Freed to become an heir, parts 1 and 2

Lynne Baab • Thursday May 14 2026

Overall theme for the next few months: God’s law is love

Lesson 9: Freed to become an heir, parts 1 and 2 (Galatians 3:19–4:7)

Key verse: “In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.” Galatians 3:26.

Stepping into the Word

Sam and Sarah are the parents of two children, ages 8 and 11. When their kids were toddlers and preschoolers, Sam and Sarah had strict rules about refraining from hitting anyone, holding hands when crossing the street, helping with chores, and appropriate behavior while eating. As the children got older, Sam and Sarah eliminated some rules, continued to emphasize some of them, and added some new family habits. Currently, one night each week, the children accompany their parents to the food pantry hosted by their church. Josh, their older child, has asked a couple of times if he can stay at his friend’s house instead of sorting food at the food pantry.

“Remember when we used to have a rule about holding hands when we crossed the street?” Sarah asked Josh. “You learned safety habits from that rule. I’m not going to use the word ‘rule’ about our commitment at the food pantry, but we do expect you to come with us. Your dad and I want you and your sister to develop a heart of compassion for people in need. We can’t force you to develop that heart, but we’re hoping your heart will be shaped in the direction of kindness because of this family commitment.”

Parents and teachers have to think hard about the best ways to teach children important values. Best practices include age-appropriate rules and clear statements about what matters. Especially in the first decade of life, some rules are put in place simply for safety, and those rules function somewhat like guards. However, even the rules that guard children are teaching something. Some family rules and structures have no safety function. They are designed solely for teaching children important values that they can take into their adult lives. When the children reach adulthood, the life-giving rules and structures will have to come from within, rather than from their parents.

God’s law, the apostle Paul says, functioned as a guard and tutor. In Christ, that guard and tutor is no longer necessary.

Loving God, give us a helpful and faith-filled perspective about rules, structures, and commitments.

God’s law is our tutor

Paul begins this section with a significant question: If the law is incapable of bringing about our justification, why did God give the law in the first place? The law, Paul argues, served a temporary purpose, guarding us and acting as our disciplinarian until Jesus came (v. 24). The Greek word translated as “disciplinarian,” paidagogos, can also be translated teacher, tutor, or guide. The translation “disciplinarian” emphasizes rules, obedience, and punishment for broken rules. The translation “tutor” stresses structure, guidance, learning, and protection from harm. All of these concepts are relevant in Paul’s description of the God’s purpose in giving the law.

In Christ we have been freed to be full members of God’s family, children who have “clothed ourselves with Christ” (v. 27), heirs of God’s promise to Abraham (v. 29). We are one with all the other children in God’s family. Galatians 3:28 is significant in so many ways: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” This verse is often used to make vital and powerful arguments about oneness and equality. Here, the statement of oneness is a building block in Paul’s argument about the law. Peter and the visitors from Jerusalem, who argued that circumcision was essential for Gentile converts, were destroying the unity and equality established by the Gospel (see Galatians 2 as well as “Justified by faith, not by laws,” parts 1 and 2 and parts 3 and 4).

Paul returns to the notion of children being guided by a tutor. In a sense, Paul argues, those under a tutor or disciplinarian “are no better than slaves” (4:1). Before we knew Christ, we, too, were enslaved to sin and evil (v. 3). At the right time, God sent Jesus to be born as a human — subject to the law — in order to set us free from the law’s power and enable us to join God’s family as adopted children (v. 5). In God’s family, we adopted children receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts, and that Spirit enables us to cry out, “Abba, Father” (v. 6). “Abba” comes from Aramaic, the everyday language in Jesus’s time, and it can mean “my father” as well as a non-specified father. The immediacy and personal component to that name has comforted Christians throughout the centuries. Paul describes the role of the three persons of the Trinity in this process of adoption. We become children of God through Jesus, and the Holy Spirit makes our adoption real in our hearts and draws us into relationship with God.

How would you describe the Holy Spirit’s role in drawing you into the family of God and helping you experience oneness with others?

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Next week: Freed to become an heir, parts 3 and 4. Illustration by Dave Baab.

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This lesson appeared in the Fall 2023 edition of The Present Word adult Bible study curriculum published by the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Used with permission.

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