Explore the transformative message of Galatians 4:1-20 as Paul reveals the implications of our adoption into God’s family, moving from bondage under the law to the freedom and privileges of sonship in Christ.

The Life-Giving Truths of Adoption in Christ: Three Lessons from Paul in Galatians 4

The old saying goes, “You don’t realize what you got until it’s gone.” When we get to this passage in Galatians, in essence, that’s what the Apostle Paul is pointing out. He’s acknowledging that when you move away from the centrality of the Gospel and add something to it, ultimately, you’re losing it.

In Galatians 4:1-20, the Apostle Paul outlines several things that he wants us to behold regarding the Gospel. Let’s examine those things.

1) Behold the Implications of Your Adoption

Adoption is the language that the New Testament uses for the believer. Verses four and five declare that the purpose of the Gospel is to redeem those under the law so that we can receive God’s adoption.

The New Testament word for adoption means “to place as an adult son.” We become children of God by faith in Christ. We are born into God’s family through the new birth. But every child of God is also placed into the family as a son, and as a son, a person has all the legal rights and privileges of a son (more on why that matters shortly).

It’s easy and common to think of our salvation only in terms of the first and not the second—that is, only as the transfer from us of our sins, but not as the transfer to us of the Son’s rights and privileges. Paul wants to show the Galatians and us that not only did Christ remove the curse we deserved, but He also gave us the blessing He deserved (3:12).

“…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:5b (emphasis added)

There’s only one Son of God, Jesus Christ, but as a child of God, you, also, are a son of God. As far as one’s position is concerned, a believer is an adult son who can draw upon the Father’s wealth and exercise all the wonderful privileges of sonship. This entitles us to His heart, strength, benevolence, glory, grace, and sufficiency because He is the source.

We can exercise all of the wonderful privileges of sonship when we enter God’s family by regeneration, but we enjoy God’s family by adoption. The Christian doesn’t have to wait to begin enjoying the spiritual riches one has in Christ.

“And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” Galatians 4:6

We need to note a few things about this verse. When the Scripture says, “the spirit leads us to cry out, Abba, Father,” if we’re not careful, we can overlook some essential details.

1. The Greek word krazdon is a powerful word that means a rending, loud cry. It refers to deep and profound passion and feeling.

2. “Calls out” refers to our prayer life. Just as a child doesn’t prepare speeches to his or her parents, Christians experiencing this work of the Spirit find great spontaneity and reality in prayer. Prayer is no longer mechanical or formal but with warmth, passion, and freedom.

3. The phrase “calls out” denotes a sense of God’s real presence. Just as a child automatically calls out to his or her nearby Daddy when there’s a problem or question, Christians experiencing this work of the Spirit feel the remarkable reality of nearness to God.

4. “Abba,” which is a child-talk word meaning “Papa” or “Daddy,”—signifies confidence of love and assurance of welcome. Just as a young child assumes that a parent loves them, is there for them, and never doubts the security and openness of Daddy’s strong arms, Christians can have an overwhelming boldness and certainty of God’s love.

“If a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Galatians 4:7

The firstborn son inherited everything in biblical times, and the Apostle Paul picks up on this imagery here. Sonship means that each of us, as believers, is an heir.” Therefore, in this context, you want to be a son because, through your adoption, you inherit all that God bestows upon you through Christ.

However, men, I want to remind you that based on biblical revelation, you also want to be a bride. You want to be the bride of Christ because marriage is a picture of a deeper reality. In Ephesians 5, Paul teaches that marriage itself exists to point us to Jesus Christ and His Church, which will one day be consummated when He returns again.

We’re only a few verses in, but to summarize our passage thus far, the Apostle Paul has reminded the Galatians and us of four life-giving truths to behold:

1. Passion in one’s love relationship with God.

2. The vibrancy of the gift of your prayer is because of how approachable God is.

3. The real presence of God through the person of the Holy Spirit.

4. The confidence before God as He is “Abba, Father.”

All of this is available to the believer through the implications of your adoption in Christ.

2) Behold What We Were and What God Did

We were once children in bondage, which was the law that could not save us. The law was given to raise awareness that we cannot save ourselves and that we need a savior, Jesus Christ. When Paul wrote this, we also know that the Galatian church was in bondage because they had gone back to believing the law is the path to justification with God, which is a falsehood.

“I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his faith. In the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.” Galatians 4:1-3 (emphasis added)

When the Judaizers led the Galatians back into legalism, they were leading them not only into religious bondage but also into moral and spiritual infancy and immaturity. Legalism is not a step toward maturity but a step back into childhood.

The law was not God’s final revelation but the preparation for that final revelation in Christ. Under the law, the Judiazers were children in bondage and not sons enjoying liberty. He did not purchase us to make us slaves but to make us sons. Under the law, the Jews were mere children, but under grace, the believer is a son of God with an adult standing in God’s family.

Circling back to verses four and five, they’re very clear about what God did: He redeemed us. Look again at what Paul wrote:

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4-5

The expression “the fullness of the time” refers to when the world was providentially ready for the birth of the Savior. Christ’s birth at Bethlehem wasn’t an accident but an appointment: Jesus came in “the fullness of the time.” And it’s worth noting that He will come again when the time is ready.

We aren’t merely slaves or servants of God but sons of God. The son has the same nature as the Father, but the servant does not. The son has a Father, while the servant has a Master. The son obeys out of love, while the servant obeys out of fear. The son is rich, while the servant is poor. The son has a future, while the servant does not.

3) Behold the Gift of Persuasive Lament

This is an odd phrase, so let me explain. Much like the beginning of his letter to the Galatians, Paul uses emotion to communicate.

Before I go any further, I want to validate a Western vulnerability because many books have been written in the last decade or two warning us about the epidemic of emotion-based reasoning. If we’re not cautious, we can become victims of entertaining propaganda. That’s not my point, though. The point is that Christians value truth. The truth matters, and we see it proclaimed in Genesis through Revelation.

Let me also be clear that I’m not saying emotions don’t matter. We’re made in God’s image, and He has emotions, so we don’t want to dismiss them. However, Paul expresses emotions here, but he’s doing it for the right reasons. His display of emotions is rooted in the truth.

“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I have labored over you in vain.” Galatians 4:8-11 (emphasis added)

He’s making a point because he’s grieving. They were “dropping out” of the school of grace and enrolling in the kindergarten of law. The phrase “elementary principles of the world” tells us the extent of their regression. They were giving up the power of the Gospel for the weakness of law and the wealth of the Gospel for the poverty of law.

How were they doing this? By adopting the Old Testament system of religion with its special observances of “days and months and times and years (vs. 10).”

Does this mean it’s wrong for Christians to set aside one day a year to remember the birth of Christ? Or a special day to remember the coming of the Holy Spirit or Jesus’ resurrection? No, as long as we don’t begin to think we earn some kind of spiritual merit because we observe special days.

Context matters because Paul spoke about special religious observations rooted in the Old Testament and was part of keeping the law. He’s sharing that they’re returning to the law where Christ has already justified them!

If we enter our special days with the understanding of our liberty in Christ and let the Spirit enrich us with His grace, these observances can be a spiritual blessing. We’re not to make the outward event a substitute for the inward experience.

Paul sums this up with his love and affection for them. What we see next is Paul seeks their affection.

“Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the Gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What, then, has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.” Galatians 4:12-15

Up to this point, Paul has spent his entire letter correcting the Galatian church, even rebuking them. However, Paul is modeling how to balance a rebuke with love. The church has a responsibility to correct; however, note the spirit of love that he does it in. Paul is concerned for them because they’re being led astray by false teachers.

One of the marks of a false teacher is that he tries to attract other people’s converts to himself and not simply to the truth of the Word or the Person of Jesus Christ. This is what’s happening in Galatia. These false teachers weren’t winning lost sinners to Christ but were stealing converts from those who were truly serving the Lord. The Judaizers weren’t winning lost sinners to Christ. Instead, they were trying to win people to themselves.

Paul had “become as they were” by identifying himself with them (vs. 12). Now, they were turning away from Paul and following false shepherds.

“Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? Those people are zealous to win you over but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us so that you may be zealous for them.” Galatians 4:16-17 (ESV/NIV)

Paul told them the truth, while the Judaizers told them lies. Paul sought to glorify Christ, while the Judaizers glorified themselves and their converts.

“My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!” Galatians 4:19

The word translated as “formed” (morphoomai in Greek) in Galatians 4:19 means: “to be or become developed into something very distinctive,” as in the formation of an embryo in the womb.

The Gospel teaches that believers don’t become righteous through their own efforts, such as observing the Old Testament rules and regulations, but by the sanctifying work of the person of the Holy Spirit wed with the Word of God, living in deep community with one another. This is why in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT), Paul wrote, “And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.”

When you come to God, the Father, He looks to the Son, Jesus Christ. Why? The gift of the Father is dependent on the Son! It’s all dependent upon the gift of God’s Son through His Gospel that Jesus Christ took our sins at the cross. It’s through faith in Jesus Christ and what He’s done through His death, burial, and resurrection that you, as a believer, would bear those sins no longer.

The law cannot make you right with God. It’s only through what God did in the Son that those who put their faith in Him are redeemed, forgiven, and adopted as children of God so they can become sons of God for His glory.

TL;DR

1. Paul explains that through the Gospel, believers are adopted as God’s children, receiving all the rights and privileges of sonship.

2. Before Christ, believers were in bondage under the law. Paul contrasts this with the freedom and inheritance believers now have as adopted sons of God, emphasizing the transformative power of Christ’s redemption.

3. Paul expresses deep concern and grief over the Galatians’ return to legalism. He highlights the importance of genuine emotion rooted in truth and the need for believers to stay anchored in the Gospel rather than reverting to old, empty rituals.

4. The Galatians were being led astray by false teachers and returning to the bondage of the law. Paul rebukes this regression, urging them to embrace the liberty and maturity that come with being sons of God under grace, not children in bondage under the law.

Related Reading

There Is No Other Gospel by Rev. Paul Lawler

Empowered by Grace: Finding a Life Rooted in God’s Love by Rev. Paul Lawler

Exploring the Law In Light of the Gospel by Rev. Paul Lawler