Philip Dampier's Blog

“So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Gal. 4:7) Remember, slavery here referred to the role of the guardian who prevented the heir from obtaining his inheritance until the time was finished. That’s how the law worked. That’s…

“….and because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!” (Gal. 4:6) So much in this verse. Paul has spent time and effort to prove that the Galatians and all those who belong to Jesus are God’s offspring. This has been…

“…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Gal. 4:5) This verse further explains why Jesus was sent. He was sent to redeem those under the penalty of sin. Remember that Paul has shown the Galatians to have been imprisoned under the…

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law,” (Gal. 4:4) The fullness of time denotes the time that the father had set. In the same sense that earthly fathers set a time for the heir to receive the…

“In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.” (Gal. 4:3) When we were children obviously denotes the time prior to our coming to faith in Christ. Whether under the law as Jews or under the universal law as gentiles…

“… but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.” (Gal. 4:2) We continue the thought of the previous verse and Paul returns to his guardian manager comparison. Children were managed by appointed guardians until they reached maturity. This time was controlled by the parent.…

“I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything.” (Gal. 4:1) The heir is the heir as soon as he is born but he doesn’t receive the inheritance. He has to wait until the…

“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:29) Here is the end of chapter three. A summation of sorts. There is a big if in this summation but the results of the “if” are amazing. One, you are a descendant of…

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28) There is that phrase again, “in Christ Jesus.” So much hinges on being in Christ Jesus. In verse 28 we learn that…

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal. 3:27) What do we mean when we say that we are in Christ? How do we see that happening? The key to New Testament blessings is to be in Christ and so there are several…