Galatians 4:1-11

 Galatians 4:1-11

Kindergarten rules are pretty good for 5-year-olds. However, if a person is grown and in the workplace and they need those kinds of rules, there is something wrong. Kindergarteners have every aspect of their lives dictated for them because there is something missing that keeps them from being able to act independently. That internal absence means that every aspect of their lives must be governed by a rule. A child lives in a world with many rules and almost no freedom because of that internal insufficiency. What is that internal insufficiency? Maturity.

Any person who wanted to live under the Law of Moses, which is what the Judaizers wanted, wanted to be a spiritual kindergartener. In verse 3 Paul mentions the ‘elemental things’ or ‘rudimental principles.’ The Greek word literally means ‘one in a row.’ Think of the ABC’s or of a class of 5-year-olds being lined up at school to walk down the hall to go to the bathroom. It carries the implication of a Sesame Street level of learning and maturity. The law is for those who have an internal lack or insufficiency of maturity. Paul tells us what fills that lack.

We see in verse 4 a picture of maturity, the fullness of time, when the time was right. God sent His Son under this ABC system to inaugurate a whole new system. In the new system, rather than pupils or students stuck perpetually in a school for the immature, we are taken out of that system and adopted. Because of this adoption we are given the Holy Spirit at the moral and character center of our lives, our hearts. And from that center we call the God of the universe our Abba, Father, or Dad.

What we see here is the stark contrast between living under the law and under grace, and we are offered the choice. We can choose between perpetual immaturity or the opportunity to grow up. We can have a life of forever learning the ABC’s of behavior or learning the wonders of Christ. We may opt for a life of slavery or a life of freedom. It is possible to remain a student forever, or we can become a son. Accordingly, God will forever be our schoolmaster or our Father. We may either spend our time counting every day or enjoying every day.

The law, like kindergarten, has its place and can give us some foundational education, but if a grown person wants to live their whole life in kindergarten, something is very wrong. A person wanting to live by the Law has an equally deep spiritual problem. 

“Lord, thank You that You are my Abba. AMEN”