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Skip Heitzig: In our culture, there is no real, "Okay, this is the ceremony you go through. You're going to work up toward this, and now you're a son or a daughter of the commandment. Now we're going to treat you differently. Now your responsibility is different." We just don't have that. It's very nebulous. It's very ambiguous.

I applaud my son and daughter-in-law who, when Seth, my grandson, got to be a certain age, we went out and he had to go pass several tests out in the wild with some of his friends from his connect group speaking into his life, including myself speaking into his life and giving him challenges. Then around the campfire, we conferred this coming of age upon him. That was just standard fare in an ancient culture.

Back to verse one of chapter four. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child—and the word here means a very young child—does not differ at all from a slave, though he is the master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. By the way, when is that time? Well, it varies from culture to culture, and I often get asked what's the age of accountability. Of course, I think it depends on the person and the circumstances and the situation.

I'm going to throw you a curveball. If you went to Jerusalem today and went to Mea Shearim, the very ultra-orthodox section of Jerusalem, and you would say, "When do you consider someone an adult?" it wouldn't be thirteen like the Bar Mitzvah. That just means you're a child, a son or daughter of the commandment, the covenant. You are regarded as an adult in an orthodox Jewish community at age forty. That's not in view here, I just wanted to throw you a curveball.

Even so we, verse three, even so we—and I think he is speaking here, we Jewish people. He's writing to Gentiles in Galatia, but since they have been influenced by Judaizers, he is now speaking as a Jewish person. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.

Let's say a child is born into a wealthy home. That's what's in view here. He's an heir, it says in verse one. The heir, as long as he is a child, doesn't differ at all from a slave, even though he's the master of all. So you have a son born into a wealthy household. Essentially, he's the master of everything in that household. One day he will be the inheritor of it all.

That doesn't mean that as a child he can go cut a check or spend any of it or enjoy any of it. He has to wait until he is of full age, and that age is determined by his dad, by his father. He is the one who will inherit all that wealth, but when he's a very young child, there's really not much of a difference between that child and a household slave, both under the control of the father or the master of that household.

He explains further in verse two. He's under guardians, stewards, money managers, babysitters, tutors until the time appointed by his father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. He's describing life under the law. We were under the law. We didn't have the freedom of enjoyment of the inheritance of God. It was all about do this, don't do that.

Notice the little phrase in verse three, "the elements of the world." It means the basic principles, better translated, the ABCs. We were little kids under the ABCs of the law of Moses. So Israel, the nation of Israel, the Jewish nation, had been in kindergarten for fifteen centuries. As long as the law of Moses, that religious system was in view, in place, in action, they were like children under that bondage of what they can and can't do until the seed came, Christ came, and now there's no longer a need for that.

Verse four is one of my favorite verses in the New Testament. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. Just like a father in a Greek, Roman, or Jewish household determines what the right time is for that child to be presented as an adult, so God the Father at just the right time sent His Son into this world on a rescue mission, which would effectively end the law.

I say it's one of my favorite verses. Back in 2012, I did a mini-series around Christmas, three weeks in a row based solely on verse four. A three-part series all based on verse four because there's just so much there. Let me just sum this up. God sent His Son in the fullness of the time. Have you ever wondered why did God send Jesus 2000 years ago? Why didn't He send Him earlier or later, like recent times? Why was that time so special?

According to the scripture, it was the perfect time. It was the fullness of the time. It was the time to end the covenant with Moses and begin the new covenant. Something else, I think it was the right time not just spiritually, it was the right time politically. It was the right time culturally. Let me explain. At the time of the New Testament, when the New Testament was written, the Lingua Franca, the universal language, was Greek.

That's huge. That's important. That was Alexander the Great's dream, to make the world a Greek-speaking world, and he effectively did it. So at the time of the New Testament, a language was provided that is the most exact human language that we have in terms of tenses, in terms of exact meaning, far more so than any other ancient or modern language. It's really an amazing language covenant or pact that God gave or that was invented on Earth.

Wherever you went 2000 years ago, whether you were in England, Great Britain, or India, you could speak a common language. Alexander the Great and his people after him effected that. That was the right time. Now you have a language that you can have the New Testament written in precisely and everybody in the world can understand it. Also, Rome controlled the world, had taken it over, ruled it.

They brought in the Pax Romana, 200 years of relative enforced peace. You could travel the world. By the way, they developed a road system. 250,000 miles of roads were put in place over 2000 years ago by the Romans. 50,000 of those miles were paved roads. Many are still in existence today. They pave a road here in Albuquerque and in a couple of years, it's just beat up. Roman roads, they last a couple of millennia and they're still going strong.

Now you can travel the world, traverse the world quite easily and safely because of the Roman centuries placed at posts along the way, and speak a common language. Not only that, but there was a Messianic fervor like never before in Jewish history where they longed for the coming deliverer. It was just the perfect time. When the fullness of the time had come, notice how it's written. It's very precise here.

God sent forth His Son. It doesn't say when the fullness of the time had come, Jesus was born. It says when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son. The way that is worded speaks of the pre-existence of Jesus Christ. He was already with the Father. Think of this. Jesus was the only person in history who lived before He was born. He existed in the presence of the Father, and at just the right time, His Father dispatched Him to the Earth on a rescue mission.

Then He was born, but He already existed. When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed to His Father in John 17. He said, "Father, restore the glory that I had with You before the world was." Isaiah hints at this. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. So God gave His Son who existed already in His presence to the world in the birth of Jesus Christ. There was a birth and it was at that birth when His Son was given. When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman—the virgin birth, the humanity of Jesus—born under the law. Like every other Jewish male, Jesus was subject to the law. Unlike every other Jewish male, He perfectly kept the law. He was perfect. He was sinless.

Guest (Female): You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Every day, the generosity of friends like you helps reach more people with clear, practical Bible teaching, changing lives as they discover who God really is. This month, we want to thank you with a powerful resource bundle designed to help you know God more deeply and walk in the freedom He offers.

It features Skip's book, Biography of God, a thoughtful, approachable look at God's character, His attributes, and the hope we gain when we understand who He truly is. You'll also receive Skip's six-message CD series, Expound Galatians, a verse-by-verse journey through Paul's call to spiritual freedom, freedom from legalism, shame, and striving. We'll send you both resources as our thanks when you give $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/offer. Now, let's return to today's teaching.

Skip Heitzig: Why? To redeem those who were under the law—the Jewish nation, the Jewish people—that we might receive the adoption as sons. Let me just give you a couple of words about the language that is used, then I'll move on. He says in verse one, an heir, as long as he is a child. That's just a little child, a toddler. He needs tutoring. But when he comes of age, he's an adult son. When it says "adoption as sons," it means adult sons.

When you're an adult son in a Greek, Roman, or Jewish household, now you can enjoy the inheritance. When you're a little kid, you can't cut the check. You're the one who's going to inherit it all, but you can't enjoy it. But when you're an adult son, you can enjoy it. You have all the full rights and privileges of managing the money and enjoying the wealth that you inherit. So through Jesus Christ, He has placed us in His family by adoption as adult sons and daughters, adult children, being able to enjoy the inheritance that you could not enjoy under the law because the law was a tutor to keep children from doing bad things.

It was added because of transgression, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. I would put it all this way. The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God. That sums this up nicely. The Son of God became a man, became a human, so that men, men and women, can become sons of God. He enabled that. Now we have the adoption as adult sons enjoying a full inheritance brought by faith.

Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying out, "Abba, Father." You know that verse, but I want you to look at it a little more carefully and you'll notice that Paul in that verse writes the Trinity. He mentions all three members of the Trinity. God sent forth the Spirit—capital S, Holy Spirit—of His Son—capital S, that's Jesus—into your hearts crying, "Abba Father." So you have Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the triune God mentioned in a single verse.

So you're adult sons, and God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart crying, "Abba Father." If you go to Israel today—by the way, Abba was an Aramaic term and a Hebrew term that means daddy. Abba Father, when you hear the word Father, it's different than when you hear the word Daddy. When I grew up and my mother would say, "Your father wants to speak to you," that was different than, "Hey, your dad would like to see you."

Because when she said my father, that's a buttoned-up phrase. That's sit up and pay attention. But dad, especially daddy, well, that's relational. That's familiar. That's "let me sit you down and tell you a story." That's a daddy. So God has sent the Spirit of His Son in our hearts where we have a personal relationship with Him, like Abraham who believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Then the law came. The law served its purpose. Jesus died on the cross. That religious system is out of the way. Now we cry once again in that relational way, "Abba, Father." It's intimate. It's personal.

Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, "Though Jesus was rich, He became poor for your sakes, that you through His poverty might be rich." So the Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God. He enabled that.

But verse eight, then indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which are by nature not gods. The Galatians were pagan. They worshipped a whole host of Roman and Greek gods, the Pantheon of gods. They worshipped gods, but they were all fake, just as there are many religions in the world today that worship different gods, but they're all fake. They're all made up. Every religious system that worships this god or that god, they're just people made these things up. It's really by human imagination. There's only one divine revelation that tells us there's one true God.

He's referring now to the Galatian worship system. When you did not know God, you Galatians served those which by nature are not gods. They're just made-up deities. Remember Paul went to Athens. He looked around and he went to the men on the Areopagus and he said, "You know, I've been hanging around your town today and I noticed all the statues that you have to so many different gods. You are a very religious group of people. I even saw a statue that said to the unknown god. I mean, you have all these gods by name, but in case you left one out and you don't want to offend some unknown god, you have a statue to the unknown god. Well, I have come here to tell you about that unknown god and make him known to you." He preached the gospel of the true and living God to the Athenians.

But now, verse nine, but now, after you have known God—now watch this—or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, the ABCs, those elements he spoke about, to which you desire again to be in bondage? We often refer to somebody who is a believer as somebody who knows God. Oh, he knows the Lord. She knows the Lord. It's pretty amazing to an unbeliever. What do you mean you know the Lord? If they're not initiated into what we believe, that falls on their ears like, who do you think you are, you know God?

Yeah, I know God. I talked to Him earlier. We're friends. Oh, how can you say that? It's just weird to them. Well, here's something even more astonishing than I know God. God knows me. So now that you know God, or rather, Paul says, are known by God. You see, you couldn't know God unless you were known by God. God always takes the initiative. The reason you know Him is because He has taken the initiative to know you and to call you.

It's like love. We love Him because He first loved us. We choose Him because He first chose us. That's what Jesus told His disciples. You didn't choose Me, I chose you. So I know God. Well, actually, God knows you. You are inscribed, it says in Isaiah, on the palms of His hands. He knows your going out, your coming in. He knows your secret thoughts. It's a beautiful thought, God knows me and took the initiative.

After that happened and you've known God and you've been known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, the ABCs, those elements he spoke about, to which you desire again to be in bondage? Why are you going back to Judaism? Why are you going backward, not forward? Here you're Gentiles and somebody's convinced you that you need to keep the law of Moses, which served a purpose keeping people caged and in restraint until the Messiah could come so they could enjoy the full expression as adult sons and daughters of God. Why are you going backwards?

Religion enslaves people. It makes people feel good if you keep this, then God will love you. Okay, I've kept that. God must love me. Then I feel like I'm in jeopardy if I didn't keep that. Now God maybe doesn't love me as much. That's all a religious system. That's bondage. They were going back into that. It keeps a person in fear. What were they doing specifically? Verse ten. You observe days and months and seasons and years.

They get hung up on certain days. Oh, no, it's the Sabbath. So? It's the Sabbath. There are certain things I can't do in the Sabbath. Well, I can. Don't you keep the Sabbath? Well, the Sabbath has been kept for me in Christ. So one man esteems one day of the week, the Sabbath, over all the other days. Another man esteems all the days alike. These are Paul's words. Let each be persuaded in his own mind. So in my mind, in Skip's mind, the Sabbath is no different to me than Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I worship God on all those days. Well, that's not my conviction. Good. Be convinced in your own mind. Keep it to yourself.

Verse eleven. I'm afraid for you, he writes. Paul writes, this once-Jewish rabbi writes to these Gentile Christians, I'm afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. I came there, I shared the gospel of grace, of liberty. Now you're going backward. I feel like all the labor that I did in Galatia was for no good reason. You're going back to bondage. Brethren, I urge you to become as I am. What does that mean? Free. I'm free. I grew up in that stuff. I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I kept the law. I worked hard at it. But he continues in Philippians 3 and he says, those things that I thought were awesome and I counted as important, they're dung, they're refuse to me. I put them aside that I might be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ. So I want you to become like I am, free in Christ.

Guest (Female): We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, here's a reminder. As our thanks for your gift this month, we'll send you Skip's book, Biography of God, along with his six-message CD series, Expound Galatians. These two resources work together to help you understand God's character more deeply and experience the freedom that comes from the gospel of grace. Your support helps keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air, connecting more people with God's Word. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your March resources. See you next time.