Law of Moses Versus The Law of The Spirit – Part 16, Good Things to Come

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Law of Moses Versus The Law of The Spirit – Part 16, Good Things to Come

[Posted March 8, 2024]

In Colossians we are told “Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect [Strong’s G3313: meros – regarding] of an holy day, or [the particulars] of the new moon or [the particulars] of the Sabbath days WHICH ARE A SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME; but the body [casting that shadow] is of Christ” (Col 2:16, 17).

2Co 3:10  For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect [G3313: meros, ‘in this regard’], by reason of the glory that excelleth.

The NET version has a better translation of what Paul is saying:

Col 2:16  Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days —
Col 2:17  these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ! (NET)

There it is! Holy days and Sabbaths are all “shadows” of Christ, as were the millions of animals sacrificed for the sins of Israel. Jesus is now “a minister of the true tabernacle…[that’s us]…if He were on earth, He should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests [the physical temple was still standing] that offer gifts [sacrifices] according to the law. Who [both the priests and the gifts or sacrifices] serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things…[they all foreshadow Christ]”:

Heb 8:1  Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
Heb 8:2  A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man [Our bodies, 1Co 3:15-16].
Heb 8:3  For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
Heb 8:4  For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:
Heb 8:5  Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

Paul goes on to say that this is true of the law as a whole:

Heb 10:1  For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

So who is our priest foreshadowed by the Aaronic priesthood? Who is our sacrifice, foreshadowed by millions of dead lambs and bulls and goats? Who is our Sabbath and holy days? Who can make the comers thereunto perfect?

I never before realized that anything could be so repetitive and yet be so exciting. It is ALL Christ! The scriptures themselves are all Christ-centric:

Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

Exo 25:9 According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall you make it.

Exo 25:40 And look that you make them after their pattern, which was shewed you in the mount.

Christ is what that ‘pattern’ signifies, and we, too, must be careful to follow the ‘pattern.’

Rom 10:40 For Christ is the end [G5056: telos, the end product] of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.

That word ‘telos’ is the same G5056 used by Peter in:

1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end [G5056: telos, the product) of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Gal 5:15  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Luk 24:44 These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the psalms concerning me.

This is what Christ was talking about when he said:

Mat 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Mat 5:18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Christ knew who He was. He knew that He and His doctrine were the “till all be fulfilled.” Christ knew that He and His doctrine was the fulfillment of the law of Moses, and He knew His new covenant had replaced the old covenant. It was His law and His covenant He commanded us to teach and to keep. It is His own teaching and not the teachings of Moses which Christ referred to when He made this statement:

Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Is this a comment concerning the ten commandments and/or law of Moses? Is Christ telling us that if we break one of the least commandments of Moses, and teach men to do so then we will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, and if we do and keep all the commandments of Moses then we will be called great in the kingdom of heaven? If it is, then Christ himself will have to “be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” Why do I say that?

I say it simply because the entire remainder of chapter 5 of Matthew consists of Christ teaching his disciples to break the law of Moses:

The first three of Christ’s commandments listed above are in direct opposition to the law of Moses. The other two are certainly not “one of these least commandments” but are two of the ten, and have been changed beyond recognition.

It should be clear that “one of these least commandments” refers to the column on the right, the commandments of Christ; not those given by Christ to Moses. Carnal commandments are for a lawless and carnal people.

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

Heb 7:16  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

The Meaning of “Made Under The Law”

All the commandments of Christ, all these “But I say unto you…” commandments which are in direct contradiction to the law of Moses, are apparently hidden from the orthodox Protestant and Catholic churches and from the “command them to keep the law of Moses” groups in the Christian world. Here is the lie that is believed by all three schools of religious thought. The following quotation is from a book entitled ‘The Two Covenants and the First Resurrection’ by Brian Convery:

“Now let’s cut to the chase. In 1Jn 2:3-6, we read a very sobering measuring stick as to the degree we are led by the spirit of God.

1Jo 2:3 – Now by this we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. [The implication here is very clear. If we don’t keep His commandments, all of them, we don’t know him. The professing Christian world says they know Him but preaches His commandments were nailed to the cross, done away. If that’s the case, the Bible is lying to us. There is no gray area. It is one or the other.]

1Jo 2:4 – He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. [Very simple, isn’t it? No compromise, no second-guessing, no ifs and or buts about it. Many denominations of Christianity today say they keep His commandments but fail to observe the Sabbath the seventh day, the same one that has been in place since creation week. They instead take their lead from Rome and keep the day of the pagan deities, Sunday.]

1Jo 2:5 – But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him.
1Jo 2:6 – He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Jesus Christ observed the Sabbath and the annual Holy Days. He kept them holy, all of them. Over seventy times in the gospels, He tells us to follow Him. Following Him has just been clearly defined here in I John. If we are following Him, we are going to do what He did. Do not lose sight of who Jesus was in the O. T. scriptures. He was the Word, that Being who created everything. He was the one who authored all the commandments, etc., of the O. T. scriptures. That’s why we read in Hebrews that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is not changing it. If you do not follow Him as He has just described in I John, then you are not led by the spirit of God.” (The Two Covenants and The First Resurrection by Brian Convery, Part 3, page 1.)

I have no doubt Mr. Convery is as sincere a man as I am, but he has failed to notice that Christ brought “a NEW commandment …That ye love one another as I have loved you…”

Joh 13:34  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Christ did not love his disciples according to Exodus 20. He loved them according to Matthew 5. Mr. Convery has failed to notice the outright contradictions between the “NEW commandment” of Christ and the “abolished”, “disannulled”, “nailed to the cross”, “handwriting of ordinances” that are “old covenant” “law of Moses”. This very John whom Mr. Convery is quoting never calls the holy days “the Passover, a feast of God” or ‘God’s feast of Tabernacles.’ Here is how he distances Himself from the “law for the lawless”:

Joh 6:4  And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.

Joh 7:2  Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.

John demonstrates his understanding of their fulfillment in Christ; their passing, fading nature. John always refers to “the Jews’ feast of Passover” and “the Jews’ feast of tabernacles, etc.” John sets us all a good example. Christ fulfills ALL. Those who refuse John’s example are not following Christ. They are following “the outward Jews” (Rom 2:27). Christ set us a good example when He agreed with the Pharisees that He had indeed “done that which is not lawful for Him to do”, and He added to that saying He, like the priests, can “profane the sabbath” and yet be “guiltless.”  Christ did not keep the seventh-day Sabbath holy. “He had broken the sabbath” repeatedly as you can read in Matthew 12 and John 5:

Mat 12:1  At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
Mat 12:2  But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Mat 12:3  But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4  How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5  Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6  But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7  But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8  For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Did Christ respond to the Pharisees telling them, “No, no, no, you self-righteous Pharisees. You’ve gotten it all wrong. You are adding to the law of Moses. My disciples and I are doing nothing unlawful or contrary to the law of Moses”? No, That was not how Christ handled the fact that He and His disciples had indeed done that which is not lawful for them to do on the sabbath day. His defense was simply that David and his men did that which was not lawful for them to do, and then He went on to point out that the priests “profane the sabbath and are blameless.”

Christ would never have excused His actions and the actions of His disciples if He believed in keeping the law of Moses which did indeed demand that one must prepare on the sixth day for the necessities of the sabbath:

Exo 16:5  And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

 You are right, Mr. Convery, “If we are following him, we are going to do as he did.”

“Do not lose sight of who Christ was in the Old Testament scriptures. He was the Word; that being who created everything. He was the one who authored all the commandments, etc. of the Old Testament scriptures…” [Ibid]

Yes, we would do well to never “lose sight of who Christ was in the O.T. scriptures”, but if we have never known Him to begin with, how then can we “lose sight” of something we never saw? Moses changed everything when the Lord gave him the law of Moses. Before Moses the Lord permitted Abraham and all the patriarchs to build an altar to Him wherever they happened to be at the time they were led to build an altar and offer a sacrifice to Him. After Moses, the offerings could only be offered to the Lord at the tabernacle and later at the temple in Jerusalem. Before Moses we have no account of anyone keeping the sabbath, nor had they even heard about all the holy days. Before Moses there was no tabernacle, no brazen altar, no holy incense, no candlestick, no golden altar and no table of shewbread which only the priests could eat. Moses was a reformer, and this is what Moses prophesied for those who are given eyes to see and ears to hear the mysteries of the kingdom of God:

Deu 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deu 18:19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

Moses was a reformer and Christ was “a prophet of their brothers, like unto [Moses]”. Christ was also a reformer and His ministry is referred to as “the time of reformation”:

Heb 9:10  Which [blood offerings, vs 7] stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them [only] until the time of reformation.

To demonstrate what I mean, here are a few things concerning the O.T. scriptures which very few have ever “had sight of” to begin with:

• Cursed be he that confirmeth not ALL the words of this law to do them (Deu 27:26; Jer 11:3)
• As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them (Gal 3:10).

These verses do not say “the ten commandments, all of them.” It says ALL THINGS which are written IN THE BOOK…” This would include the very things Christ taught against in Matthew 5. Yes, Christ is the author of the ten commandments. It is the ten commandments that are called the “covenant” (Deu 4:13).

• Christ is also the author of… ‘You shall fear the Lord your God…and shall swear by his name’ (Deu 6:13 and Deu 10:20). What agreement does that have with the commandment of Christ but I say unto you, swear not at all (Mat 5:34 and 37)?
• Christ was the author of an eye for an eye (Exo 21:24 and Deu 19:21). What agreement does that have with but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil (Mat 5:38-42)?

I could go on and on with the changes in the law which Christ made, but we have already covered this subject in this paper.

Mr. Convery, along with most of Christendom, thinks the “his commandments” of 1 John 2:3 are the same as the ten commandments of Exodus 20. Nothing could be further from the truth. The ten commandments are “for the lawless and disobedient” (1Ti 1:8-9). The “but I say unto you… law of Christ” of Matthew 5 and Galatians 6:2 are the “his commandments” spoken of in 1 John 2:3, and the “one of these least commandments” of Matthew 5:19).

The obvious truth is that the only time Christ was made “under the law” (Gal 4:4) was when he was “made to be sin for us” (2Co 5:21).

“The professing Christian world…preaches his commandments were “nailed to the cross, done away”…”[Ibid.]

Those are Paul’s words, Mr. Convery (Eph 2:15, Col 2:14). Those are not the words of “the professing Christian world.” Your argument is not with the professing Christian world, as they agree with you on everything but the fourth commandment. Your argument is with Paul and the Holy Spirit. The professing Christian world, like you, Mr. Convery, picks and chooses which parts of “all things written in the book of the law” they want to keep. They pick nine commandments and the pagan holidays. You pick all ten commandments and holy days.

A Synopsis of Galatians

It is actually Jewish holy days, not pagan holidays, to which Paul refers in:

Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

Paul is reprimanding these Galatians (and Christians today) for observing the days and festivals of Moses!

Is Paul worried that the Galatian converts are slipping back into their old pagan holidays observance? No doubt pagans had holidays they observed just as the Jews had days which they also esteemed above other days (Rom 14:1-5). Pagan “days, months, times and years” are just as much “the traditions of men” (Col 2:8, 20) as Jewish holy days. Paganism is not the concern or subject of the book of Galatians. Being lured back under the law of Moses by fellow Christians is the problem with which Paul is dealing in the book of Galatians.

Galatians One

What is the point of this book?

Gal 1:6-7: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”

THAT is the subject of this book! Paul spells it out right up front. The Galatians are being influenced by people who are preaching “another gospel which is not another but…pervert(s) the gospel of Christ” and “removed” (them) from Him “that called you into the grace of Christ.”

What is this “gospel which is not another but… pervert(s) the gospel of Christ”? It is obvious that what is troubling Paul is “the Jews religion”; “the letter of the law” of Moses (Gal 1:14). The entire book of Galatians is concerned with this problem, NOT with the influences of pagans: “… I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus” (Gal 1:17).

If pagan influences have anything to do with this book, why would Paul place distance between himself and “them which were apostles before me” in Jerusalem?

Galatians Two

What is the subject of Chapter 2? It is the very same subject as chapter 1: “For before that certain [men] came from James. [Peter] did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself fearing them which were of the circumcision” (Gal 2:12).

Here again is the subject of this letter to the Galatians. To say Galatians 4:10 has to do with pagan holidays, is to miss the point of this entire epistle. Observing any ‘days, months, times and years’ is indeed contrary to the example of Christ, but the traditions of the Jews is what Paul is addressing in this book of Galatians.

Gal 2:15 We who are Jews by nature…
Gal 2:16 know…that a man is not justified by the deeds of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ…and not by works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified…”

Does this sound like something you would say to people who were being seduced by pagan holidays and traditions? The “law unto themselves” of the Gentiles is just as much a “law for the lawless” (1Ti 1:9-12), but in this book, Paul is dealing with the law of Moses. What does the next chapter concern?

Galatians Three

Gal 3:1  O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
Gal 3:2  This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? [“The works of the law”]

This is the same subject of chapters one and two, “removed from…the grace of Christ unto another gospel” (Gal 1:6) and “certain (men) from James” (Gal 2:12), and now here in chapter 3; “received ye the spirit by the works of the law…?”

Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, continues in chapter three attempting to take the eyes of these Galatian converts off the things pertaining to the law:

Gal 3:10  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Gal 3:11  But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Gal 3:12  And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

Those who are fighting against Paul until this very day attempt to give the last part of verse 12 a positive spin, while completely ignoring the first part concerning faith without which it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).

The rest of this chapter is devoted to Paul’s attempt to get the Galatians to see that the promises made to Abraham are actually “to thy seed which is Christ” (Gal 3:16).

Gal 3:18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

The subject still hasn’t changed. The “another gospel, which is not another…but pervert(s) the gospel of Christ” is a gospel which promotes the “law of Moses” which Christ (in Matthew 5) and Paul, here and in all his epistles, say is incompatible with the “law of Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:2).

Gal 3:19  Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

What was “the law” of Moses added to? It was a temporary addendum only “until the time of reformation” to the “law of the spirit of life” (Rom 8:2), also called the “law of Christ” (Gal 6:2) the NEW commandment of Matthew 5, the law of love of Romans 13:10. God is not a ‘new’ God. “Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and today and forever” (Heb 13:8). What is ‘new’ about the new covenant, is that it was never before revealed to mankind. Christ came to reveal the Father, because the Father had never before been revealed:

Luk 10:22  All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.

The only ‘eternal’ immutable law of God ever revealed in scripture is “the law of Christ” revealed in Matthew 5-7, also called “the law of love” in 1 Corinthians 13: “Love never fails…” (1Co 13:8). God always has been and always will be – LOVE.

This ‘new commandment’ (Joh 13:34) is a NEW COMMANDMENT. It is not the “spirit of the letter lost in the traditions of the elders.” Letter obedience is only to rule over us “till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.”

Then what? “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed” (Gal 3:23).

Here is Paul’s concern for the Galatians. Here is the “another gospel.” The law keeps us “shut up” and “under the law” until “faith comes.” Paul says the same thing, with even more force in Romans 6:14: “… sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law but under grace”. Sin dominates those “under the law”, because they are not yet brought to Christ (Gal 3:22 and 23).

The true character of the law of God was never revealed until Christ came “to reveal the Father” (Mat 11:27, Luk 10:22). While it had not been revealed, the law of Love (the law of God) was still being transgressed, and this is what necessitated the “addition” of the law of Moses “because of transgressions” of the unrevealed, yet present (law of God) law of Love (Gal 3:19). The law [of Moses] entered that “the offence might abound”:

Rom 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

 The law of Moses was not added to reveal the Father. Reading the law without accepting Christ “veils” the Father (2Co 3:15).

Paul is obviously desirous that the Romans and Galatians not be “under the law” “after faith comes”.

Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. [Then what? “But after that faith is come we are no longer under a schoolmaster”:
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Why are we no long under a schoolmaster?

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Now, the formula laid down by the Holy Spirit through the pen of the Apostle Paul is:

• a. The law is good if used lawfully; meaning you understand that it is for the lawless and disobedient (1Ti 1:8,9).
• b. After faith is come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster (the law) because we are not disobedient and lawless as defined by the “new commandment… the law of Jesus Christ”, as revealed for the first time in Mat 5.

Yes, this was the first time. While God’s law is as old as He is, it was not revealed until Christ came:

Mat 11:27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

If the law of Moses had revealed the Father, as most all of Christendom believes, Matthew 5 would have been totally unnecessary. Christ Himself would have been unnecessary, and salvation could have been by the law. However, the law of Moses, the old covenant, the ten commandments (Deu 4:13) are for the lawless and disobedient and the “law of Christ”, the “law of love” is not revealed until Christ comes. Until then we are “kept under the law” (under the letter).

Galatians Four

We now come to Galatians 4. Does the concern suddenly switch from the Galatians being seduced by Judaizer’s to pagan philosophers?

No, paganism is not even under consideration in this chapter. Paul is still concerned that the Galatians are allowing themselves to be influenced by those who want to keep them under the schoolmaster. He has just informed them that in Christ “we are no longer under the schoolmaster, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:25-26).

The whole weight of Paul’s point is lost by translators who fail to make clear the huge difference between the “children” (Greek – huios, Strong’s G5207) of Galatians 3:26 and the “child” (Greek – nepios, Strong’s G3516) of Galatians 4:1.

Paul’s entire point is that in Christ in time we become ‘huios’, mature sons, able to carry on with our Father’s profession.

This is contrasted with being “under the schoolmaster” and still “under the law”. Chapter four concerns this same subject “now…the heir, as long as he is a nepios, (an infant) differeth nothing from a servant (Greek – doulos, Strong’s G1401, a slave) though he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father”:

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child [G3516: ‘nepios’, an infant], differeth nothing from a servant [G1401: ‘doulos’, a slave], though he be lord of all;

Being “under the law” is to be a spiritual infant, an immature Christian” according to Strong; according to Paul “differing nothing from a slave”.

Being under “tutors and governors” and “differing nothing from a slave” while under these “schoolmasters” is to be “nepios (immature)…in bondage to the elements of the world” (Gal 4:3). The subject of this chapter is: “…God sent forth his son…to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (G5206: huiothesia, mature son]:

Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son [G5207: uihos, mature son], made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption [G5206: uihothesia, “placing as a son”] of sons.

This “adoption” is to take on the father’s business and has nothing in common with our modern meaning for the English word ‘adoption’.

Paul’s concern for the Galatians is that “another gospel” is seducing them to remain immature (nepios) Christians, robbing them of their true standing in Christ as mature sons (huios) and “heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:29).

“Thou art no more a servant [slave] but a son [mature Christian]; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Gal 4:7). Paul says being an immature Christian and remaining under the law even after Christ has fulfilled it, is to do “service to them which by nature are no gods” (Gal 4:8). These are those who “zealously-affect-you” of verse 17.

How was this desire to remain an immature Christian, “under the law”, ‘nothing more than a slave’, “doing service to them which are no gods”, “believing another gospel”, how was all this manifesting itself in these Galatian converts?

It was manifesting itself in three ways:

1. “Ye observe days, months, times and years” (Gal 4:10)
2. They were desiring to be under the law (vs 21)
3. They were submitting themselves to physical circumcision (Gal 5:2 and 3). They were doing this to avoid being “excluded” from the fellowship of what really amounted to “enemies of the cross of Christ”:

Php 3:18  (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:

Nothing has changed. This spirit is here today. If you do not submit to the law of Moses, and to the “traditions of men” (Col 2:8-20) you will still be excluded from their fellowship. Let us not be as the Galatians who were “bewitched” by “the works of the law” (Gal 3:1-5).