How Can You Turn Back Again?

“Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless basic forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? You are observing religious days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you that my work for you may have been in vain. I beg you, brothers and sisters, become like me, because I have become like you. You have done me no wrong!” Galatians 4:8-12 NET

Paul is comparing those who were enslaved to the pagan gods of this world, which were never gods to begin with. Now it is not to say that these entities did not have some power, they did! These gods were appointed by Yahweh to look after the nations until Christ came, but they rebelled and became prideful and evil in their intentions over the nations.

Step into the Divine Council Worldview, where intelligent evil has been at play since the beginning, even in the tranquil Garden of Eden. The Satan’s attempt to thwart God’s plan was not a mere act of rebellion; it was a cunning and deceptively simple yet effective plan. His strategy was to steal from God the crown jewel of His creation, mankind, and reduce them from immortal beings to mere mortals with a limited lifespan. It would take a being deeply connected to the Divine Council and the purposes of God to devise such a ruthless and diabolical plan. The plan was deceptively simple yet profound: to sow doubt in the minds of Adam and Eve and lead them to choose for themselves rather than obey God; this put them under bondage to sin. It became a battle of wills in the Divine Order, and Satan was determined to win by manipulating humanity and influencing their decision.

Paul is alluding to this power play by stating that the Galatians were enslaved by beings that were by nature not gods at all; he is not saying that they weren’t divine beings created by Yahweh, which they were; he is saying that with Deuteronomy 32 in the background of their thinking, that these are the very beings which rebelled and chose a different path than the one prescribed by God Himself. These divine beings were appointed as placeholders over the non-Jewish nations until Christ was revealed and assumed the role of King over the earth. However, these heavenly beings, now embodied with human flesh, wearied themselves with waiting for the promised King and took it upon themselves to rule over mankind, albeit cruelly and without the mercy of God.

Paul is asking why would you go back to that now that you know God, and God knows you through Jesus Christ? Do you want to be enslaved by them again? He poses the obvious question and brings a level of awareness that they may not have considered that this is a spiritual matter of first determining where their freedom comes from and why would you give that up to be controlled by anything that is Anti-Christ. Paul is also making a point that liberty in Christ needs to be maintained; it isn’t just a one-time thing, and we’re good; this is a daily walk with Jesus which requires intentionality and purposeful commitment, and a willingness to grow in our relationship so that we can fully comprehend the richness and fullness of what we have inherited in Christ.

Another point that Paul makes in the above verses is that we have an identity in Jesus Christ, which is different from what was offered through the divine beings who were our first caretakers. We are replacing these divine beings that were put over us with a new identity as 'sons and daughters of God, 'a term that signifies our intimate relationship with God; we are now part of the family of his household. Apparently, the divine beings haven’t received the memo that they are being replaced, and they are refusing to give up their positions as ‘guardians’ over mankind, but that is about to change. There is going to be a battle over who will control the nations. But the beautiful part is this epic battle over power and position is the Lord’s battle, not ours. Jesus declared war at the cross, where He conquered sin. Through His resurrection, he defeated death, which provided all of mankind the opportunity to embrace His death as their own, and baptism representing new life in Christ as our declaration of war against the principalities and powers that rule over this world, stating that we have been bought with a high price and are not held to the old ways which brought death, but to new life in Christ.

Paul offers himself as an example, saying, “Become like me.”  Christians in Paul’s day had some freedoms depending on where they were in one of the different Roman provinces. There has been some debate concerning who specifically the book was written for. There were several churches that Paul and Barnabus planted in Galatia, and there were ethnic differences between North and South Galatia, to which Paul was quite sensitive. I am not sure if it matters if the Galatian letter was sent to churches in North of South Galatia, as the letter itself proves itself as a master’s thesis on salvation by grace alone, through faith. Paul confronted the theological crisis in the churches in Galatia head-on, for he didn’t want to lose his converts, while at the same time, he tried to ground them fully in the gospel of Christ.

How does the grace of Christ appear to you in this passage of Galatians? Are you thoroughly convinced, or does his letter miss its mark of being a light in the dark?

Stephen Barnett