A Devotion from Rebecca Van Noord

2 Kings 13:1–14:29; Galatians 4:1–31; Proverbs 7:21–27

We don’t often consider our former lives as enslavement. We characterize our lives before

Christ by bad decisions and sinful patterns, but not bondage. We like to think of ourselves as

neutral beings. But Paul paints another picture. The things or people we once put our trust in

were the things that enslaved us. Paul asks the Galatians why they would ever want to return to

bondage.

“But at that time when you did not know God, you were enslaved to the things which by

nature are not gods. But now, because you have come to know God, or rather have come to be

known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do

you want to be enslaved to them all over again?” (Gal 4:8–9).

Paul tells the Galatians that turning back to the things they trusted formerly—whether the

law for the Jews or spiritual beings for the Gentiles—is choosing enslavement. For us, it could

be anything from thought patterns, greed, habits, people—anything we used to find value,

comfort, or worth that is not God.

Before, we were subject to these things, which ruthlessly dictated our fate. Yet God didn’t

leave us in this state. Paul says we “have come to know God, or rather have come to be known

by God” (Gal 4:9). While we were still sinners, He broke into our spiritual bondage and broke

the chains, giving us freedom and life in Christ.

We are no longer slaves with no freedom to make decisions; we are adopted as sons and

daughters—we are heirs (Gal 4:7). By making this association, Paul shows the Galatians that

Christ has paid the price. He also pushes them to grow up. They can’t just continue on in

spiritual immaturity. Rather than trusting in the former things, they must continue in faith by

being transformed by the Spirit.