FROM SLAVES

TO HEIRS

Lesson 8 for November 19, 2011

 SONS AND HEIRS OF GOD (Galatians, 3: 26-29)

GOD SENT HIS SON (Galatians, 4: 4)

HEIRS BEFORE CHRIST HEIRS AFTER CHRIST

SLAVES (Galatians, 4: 1-3) FREE (Galatians, 4: 5-7)

TURNING BACK (Galatians, 4: 8-20)

 SONS AND HEIRS OF GOD
Galatians, 3: 26-29

According to Paul, how are we

related to God?
 We are sons through faith (v. 26)
 We are sons through baptism
(v. 27)
 We have “put on” Christ (v. 27)
 We are all equal (v. 28)
 We are one (v. 28)
 We are heirs according to the
promise (v. 29)
HEIRS BEFORE CHRIST
SLAVES
Galatians, 4: 1-3

Before the first coming of Jesus, the

believers were in bondage under
the “elements of the world”; that
expression can be translated as the
“fundamental religious principles
of the human race“.
During all the Old Testament time,
the Jewish were in bondage under
the law, just like a slave is in
bondage to his master. God
demanded that they kept legal
precepts, like an underage boy
must obey his guardian.
“The sacrificial offerings, and the priesthood of the Jewish
system, were instituted to represent the death and mediatorial
work of Christ. All those ceremonies had no meaning, and no
virtue, only as they related to Christ, who was Himself the
foundation of, and who brought into existence the entire system.
The Lord had made known to Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah,
Abraham, and the ancient worthies, especially Moses, that the
ceremonial system of sacrifices and the priesthood, of themselves,
were not sufficient to secure the salvation of one soul”

E.G.W. (Lift Him up, January 10)

 • He was Jewish and obeyed the law law”
without sinning; furthermore, he “born under the
carried our condemnation.
woman”
• That is, Jesus was completely human
“born of a
although He was God.
His Son”
• God didn’t send an angel, He sent
“God sent forth
Himself in the person of His Son.
• Jesus wasn’t born in an arbitrary moment in
history. During a short period of time, the “pax time had come”
romana” created the necessary circumstances for fullness of the
the Gospel to quickly spread all over the world: “when the
peace, a common language, easy transportation
and a common culture.
(Galatians, 4: 4)
born under the law”
Galatians, 4: 4 Son, born of a woman,
SON God sent forth His
of the time had come,
GOD SENT HIS “But when the fullness
 GOD SENT HIS SON
Galatians, 4: 4

It was necessary for Christ to assume our

humanity because we could not save
ourselves. By uniting His divine nature with
our fallen human nature, Christ legally
qualified to be our Substitute, Savior, and
High Priest. As the second Adam, He came
to reclaim all that the first Adam had lost
by his disobedience (Rom. 5:12–21). By His
obedience He perfectly fulfilled the law’s
demands, thus redeeming Adam’s tragic
failure. And by His death on the cross, He
met the justice of the law, which required
the death of the sinner, thus gaining the
right to redeem all who come to Him in
true faith and surrender.
 HEIRS AFTER CHRIST
FREE
Galatians, 4: 5-7
“To redeem those who were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a
slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through
Christ” (Galatians, 4: 5-7)
We were
We are no more
slaves,
We were slaves, but free
condemned
adopted as sons sons and daughters
under the law
of God

Jesus We receive the We are heirs

redeemed Holy Spirit and we of God,
us at the accept God as our thanks to
cross Father Jesus!
“All the paternal love which has come down from generation to generation through
the channel of human hearts, all the springs of tenderness which have opened in the
souls of men, are but as a tiny rill to the boundless ocean, when compared with the
infinite, exhaustless love of God. Tongue can not utter it; pen can not portray it. You
may meditate upon it every day of your life; you may search the Scriptures diligently
in order to understand it; you may summon every power and capability that God has
given you, in the endeavor to comprehend the love and compassion of the heavenly
Father; and yet there is an infinity beyond.

You may study that love for ages; yet you

can never fully comprehend the length and
breadth, the depth and height, of the love
of God in giving His Son to die for the
world. Eternity itself can never fully WE ARE SONS
reveal it”
AND DAUGHTERS
OF GOD!!!
E.G.W. (The Signs of the Times, April 12 1910)
 TURNING BACK
Galatians, 4: 8-20

“But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God,
how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to
which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and
months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have
labored for you in vain” (Galatians, 4: 9-11)

Once the Galatians were free in Christ, they

turned back to their previous state and started
to keep all the Jewish rites and feasts. They
turned back to the “elements of the world” (v. 3)
Could that happen to us today? Have we
forgotten we are sons and daughters of God by
His grace and try to obtain the right of being
called sons and daughters of God by ourselves?
“God wills that all men should be saved; for ample
provision has been made, in giving his only-begotten Son to
pay man’s ransom. Those who perish will perish because
they refuse to be adopted as children of God through Christ
Jesus. The pride of man hinders him from accepting the
provisions of salvation. But human merit will not admit a
soul into the presence of God. That which will make a man
acceptable to God is the imparted grace of Christ through
faith in his name. No dependence can be placed in works or
in happy flights of feelings as evidence that men are chosen
of God; for the elect are chosen through Christ”

E.G.W. (Signs of the Times, January 2 1893)