The Amish Voice 2
W
H
O
W
E
A
R
E
This publishing work is registered as a charitable organization in the USA and is supported through freewill offerings. We welcome
your articles, testimonies and questions. We reserve the right to edit or decline any material and are not responsible for the return of
any articles.
Since our beginning in 2000, many people have written to us, asking to be added to our mailing list, while others have sent us names of
their friends and family members. We think it is important for us to tell you that the cost of
The Amish Voice
is $.45 a copy and is totally
funded by readers from across our great country, who appreciate the ministry and care to support it. If the Lord would lay it on your
heart to come along side of us, by helping with expenses, it would be a great benefit as well as highly appreciated. In order to contin-
ue receiving the Amish Voice, please keep us informed of any changes to your address.
saved by law; that is, he is saved by being good and religious and by
doing the best he can. Of course, every person...
should be good, ever striving to be better and better
should be faithful in worshipping God in church
should do the best he can—always
However, Scripture is clear and forceful: a person is not saved
by these things, for no amount of effort or energy or work can make
a person perfect. And to be acceptable to God—to be given the right
to live with God—a person must be perfect.
How then can man be saved—be justified and made acceptable
to God? This passage deals with the issue; it gives the answer. It
shows how Christ and the fullness of time prove that a man is
justified by faith and not by law nor by works.
OUTLINE:
1.
There was a time when the world was in bondage
(
vv.1-3).
2.
There was an appointed time when God delivered
the world (vv.4-7).
1.
THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE WORLD WAS IN
BONDAGE (vv.1-3).
The illustration is brief, yet descriptive: an heir who is a young
child is under the care of guardians and trustees until the time
appointed for him to receive his inheritance. Until the appointed
time arrives, he has no more right to the inheritance than a slave.
The point is striking: there was a time when man was in
bondage under the elementary things of the world. What is meant
by the elements or elementary things of the world? Very simply, it
means man’s elementary notions and ideas about God and the
various ways he tries to approach God. Letting Scripture interpret
Scripture:
a. It means the first principles (the ABC’s) of the Word of God,
that is, the sacrifices, observances, rituals, and ceremonies of
the Old Testament (Hebrews 5:12).
b. It means philosophy, the traditions of men, and the
rudimentary or elementary teachings of men—the ABC
approaches of men to God (Colossians 2:8).
c. It means the elements, the heavenly bodies of the universe (2
Peter 3:10). (There have always been men who tried to rule
their lives by the heavenly bodies or astrology and the signs
of the zodiac.)
d. It means the ordinances, rules, and regulations of men (Col. 2:20).
e. It means the ceremonial laws, the legal yoke placed upon men
as they try to approach God (Acts 15:10).
f. It means the law of the Old Testament, the yoke of bondage
(
Galatians 5:1; see 4:3).
g. It means the observances of religious days, months, and years
(
Galatians 4:9).
Very simply, the elements of the world refers to all the things
that men use to get right with God and to secure the favor and
approval of God. It refers to anything that man uses to justify
himself before God, any approach to God that is taken by man
through his own energy and effort...
law or works
ritual or ceremony
church membership or ordinance
astrology or science
philosophy or religion
The point is this: before Christ, all approaches to God were only
elementary approaches. No approach was the right approach, for
man had only little knowledge of God—an elementary knowledge
that required the discipline and guidance of the law.
However, when everything was ready for the world to come of
age and to gain an adult knowledge of God, Christ came to release
men from the law and to reveal that man was intended to have a
father-son relationship with God. In Christ, men are no longer to be
slaves to the law, they are to be sons of God. In Christ, they are to
enter into their inheritance.
“
Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in
malice be ye children, but in understanding be men”
(1
Co.14:20).
ILLUSTRATION:
How often have you heard someone in your church say this:
“
We’ve always done it this way before”? People tend to be
creatures of habit. Often, to our own detriment, we voluntarily give
