Galatians 4:21 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?

NIV: Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says?

NASB: Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the Law?

CSB: Tell me, you who want to be under the law, don’t you hear the law?

NLT: Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says?

KJV: Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

NKJV: Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?

Paul's message to the Galatian Christians has been one of dismay. They accepted Paul's message of faith in Christ (Galatians 1:6), but then were deceived by false teachers claiming that they also needed to follow the law of Moses in order to be saved (Galatians 2:4). Paul made several appeals to change their minds, including a personal approach, seen in the most recent verses.

Here, Paul begins a new line of thought as he continues to explain why Christians should not add the works of the law to their faith in Christ in the hopes of being saved.

Paul is aware that other voices are arguing against him and the simple message of the gospel. After the Galatians had believed in Christ, a group of false teachers known as the Judaizers had arrived from Jerusalem to add to what Paul had taught. They apparently agreed that Gentiles (non-Jewish people) needed to believe in Christ, but they added on top of faith in Jesus the need to follow the law of Moses to be truly saved.

Paul wrote this letter because some of the Galatians, at least, were starting to believe the Judaizers. They were beginning to legalistically follow some parts of the law. In doing so, Paul has written, they were making themselves slaves again after Christ had made them free by their simple faith in the work He did in dying for their sins on the cross.

Now Paul asks his readers who seem to want to live under the law if they even know what it says. In other words, have they actually listened to the law for themselves or are they just listening to the teaching of the Judaizers?

Galatians 4:21–31 contains Paul's allegory about Abraham's two wives, and the two sons born through them. Paul sets out to use Scripture to show the difference between being born into slavery, by human effort, as opposed to being born into freedom, by the work of God through the Holy Spirit. Ishmael was born into slavery as Abraham's son, but he was cast out when the child of promise arrived. In a similar way, living under the law became pointless when Christ arrived. Those who trust in Him become children of promise by God's power.

In this chapter, Paul uses three new methods to teach his Galatian readers an important lesson. It is futile to follow the law of Moses in order to be made right before God, since justification comes only by faith in Christ. First, Paul shows that the arrival of Christ made it possible for all people to become God's children through faith in Him. Next, Paul makes a more personal appeal, asking what has changed to cause the Galatians to turn on Paul's teaching of the gospel. Finally, Paul builds an allegory from Scripture, illustrating the difference between being born into slavery and being born into the promise by faith in Christ.

Galatians 3 ends with Paul stating, once more, that those who are in Christ are Abraham's offspring, just as He is, making us heirs along with Him. Galatians 4 continues that idea, showing how Christ's arrival signaled the moment all people could receive the inheritance with Him and be adopted as God's children. Paul makes his appeal personal, asking why the Galatians moved from blessing him to rejecting the message of Christ. The chapter ends with Paul's allegory about the difference between being born into slavery under the law and being born into freedom by the power of the Spirit through faith in Christ. Chapter 5 will continue by expanding on the freedom we have in Christ.

Galatians is sometimes called “a short Romans” for its similar themes of justification and sanctification through faith. A group of Christians known as “Judaizers” were preaching a gospel of legalism, rather than grace. Paul’s main purpose in writing the letter to the Galatians was to reiterate the true nature of the gospel: we are justified (made righteous) and sanctified (made more Christlike) through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. This letter was probably written shortly before the church elders in Jerusalem issued their official refutation of the Judaizers, commonly called the Jerusalem Council.