TOM · The Owner's Manual · New Testament

Galatians 4

Chapter 4 in 30 seconds

Before Jesus, we were like kids with a babysitter. When the time was right, God sent His Son, born of a woman, so we could be adopted. Now we call God Abba, Father. Paul remembers how they welcomed him when he was sick. Then a picture story: Hagar and Sarah, slavery and freedom.

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In this chapterField Notes · ArchaeologyThe Temple of Augustus · after verse 10 Field Notes · ArchaeologyThe Via Sebaste · after verse 14

Sons and Heirs

¹What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything. ²He is subject to guardians and trustees until the date set by his father.

³So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world. ⁴But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. ⁶And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” ⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.

GAL 4:4[FULFILLS]The Redeemer would be born of a woman (the seed of the woman) and 2 more ← GEN 3:15; GEN 49:10; RUTH 4:9-10
GAL 4:6[HEART]God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father.

Paul’s Concern for the Galatians

⁸Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. ⁹But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? ¹⁰You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! ¹¹I fear for you, that my efforts for you may have been in vain. ¹²I beg you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong.

GAL 4:8[DEMONIC]Before knowing God you were slaves to things that are not gods
GAL 4:10[FIELD NOTES]See The Temple of Augustus Field Notes page.

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Temple of Augustus

Galatians 4:8 to 10

The Temple of Rome and Augustus in Ankara, Turkey. Its walls carry the Deeds of the Divine Augustus. Photo Diego Delso, CC BY SA 4.0.

WHAT IT IS: The stone walls of a temple to the goddess Roma and the emperor Augustus in Ankara, the capital of the province of Galatia. On its walls the emperor's life story is carved in Latin inside and Greek outside. It is called the Deeds of the Divine Augustus. This is the best copy left in the world.
HOW OLD IT IS: The temple was built about 25 BC to AD 14. Experts argue over the exact date. The Deeds were carved after Augustus died in AD 14, so they were on the wall when Paul wrote.
SON OF GOD ON THE WALL: Augustus called himself the son of a god, because Rome had declared his adopted father Julius Caesar a god. All over Galatia people kept festival days for the emperor. Pieces of two more copies of the Deeds have been found in Galatia, one at Antioch of Pisidia, Paul's city.
DAYS, MONTHS, SEASONS AND YEARS: Paul says the Galatians were going back to observing special days, months, seasons and years, 4:10. Most think he means Jewish holy days pushed by the new teachers, because the whole letter is about the law. Some scholars add that new believers who quit the emperor's festivals were under pressure, and keeping Jewish days made them look like a legal religion in Roman eyes.
WHERE IT IS TODAY: In the Ulus area of Ankara, Turkey, right beside the Hacı Bayram Mosque. The temple was later turned into a church.
WHAT IT CONFIRMS: Emperor worship was everywhere in Galatia. Calling Jesus the true Son God sent, 4:4, was a bold claim there.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: Paul never names the emperor in Galatians. The link to 4:10 is a scholar's idea, not something the verse says.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH FOR THE TEMPLE · DEBATED FOR 4:10

¹³You know that it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. ¹⁴And although my illness was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself. ¹⁵What then has become of your blessing? For I can testify that, if it were possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

GAL 4:13[FIELD NOTES]See The Via Sebaste Field Notes page.

Field Notes · Archaeology

The Via Sebaste

Galatians 4:13 to 14 · Acts 13:13 to 14

Paved Roman road in the Döşeme Pass north of Antalya, Turkey, believed to be part of the Via Sebaste. Photo Volker Höhfeld, CC BY SA 4.0.

WHAT IT IS: A Roman road paved with stones, climbing through a mountain pass in southern Turkey. Many experts think it was part of the Via Sebaste, the road of Augustus, which tied together the Roman colonies of South Galatia.
HOW OLD IT IS: Milestones along the Via Sebaste say it was built in 6 BC under Augustus. The stones in this photo may have been laid or fixed in later Roman centuries, so their exact date is debated. The route itself was there in Paul's day.
PAUL'S ROAD: On his first trip, Paul landed on the south coast at Perga and went up to Antioch of Pisidia, Acts 13:13 to 14. The easiest way up the mountains was this kind of road. From Antioch it ran on toward Iconium and Lystra, the next stops in Acts 14.
WHY ROMAN ROADS MATTER: Rome built tens of thousands of miles of roads for its armies. Soldiers kept them safe from bandits. Paul used them to carry the gospel, and his letters traveled the same roads. Still, Paul says he faced danger from rivers and robbers, 2 Corinthians 11:26.
THE ILLNESS: Paul says he first preached in Galatia because of an illness, and they did not turn him away even though it was a trial for them, 4:13 to 14. Some think it was an eye problem, 4:15. See the 6:11 note and the 2 Corinthians 12:7 note.
WHAT IT CONFIRMS: Rome had just built a road linking the very cities Acts says Paul visited, in the order he visited them.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROVE: No one can say Paul walked on these exact stones.

CONFIDENCE: HIGH FOR THE ROAD · MEDIUM FOR THIS STRETCH

¹⁷Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. ¹⁸Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose—at any time, and not only when I am with you.

¹⁹My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, ²⁰how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.

Hagar and Sarah// Genesis 21:9–21

²¹Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. ²³His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise.

GAL 4:22[FULFILLS]Sending away the slave woman and her son pictures the old covenant giving way to the new ← GEN 21:10

²⁴These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar. ²⁵Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷For it is written:

GAL 4:24[NOTE]TWO COVENANTS, NOT TWO RACES. Paul says this is an allegory, a picture story. Hagar stands for the law given at Mount Sinai, Sarah for God's promise. It is not about Arabs and Jews. Paul even puts the Jerusalem of his day on Hagar's side and believing Gentiles on Sarah's. The point is how you relate to God: as a slave trying to earn it, or as a free child of the promise. See the Genesis 21:9 note.
GAL 4:26[FULFILLS]The barren woman would have more children than the married one ← IS 54:1MEDIUM

“Rejoice, O barren woman,

who bears no children;

break forth and cry aloud,

you who have never travailed;

because more are the children of the desolate woman

than of her who has a husband.”

GAL 4:27[QUOTES]Direct ← IS 54:1

²⁸Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. ²⁹At that time, however, the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit. It is the same now.

³⁰But what does the Scripture say? “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” ³¹Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

GAL 4:30[QUOTES]Direct ← GEN 21:10

Galatians 4

Sons and Heirs

Paul’s Concern for the Galatians

Hagar and Sarah// Genesis 21:9–21

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