Question 1

What does it mean that the heir is like a servant until the appointed time?

Accepted Answer

Paul uses the picture of a child who is an heir but still under tutors and guardians. Even though he owns everything by right, he does not yet enjoy the full freedom of that position. In the same way, God’s people before Christ were under the law. The law watched over them and taught them, but it also kept them in a kind of bondage. They were children of God, but their situation was like servants until the time the Father had set for full maturity, which came with Christ.

Question 2

What is the meaning of God sending his Son in the fulness of time?

Accepted Answer

“The fulness of time” means the moment God had planned and prepared for, when everything was ready for Christ to come. At that time, God sent his eternal Son into the world, born of a woman and placed under the law. Jesus shared our human life and fully kept the law for us. He came at that exact time to redeem those under the law, taking away the curse and bringing people into the new place of adopted sons and daughters in God’s family.

Question 3

Why does Paul say believers cry, Abba, Father?

Accepted Answer

Paul says that because believers are sons, God sends the Spirit of his Son into their hearts. This Spirit leads them to cry, “Abba, Father,” which is a warm, close way of speaking to God. It shows that their relationship to God is no longer like slaves who fear a master, but like children who know they are loved. This inner cry is a sign that they really belong to God, that they are no longer servants but sons, and, as sons, heirs of God through Christ.

Question 4

What are the weak and beggarly elements Paul warns about?

Accepted Answer

The “weak and beggarly elements” are the basic outward rules and ceremonies the Galatians wanted to go back to, such as observing special days, months, seasons, and years. These things were part of a former way of serving God that pointed ahead to Christ but did not have power to save or change the heart. Paul is shocked that, after knowing God and being known by him, they would trade the rich freedom of being God’s children for a poor and powerless kind of religious slavery.

Question 5

Why does Paul remind the Galatians of how they first received him?

Accepted Answer

Paul brings up their first warm welcome to show how far they have moved. When he first came, he was weak and had some bodily trouble, yet they did not despise him. Instead, they received him as if he were an angel of God, even as Christ himself. They would have given him their own eyes if they could. By reminding them of this, Paul wants them to see that the problem is not personal hurt, but their turning from the truth. He asks if telling them the truth now makes him their enemy.

Question 6

What does Paul mean by the allegory of Hagar and Sarah?

Accepted Answer

Paul uses the story of Abraham’s two sons as a picture. The son by Hagar, the slave woman, was born in the ordinary way and represents the covenant from Mount Sinai, linked with the present Jerusalem, which leads to bondage. The son by Sarah, the free woman, was born by God’s promise and represents the covenant of grace and the Jerusalem above, which is free. Those who depend on law are like children of the slave; those who trust God’s promise in Christ are like Isaac, children of promise and heirs.

Question 7

Who are the children of promise in this passage?

Accepted Answer

The children of promise are those who, like Isaac, come into God’s family by his promise, not by their own effort. Paul says, “we, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” This includes all who trust in Christ, both Jews and Gentiles. Their place with God does not rest on keeping the law or on birth, but on God’s gracious promise fulfilled in Jesus. As children of promise, they belong to the free woman, linked with the Jerusalem above, and they will share the full inheritance with Christ.

Question 8

Why does Paul quote, Cast out the bondwoman and her son?

Accepted Answer

Paul recalls the words spoken about Hagar and Ishmael to show that the child of the slave would not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman. He applies this to the issue of law and grace. Those who cling to the law for their standing with God place themselves in the line of the bondwoman, a way that leads to being shut out from the inheritance. Those who rest in God’s promise in Christ are the true heirs. So he concludes that believers are not children of the slave, but of the free.

Question 9

How does this passage warn against going back to legalism today?

Accepted Answer

Paul’s warning speaks to anyone tempted to add religious rules as a way to earn God’s favour. The Galatians began by trusting Christ alone and enjoying the freedom of sons, but then started to rely on special days and other outward practices. Paul says going back to such things as a ground of acceptance is like returning to slavery after being adopted. Today, this calls believers to hold firmly to grace, to remember they are God’s children through Christ, and to resist any teaching that makes them slaves again.

Galatians 4:1

Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

Sons and Heirs

Paul’s Concern for the Galatians

Hagar and Sarah

Sons and Heirs

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Galatians 4:1

Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

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Sons and Heirs

Paul’s Concern for the Galatians

Hagar and Sarah

Sons and Heirs

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