Galatians 4

Galatians 4:3: Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

Before God redeems a man and “quickens” him—makes him alive—he walks according to the course of the cosmos. This passage shows clearly that the cosmos is ruled by the “prince of the power of the air,” Satan the Devil. His spirit works in the children of disobedience, and they serve him. They are powerless in his grasp until God pays for them with the blood of His Son. The “elements of the world” in Galatians 4:3 cannot be a reference to the Mosaic law, because the Gentile Galatians were never exposed to it until after their conversion—after God had ordained that they be taken out of the control of the “governors of this world” (Ephesians 6:12). The “elements of the world” are those basic things that make this cosmos what it is—a world apart from God. These elements are sinful, rebellious, and pagan.

Galatians 4:4-5:
"But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons."

As the end draws closer it'll become harder to discern, in some respects, the real Christian vs the illusionary Christian. The real will live on the foundation that it is God who sent and His son who redeems. The Christian who lives the illusionary life will be aware of that, but still try and ...gain heaven by their own virtue and effort. The reason I use the word "illusionary" is because even the one who has fallen victim may not realize what they are doing, and why many on that day will very boldly go before the Lord and attempt to claim what is their inheritance...but will hear the words "Go from me, I never knew you." I have no intention of meeting God with any arrogant proclamation of God to fulfill His promise of what He owes me. For if I ask for what I am owed, then I will burn in the fires of hell. I will seek rather His mercy and pray He remembers this fragile frame and that He remembers those whom He knows.

"Go from me, I never knew you." is forever.

Galatians 4:6-7:
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

The proof that we are sons comes from the instinctive cry of the heart. In mans deepest need he cries "Abba! Father!". Abba is the Aramic word for Father, It must have been often on Jesus' lips, and its sound so sacred that men kept it in the original tongue. This instinctive cry of man's heart Paul believes to be the work of the Holy Spirit. If our hearts so cry, we know that we are sons, and all the inheritance of grace is ours.

Galatians 4:26:
But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Thomas Schreiner

The tithe is tied to the land Israel received under the old covenant.
Israel was supposed to celebrate a tithe every three years in Jerusalem. But that requirement cannot apply to Christians today. It related to the Jews as a nation—to Jews who lived in the land of promise. With the coming of Christ, the Jewish nation is no longer the locus of God’s people, though individual Jews are part of the church through faith in Jesus.
The earthly Jerusalem is no longer central in God’s purposes (Gal. 4:25). Believers are part of the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal. 4:26) and look forward to the city to come (Heb. 11:10), to the new heavens and new earth (Rev. 21:1–22:5). Abraham isn’t heir of the land of Israel, but of the whole world (Rom. 4:13).

Galatians:4:31:
So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

With a smile on his face and joy in his heart, the man related how he had been delivered from a life of sin. He gave God all the credit, saying nothing about any of his own merits or what he had done to deserve the blessings of redemption. The person in charge, who was legalistic, didn’t fully appreciate the reality of salvation by grace through faith alone, apart from human works. So he responded to the man’s comments by saying, “You seem to indicate that God did everything when He saved you. Didn’t you do your part, before God did His?” The new believer jumped to his feet and said, “Oh, yes, I did. For more than 30 years I ran away from God as fast as my sins could carry me. That was my part. But God took out after me and ran me down. That was His part.” -Pastor H. A. Ironside