The Freedom of God's Children (Galatians 4:21-5:15)

The Freedom of God’s Children

 

Galatians 4:21-5:15

 

The main theme of today’s text is ‘freedom.’ In 5:1, Paul says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Jesus set us free and gave us this freedom. What is this freedom, and why is it so precious to us? In order to answer these questions, first of all, we need to explore the meaning of freedom. The dictionary definitions of freedom are mostly ‘state of being free from something bad’ or ‘state of having power to do something I want to do.’ This is our understanding of freedom. We believe that freedom is being independent, being free from any restrictions, and being able to do as I want. Assume that there is a powerful being. How can we gain freedom from the powerful being? There are two ways of gaining freedom. One is running away from the powerful being where its power cannot reach. The other is empowering myself until I can overpower the powerful being. In fact, separation and overpowering are how people struggle to get freedom in this world. In the Bible or in God’s kingdom, however, freedom doesn’t mean that. The true meaning of freedom is exactly its opposite. Freedom is not separation or overpowering. It is rather unity and submission. Freedom comes from the perfectness of relationship. Actually, this is not against our common sense. Think about an imperfect relationship between two parties, for example, two rival countries competing for hegemony but trying to avoid head-on collisions. There will be many laws and regulations enforced to the parties for preventing any possible problems arising from the imperfectness of the relationship. They are not free to (from) each other. In a perfect relationship, however, we do not need such laws and regulations. This is the true meaning of freedom.

 

In the Bible, freedom means perfect relationship between God and me. And this relationship is often described as father-son relationship or husband-wife relationship. Actually, this freedom had been unknown to us because we had lived in separation from God and we have pursued freedom by running further away from God. Now this perfect relationship has been restored, and together with this, our freedom has also been restored. We again became God’s children and God became our Father. Now we are free men and women before God, and therefore subject to none. Still, it is hardly possible to grasp fully the nature of the freedom we have in God. For visualizing this freedom, we may compare our relationship with God to that between the Lion King and His cub. We see pictures and video clips showing a gigantic lion with glaring eyes, sharp teeth, and powerful muscles, and also little lion cubs playing freely around the scary father. No other animals approach this fearful king of the jungle, but his little children don’t show any fear even under his paws. Why? It is because they are the king’s children, and actually they were born of him and, therefore, are the same as him in nature. Thus, they are free ‘toward him.’ While other animals are free only when they are far away from him, the lion cubs are free toward him. In this way, we are also free toward God our Father in heaven, and therefore, nothing can scare and bind us into slavery.

 

Freedom is about relationship, and true freedom is possible only between a father and his child who share the same gene, the same nature, the same image. This is applied exactly the same to the freedom we have in God. We have this freedom through having the same gene, same nature, same image as God’s. In reality, however, we are not like God in our nature. While God is holy, we are sinful. While God is spirit, we are flesh. While God is mighty, we are weak. There are almost nothing in common between God and us. Considering this, we are far from freedom before God. We rather fear God like a baby deer does in front of a ferocious lion. How can we overcome these differences between God and us, and have and enjoy this freedom? Actually, this is exactly why Jesus came to us and what he did for us. Jesus sets us free, and he gives the freedom to us. When we think about what Jesus has done for us, we can understand how the Lord set us free and gave this freedom to us. What Jesus did was leading us to have the perfect relationship with God, with the father-son relationship not only in name but also in reality.

 

We are different from God. And Jesus fills the gap between God and us. We often call Jesus ‘Mediator (or Intercessor).’ 1Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” As the mediator, Jesus worked in order to remove all the obstacles between God and us so that, after all, we may have perfect relationship with God the Father. What Jesus did for this was, first, that he himself became one of us by having flesh like us. Jesus became a man in every way. The second thing Jesus did was cleansing us of our sins and dressing us with the white robe of righteousness. With this work, we legally became God’s holy children. And the third thing was that Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit who gives birth to our new being in the image of God. In Verse 4:19, Paul says to the Galatians, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” Truly Christ is the image of God. 2Corinthians 4:4 says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” So, we can understand that what Paul was trying to do for the Galatians is forming the image of God in them, which may lead them to freedom, freedom from the curse of the law, and freedom toward the grace of God their Father.

 

Paul said, “I am in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” We can rephrase this: “I am giving birth to Christ in you.” When Paul mentioned “the pains of childbirth,” I don’t think he said so ‘metaphorically.’ I believe that he meant it literally. Actually, today’s text calls the Galatians believers “children born of the free woman.” In order to explain the meaning of this, furthermore, Paul uses the stories of Abraham’s two sons Ishmael and Isaac. Verses 22,23 says, “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born after flesh; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.” Abraham had two sons, Ishmael from Hagar, the Egyptian maid, and Isaac from Sarah, his own wife. Paul says that Ishmael was born after flesh, and Isaac was by promise. Here “promise” means, of course, God’s promise. Isaac was born after God’s promise. This means that he was born according to God’s plan, God’s time, God’s will, God’s power, and God’s wisdom. Isaac was purely God’s work because when he was conceived, his flesh parents Abraham and Sarah were both barren. Isaac came purely as the fulfillment of God’s promise, so he was God’s child.

 

This is the same for us. We were born by God’s promise, namely, according to his plan, his time, his will, his power, and his wisdom. And this is quite similar to the birth of Jesus Christ through Mary’s body. Mary was a virgin who did not know any man. But the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). She conceived the baby by the promise of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. This is also the case for us. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:5,6). Here Jesus distinguished clearly between flesh and spirit. And our birth is nothing to do with flesh. It purely came from the Word and Spirit of God, which are the seed and power of my new life and which God sent us in his time as promised. Isaac was born by God’s promise, namely, purely through God’s work. We are God’s children, but our dead flesh didn’t (and couldn’t) make a contribution to our birth. This was entirely done by God through His Word and His Spirit. And because we are God’s work, our being as God’s image is genuine. The seed came from God. The Spirit came from God. And therefore, the child has exactly the same image as God. This is our true identity.

 

Verse 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” In this gospel of freedom, Jesus has set us free. This freedom has already been given to us, and is not revocable. But Paul said, “Stand firm in this freedom.” Why should we struggle to keep this freedom? It is because there are evil powers that are jealous of our freedom in God. In the old times, they had been standing between God and us. They had been judging us according to our flesh. They had been exercising authorities as if they were God’s only chosen. They called themselves Jerusalem and the Holy City of God. Even now they say Moses is the only mediator and the Law given through him is the only way through which we can come to God. But Paul says that this Jerusalem on earth corresponds to Mount Sinai and to Hagar the Egyptian maid in slavery. The old mediator, which is Moses’ law, cannot represent God’s grace properly. It rather exposes and condemns the sins of our flesh, and as a result, we are unable to stand before God. Instead of giving freedom, it binds us into slavery. In our fighting to stand firm in freedom, we must remember that Jesus is the only mediator and He already gave the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Sonship, to us who believe in him so that we have the father-son fellowship with our Father in Heaven. We also must remember that our flesh has nothing to contribute to this perfect relationship that gives us freedom.

 

Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise, and there is no one and nothing other than Jesus Christ. And we were born as free children of God through the work of Christ. Nobody can revoke or change the verdict of Christ, “Go, you are free.” Jesus is our only mediator not only for our freedom but also for our actual free life. We can practice this freedom only in Jesus Christ. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Paul says, “Do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” But Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you.” What is this yoke? It is the yoke of following and learning Jesus, the Son of God. Thankfully, Jesus is gentle and humble, and this yoke is easy and light. With this yoke, furthermore, we are transformed into the glorious image of God full of love and wisdom. The yoke of slavery is merciless and cruel, leading us to miseries and death. But the yoke of Jesus Christ is the glorious heavenly dress and crown of righteousness. It leads us to God’s royal court and His throne, namely, our Father's house.