The Messianic Age dawned in Jesus, and calendrical rituals and other Levitical regulations belong to the old order. In Galatians,
Paul chides believers for their desire “to return to bondage under the weak
and beggarly rudiments,” including calendrical observations
and circumcision.
Since they now live in the age of fulfillment, resorting to outmoded rituals is tantamount
to returning to a state of slavery.
Did not God send his Son in the
“fullness of time” to
redeem those who are under the law, “that we might receive the adoption of
sons”? And “because we are sons, He sent the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts.”
Therefore, followers of Jesus
are no longer under the custodianship of the Law. With his arrival, a
fundamental change in the law and shift in the status of God’s people occurred –
(Galatians 4:1-6).
FULLNESS OF TIME
His arrival marked the “fullness of
time,” the moment when we ceased to be minors and became full heirs of the covenant
promises. To now return to the “rudimentary things” of the old order such
as calendrical rituals is the opposite of progress, a return to the “shadows”
of the old order even though we now have the substance of what those things foreshadowed!
In the larger context, Paul is addressing
both Jewish (“we”) and Gentile (“you”) believers. The main controversy
is the effort by men “from Jerusalem” to require Gentile believers to
undergo circumcision, and thus “complete” their faith.
However, once that door is opened, issues
surrounding the requirements of the Mosaic law regarding the calendar inevitably
come into play:
- (Galatians 4:8-11) – “But at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to them who, by nature, are not gods. But now, having acknowledged God, or rather, having been acknowledged by God, why are you reverting again to the weak and beggarly rudiments to which you again wish to come into bondage? Days you do narrowly observe, and months and seasons and years. I am afraid of you, lest by any means, in vain, I have toiled for you!”
By God’s grace, believers are set right
with God “from the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, not from the deeds of the Law.” To return to the rituals of the Levitical
regulations effectively declares that
Jesus died in vain - (Galatians 2:15-21).
Because believers are “from faith and
not from the deeds
of the Law,” they are true
children of Abraham regardless of their ethnicity, and they are not “under the Law” and its curse - (Galatians 3:8-12).
ELEMENTARY THINGS
Paul uses an analogy based on the adoption
practices of the Greco-Roman culture. Under the law, Israel was
comparable to a minor before his formal adoption when the child remained under
“custodians and administrators” appointed by his adoptive parent. As
such, he differed little from a household slave.
Likewise, believers were “children”
in bondage under the “rudiments of the world” until the time appointed
when God sent his Son to redeem them. Consequently, they have been adopted, and
as sons, they are heirs and no longer minor children.
In his analogy, the law of
Moses plays is the “custodian.” But since the “adoption,” a change
in status occurred as attested by the receipt of the gift of the Spirit. In
Jesus, the role of the “custodian” is terminated.
The Greek term rendered “rudiments” or stoicheion
means “elemental, elementary, rudiment, rudimentary, basic” - (Strong’s
- #G4747). It may refer to any first thing, the parts and building
blocks that comprise a larger whole.
For example, according to Peter, the “elements”
or stoicheia that make up the Cosmos will be burned with fire
on the “day of the Lord.” Simply put, the term denotes the ‘ABCs,’
the elementary stages of any subject or parts of any larger thing – (2 Peter
3:10-12).
Returning to the observation of calendar
cycles is reverting to the elementary principles of the old era rather than living
in the new one inaugurated by Jesus. Rather than
completion and maturity, this is a regression to an earlier state of immaturity.
CALENDARS
Paul provides an example of the “rudiments”
of the old order, the observation of “days, months, seasons and years.” Submitting
to religious rites and regulations based on the cycles of celestial bodies is to
return to the “rudiments” of the old regime.
“Why are you reverting again?” Paul
uses a verb in the progressing present tense, one that means to “revert, turn
back.” By resorting to calendrical rituals, the Galatians are returning to
bondage under the “weak and beggarly” practices of the old era.
And “beggarly” adds emphasis to the point. What they are doing will only impoverish them spiritually.
His warning is applicable to
Jewish and Gentile believers. Previously, the Gentiles were “in bondage
to them that by nature are no gods.” Calendrical observations as
religious rites were as common among the pagans of the Roman world as they were
among the Jews, though differing in key details.
Paul refers to the desire to “observe
closely” days and years. This represents the Greek verb paratéreō.
It means to “watch closely, narrowly observe; to keep scrupulously” (Strong’s
- #G3906).
The same verb is applied in the gospel
accounts to the Scribes and Pharisees who closely monitor the actions of
Jesus to see if he will violate their dietary and Sabbath regulations - (Mark
3:2, Luke 6:7, 14:1, 20:20).
In the Greek text, the clause rendered “days
and months and seasons and years” is virtually identical to the Greek Septuagint version
of the description from Genesis about the divisions of time:
- “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years.” – (Genesis 1:14).
The verbal allusion is deliberate. Calendrical observations characterize the old order, but not
the new messianic age. Such practices are not necessarily evil, but in Christ,
they become outmoded, passé.
With the inauguration of the New Covenant, the old one has become “obsolete, aged” and is “about to disappear” - (Galatians 1:1-6, 6:14-15, 1 Corinthians 7:31, Hebrews 8:13).
For a follower of Jesus to submit to
circumcision, calendrical rituals, and the like, means returning to bondage under
the rudimentary principles of the old era. As Paul concludes his letter to the Galatians:
- “With me, however, far be it to be boasting, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby, unto me, a world has been crucified and I unto a world; For neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as many as by this rule shall walk, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” – (Galatians 6:14-16).
Thus, the Messianic Age and the “new
creation” dawned in Jesus Christ and his redemptive work, and his disciples must live
accordingly.