Adults with Diapers: Galatians 3:15-4:7

Would you agree, that if I said the church is “growing” you would assume it means its getting larger? More people at service? More worship services? More campuses?

• Paul doesn’t define “church growth” by the size of the church, but by the size of their faith
  • To Paul, church growth doesn’t mean the church growing in number but the church growing in faith, hope, love, and joy
  • As believers grow in faith, hope, love, and joy, so too will the numbers grow because the church becomes attractive

*To Paul, the believer and the hope they possess is what made the church attractive. Now, the believer is not as attractive so we make church service attractive

*Thus, the goal of the church should be focused on growing believers, not growing numbers. When one focuses on growing numbers, then the believers often don’t grow (e.g. Seeker church)

What hinders genuine growth?

• Division
• Immaturity
• Unwillingness
• Pride
• Comfortable

*God will enact many things for certain seasons of your life, but your not always meant to stay there….the problem is…many believers stay where God put them years ago because they refuse to grow further

*Immaturity divides. The more mature, the more united the church

¹⁵ Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. ¹⁶ The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”^[i] meaning one person, who is Christ. 

• Paul clarifies that the promise was made to a singular “seed,” not multiple seeds
  • I.e., the promise made was made for Christ (Christ would inherit the world, Christ would be a light to the nations, Christ would bless all nations)
  • Thus, it is through one seed the inheritance comes, and therefore one family…not two
  • Therefore, access to the promised inheritance comes through our pristis with Jesus’ pristis, not our association with the Law
  • Our “identifier” or our “mark” that we belong to Jesus, and therefore, receive the inheritance, is reception of the Holy Spirit and not circumcision

¹⁷ What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

• Simply, God made the promise for Christ’s inheritance before the Law, so the Law could never replace the promise, but act as a function within it

Why Torah?

Simple Explanation: The role of Torah was to keep Israel from drifting to far into sin (like the gentiles) until the faithfulness of Christ was revealed. Like a rocket booster, it was not a bad thing or something you wish you never had, but once the job’s done it is released because it is no longer needed.

*Paul finds it important for the Galatian church to know the role Torah plays, not because they were ever under it, but because they are now being invited to come under it

¹⁹ Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. ²⁰ A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one

• Basically, Moses and the Law was never meant to bring Jews and gentiles into one family, but rather, was meant to keep them at a distant until Christ was revealed
• Jesus was the One, the promise of Abraham, who would unite Jew and gentile

.²¹ Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. ²² But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

• Imagine a reality that you could justify yourself before God
  • Say you only had to follow one command, most could probably do it
  • Paul says, however, that scripture locked up everything under the control of sin
  • The problem with Torah isn’t Torah, rather the material Torah has to work on

*The Law was never meant to justify you, rather, it was always supposed to be Jesus, The Elect of God. God was pre-emptive and proactive in your salvation from the beginning of time, not surprised and reactive

²³ Before the coming of this faith,^[j] 

• That is, the coming of Christ’s faithfulness

we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

• The word of for guardian is the word “Paida-gogos”
  • This word is the formal title for a slave who would watch over the children of master’s family- an indentured babysitter
  • They were responsible for ensuring that they did all they were supposed to and stayed on track
    • Pay attention at school and do homework
    • Don’t do anything dangerous or stupid

*Paul says that the Law was like a slave who kept watch over you until Christ came to justify you through His faithfulness. Now that he has come, the slave does not need to guard you anymore

²⁶ So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

• If you belong to Jesus, then you belong to His family
• We then, do not follow the identifications of the world but the identifications of God’s promise- co-heirs to the heritance of Christ’s promise

 ²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.4 What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 

• An heir, for a time, was a child that should grow into maturity and take over the inheritance
• Until he matures, however, he practically has the same rights as a slave, and if he never matures, he will always be like a slave despite owning the inheritance
• To stay in the law means you desire to keep the babysitter and be treated as a slave

*Paul’s beef is this, that a young gentile church is in need of maturing, and a group of seemingly more immature Jewish teachers (those who want to keep the babysitter) is trying to bring the Galatians (adults in the reception of Christ) into further immaturity

² The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. ³ So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces^[a] of the world.

• Greek word for “elemental” is Stoi-kia
  • Philo, in “On Contemplation 3” emphasizes the Stoi-kia
    • Stoi-kia was the elevation of natural things and its associations to divine gods (i.e. it was not simply idols of wood or stone represented gods, but possessed them) and their balance with us
  • Greek medicine as identified by Galen and others, treats the Stoi-kia as a medical approach
    • The Stoi-kia was the balance of earth, air, water, and fire within the body, and illness was an imbalance of the stoi-kia

*So here, Paul implicitly provides a medical diagnosis.: Human beings, in general, are morally sick. The rival teachers are telling the Galatian church that they need a babysitter (Torah) to bring them into good health (stoi-kia balance). Paul says, the Torah was only keeping the sickness at bay and Christ has resolved it at its root!

*Simply, the prime role of the babysitter was to keep Israel from playing with idols

 ⁴ But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.^[b] 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,^[c] Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

• Simply, you’ve received Jesus so you are an adult, you don’t need a babysitter. Live free in the inheritance of your promise

If your living with a babysitter, then:

1. You are immature in your for Christ
   1. You depend on rules, not love to govern your behavior
2. You are hindering your in Christ
   1. I can’t mature into a marriage if I still sleep with diapers on
3. You are keeping yourself from the freedom in Christ
   1. Example: San Francisco trip with my wife
4. You are kept from fully engaging with your
   1. I don’t need engagement with the Spirit if I simply memorize rules
   2. As good as your pastor may be, you have the down-payment of the inheritance, the Holy Spirit within you

Questions for Guided Discussion

1. Think about seasons you’ve experienced substantial growth in your faith. What were the elements that grew you? Were you comfortable and confident in that season? Were you serving? Were you happy or hurting? Discuss.
2. Paul believed that the model for church growth depended on the growth of the individual believers within the church. That is, the believers is what made the collective church attractive; not that the church was attractive to the believer. If the entire church was a reflection of your spiritual walk, what kind of church would it be? Would it be a praying church? A biblically literate church? A serving church? A loving and generous church?
3. What are some examples when you’ve held onto things longer than you should have? Examples of things that was good for its time, but hindered personal or even corporate church growth out of failure to let go?
4. In 3:16, Paul states that the promise to Abraham was a promise of inheritance to his “seed” who was Christ. In 3:21-22, Paul states that the Law nor any other means was meant to justify you before God, rather, it was ALWAYS meant to be Jesus who justified you i.e. YOU WERE NEVER CHOSEN OR EXPECTED TO JUSTIFY YOURSELF. If this is true, how does that change the way we worship, live, and share the gospel?
5. In 3:24, Paul says the law (Torah) acted as an indentured babysitter for us until the maturing of the Messiah was revealed. What are some modern examples of things that act as a babysitter that keep us from fully maturing in Christ? What rules do we enforce on ourselves or others to babysit us?
6. In 4:1-3, Paul says that underage heirs lived no better than slaves despite owning everything. Likewise, we often chain ourselves into slavery and do not live to the full freedom of maturity despite being co-heirs with Christ.

Ultimate Question: Do you have babysitters? If so, that means you either have not matured in love for Christ, are not living as free as you can in Christ, are holding onto things that hinder your growth in Christ, or keeps you from fully engaging with Spirit of Christ