We are going to continue to answer this question: Are we saved by works or by faith? Except, we are going to word it differently, we’re going to answer: Are we heirs of God by faith or by works? Which is essentially the same question as: Are we saved by works or by faith? The difference deals with inheritance. To be an heir to something is to inherit the rights of something after the death of someone. So, what we are asking then is this: Is faith in Jesus enough to cause us to inherit the Kingdom of God? And if faith in Jesus is enough to permit us to inherit the Kingdom of God, why and how? To do that, we are going to observe, think over, flesh out, examine, and meditate over Galatians 4:1-7. It is a powerful passage and a passage you have likely heard preached.
Point 1: We begin by looking at an example that Paul gives to the Galatians on this issue of inheriting salvation by works versus inheriting salvation by faith.
Paul writes (Gal. 4:1-2), “I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. What in the world is Paul talking about? Back then a father would set a date for which his son could receive the inheritance of his father, usually the inheritance would be in the form of money or property. To Paul’s point, when a son was a minor and too young to receive his inheritance, even though all of it would soon be his, he might as well be a slave working to gain what he would eventually be given freely.
Back in ancient times, slavery was very different compared to slavery in the 17th through the 19th centuries in North America. If you were a slave in North American in the 17th through the 19th century, you could not earn your freedom. However, a slave in ancient Israel, according to the Scriptures, was permitted to work for pay until they saved enough money to earn their freedom. Then, when the slave had gained enough to make himself or herself a freeman, that person could either go on about his business or he could continue to work for his master. In many cases, the freed man would adopt the family name of their former master and continue to work for them, no longer as a slave but as an equal, as a son or a daughter, as an heir.
Point 2: Now, what Paul would like for us to understand is this: just as a child is a slave to his father, until he has reached the date set to gain his inheritance by his father, so we were slaves to the law.
Paul puts it like this (Gal. 4:3), “In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.” Now, what that means is that when we were young, simple-minded, immature, unlearned, and unenlightened people to the ways of Christ, and the salvation he freely offers, we were enslaved, in bondage, and belonged “to the elementary principles of the world.”
We have to ask, what are “the elementary principles of the world”? The elementary principles of the world are the Ten Commandments. In other words, when we were young, simple-minded, immature, unlearned, and unenlightened people to the ways of Jesus Christ, before we knew salvation was by faith alone in Christ alone, we were in bondage and enslaved to the legal system of the Ten Commandments. Before Christ came and died for our sins, we were in bondage to the law. We were people, thinking we could be saved by obeying the Ten Commandments, we thought we could be saved by good deeds, instead we became enslaved trying to earn our salvation by law keeping and inevitably failing to win our salvation under our own efforts.
Now here’s the problem Paul is having with the Galatians. Even though they had been enlightened through the preaching of the gospel by Paul that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone, the Galatians were turning back to these elementary principles. They were turning their back on the freedom they had been freely given, a freedom they did not have to work for, a freedom that was freely supplied to them by God through faith in Jesus Christ, to a system that placed them in bondage all over again; a system that required them to work for their freedom through good works; and a system that would ultimately keep them enslaved because they could not possible keep all the law.
Why were the Galatians turning their backs on the freedom they had freely gained through Jesus Christ to a system that held them in bondage? There is but one reason for this. The reason they were turning their backs on the freedom they had been freely given through faith alone in Christ alone is because, as Paul said in Galatians 2:4, false teachers had infiltrated the churches of Galatia and the Galatian believers were entertaining what these false teachers had to say to the point the Galatian believers were confused on whether or not Christ alone was enough to save them.
The point I want to make is, as I have been making, the 21st century church is facing the same issue. According to Barna Group in 2015, people are conflicted between Jesus and good works as the means of salvation. They reported for example, “only 56% of Millennials say they believe they will go to heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.” That means 44% of Millennials believe they will go to heaven by good deeds. That was 6 years ago; the numbers are worse today, and if you look at Generation Z (those born between years 1997 & 2015), they are far less likely to believe faith alone in Christ alone is enough to save them. In fact, Generation Z, according to Pew Research and Barna Group, is the most likely not to believe in God at all.
And of course we have to ask why are we still having the same issue in the 21st century despite the Bible having dealt with this issue at length? Five answers, I think, are possible: First, false teachers continue to infiltrate our pulpits; and I believe it is getting worse. Secondly, pastors are failing to teach the Bible in an expository way. Thirdly, pastors do not teach their churches apologetics. Fourthly, pastors are failing to teach their churches about Jesus. And lastly, believers are not as devoted as they should be to commit themselves to learning the Scriptures (their not even devoted to come to church anymore, unless they are entertained); now, I know much fault can fall on the pastor, not all of it does, the congregation has to take some blame for not committing themselves to learn the Bible for themselves.
Point 3: Next, Paul wants the Galatian believers to understand, and what we must understand also, is that the time set by the heavenly Father has come, so that we might receive our inheritance that comes freely to us through Jesus Christ by faith, and that we no longer have to work for our freedom.
Paul said (v. 4), “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” For centuries Jews had been looking and wondering when the Messiah would come into the world, and some still are. But what Paul is saying is that time has come and gone. That God had a certain time, a set time, a right time, a determined time that Jesus would enter into the world. That the time Christ Jesus would enter into the world was predetermined, pre-ordained, and predestined according to the divine plan and sovereign will of God. And that this time for Jesus to enter into the world was determined by God before the foundation of the world was ever laid. And that time was over 2,000 years ago.
Not only did God determine the time of which His only Son would come into the world, God determined how Jesus would come into the world. Christ Jesus entered into the world the way we all do – Jesus was “born of a woman”. Except, Jesus was not born of just any woman. Jesus, according to the predetermined and sovereign will of God, came into the world through a woman whom God had chosen, a woman who was in the lineage of King David, a woman who was in the lineage of Abraham, a woman who was a virgin, and her name was Mary.
In addition, not only did God determine the time Jesus Christ would come into the world, not only did God determine how Jesus would come into the world, but God allowed Jesus, His only begotten Son, to come into the world the way we all do – Jesus was “born under the law”. In other words, when Christ was born through the virgin Mary, he came into the world as a Jew subject to the law of Moses.
Now, does that mean Jesus was born into sin? No. Just because Jesus was “born under the law”, does not mean we are to believe Jesus sinned. However, according to Barna Groups research, just as people are conflicted about whether Jesus or good works are the means of salvation, people are equally conflicted on whether or not Jesus was sinless. But the Bible says in Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus was “without sin” despite being born subject to the law. Jesus did not come into the world as a sinner even though he was born subject to the law of God, because he came into the world conceived by the Spirit of God, which made Jesus both God and man, or else he could never be our Savior. Jesus is the only one in the history of the world who perfectly obeyed the law of God in his lifetime. Why did God permit Jesus to be born through a woman under the law?
Point 4: The reason God sent Jesus was for our redemption.
Paul writes (v.4-5a), “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law…” God permitted Jesus to be born under the law to redeem those under the law. What does “redeem mean”? It means to buy or pay off. Now, that implies there is something owed or a debt to be paid. What is the debt owed and how did the debt accumulate? The Bible says in Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death.” The debt owed is death, and it was accumulated because of sin. Because we have all broken God’s moral law we all owe a penalty – death. We deserve to die and spend an eternity in hell because we are criminals and law breakers of God’s moral law.
But the wages of our sins is exactly what Jesus Christ came to purchase. God sent Jesus Christ into the world at the right time, born of a virgin woman named Mary, and under the law, to pay off our sin debt. Christ came into the world at the right time, born of a virgin woman named Mary, and under the law to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the Law of Moses.
How did Jesus purchase our freedom? Here’s how Peter answers that question (1 Peter 1:18-19), “you were ransomed from the futile ways from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” Jesus Christ did not buy our freedom from the law with pennies, nickels, dimes, or quarters. He did not buy our freedom from the law with 1 dollar, 50 dollar, or 100 dollar bills. He did not purchase our freedom from the law with silver or gold or some other kind of precious stone. Jesus Christ came from heaven to earth to purchase our freedom from the law through the shedding of his own blood on an old rugged cross over 2,000 years ago. This is why Jesus died – to purchase us a freedom we could not purchase for ourselves.
But why would God send Jesus, His only begotten Son, to purchase our freedom? Why would Jesus come from heaven to earth, in obedience to the Father’s will, and purchase our freedom from the law by the shedding of his own blood?
Point 5: The reason God would send Jesus to purchase our freedom from the law is so that we can receive a new family, a better family, a divine family, a holy family, a heavenly family.
Paul said it like this (v. 4-5), “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
My son, Caleb, is adopted. It cost Austin and I roughly $6,000 dollars and 3 long, pain-staking years to set him free from the system of Social Service, so he could belong to our family and become an heir to everything Austin and I have to give.
That’s why God sent Jesus, and that’s what Jesus came to do for each of us. Jesus did not come to die only to purchase our freedom from the law, the purpose of Jesus’ death was more than that – Jesus came to die to purchase our freedom from the law in order that he could adopt us as his very own children. Again, the price Jesus had to pay to buy us was the price of sin and death, and Jesus paid that sum on the cross and through the shedding of his blood.
Now as a result of Jesus adopting us by the shedding of his blood Paul writes (v. 6-7), “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” This means two things: First, since we are children of Christ, since Jesus adopted us by purchasing us from the law by the shedding of his blood, God the Father gave us or placed in us his Holy Spirit, so that we can call God, the Creator of all things, our Father. That’s what “Abba” means – it is Aramaic for father. If you know Jesus as your Lord, God, who is the Creator of all things, is your Dad. Secondly, this means that we share with Jesus all rights to God’s resources and belongings. We, because we have been adopted by Jesus through faith, have inherited the Kingdom of God. And that’s something law keeping can’t give you.
So, in summary, considering everything that has been said, what we have to understand as believers in the 21st century is this: There are some who would have you believe you can inherit God’s Kingdom through good works, but I want you to know the only thing you will inherit through good works is an eternity in hell. Don’t be fooled by the teaching of today’s false teachers. Do not turn from the freedom you have been freely given by Jesus to go back to a system that holds you in bondage, a system that makes you work for your salvation, and a system for which you will forever be indebted to because you cannot purchase your own salvation. You are not an heir of God because you are a good person. You are not an heir of God because you are a good law keeper. You are not an heir of God because you perfectly obey the Ten Commandments. You are not an heir of God because of who you are, how often you attend church, how much you tithe, because you’re involved in ministry, or because of what good you might do with the life God has given you.
You are an heir of God because of what Jesus did for you on an old rugged cross over 2,000 years ago. You are an heir of God because Jesus Christ died and bled to purchase you from the law. Your belonging to God has nothing to do with what you do but everything to do with what Jesus has done for you on the cross