Chapter 4
The apostle, in this chapter, is still carrying on the same
general design as in the former-to recover these Christians from the
impressions made upon them by the judaizing teachers, and to represent their
weakness and folly in suffering themselves to be drawn away from the gospel
doctrine of justification, and to be deprived of their freedom from the bondage
of the law of Moses. For this purpose he makes use of various considerations;
such as, I. The great excellence of the gospel state above the legal (v. 1-7).
II. The happy change that was made in them at their conversion (v. 8–11). III.
The affection they had had for him and his ministry (v. 12–16). IV. The
character of the false teachers by whom they had been perverted (v. 17, 18). V.
The very tender affection he had for them (v. 19, 20). VI. The history of Isaac
and Ishmael, by a comparison taken from which he illustrates the difference
between such as rested in Christ and such as trusted in the law. And in all
these, as he uses great plainness and faithfulness with them, so he expresses
the tenderest concern for them.
Verses 1-7
In this chapter the apostle deals plainly with those who
hearkened to the judaizing teachers, who cried up the law of Moses in
competition with the gospel of Christ, and endeavored to bring them under the
bondage of it. To convince them of their folly, and to rectify their mistake
herein, in these verses he prosecutes the comparison of a child under age,
which he had touched upon in the foregoing chapter, and thence shows what great
advantages we have now, under the gospel, above what they had under the law.
And here.
I. He acquaints us with the state of the Old-Testament
church: it was like a child under age, and it was used accordingly, being kept
in a state of darkness and bondage, in comparison of the greater light and
liberty which we enjoy under the gospel. That was indeed a dispensation of
grace, and yet it was comparatively a dispensation of darkness; for as the
heir, in his minority, is under tutors and governors till the time appointed
of his father, by whom he is educated and instructed in those things which
at present he knows little of the meaning of, though afterwards they are likely
to be of great use to him; so it was with the Old-Testament church-the Mosaic
economy, which they were under, was what they could not fully understand the
meaning of; for, as the apostle says (2 Co. 3:13), They could not stedfastly
look to the end of that which is abolished. But to the church, when grown
up to maturity, in gospel days, it becomes of great use. And as that was a
dispensation of darkness, so of bondage too; for they were in bondage under
the elements of the world, being tied to a great number of burdensome rites
and observances, by which, as by a kind of first rudiments, they were taught
and instructed, and whereby they were kept in a state of subjection, like a
child under tutors and governors. The church then lay more under the character
of a servant, being obliged to do every thing according to the command
of God, without being fully acquainted with the reason of it; but the service
under the gospel appears to be more reasonable than that was. The time
appointed of the Father having come, when the church was to arrive at its full
age, the darkness and bondage under which it before lay are removed, and we are
under a dispensation of greater light and liberty.
II. He acquaints us with the much happier state of
Christians under the gospel-dispensation, v. 4-7. When the fulness of time
had come, the time appointed of the Father, when he would put an end to the
legal dispensation, and set up another and a better in the room of it, he
sent forth his Son, etc. The person who was employed to introduce this new
dispensation was no other than the Son of God himself, the only-begotten of the
Father, who, as he had been prophesied of and promised from the foundation of
the world, so in due time he was manifested for this purpose. He, in pursuance
of the great design he had undertaken, submitted to be made of a woman—there
is his incarnation; and to be made under the law—there is his
subjection. He who was truly God for our sakes became man; and he who was Lord
of all consented to come into a state of subjection and to take upon him the
form of a servant; and one great end of all this was to redeem those that
were under the law—to save us from that intolerable yoke and to appoint
gospel ordinances more rational and easy. He had indeed something more and
greater in his view, in coming into the world, than merely to deliver us from
the bondage of the ceremonial law; for he came in our nature, and consented to
suffer and die for us, that hereby he might redeem us from the wrath of God,
and from the curse of the moral law, which, as sinners, we all lay under. But
that was one end of it, and a mercy reserved to be bestowed at the time of his
manifestation; then the more servile state of the church was to come to a
period, and a better to succeed in the place of it; for he was sent to redeem
us, that we might receive the adoption of sons—that we might no longer
be accounted and treated as servants, but as sons grown up to maturity, who are
allowed greater freedoms, and admitted to larger privileges, than while they
were under tutors and governors. This the course of the apostle’s argument
leads us to take notice of, as one thing intended by this expression, though no
doubt it may also be understood as signifying that gracious adoption which the
gospel so often speaks of as the privilege of those who believe in Christ.
Israel was God’s son, his first-born, Rom. 9:4. But now, under the gospel,
particular believers receive the adoption; and, as an earnest and evidence of
it, they have together therewith the Spirit of adoption, putting them upon the
duty of prayer, and enabling them in prayer to eye God as a Father (v. 6): Because
you are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying Abba, Father. And hereupon (v. 7) the apostle concludes this argument
by adding, Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and, if a son,
then an heir of God through Christ; that is, Now, under the gospel state,
we are no longer under the servitude of the law, but, upon our believing in
Christ, become the sons of God; we are thereupon accepted of him, and adopted
by him; and, being the sons, we are also heirs of God, and are entitled to the
heavenly inheritance (as he also reasons Rom. 8:17), and therefore it must
needs be the greatest weakness and folly to turn back to the law, and to seek
justification by the works of it. From what the apostle says in these verses,
we may observe,
1. The wonders of divine love and mercy towards us,
particularly of God the Father, in sending his Son into the world to redeem and
save us,—of the Son of God, in submitting so low, and suffering so much, for
us, in pursuance of that design,—and of the Holy Spirit, in condescending to
dwell in the hearts of believers for such gracious purposes.
2. The great and invaluable advantages which Christians
enjoy under the gospel; for, (1.) We receive the adoption of sons.
Whence note, It is the great privilege which believers have through Christ that
they are adopted children of the God of heaven. We who by nature are children
of wrath and disobedience have become by grace children of love. (2.) We
receive the Spirit of adoption. Note, [1.] All who have the privilege of
adoption have the Spirit of adoption-all who are received into the number
partake of the nature of the children of God; for he will have all his children
to resemble him. [2.] The Spirit of adoption is always the Spirit of prayer,
and it is our duty in prayer to eye God as a Father. Christ has taught us in
prayer to eye God as our Father in heaven. [3.] If we are his sons, then his heirs.
It is not so among men, with whom the eldest son is heir; but all God’s
children are heirs. Those who have the nature of sons shall have the
inheritance of sons.
Verses 8-11
In these verses the apostle puts them in mind of what they
were before their conversion to the faith of Christ, and what a blessed change
their conversion had made upon them; and thence endeavours to convince them of
their great weakness in hearkening to those who would bring them under the
bondage of the law of Moses.
I. He reminds them of their past state and behaviour, and
what they were before the gospel was preached to them. Then they knew not
God; they were grossly ignorant of the true God, and the way wherein he is
to be worshipped: and at that time they were under the worst of slaveries, for they
did service to those which by nature were no gods, they were employed in a
great number of superstitious and idolatrous services to those who, though they
were accounted gods, were yet really no gods, but mere creatures, and perhaps of
their own making, and therefore were utterly unable to hear and help them.
Note, 1. Those who are ignorant of the true God cannot but be inclined to false
gods. Those who forsook the God who made the world, rather than be without
gods, worshipped such as they themselves made. 2. Religious worship is due to
none but to him who is by nature God; for, when the apostle blames the doing
service to such as by nature were no gods, he plainly shows that he only who is
by nature God is the proper object of our religious worship.
II. He calls upon them to consider the happy change that was
made in them by the preaching of the gospel among them. Now they had known
God (they were brought to the knowledge of the true God and of his Son
Jesus Christ, whereby they were recovered out of the ignorance and bondage
under which they before lay) or rather were known of God; this happy
change in their state, whereby they were turned from idols to the living God,
and through Christ had received the adoption of sons, was not owing to
themselves, but to him; it was the effect of his free and rich grace towards
them, and as such they ought to account it; and therefore hereby they were laid
under the greater obligation to adhere to the liberty wherewith he had made
them free. Note, All our acquaintance with God begins with him; we know him,
because we are known of him.
III. Hence he infers the unreasonableness and madness of
their suffering themselves to be brought again into a state of bondage. He
speaks of it with surprise and deep concern of mind that such as they should do
so: How turn you again, etc., says he, v. 9. "How is it that you,
who have been taught to worship God in the gospel way, should not be persuaded
to comply with the ceremonial way of worship? that you, who have been
acquainted with a dispensation of light, liberty, and love, as that of the
gospel is, should now submit to a dispensation of darkness, and bondage, and
terror, as that of the law is?’’ This they had the less reason for, since they
had never been under the law of Moses, as the Jews had been; and therefore on
this account they were more inexcusable than the Jews themselves, who might be
supposed to have some fondness for that which had been of such long standing
among them. Besides, what they suffered themselves to be brought into bondage
to were but weak and beggarly elements, such things as had no power in
them to cleanse the soul, nor to afford any solid satisfaction to the mind, and
which were only designed for that state of pupillage under which the church had
been, but which had now come to a period; and therefore their weakness and
folly were the more aggravated, in submitting to them, and in symbolizing with
the Jews in observing their various festivals, here signified by days, and
months, and times, and years. Here note, 1. 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, 2. 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.
IV. Hereupon he expresses his fears concerning them, lest
he had bestowed on them labour in vain. He had been at a great deal of pains
about them, in preaching the gospel to them, and endeavouring to confirm them
in the faith and liberty of it; but now they were giving up these, and thereby
rendering his labour among them fruitless and ineffectual, and with the
thoughts of this he could not but be deeply affected. Note, 1. A great deal of
the labour of faithful ministers is labour in vain; and, when it is so, it
cannot but be a great grief to those who desire the salvation of souls. Note,
2. The labour of ministers is in vain upon those who begin in the Spirit and
end in the flesh, who, though they seem to set out well, yet afterwards turn
aside from the way of the gospel. Note, 3. Those will have a great deal to
answer for upon whom the faithful ministers of Jesus Christ bestow labour in
vain.
Verses 12-16
That these Christians might be the more ashamed of their
defection from the truth of the gospel which Paul had preached to them, he here
reminds them of the great affection they formerly had for him and his ministry,
and puts them upon considering how very unsuitable their present behaviour was
to what they then professed. And here we may observe,
I. How affectionately he addresses himself to them. He
styles them brethren, though he knew their hearts were in a great measure
alienated from him. He desires that all resentments might be laid aside, and
that they would bear the same temper of mind towards him which he did to them;
he would have them to be as he was, for he was as they were, and
moreover tells them that they had not injured him at all. He had no
quarrel with them upon his own account. Though, in blaming their conduct, he
had expressed himself with some warmth and concern of mind he assured them that
it was not owing to any sense of personal injury or affront (as they might be
ready to think), but proceeded wholly from a zeal for the truth and purity of
the gospel, and their welfare and happiness. Thus he endeavours to mollify
their spirits towards him, that so they might be the better disposed to receive
the admonitions he was giving them. Hereby he teaches us that in reproving
others we should take care to convince them that our reproofs do not proceed
from any private pique or resentment, but from a sincere regard to the honour
of God and religion and their truest welfare; for they are then likely to be
most successful when they appear to be most disinterested.
II. How he magnifies their former affection to him, that
hereby they might be the more ashamed of their present behaviour towards him.
To this purpose, 1. He puts them in mind of the difficulty under which he
laboured when he came first among them: I knew, says he, how, through
infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the first. What
this infirmity of the flesh was, which in the following words he
expresses by his temptation that was in his flesh (though, no doubt, it
was well known to those Christians to whom he wrote), we can now have no
certain knowledge of: some take it to have been the persecutions which he
suffered for the gospel’s sake; others, to have been something in his person,
or manner of speaking, which might render his ministry less grateful and
acceptable, referring to 2 Co. 10:10, and to ch. 12:7–10. But, whatever it was,
it seems it made no impression on them to his disadvantage. For, 2. He takes
notice that, notwithstanding this his infirmity (which might possibly lessen
him in the esteem of some others), they did not despise nor reject him on the
account of it, but, on the contrary, received him as an angel of God, even
as Christ Jesus. They showed a great deal of respect to him, he was a
welcome messenger to them, even as though an angel of God or Jesus Christ
himself had preached to them; yea, so great was their esteem of him, that, if
it would have been any advantage to him, they could have plucked out their
own eyes, and have given them to him. Note, How uncertain the respects of
people are, how apt they are to change their minds, and how easily they are
drawn into contempt of those for whom they once had the greatest esteem and
affection, so that they are ready to pluck out the eyes of those for whom they
would before have plucked out their own! We should therefore labour to be
accepted of God, for it is a small thing to be judged of man’s judgment,
1 Co. 4:3.
III. How earnestly he expostulates with them hereupon: Where
is then, says he, the blessedness you spoke of? As if he had said,
"Time was when you expressed the greatest joy and satisfaction in the glad
tidings of the gospel, and were very forward in pouring out your blessings upon
me as the publisher of them; whence is it that you are now so much altered,
that you have so little relish of them or respect for me? You once thought
yourselves happy in receiving the gospel; have you now any reason to think
otherwise?’’ Note, Those who have left their first love would do well to
consider, Where is now the blessedness they once spoke of? What has become of
that pleasure they used to take in communion with God, and in the company of
his servants? The more to impress upon them a just shame of their present
conduct, he again asks (v. 16), "Am I become your enemy, because I tell
you the truth? How is it that I, who was heretofore your favourite, am now
accounted your enemy? Can you pretend any other reason for it than that I have
told you the truth, endeavoured to acquaint you with, and to confirm you in,
the truth of the gospel? And, if not, how unreasonable must your disaffection
be!’’ Note, 1. It is no uncommon thing for men to account those their enemies
who are really their best friends; for so, undoubtedly, those are, whether
ministers or others, who tell them the truth, and deal freely and faithfully
with them in matters relating to their eternal salvation, as the apostle now
did with these Christians. 2. Ministers may sometimes create enemies to
themselves by the faithful discharge of their duty; for this was the case of
Paul, he was accounted their enemy for telling them the truth. 3. Yet ministers
must not forbear speaking the truth, for fear of offending others and drawing
their displeasure upon them. 4. They may be easy in their own minds, when they
are conscious to themselves that, if others have become their enemies, it is
only for telling them the truth.
Verses 17-18
The apostle is still carrying on the same design as in the
foregoing verse, which was, to convince the Galatians of their sin and folly in
departing from the truth of the gospel: having just before been expostulating
with them about the change of their behaviour towards him who endeavoured to
establish them in it, he here gives them the character of those false teachers
who made it their business to draw them away from it, which if they would
attend to, they might soon see how little reason they had to hearken to them:
whatever opinion they might have of them, he tells them they were designing
men, who were aiming to set up themselves, and who, under their specious
pretences, were more consulting their own interest than theirs: "They
zealously affect you,’’ says he; "they show a mighty respect for you,
and pretend a great deal of affection to you, but not well; they do it
not with any good design, they are not sincere and upright in it, for they
would exclude you, that you might affect them. That which they are chiefly
aiming at is to engage your affections to them; and, in order to this, they are
doing all they can to draw off your affections from me and from the truth, that
so they may engross you to themselves.’’ This, he assures them, was their
design, and therefore they must needs be very unwise in hearkening to them.
Note, 1. There may appear to be a great deal of zeal where yet there is but
little truth and sincerity. 2. It is the usual way of seducers to insinuate
themselves into people’s affections, and by that means to draw them into their
opinions. 3. Whatever pretences such may make, they have usually more regard to
their own interest than that of others, and will not stick at ruining the
reputation of others, if by that means they can raise their own. On this
occasion the apostle gives us that excellent rule which we have, v. 18, It
is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing. What our
translation renders in a good man, and so consider the apostle as
pointing to himself; this sense, they think, is favoured both by the preceding
context and also by the words immediately following, and not only when I am
present with you, which may be as if he had said, "Time was when you
were zealously affected towards me; you once took me for a good man, and have
now no reason to think otherwise of me; surely then it would become you to show
the same regard to me, now that I am absent from you, which you did when I was
present with you.’’ But, if we adhere to our own translation, the apostle here
furnishes us with a very good rule to direct and regulate us in the exercise of
our zeal: there are two things which to this purpose he more especially
recommends to us:—(1.) That it be exercised only upon that which is good; for
zeal is then only good when it is in a good thing: those who are zealously
affected to that which is evil will thereby only to do so much the more hurt.
And, (2.) That herein it be constant and steady: it is good to be zealous
always in a good thing; not for a time only, or now and then, like the heat of
an ague-fit, but, like the natural heat of the body, constant. Happy would it
be for the church of Christ if this rule were better observed among Christians!
Verses 19-20
That the apostle might the better dispose these Christians
to bear with him in the reproofs which he was obliged to give them, he here
expresses his great affection to them, and the very tender concern he had for
their welfare: he was not like them-one thing when among them and another when
absent from them. Their disaffection to him had not removed his affection from
them; but he still bore the same respect to them which he had formerly done,
nor was he like their false teachers, who pretended a great deal of affection
to them, when at the same time they were only consulting their own interest;
but he had a sincere concern for their truest advantage; he sought not theirs,
but them. They were too ready to account him their enemy, but he assures them
that he was their friend; nay, not only so, but that he had the bowels of a parent
towards them. He calls them his children, as he justly might, since he
had been the instrument of their conversion to the Christian faith; yea, he
styles them his little children, which, as it denotes a greater degree
of tenderness and affection to them, so it may possibly have a respect to their
present behaviour, whereby they showed themselves too much like little
children, who are easily wrought upon by the arts and insinuations of others.
He expresses his concern for them, and earnest desire of their welfare and
soul-prosperity, by the pangs of a travailing woman: He travailed in birth
for them: and the great thing which he was in so much pain about, and which
he was so earnestly desirous of, was not so much that they might affect him as that
Christ might be formed in them, that they might become Christians indeed,
and be more confirmed and established in the faith of the gospel. From this we
may note, 1. The very tender affection which faithful ministers bear towards
those among whom they are employed; it is like that of the most affectionate
parents to their little children. 2. That the chief thing they are longing and
even travailing in birth for, on their account, is that Christ may be formed in
them; not so much that they may gain their affections, much less that they may
make a prey of them, but that they may be renewed in the spirit of their minds,
wrought into the image of Christ, and more fully settled and confirmed in the
Christian faith and life: and how unreasonably must those people act who suffer
themselves to be prevailed upon to desert or dislike such ministers! 3. That
Christ is not fully formed in men till they are brought off from trusting in
their own righteousness, and made to rely only upon him and his righteousness.
As further evidence of the affection and concern which the
apostle had for these Christians, he adds (v. 20) that he desired to be then
present with them—that he would be glad of an opportunity of being among
them, and conversing with them, and that thereupon he might find occasion to
change his voice towards them; for at present he stood in doubt of them.
He knew not well what to think of them. He was not so fully acquainted with
their state as to know how to accommodate himself to them. He was full of fears
and jealousies concerning them, which was the reason of his writing to them in
such a manner as he had done; but he would be glad to find that matters were
better with them than he feared, and that he might have occasion to commend
them, instead of thus reproving and chiding them. Note, Though ministers too
often find it necessary to reprove those they have to do with, yet this is no
grateful work to them; they had much rather there were no occasion for it, and
are always glad when they can see reason to change their voice towards them.
Verses 21-31
In these verses the apostle illustrates the difference
between believers who rested in Christ only and those judaizers who trusted in
the law, by a comparison taken from the story of Isaac and Ishmael. This he
introduces in such a manner as was proper to strike and impress their minds,
and to convince them of their great weakness in departing from the truth, and
suffering themselves to be deprived of the liberty of the gospel: Tell me,
says he, you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
He takes it for granted that they did hear the law, for among the Jews it was
wont to be read in their public assemblies every sabbath day; and, since they
were so very fond of being under it, he would have them duly to consider what
is written therein (referring to what is recorded Gen. 16 and 21), for, if they
would do this, they might soon see how little reason they had to trust in it.
And here, 1. He sets before them the history itself (v. 22, 23): For it is
written, Abraham had two sons, etc. Here he represents the different state
and condition of these two sons of Abraham—that the one, Ishmael, was by a
bond-maid, and the other, Isaac, by a free-woman; and that whereas
the former was born after the flesh, or by the ordinary course of
nature, the other was by promise, when in the course of nature there was
no reason to expect that Sarah should have a son. 2. He acquaints them with the
meaning and design of this history, or the use which he intended to make of it
(v. 24–27): These things, says he, are an allegory, wherein,
besides the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God might
design to signify something further to us, and that was, That these two, Agar
and Sarah, are the two covenants, or were intended to typify and
prefigure the two different dispensations of the covenant. The former, Agar,
represented that which was given from mount Sinai, and which gendereth to
bondage, which, though it was a dispensation of grace, yet, in comparison
of the gospel state, was a dispensation of bondage, and became more so to the
Jews, through their mistake of the design of it, and expecting to be justified
by the works of it. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia (mount Sinai
was then called Agar by the Arabians), and it answereth to Jerusalem which
now is, and is in bondage with her children; that is, it justly represents
the present state of the Jews, who, continuing in their infidelity and adhering
to that covenant, are still in bondage with their children. But the other,
Sarah, was intended to prefigure Jerusalem which is above, or the state of
Christians under the new and better dispensation of the covenant, which is free
both from the curse of the moral and the bondage of the ceremonial law, and is
the mother of us all—a state into which all, both Jews and Gentiles, are
admitted, upon their believing in Christ. And to this greater freedom and
enlargement of the church under the gospel dispensation, which was typified by
Sarah the mother of the promised seed, the apostle refers that of the prophet,
Isa. 54:1, where it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break
forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the desolate hath many more
children than she who hath a husband. 3. He applies the history thus
explained to the present case (v. 28); Now we, brethren, says he, as
Isaac was, are the children of the promise. We Christians, who have
accepted Christ, and rely upon him, and look for justification and salvation by
him alone, as hereby we become the spiritual, though we are not the natural,
seed of Abraham, so we are entitled to the promised inheritance and interested
in the blessings of it. But lest these Christians should be stumbled at the
opposition they might meet with from the Jews, who were so tenacious of their
law as to be ready to persecute those who would not submit to it, he tells them
that this was no more than what was pointed to in the type; for as then he
that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
they must expect it would be so now. But, for their comfort in this
case, he desires them to consider what the scripture saith (Gen. 21:10), Cast
out the bond-woman and her son, for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir
with the son of the free-woman. Though the judaizers should persecute and
hate them, yet the issue would be that Judaism would sink, and wither, and
perish; but true Christianity should flourish and last for ever. And then, as a
general inference from the whole of the sum of what he had said, he concludes
(v. 31), So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of
the free.
Excerpt from:
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
Matthew Henry (1662 - 1714)
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