📖 Wagalatia — Somo la Kina — Sehemu ya 5: Kutoka Utumwa Hadi Kuwa Wana📖 Galatians Intensive — Unit 5: From Slaves to Sons

Andiko: Wagalatia 4:1-31 (SUV)Text: Galatians 4:1-31 (NKJV)

Mrithi Akiwa MtotoThe Heir as a Child

Paulo ameonyesha kwamba sheria ilikuwa kiongozi wetu; sasa anaipeleka picha hiyo mbele zaidi. "Mrithi, wakati wote awapo mtoto, hana tofauti na mtumwa, ingawa ni bwana wa vyote; bali yu chini ya mawakili na watunzaji hata wakati uliokusudiwa na baba yake." Mrithi mdogo anamiliki mali yote kwa haki, lakini akiwa bado mtoto anaishi karibu kama mtumishi, chini ya walezi wanaoongoza kila hatua yake. Ndivyo ilivyokuwa kwa watu wa Mungu: "Vivyo hivyo na sisi, tulipokuwa watoto, tulikuwa tumewekwa chini ya utumwa wa kufuata mafundisho ya awali ya ulimwengu." Chini ya sheria walishikiliwa kama watoto wadogo, wakiwa bado hawajaingia katika uhuru kamili uliokuwa wao kwa ahadi. Utumwa huo ulikuwa wa kweli, lakini haukukusudiwa kamwe kuwa wa kudumu.Paul has shown that the law was our tutor; now he presses the picture further. "The heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father." A young heir owns the whole estate by right, yet while he is still a child he lives much like a servant, under guardians who direct his every step. So it was with God's people: "Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world." Under the law they were held like minors, not yet entered into the full freedom that was theirs by promise. The bondage was real, but it was never meant to be permanent.

Mungu Alimtuma MwanaweGod Sent Forth His Son

Kisha ikaja hatua ya kugeuka ya historia yote. "Hata ulipowadia utimilifu wa wakati, Mungu alimtuma Mwanawe, ambaye amezaliwa na mwanamke, amezaliwa chini ya sheria, ili awakomboe hao waliokuwa chini ya sheria, ili tupate kupokea hali ya kuwa wana." Katika wakati uliowekwa na Baba, Mwana aliingia katika ulimwengu wetu — akazaliwa kweli na mwanamke, akawekwa kweli chini ya sheria aliyokuwa ameitoa Yeye mwenyewe. Alikuja chini ya sheria ili aishike kikamilifu na kubeba laana yake, na hivyo awakomboe wale waliofungwa chini yake. Kusudi halikuwa tu kuwaweka huru watumwa, bali kuwafanya wana: ili tupate kupokea hali ya kuwa wana. Ukombozi na kufanywa wana ni vipawa pacha vya Krismasi ile ya kwanza — Mwana alikuwa kile tulicho sisi ili sisi tuwe kile alicho Yeye kwa neema.Then came the turning point of all history. "When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." At the moment appointed by the Father, the Son entered our world — truly born of a woman, truly placed under the law He had given. He came under the law in order to keep it perfectly and to bear its curse, and so to redeem those imprisoned beneath it. The purpose was not merely to free slaves, but to make them sons: that we might receive the adoption as sons. Redemption and adoption are the twin gifts of that first Christmas — the Son became what we are that we might become what He is by grace.

Katika utimilifu wa wakati Mungu alimtuma Mwanawe kuwakomboa watumwa, kisha akamtuma Roho wa Mwanawe ili watumwa hao waliite, "Aba, Baba."In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son to redeem slaves, and then sent forth the Spirit of His Son to make those slaves cry, "Abba, Father."

Roho wa Mwanawe: Aba, BabaThe Spirit of His Son: Abba, Father

Kufanywa wana si mpango baridi wa kisheria; huleta joto la familia ndani ya moyo. "Na kwa kuwa ninyi ni wana, Mungu alimtuma Roho wa Mwanawe mioyoni mwetu, aliaye, Aba, yaani, Baba." Roho yule yule aliyemwongoza Mwana sasa anafanya kazi ndani ya mwamini, akimfundisha kusema na Mungu kwa neno lile lile la mtoto kwa baba yake. Na Paulo anatoa hitimisho waziwazi: "Kwa hiyo wewe si mtumwa tena, bali u mwana; na kama u mwana, basi, u mrithi wa Mungu kwa njia ya Kristo." Mwamini si mtumishi wa kuajiriwa anayefanya kazi kwa ujira, wala si mtoto mdogo chini ya walezi, bali ni mwana aliyekomaa mwenye nafasi kamili katika familia na urithi wote aliohakikishiwa kwa njia ya Kristo.Adoption is no cold legal arrangement; it brings the warmth of the family into the heart. "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!'" The same Spirit who moved the Son now moves in the believer, teaching him to speak to God with the very word of a child to his father. And Paul draws the conclusion plainly: "Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." The believer is not a hired servant working for wages, nor a minor under guardians, but a grown son with the full standing of the family and the whole inheritance secured to him through Christ.

Kwa Nini Kurudi Utumwani?Why Turn Back to Bondage?

Kwa kuzingatia nafasi kama hiyo, kurudi nyuma kwa Wagalatia hakuna maana, na Paulo anahuzunishwa nako. Zamani, walipokuwa hawamjui Mungu, waliwatumikia wale ambao kwa asili si miungu kabisa. Lakini sasa, wakiwa wamemjua Mungu — au zaidi, wakiwa wamejulikana na Mungu — "mnayarudiaje tena yale mafundisho ya awali yenye udhaifu na upungufu, mnayotaka kuyatumikia tena?" Kuuacha uhuru wa kuwa wana na kurudi kwenye nira ya maadhimisho ya kidini ni kurudi nyuma utumwani. "Mwashika siku, na miezi, na nyakati, na miaka!" Paulo haidharau heshima ya ibada, lakini anaiona hatari: walikuwa wakiifanya kalenda ya sheria kuwa msingi wa kukubaliwa kwao. Kwa hiyo anasema kwa uzito, "Nawahofia, isiwe labda nimejitaabisha bure kwa ajili yenu."In light of such a standing, the Galatians' drift makes no sense, and Paul is grieved by it. Once, not knowing God, they had served things that by nature are not gods at all. But now, having come to know God — or rather, having been 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?" To leave the freedom of sonship and return to a yoke of religious observance is to go backward into slavery. "You observe days and months and seasons and years." Paul does not despise reverence, but he sees the danger: they were treating the calendar of the law as the ground of their acceptance. So he says soberly, "I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain."

Ombi la Paulo BinafsiPaul's Personal Appeal

Sasa mtume anasema si kama hakimu bali kama rafiki. "Ndugu zangu, nawasihi, mwe kama mimi, kwa maana mimi nimekuwa kama ninyi." Anawakumbusha jinsi walivyompokea kwa uchangamfu hapo kwanza. Alipowahubiria mara ya kwanza akiwa na udhaifu wa mwili, hawakuudharau udhaifu wake; "mlinipokea kama malaika wa Mungu, kama Kristo Yesu." Upendo wao ulikuwa mkubwa kiasi kwamba wangeyang'oa macho yao wenyewe na kumpa. Furaha ile ilikwenda wapi? Kisha linakuja swali lenye maumivu la mchungaji wa kweli: "Je! Nimekuwa adui wenu kwa sababu nawaambia yaliyo kweli?" Yule anayesema kweli ndiye rafiki wa kweli kuliko wote, hata kweli inapouma.Now the apostle speaks not as a judge but as a friend. "Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you." He reminds them how warmly they had once received him. When he first preached to them in physical infirmity, they did not despise his weakness; "you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus." Such was their love that they would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him. Where had that joy gone? And then the wounded question of a true pastor: "Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" The one who tells the truth is the truest friend, even when the truth stings.

Bidii ya Kweli na ya UongoZeal, True and False

Paulo anafichua nia za walimu wa uongo. "Hao wana shauku nanyi, lakini si kwa nia njema; bali wanataka kuwafungia nje, ili ninyi muwe na shauku nao." Shauku yao haikuwa upendo bali tamaa ya makuu; walitaka kuwafungia Wagalatia nje ya uhuru wa kweli ili wawe wafuasi wanaowategemea wao. Ni vema kuwa na bidii katika jambo jema, Paulo anasema, na siku zote — si wakati yeye yupo tu. Kisha anaufunua moyo wake wa kichungaji: "Vitoto vyangu, ambao kwa ajili yenu nina utungu tena mpaka Kristo aumbike ndani yenu." Anapata utungu kwa ajili yao mara ya pili kama mama aliye katika uchungu wa kuzaa, akitamani si kwamba waishike kalenda, bali kwamba Kristo Mwenyewe aumbike ndani yao. Anatamani angekuwa pamoja nao na kubadili sauti yake, kwa maana ana mashaka juu yao.Paul exposes the motives of the false teachers. "They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them." Their eagerness was not love but ambition; they wanted to shut the Galatians out of true liberty so that they would become dependent followers. It is good to be zealous in a good thing, Paul says, and always — not only when he is present. Then he opens his pastor's heart: "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you." He travails for them a second time as a mother in labor, longing not that they keep a calendar, but that Christ Himself be formed within them. He wishes he could be with them and change his tone, for he is perplexed about them.

Mfano: Hajiri na SaraThe Allegory: Hagar and Sarah

Kwa wale walioazimia kuwa chini ya sheria, Paulo anasema, kwa maneno mengine, sikilizeni kile ambacho sheria yenyewe inaonyesha. "Ibrahimu alikuwa na wana wawili, mmoja kwa mjakazi, na mmoja kwa mwungwana." Mwana wa mjakazi, Hajiri, alizaliwa kwa jinsi ya mwili; mwana wa mwungwana, Sara, alizaliwa kwa ahadi. Mambo haya, Paulo anasema, yana maana ya mfano, "kwa maana hao wanawake ni maagano mawili." Lile la mlima Sinai huzaa utumwa — huyo ndiye Hajiri, anayelingana na Yerusalemu wa sasa wa duniani, ulio katika utumwa pamoja na watoto wake. "Bali Yerusalemu wa juu ni mwungwana, ndiye mama yetu sisi." Mji-mama wa kweli wa mwamini si mji wa sheria na utumwa, bali ni mji ulio huru juu, na watoto wake ni huru.To those determined to be under the law, Paul says, in effect, listen to what the law itself shows. "Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman." The son of the bondwoman, Hagar, was born according to the flesh; the son of the freewoman, Sarah, was born through promise. These things, Paul says, are symbolic, "for these are the two covenants." The one from Mount Sinai gives birth to bondage — this is Hagar, answering to the earthly Jerusalem, which is in bondage with her children. "But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all." The believer's true mother-city is not the city of law and slavery, but the free city above, and her children are free.

Mfukuze Mjakazi; Watoto wa AhadiCast Out the Bondwoman; Children of Promise

Paulo analileta fumbo hili moja kwa moja kwa Wagalatia. "Basi, ndugu zangu, sisi, kama Isaka, tu watoto wa ahadi." Hawakuzaliwa kwa mwili na kwa sheria, bali kwa ahadi ya Mungu, kama Isaka. Na kama vile Ishmaeli, aliyezaliwa kwa mwili, alivyomdhihaki Isaka, aliyezaliwa kwa Roho, vivyo hivyo sasa watoto wa sheria huwaudhi watoto wa ahadi. Lakini hukumu ya Maandiko iko wazi: "Mfukuze mjakazi pamoja na mwanawe; kwa maana mwana wa mjakazi hatarithi pamoja na mwana wa mwungwana." Sheria na neema haziwezi kugawana urithi; njia ya matendo lazima itolewe nje. Na hivyo Paulo anahitimisha kwa bendera juu ya sura nzima: "Basi, ndugu zangu, sisi si watoto wa mjakazi, bali tu watoto wa yeye aliye huru."Paul brings the allegory home to the Galatians directly. "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise." They were not born of the flesh and the law, but of the promise of God, like Isaac. And just as Ishmael, born of the flesh, once mocked Isaac, born of the Spirit, so now the children of the law persecute the children of promise. But the verdict of Scripture is clear: "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." Law and grace cannot share the inheritance; the way of works must be put out. And so Paul concludes with a banner over the whole chapter: "So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free."

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