SLAVES TO RELIGION
“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God – or rather are known by God – how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” Galatians 4:8-11.
Religion is bondage! Two words sum up what religion produces – slavery and fear.
The Galatian believers were Gentiles who had come out of paganism into new life in Jesus Christ. They had tasted the forgiveness of sins and freedom from having to observe rules and rituals to appease their gods. They had learned that gods are Satan’s master plan to enslave people into worshipping him. When he rebelled against God and set up his rival rule, all he wanted was to be Lord, to be worshipped and to wrest control of people from God so that he could rule over them.
“…The sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.” 1 Corinthians 10:20.
He rules by fear. People slavishly follow the superstitions of religion because they are afraid of the consequences if they do not do everything in their power to satisfy the demands of their gods. Gods are the invention of human imagination and are cruel, ruthless and unpredictable, the very worst of human nature.
Before they came to know God through Jesus, God knew them. He set His love upon them and chose them from before the foundation of the world to be His sons and daughters (Ephesians1:4). He brought them into His family and set them free from the terrible demands of their religion to love Him and to love and serve His children.
Now they were going backwards – thinking that God, their Father, was putting the old yoke of slavery to rules back on them again. What did Paul mean by “You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!”? Were they becoming Jewish and observing all the seasons and feasts of the Old Testament just like the Jews did?
“It is evident that the “days, months, seasons and years” Paul refers to in verse 10 were pagan, idolatrous festivals and observances that the Gentile Galatians had observed before their conversion. They could not possibly be God’s holy days because these Gentiles had never observed them before being called, nor would Paul ever call them “weak and beggarly”. Rather, they were turning back to their old, heathen way of life that included keeping various superstitious holidays connected to the worship of pagan deities.
“Far from doing away with God’s holy days, these scriptures show that we should not be observing “days, months, seasons and years” that have their roots in paganism, such as Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and any other days that originated from the worship of pagan gods.” (www.bibletools.org).
Observance of Jewish religious holidays, which seems to be a trend in some parts of the church today, should never be regarded as a “must” since Jesus is the fulfilment of all these things which were only a picture until He came. Even Sabbath worship and food taboos, which are demanded of a certain group of Christian people, are a form of regression into legalism, since Jesus is our “Sabbath rest”.
“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” Colossians 2:16, 17.
Once again, Paul is adamant that anything that is added to the sufficiency of Jesus and His sacrifice for sin, disqualifies us from God’s grace. Once step backwards takes us out of mercy into slavery because we have to observe the whole law if we choose to forfeit grace.
This is unthinkable!
Acknowledgement
Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.