GALATIANS 4:3—9 :: TO REDEEM: HOW GOD MAKES HEIRS OUT OF HIS CHILDREN

A. ³ Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage (douloō)

B. under the elements (stoicheion) of the world.

C. ⁴ But when the fullness of the time had come,

D. God sent forth (exapostellō)

E. His Son (uihos),

F. born of a woman,

G. born under the law (hupo nomos),

X. ⁵ to redeem

G. those who were under the law (hupo nomos),

F. that we might receive the adoption

E. as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons (uihos),

D. God has sent forth (exapostellō) the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

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

B. ⁸ But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. ⁹ But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements (stoicheion),

A. to which you desire again to be in bondage (douleuō)?

Two Interesting Chiasmi: St. Mark and Galatians

MARK 5:2—6: Jesus vs. Legion

A.        And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat,

immediately there met him out of the tombs

a man with an unclean spirit. 

B.        He lived among the tombs.

C.        And no one could bind him anymore,

not even with a chain,

D.        for he had often been bound with shackles

E.         and chains,

E.         but he wrenched the chains apart,

D.        and he broke the shackles in pieces.

C.        No one had the strength to subdue him. 

B.         Night and day among the tombs

and on the mountains he was always

crying out and cutting himself with stones. 

A.         And when he saw Jesus from afar,

he ran and fell down before him.

GALATIANS 2:16: Sola Fides

A.        we know that a (Gentile) person is not justified

B.        by works of the law but

C.        through faithfulness of Jesus Christ, so

D.        we (Jews) also have believed in Christ Jesus,

C.        in order to be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and

not by works of the law, because

B.         by works of the law

A.         no one (Jew or Gentile) will be justified.

Bishop R. D. Campbell on the Law-Gospel Distinction

Bishop R. Dennis Campbell with the AOC has a clear and concise explanation of the purpose of the Law, and the redemptive-historical relation between Law and Gospel as set forth in Galatians.  Below is the first paragraph of his insightful commentary for Monday’s BCP lectionary reading from Galatians 3:19—29.  It is soundly anchored in the traditional Reformed understanding, while being nuanced and articulated in creative ways.

“Galatians 3:19 opens with an important question; what is the purpose of the law of God?  Of course God's law has many purposes.  The moral law, summarised in the Ten Commandments and the teaching of Christ, reveals the absolute perfection of God.  It reveals the will of God for all mankind in everyday life.  It shows mankind how to live in harmony with God and each other, thus it shows the way of peace and happiness (Ps. 19:7-14).  The ceremonial law reveals that those who break the moral law are unacceptable to God unless something is done, apart from the moral law, to make them acceptable.  The law shows, then, that, by our own actions, we are unclean and unfit for any kind of fellowship with God, and that we need to be made clean by something outside of the moral law, or we will remain forever unacceptable to God.” Continue reading here.