Paul’s Fear and Sorrow over the Galatians turning
from the Freedom of the Gospel
Galatians
4:8-11 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by
nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known
of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye
desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and
years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. KJV Paul’s great concern for these Galatian’s spiritual condition or well-being prompts him to bring back to their memory the brutal bondage and slavery they were under when they worshipped false gods. The exact nature of their previous worship is unclear, but it is clear that the false or idol worship produced a slavish form of fear in these Galatians and this is because a false god or idol is nothing but demon worship as Paul wrote warning the Corinthian believers in this manner, “What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.” (1 Corinthians 10:19-20). Paul knew that these Galatians (in their past before he brought the Gospel to them) were under an even worse form of bondage and slavery than the Jews were because these Galatians were worshipping demons and not the One True God Jesus Christ.
Therefore, Paul has great sorrow over what he sees them turning to now and even fear for them, because they should recall what it was like for them in their slavish idol worship and never what to be bound under any rigorous ritualistic system ever again. Paul cannot fathom what would make them turn away from all of their great rites and the privilege as adopted “sons of God” to what he categorizes the Mosaic Law as “weak” and “beggarly”. The English word “weak” is translated from the Greek word asthenes used here as a negative particle meaning morally strength less, ineffective, useless, lacking power or ability. The English word “beggarly” is translated by the Greek word ptochos which means a crawling, cowering, and cringing beggar totally submissive; a poor pauper needing help from others to survive or live; denoting public solicitation for money. Paul’s expresses his sorrow and fear over these Galatians in the most direct manner in order to awaken them to the utter poverty they have turn to, leaving all the riches and splendor, and freedom that is found solely and only in pure and simple “faith in Christ” without adding anything, even the vailed appearance offered by the observance of the Mosaic Law. Paul wants them to know that only “in Christ” as God the Father’s adopted sons is there freedom from the pollution of the “old nature” and all of the corruption of sin that flows from it.
The observance of the Mosaic Law has the appearance of making one “spiritual”, but it is completely powerless to do so as Paul wrote in this manner to the Colossian believers, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” (Colossians 2:16-23).
It is certain that Paul was not against any of these Jewish observances because they were given to the Jew by God the Father and are in themselves good, but Paul was against them being led astray by the Judiazers who declared that these observances were required for salvation. Paul being a Jew before his conversion to Christ and after his conversion to Christ himself continued to observe some of these feast days as documented for us by Dr. Luke here, “And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not; But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.” (Acts 18:19-21). Paul did not keep certain feast days in order to be saved or even to become more “spiritual”, but it simply pleased or satisfied him to do so, as well as gave him an opportunity to share the Gospel. This is what he wants the Galatians to see from the example of his own life and why he says he fears for them because he saw them turning from the simplicity and single-mindedness of the Gospel to these Jewish Ceremonial Laws thinking that they would make them grow spiritually. Paul yearns for them to heed the words that he wrote to the Ephesian believers when he said, “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:14-16).
My own Personal Note: Paul’s fear for these Galatians was akin to or similar in quality or character of a loving earthly Father fearful of his son playing in the street being hit by a passing automobile and so out of love the Father commands the son out of the street back into the safety of the yard, and here Paul is likewise (in his letter) commanding, demanding, exhorting, and imploring these Galatians to come back from the danger of playing in the street of observance of the Mosaic Law and return to the safety of the yard of intimate fellowship and communion with Christ Jesus our Lord as our Lord Jesus prayed with these words, “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” (John 17:13-17).
“It is possible for those who have made great professions of religion to be afterwards drawn into very great defections from the purity and simplicity of it, for this was the case of these Christians. And, The more mercy God has shown to any, in bringing them into an acquaintance with the Gospel, and the liberties and privileges of it, the greater are their sin and folly in suffering themselves to be deprived of them; for this the Apostle lays a special stress upon, that after they had known God, or rather were known of Him, they desired to be in bondage under the weak and beggarly elements of the law.” Matthew Henry
“Ye observe (paratereo) The word denotes careful, scrupulous observance, an intent watching lest any of the prescribed seasons should be overlooked. A merely legal or ritual religion always develops such scrupulousness.” Vincent’s Word Studies
“But Paul’s readers had ‘come to know God.’ They had touched the great Reality. The phantoms had vanished; the Living One stood before them. His glory shone into their hearts ‘in the face of Jesus Christ.’ This, whenever it takes place, is for any man the crisis of his life-when he comes to know God, when the God-consciousness is born in him. Like the dawn of self-consciousness, it may be gradual. There are those, the happy few, who were ‘born again’ so soon as they were born to thought and choice; they cannot remember a time when they did not love God, when they were not sensible of being ‘known of Him.’ But with others, as with Paul, the revelation was made at an instant, coming like a lightning-flash at midnight. But unlike the lightning it remained. Let the manifestation of God come how or when it may, it is decisive. The man into whose soul the Almighty has spoken His I Am, can never be the same afterwards. He may forget; he may deny it: but he has known God; he has seen the Light of Life. If he returns to darkness, his darkness is blacker and guiltier than before. On his brow there rests in all its sadness ‘Sorrow’s crown of sorrow, remembering happier things.’” Expositor’s Bible Commentary
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely in Christ,
Clifford D. Tate, Sr.
Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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