Setting – Paul gives an allegory of a child coming of age for the comparison of a believer coming to salvation.
Content – A slave child is under a guardian or father just a like the owners son, they are both remain under authority until they come of age as an adult. This is how it is for unbelievers before they become saved. They remain under the authority of elementary things or (v. 3-NLT), “…We were slaves to the spiritual powers of this world”
God sent his son, at the right time, to free us from this subordination of the world’s power. “Born of a woman” (MacAthur’s Study Bible), “Jesus had to be fully God for His sacrifice to be of the infinite worth needed to atone for sin. But, He also had to be fully man so He could take upon Himself the penalty of sin as the substitute for man.” Since we are not children of God by natural, God had to adopt us into His family and this is done through Christ (v. 5), “God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children”
Now that we have God’s Spirit in our hearts, we are now God’s children. And since we are sons we are also heirs.
Application – We are no longer under the principles of the world - that is sin. Once saved, we are adopted into God’s family, He is our new guardian. We no longer have to follow the world’s ways; it is no longer our guardian.
We must change our perspective of trying to avoid sin, by understanding that we no longer have to obey sin. We don’t have to follow sin, in another words, we have the choice to ignore sin.
Content – A slave child is under a guardian or father just a like the owners son, they are both remain under authority until they come of age as an adult. This is how it is for unbelievers before they become saved. They remain under the authority of elementary things or (v. 3-NLT), “…We were slaves to the spiritual powers of this world”
God sent his son, at the right time, to free us from this subordination of the world’s power. “Born of a woman” (MacAthur’s Study Bible), “Jesus had to be fully God for His sacrifice to be of the infinite worth needed to atone for sin. But, He also had to be fully man so He could take upon Himself the penalty of sin as the substitute for man.” Since we are not children of God by natural, God had to adopt us into His family and this is done through Christ (v. 5), “God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children”
Now that we have God’s Spirit in our hearts, we are now God’s children. And since we are sons we are also heirs.
Application – We are no longer under the principles of the world - that is sin. Once saved, we are adopted into God’s family, He is our new guardian. We no longer have to follow the world’s ways; it is no longer our guardian.
We must change our perspective of trying to avoid sin, by understanding that we no longer have to obey sin. We don’t have to follow sin, in another words, we have the choice to ignore sin.
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