ガラテヤの信徒への手紙4:4-7 Galatians 4:4-7,
しかし、時が満ちると、神は、その御子を女から、しかも律法の下に生まれた者としてお遣わしになりました。それは、律法の支配下にある者を贖い出して、わたしたちを神の子となさるためでした。 （ガラテヤ4:4-5）
「時が満ちると」とは、神様のご計画の中で信仰による救いのときが来たことです。つまり、それまで人類は旧約聖書の律法によって自分が罪人であることを知らされていましたが、罪からの救いの道は未だ開かれてはいませんでした。つまり、「〜せよ」「〜してはならない」という律法の奴隷の状態であり、罪の奴隷の状態であったのでした。しかし、神の御子イエス・キリストがこの世界に来られて、罪ある人類の代わりに十字架の上で死んで罪のあがないをしてくださいました。このようにして、キリストの十字架のあがないを信じることによって救われる時が来たということです。
「神は、その御子を女から」とは、神の御子キリストが処女マリアの母胎に宿って、まことの人間としてこの世にお生まれになったことを指しています。そして、「しかも律法の下に生まれた者として」とは、旧約聖書の律法によって直接に支配されていたユダヤ人の一人としてお生まれになったということです。ユダヤ人はモーセを通して神の律法を与えられていたので、特に律法を守らなければならない人々でした。「律法の書に書かれているすべての事を絶えず守らない者は皆、呪われている」と教えられていたのです。しかし、実際には、律法を守ることができず、神様の裁きによって律法の呪いを受けて、国が滅びてしまったのでした。そして、それはユダヤ人だけではなく、全人類が神の律法を守ることができないことを表しています。ところが、神の律法を守ることのできず呪いを受けなければならない私たち人類に代わって、キリストが呪いを受けて十字架の上で死んでくださいました。この手紙の3章13節に「キリストは、わたしたちのために呪いとなって、わたしたちを律法の呪いから贖い出してくださいました」とあるとおりです。この十字架のあがないによって、キリストは私たち人類が神様に対して支払うべき負債を、私たちの代わりに完全に支払ってくださったのでした。言い換えれば、律法の奴隷の状態にあった私たち人類を、十字架の犠牲という尊い代価を支払って買い取り、自由の身分にしてくださったのでした。
この「奴隷状態からの解放」というたとえに加えて、パウロはもう一つ別のたとえでキリストによる救いを表しています。それは、元は親子でなかったものが養子とされることによって、親子になるというたとえです。つまり、神の子キリストを信じることによってキリストと結ばれ、天の父なる神様の子どもとなるということです。それが「わたしたちを神の子となさるため」ということです。
（11月26日の説教より）
We listen to the teachings of the letter to the Galatians in Sunday worship service. This letter teaches about “what true freedom is.” And it is, in other words, “freedom from slavery.” In this case, freedom means “freedom from spiritual slavery” by faith and the Holy Spirit.
When we say “freedom from slavery,” most people probably think of the Emancipation Proclamation issued by US President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. President Lincoln declared that all enslaved people in the southern states at the height of the Civil War would be “forever free” as of 1 January 1863. Long before the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery had been abolished in the northern states of the USA. For example, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts had declared slavery unconstitutional in 1783, 80 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. As a result, some of those enslaved and tormented in the American South fled to the North. However, it was not the case that they were free if they fled to the North. This was because of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which decreed that fugitive slaves had to be returned to their owners.
During those times, there was a woman named Harriet Jacobs who escaped from the South to the North after experiencing unspeakable abuse and hardship as a slave. This woman wrote about her experiences and published a book called Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. The book shows how tragic it is for one human being to be owned by another. It also shows how precious it is to be free as a human being. The book was published in 1861, before the Emancipation Proclamation, but was long forgotten by the public. However, it was rediscovered by a historian and published again in the USA in 1987, 126 years after its first publication. Then it has been read by many people all over the world. It is now also available in Japanese in the Shinchosha paperback edition.
The author, Harriet Jacobs, wrote the book under the pseudonym Linda Brent. And at the end of this true story, Linda notes that she was set free by Mrs. Bruce, a New Yorker who hired her as a nursemaid and paid a price of $300 to someone claiming ownership of Linda. In order for a slave to become free, someone had to pay the slave owner a price to buy the slave and then declare that “you are free.” And Linda’s blood relatives, who had been almost free before her, had tried to buy her out and set her free, but their plans had been foiled repeatedly by cunning owners. Linda describes how she felt when she was set free as follows.
My heart was exceedingly full. I remembered how my poor father had tried to buy me, when I was a small child, and how he had been disappointed. I hoped his spirit was rejoicing over me now. I remembered how my good old grandmother had laid up her earnings to purchase me in later years, and how often her plans had been frustrated. How that faithful, loving old heart would leap for joy, if she could look on me and my children now that we were free! My relatives had been foiled in all their efforts, but God had raised me up a friend among strangers, who had bestowed on me the precious, long-desired boon. Friend! It is a common word, often lightly used. Like other good and beautiful things, it may be tarnished by careless handling; but when I speak of Mrs. Bruce as my friend, the word is sacred.
These Linda’s words are full of joy at being freed from slavery and set free by the friend God has given her, Mrs. Bruce. And they inspire those who live in bondage to something, even if they are not slaves in social status, to seek freedom. In the verse 3, preceding today’s passages, Paul tells us that man was in a state of slavery until he was saved by Christ. Verse 3 says: “So it was with us: during our minority we were slaves, subject to the elemental spirits of the universe” (REB).
The Greek word stoikeia, translated “Shorei” (spirits) in the Japanese translation which we use, is the plural of the word stoikeion (στοιχεῖον). If you look up the word in a Greek lexicon, it does indeed mean “transcendent powers that are in control over events in this world.” But that is the second meaning; the first meaning is “basic components of something,” “elements.” From there, the meaning of components of the universe emerges. Celestial bodies, the components of the universe, were thought to have spiritual powers that governed the world, as seen in the practice of astrology. This is where the meanings such as “spirits” or “spiritual forces” come from.
But not only that, from the meaning of “basic components of something” comes the meaning of “fundamental principles.” So, as I mentioned earlier, in newer English translation this word is translated as “elementary principles” (ESV). It is easier to understand the meaning of this verse if it is translated in that way. Therefore, verse 3 should be translated as follows: “In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.” That this is an appropriate translation is also acknowledged by a recent study of Galatians.
So what exactly does it mean to have been “enslaved to the elementary principles of the world”? First, for the Jews, the Old Testament law was “the elementary principles of the world.” 3:10 of this letter says, the Jews lived as slaves to the law, being taught that “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” So what was it like for the non-Jewish peoples who were not directly given the Old Testament law – the Greeks, Romans and other Gentiles? For the Gentiles, the stereotypes of their time were “the elementary principles of the world.” In other words, even in New Testament times, there were stereotypes in the world, such as “Greeks should live this way,” “’Romans should live this way,” “free people should live this way,” “slaves should live this way,” “men should live this way” and “women should live this way.” These were “the elementary principles of the world” for the Gentiles, and they lived bound by such principles. Christ came to the world to deliver the people of the world from slavery to such “elementary principles of the world.”
So, in verses 4 and 5 of today’s passages we read: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” “When the fullness of time had come,” means that the time for salvation by faith has come in God’s plan. In other words, until then human beings had been informed of their sinfulness by the Old Testament law, but the way of salvation from sin had not yet been opened to them. They were in a state of slavery to the law that order “to do…” and “not to do…,” a state of slavery to sin. But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this world and made atonement for sin by dying on the cross in place of sinful human beings. Thus, the time has come for us to be saved by believing in the atonement of the cross of Christ.
“God sent forth his Son, born of woman,” refers to the fact that Christ, the Son of God, was conceived in the virgin Mary’s womb and born into the world as a true human being. And “born under the law,” means that Christ was born as one of the Jews, who were directly governed by the Old Testament law. The Jews had been given God’s law through Moses, so they particularly should have abided by the law. As I mentioned earlier, they were taught that “cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” But in reality, it was the failure to keep the law that led to the destruction of the nation, under the curse of the law by God’s judgement. And it is not only the Jews, but the whole human beings that are incapable of keeping God’s law. However, on behalf of us, the human beings, who cannot keep God’s law and must suffer the curse, Christ took the curse and died on the cross. As it says in 3:13 of this letter, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” Through this redemption of the cross, Christ paid in full on our behalf the debt that we, human beings, owe to God. In other words, He bought us, the human beings that had been enslaved by the law, by paying the precious price of the sacrifice of the cross, and made us free.
In addition to this metaphor of “freedom from slavery,” Paul uses another metaphor to describe salvation by Christ. It is the metaphor of a child who becomes a child by being adopted. In other words, by believing in Christ, the Son of God, we are united to Christ and become children of God the Father in heaven. That is what is meant in verse 5: “so that we might receive adoption as sons.” In the case of a normal adoption in this world, this is done by submitting a notification to the authorities and having it approved. The authorities then certify that they are legally parent and child. So where is the evidence that a person who has believed in Christ has become a child of God? The evidence is, for one thing, that he was baptised in a church, as it says in 3:27: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” But there is more to it than that. Just as children long for their parents, the important evidence is that there is a longing for God the Father in the hearts of those who have believed in Christ.
This is shown in 4:6, where it says: “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” “Abba” is the term “father” used by young children when they call their father with sincere trust. Christ said in Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36). “This cup” refers to the death by crucifixion under God’s judgement on behalf of human beings. Before his crucifixion, he made an honest request, “Remove this cup from me,” as a child who confesses his honest feelings to his parents. At the same time, with sincere trust in God the Father, he prayed, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” This is a wonderful prayer. Christ prayed openly, “Remove the pain of crucifixion,” and entrusted everything to God the Father, saying, “Your will be done.” Thus, the presence in our hearts of the Spirit of Christ, who trusts in God the Father and frankly cries out “Abba, Father,” is the proof that we are in fact children of God.
Paul concludes today’s passages in verse 7: “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” “No longer a slave” means, as I said in the first half of today’s sermon, that you are not a slave bound by the Old Testament law or the stereotypes of your time. “But a son” means, as I said in the second half of today’s sermon, that we are children of God who, like Christ, can call out “Abba, Father.” And “an heir through God” means that we are heirs to the heavenly estate of “being justified and receiving eternal life,” as I have told you in the sermons up to last week.
What a great joy it is for human beings to no longer be slaves, can be seen from the memoir of Harriet Jacobs, quoted in today’s sermon. So what if, on top of the great joy of being freed from slavery, we are also given the status of children of God the Father in Heaven? That is a joy too great for words. A person who believes in Christ and is made a child of God no longer has to be afraid of the law that order “to do…” and “not to do…,” but can confide all things to his “Heavenly Father.” What a relief! And that’s not all. The status of a child of God the Father in Heaven is accompanied by the status of heir to the heavenly estate of “being justified and receiving eternal life.” In other words, not only do we live in the status of God’s children on earth, but we are also promised estate and status in heaven. We have been freed from slavery and given the status of children of God the Father, with the promise of estate and status in heaven. So shall we live our earthly life with thanksgiving to God.