of everything, the lord (kyrios) of the whole estate. Despite his lofty legal standing, his actual, lived experience is one of constraint. As long as he is a "child" (nēpios, a minor), he is under authority. He doesn't make his own schedule. He doesn't manage his own assets. His life is circumscribed by rules. In this respect, he is no different from a slave. The slave has no freedom, and neither does the minor heir. One is a slave by status, the other is a slave by circumstance. The key is that the heir's condition is temporary.

2 but he is under guardians and stewards until the date set by the father.

Here Paul specifies the nature of the child's constraint. He is subject to "guardians and stewards." Guardians were typically responsible for the child's personal well-being and character formation, while stewards managed the property and finances. The crucial phrase here is "until the date set by the father." The father, in his wisdom, determined the precise moment when the son would be ready for the responsibilities of manhood. This was not an arbitrary date; it was a pre-appointed time. This detail is essential for the theological point Paul is about to make. The entire old covenant system had a built-in expiration date, a date known and fixed by God the Father.

3 So also we, while we were children, were enslaved under the elemental things of the world.

Now comes the application. "So also we", Paul includes himself and his fellow Jews in this, "while we were children," that is, during the era of the old covenant, were in a state of bondage. He describes the restraining force as the "elemental things of the world" (stoicheia tou kosmou). This is a debated phrase, but in this context, it refers to the basic, rudimentary principles of religion as expressed in the Mosaic Law. It was the ABCs of religion, rules about clean and unclean foods, festival days, sacrifices. These things were not evil in themselves, any more than a guardian is evil. But they were elementary, worldly (in the sense of being physical and external), and they functioned as a system of enslavement, keeping God's people in a state of immaturity until the real thing came along.

4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,

This is the turning point of all history. "But..." The entire situation has now changed. The "date set by the father" has arrived, which Paul here calls "the fullness of the time." This was no accident; it was the perfect, God-ordained moment. At this moment, God intervened decisively. He "sent forth His Son." This points to the pre-existence of the Son; He was with the Father before He was sent. And how was He sent? "Born of a woman," which establishes His true humanity. He did not just appear as a man; He entered the world through the normal process of human birth. And He was "born under the Law." He placed Himself under the very system of guardianship from which He came to rescue us. He submitted to the "elemental things" in perfect obedience.

5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Here is the twofold purpose of Christ's coming. First, the negative purpose: to "redeem those who were under the Law." To redeem means to buy back, to purchase someone's freedom from slavery. Christ, by His perfect life under the law and His sacrificial death, paid the price to liberate us from the law's condemnation and its function as a slave-master. But freedom from slavery is not the final goal. The second, positive purpose is glorious: "that we might receive the adoption as sons." The Greek word is huiothesia, which means "the placing as a son." God doesn't just set us free and leave us on our own. He brings us into His family and gives us the full legal status of adult sons, with all the rights and privileges that entails.

6 And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

How do we know this new status is real? Paul says it is confirmed within us by a second "sending." Just as the Father sent the Son into the world, He now sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. This is the subjective, experiential confirmation of our objective, legal standing. The Spirit's presence is not passive; He is active. He cries out from within us. And what is the cry? "Abba! Father!" "Abba" is the Aramaic word for father, an intimate, familial term like "Daddy." It expresses not the terror of a slave before a master, or the formal respect of a subject for a king, but the warm, confident, and affectionate trust of a child with his father. This internal witness of the Spirit is the proof of our adoption.

7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

Paul draws the triumphant conclusion. The logic is airtight. Because of Christ's work and the Spirit's witness, our fundamental identity has changed. "You are no longer a slave, but a son." The old era is over. The guardianship has ended. And this new status has a direct consequence: "if a son, then an heir." Sonship and inheritance are inextricably linked. As adopted sons of God, we are now heirs to the entire estate. And this inheritance comes "through God." It is not through our law-keeping, not through our ethnic heritage, not through our own efforts. It is a gift, graciously bestowed by the Father, secured by the Son, and sealed by the Spirit.

Application

This passage confronts us with a fundamental question: are we living like sons or like slaves? It is entirely possible to be a true son of God and yet live with a slave's mentality. The slave mentality is one of fear, of trying to earn favor through performance, of being obsessed with rules and regulations as the basis of our relationship with God. The Galatians were being tempted to trade the freedom of sonship for the shackles of slavery, and we face the same temptation every day.

Do you relate to God as "Abba, Father," or as a distant, demanding taskmaster? Do you find your assurance in the finished work of Christ, or are you constantly trying to build a case for your own righteousness? The gospel declares that in Christ, the time of guardianship is over. We have been brought into the family room. We have been given the Spirit who enables us to speak to the sovereign Lord of the universe with the intimacy of a beloved child. To go back to a religion of checklists and merit-mongering is to insult the Father who set the time, the Son who bought our freedom, and the Spirit who cries "Abba" in our hearts. We must learn to live out the reality of our adoption. We are no longer slaves. We are sons. And because we are sons, we are heirs of all things. Let us, therefore, live in the glorious freedom and confidence that befits the children of God.