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Commentary on "From Slaves to Heirs"
Day 3: Monday, November 14, 2011 - Enslaved to Elementary Principles
Overview
Gal 4:1-3 (and following) examines the role of the Law for the believer drawing on a comparison to an heir who is a minor with an appointed guardian contrasted with the grown child.
Observations
The lesson begins with a reasonable explanation of the nature of the guardianship over the minor heir. The descriptions contained in the lesson do a nice job of helping people to understand the context.
Unfortunately the good foundation that is laid in the opening two paragraphs is quickly undone with a leading question that directs people away from the context of the verse. Specifically, the lesson states:
Read Galatians 4:1–3. What is Paul saying there that, again, should help clarify what the role of the law should be in our lives, now that we are in Christ?
It becomes clear just how misleading this question is when you read a couple of verses ahead of what is covered in today's material. The lesson, and particularly this question, is setting you up to conclude that you are a child in Christ that still may need oversight. But the message of this passage is, in reality, quite different. The "child" in this analogy are God's people before the coming of Christ. In verse 2 Paul speaks of being "under guardians and managers until the date set by his father". The guardians and managers that God's people were under is the Law. The phrase "until the date set by his father" corresponds directly to verse 4 "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son". So what Paul describes here in this analogy, that God's people were placed under the Law until Christ repeats through analogy what Paul stated directly in Gal 3:19 "Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made" and Gal 3:24 "So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came". Paul is presenting the same truth with multiple descriptions to help make it clear.
The only reason that the meaning of the phrase "elementary principles" found in verse 3 would be disputed is that some do not like the conclusion that must be reached if you allow Paul to explain what he means from the surrounding verses. The lesson comes closer to the contextual truth than I would have expected when it calls these the "rudimentary principles of religious life". But instead of accepting that the Law is an indivisible whole, as Paul teaches in Gal 3:10 and 5:3, the author of the lesson incorrectly inserts the concept of "ceremonial" laws. There is no Scriptural basis for splitting the law apart into ceremonial, moral, and civil laws. Historically, this splitting of the Law wasn't seen until centuries after the time of Christ. Without historical or Scriptural evidence that this concept was ever present during or before the time of Paul's writings how can it be so readily accepted?
Setting aside the problems with the entire concept of ceremonial laws, the literary context of Galatians argues against the idea. The notion that Paul is discussing "ceremonial" laws doesn't fit the other descriptions of the law in the surrounding verses. In verses 4b-5a Paul states that Jesus was "born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law". Is anyone going to contend that people needed to be redeemed from just the ceremonial law? That makes no sense. Understand that this passage is a continuation of the discussion of the role of the law that began at the start of Chapter 3. Is there any curse associated with the ceremonial law from which we need to be redeemed (3:13)? The obvious answer from the surrounding Scripture is that the Law is more than just the ceremonial elements.
The lesson makes a really great concluding remark. "To regulate one’s life around these rules instead of Christ is like wanting to go back in time. For the Galatians to return to those basic elements after Christ had already come was like the adult son in Paul’s analogy wanting to be a minor again!" If you combine the truth expressed in this conclusion with the understanding that the Law is a whole, not just a set of ceremonies, you are understanding Paul's comments quite well.
The lesson ends with another question that directs people away from the actual content of the passage. Nothing in this passage discusses, or even hints at, the topics of childlike faith and spiritual maturity. It actually appears that these concepts may have been inserted to reinforce the false notion that the child discussed in the passage is describing a believer and the relationship between the child and the law describes the role the law should have in our own lives (similar to the misdirection found in the first question of this lesson).
Summary
The quarterly lesson does not allow the surrounding Scripture to define what the passages mean. Instead of relying on Scripture to interpret Scripture, the lesson inserts leading questions that direct the unsuspecting reader away from the contextual understanding of the passage. Take the time to evaluate the surrounding context and see how consistently Paul presents the same truth over and over again using different comparisons.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised November 2, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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