2125.—Galatians. Chapters 4, 5, 6.
By Editor
This department is altogether too brief to give any such explanation. In order to at all fully explain it three or four good articles could be written. We simply say this, that the subject is the Gospel of Jesus Christ as manifest in the promises of Abraham and fulfilled in Christ Jesus. The law is brought in to show that it condemns all, and hence reveals the need of the Gospel. It also reveals that all are under the law by nature, condemned by it, but that very condemnation will bring them to Christ Jesus, where they may be justified by faith; and those who do accept Christ, whether Jew or Greek, bond or free, are all one in Christ Jesus. The apostle is very explicit in these chapters in laying down the foundation principles of the Gospel, because false teachers had come in to pervert the Gospel and lead away converts. Leading them away from the Gospel was turning them back to the worship of false gods, chapter 4:8-10, showing how the origin of pagan days came into the church. He also shows that those who endeavor to justify themselves by their own works are in bondage as was Hagar, while those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for justification are the children of the free woman, and therefore we are to stand fast in that liberty, trusting in Christ for justification, and yet in Christ bearing the fruits of the Spirit, which are in harmony with His holy law. The rest of the book is filled with practical instruction in Christian life.