Footsteps #57

Read Galatians 4:1-7 again!

While culture required that Paul address the men, women are implied (see 3:28). In vs5–7, Paul expands on his theme, stressing that Christ has now redeemed those who were under the law. The verb ‘redeem’ means “to buy back.” It referred to the price paid to buy the freedom of either a hostage or a slave. As this context indicates, redemption implies a negative background: a person is in need of being liberated.

From what, though, do we need to be freed? The NT presents four things among others: freedom from the schemes of the devil (Heb.2:14, 15); freedom from death (1Cor.15:56, 57); freedom from the enslaving power of sin (Rom.6:22); and freedom from the condemnation of the law (Rom.3:19–24, Gal.3:13, 4:5).

We often speak about what Christ has accomplished for us with our “redemption.” But this word is not nearly as vivid and descriptive as Paul’s unique use of the word adoption (huiothesia). Although Paul is the only NT author to use this word, adoption was a well-known legal procedure in the Greco-Roman world. Several Roman emperors during Paul’s life used adoption as the means of choosing a successor when they had no legal heir. Adoption guaranteed a number of privileges: e.g. The adopted son becomes the true son of his adopter, the adopter agrees to bring up the child properly and to provide the necessities of food and clothing, the adopter cannot repudiate his adopted son, the child cannot be reduced to slavery, the child’s natural parents have no right to reclaim him, and the adoption establishes the right to inherit. If these rights are guaranteed on an earthly level, just imagine how much greater are the privileges we have as the adopted children of God!

The Hebrew word Abba (v6) was the intimate word children used to address their father, like the word Daddy today. Jesus used it in prayer (Mark.14:36), and as God’s children we have the privilege of calling God “Abba,” as well. Do you enjoy that kind of intimate closeness to God in your own life? If not, what can you change to bring about this closeness?