Welcome to Wednesday’s podcast.  Today our passage is Galatians 4: 1-7.  The verse we’ll focus on today is vs. 6

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba,[a] Father.’

REFLECTION:

I once met somebody once who had inherited a huge amount of money.  I mean an eye-watering amount of money.  To give you an idea – when I say a lot of money – I mean enough to make his name appear in the Sunday Times Rich List.

So, you may well be tempted to think jammy so and so.   All that cash…  handed on a plate.  All right for some.

I cannot imagine what it’s like to have that much personal resource.  To never ever have to think about money again… For the rest of your life.

It turns out this guy had been on a bit of surprising journey.  It actually took a bit of working through – why should he inherit this?  What he had done to deserve it?  He felt guilty, embarrassed and ashamed.  He felt judged.  It was really weird to hear that.   Why on earth would somebody feel like that?  The as he talked the penny dropped.  There’s something noble about saying ‘I earned this…’  or ‘I built this…’ or invented this and it became successful.  I guess if you earn it, make it or invent it – then in some way it’s like you’ve earned the right to live off it.

Didn’t deserve it – he hadn’t earned it.  I can tell you that he’s one of the most generous people I know who does an incredible amount of good with what the God has given him.

The takeaway lesson from that conversation was that it was clear to me that this guy had to go through a mindset shift.  A mindset that said – from living off earnings (wages) to living off the abundance of an inheritance.

In today’s passage the apostle Paul is driving home, once again, the theme of the book – freedom.  Justification by faith in Christ.

And as yesterday (3:26) we landed on the notions that we are all sons (and daughters).  The very contemporary notion to the Galatian churches – the Roman practice of adoption.

In today’s passage Paul drives the point home a little more.

In Chapter 4:1 Paul paints the picture of an heir – a child who will receive his inheritance.  He’s probably a son – we don’t know where the father, pater is – presumably Dead.

The point is that even though the Son is wealthy (in the future sense) – he currently shares the same status as a slave because access to his wealth is denied until he comes of age.  Paul says he’s subject to guardians & trustees.  This bit is important.  The trustees – like that of a charity today – are appointed by the late father to oversee the finances of the estate.  The boy’s guardian is appointed to represent and help the boy.  Remember that bit.

To drive the point home even further in verse 6 makes this point – ‘because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit calls out, ‘Abba’…’

This is when things get exciting.  Some scholars say that Paul is taking the idea of a guardian in verse 2 and painting the picture that the Holy Spirit – the third person of the trinity – actually moves into our bodies.  Whereas the Spirit resided in the temple now God makes his home in us – our bodies become the temple.  The spirit, takes on the role of the ‘new guardian’ – but this time not externally representing us but internally – with deep internal connection to God that we may call him the most holy powerful being – Abba, Daddy.  It’s an internal work of deep grace.  The Father sets it up; Jesus makes it happen and the Spirit advocates deeply within us.  He wants us to explore the depths of his grace.  It’s a throwback to the Old Testament where Israel was seen as the son and the way things were set up was that they related to the Lord as a good & perfect father.

Why?