Known by God

Here are some key stages that develop our relationship with ABBA Father.

Preached by Apostle Aje Pelser

Harvester Reformational Church, Cape Town

Gal 4:1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all,

Gal 4:2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

Gal 4:5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Gal 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

Gal 4:7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Paul’s Concern for the Galatians

Gal 4:8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.

Gal 4:9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?

Gal 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. Rom. 14:6

Gal 4:11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

Child G3516 nēpios

Thayer Definition:

1. an infant, little child
2. a minor, not of age
3. metaphorically childish, untaught, unskilled

Part of Speech: adjective

A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from an obsolete particle ne- (implying negation) and G2031

Servant G1401 doulos

Thayer Definition:

1) a slave, bondman, man of servile condition

1a) a slave

1b) metaphorically, one who gives himself up to another’s will those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men

1c) devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests

2) a servant, attendant

Part of Speech: noun

Master or lord G2962 kurios

Thayer Definition:

1) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord

1a) the possessor and disposer of a thing

1a1) the owner; one who has control of the person, the master

1a2) in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor

1b) is a title of honour expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master

1c) this title is given to: God, the Messiah

Part of Speech: noun masculine

Son G5207 uihos

Thayer Definition:

1) a son

1d) in a wider sense, a descendant, one of the posterity of any one

1d1) the children of Israel

1d2) sons of Abraham

1e) used to describe one who depends on another or is his follower

1e1) a pupil

2) son of man

2c) used by Christ himself, doubtless in order that he might intimate his Messiahship and also that he might designate himself as the head of the human family, the man, the one who both furnished the pattern of the perfect man and acted on behalf of all mankind. Christ seems to have preferred this to the other Messianic titles, because by its lowliness it was least suited to foster the expectation of an earthly Messiah in royal splendour.

3) son of God

3a) used to describe Adam (Luk_3:38)

3b) used to describe those who are born again (Luk_20:36) and of angels and of Jesus Christ

3c) of those whom God esteems as sons, whom he loves, protects and benefits above others

3c3) those whose character God, as a loving father, shapes by chastisements (Heb_12:5-8)

3d) those who revere God as their father, the pious worshippers of God, those who in character and life resemble God, those who are governed by the Spirit of God, repose the same calm and joyful trust in God which children do in their parents (Rom_8:14, Gal_3:26 ), and hereafter in the blessedness and glory of the life eternal will openly wear this dignity of the sons of God. Term used pre-eminently of Jesus Christ, as enjoying the supreme love of God, united to him in affectionate intimacy, privy to his saving councils, obedient to the Father’s will in all his acts

Part of Speech: noun masculine

Adoption as sons G5206 uihothesia

Thayer Definition:

1) adoption, adoption as sons

1a) that relationship which God was pleased to establish between himself and the Israelites in preference to all other nations

1b) the nature and condition of the true disciples in Christ, who by receiving the Spirit of God into their souls become sons of God

1c) the blessed state looked for in the future life after the visible return of Christ from heaven

Part of Speech: noun feminine

Heir G2818 klēronomos

Thayer Definition:

1) one who receives by lot, an heir

1a) an heir

1b) in Messianic usage, one who receives his allotted possession by right of sonship

2) one who has acquired or obtained the portion allotted to him

Part of Speech: noun masculine

ABBA Father G5 Abba

Thayer Definition:

Abba = “father”

1) father, customary title used of God in prayer. Whenever it occurs in the New Testament it has the Greek interpretation joined to it, that is apparently to be explained by the fact that the Chaldee “ABBA” through frequent use in prayer, gradually acquired the nature of a most sacred proper name, to which the Greek speaking Jews added the name from their own tongue.

Part of Speech: noun