A Call to Freedom

Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 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 elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

From the onset, we have seen in this letter Paul's deep concern for the spiritual well-being of this church. In the previous chapter and working into the present one, he sought to drive home the point that in Christ they were no longer slaves to sin or the law, but are now children of God, who were let by the Spirit.  He goes on after the verses above to remind them of their mutual affection for one another - a relationship that they and the legalizers who were leading them astray did not have with them.  In the final paragraph Paul returns to the days of Abraham, the Father of Faith, for another illustration to support the point he has made.  He likens Hagar and her son Ismael to the bondage of the law of Moses and Sarah and her son Isaac to the freedom of a son, encouraging them to choose the latter and not fall back into bondage.