Why do we get pulled back into spiritual slavery?
Sep 19, 2011
The Race for Grace - part fifteen in a study of the book of Galatians
By Mike Gaudet
God wants us to experience spiritual freedom.
Why do we get pulled back into spiritual slavery?
“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God — or rather are known by God — how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” Galatians 4:8-11
When they “did not know God” the men and women to whom Paul writes “were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.” The gods of Greece and Rome were human fabrications, “not gods” in the true sense. They were cruel and vindictive . . . incapable of feeling. When it came to them, slavery was the only relational option.
The God they came to know through Paul’s ministry was the polar opposite of the gods they had formerly worshiped. He was merciful and compassionate. When they came to “know God” as a result of Paul’s time with them, a previously unimaginable relational option was opened to them . . . they could become sons and daughters of God.
The impact produced by this change in their image of God was profound. Joy replaced obligation. Love replaced fear. Freedom replaced slavery.
When Paul departed from Galatia to proclaim the gospel elsewhere, religious teachers arrived whose god was a hybrid of the distant god the Galatians had grown up with and the merciful God Paul introduced them to. They adjusted their thinking yet again. The impact on their spiritual lives was dramatic. Paul asked them, “What has happened to all your joy?” Galatians 4:15
These “missionaries” had one foot in Christianity and the other foot in ancient Judaism. They told these new believers that, “observing special days and months and seasons and years” was required. If they hoped to maintain God’s love and acceptance they would have to observe the rituals of Judaism.
Paul wrote this letter to tell the believers in Galatia that they had been duped. The god these new teachers proclaimed was no different from the gods they worshiped growing up. Fear and obligation were resurfacing because they were being “enslaved . . . all over again.”
We can’t blame them. We know that old habits die hard . . . especially religious ones. We know how strong the gravitational pull of former religious upbringing can be. Many of us were raised to worship a god much like the one Paul warned the Galatians about.
Jesus traced spiritual problems to ignorance of God’s character. He perceived that those who claimed to know God didn’t know Him. “My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.” John 8:54-55
Jesus’ harshest rhetoric was aimed at those whose faulty image of God led to obsessive-compulsive preoccupation with commandment keeping. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” Matthew 23:23-24
In our day biblical teachers make the same mistake the Pharisees made in Jesus’ day. They teach that keeping the Ten Commandments is the key to connecting meaningfully with God. Their god is a harsh, stern taskmaster who rewards righteous behavior and punishes unrighteous behavior . . . a god whose love and acceptance needs to be constantly cultivated and maintained by slavish devotion. This is not the God Jesus revealed and reflected.
Jesus fully and finally reveals to us what God is like. All other reflections, (including Moses’ reflection), are trumped by Jesus reflection of God.
“No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:27-28
The God Jesus revealed doesn’t give burdens . . . He removes them.
The God Jesus revealed wants sons and daughters . . . not slaves.
The God Jesus revealed “will give you rest.”