toughlove
05-14-2008, 10:25 AM
Weak and BEGGARLY Elements
In Galatians Chapter 4 Paul addresses the problem of Christians living in bondage to weak and beggarly elements (rudiments) of the world ( (Gk. stoicheon, elementary principles), which “Judaisers” had tried to impose upon them. Paul takes issue with legalistic Christians who are still so bound to Judaism and its old customs that they try to bind these religious rules onto baby believers. These “weak and beggarly” elements are what you’d call the elementary ABC’s of religious observance, man’s effort to please God through faithful performance of ritual. But Paul would have none of it. In verses 5-7, Paul tells the Galatians that they have been adopted as sons into God’s family. They aren’t pitiful beggars who must perform rituals to get God’s attention and earn his mercy!
Gal.4:9: But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements (ABC’s of Jewish legalism) whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Verse 10: Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years (that would include regularly fasting like the Pharisees, who fasted each Monday and Thursday).
Verse 11: I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Paul doesn’t commend the Galatians for doing their best to be good religious people. He rebukes them for forgetting that they are sons and returning to the begging bowl of religious rituals. I’m reminded of professional beggars in my part of the world. Some Eastern European immigrants send their women and children to beg in front of stores, looking sad and wearing old clothes. Old Testament saints clung to outward forms of religion, to prove their faithfulness to God so God would take pity on them and come to their aid. Old Covenant believers didn’t know from one day to the next whether they would retain God’s favor. Their fasts were usually motivated by grief, sorrow for sin, or fear of danger. As they fasted, they would seek God with a sorrowful face. Many of them would throw dirt on their heads, tear their clothes in grief, or wear sackcloth to show deep humility. In this way they humbled themselves and fearfully approached God to BEG Him for mercy.
The Old Covenant was an inferior covenant (Heb.8:13). The UNCERTAINTY and precariousness of a believer’s continued salvation was one of its many drawbacks. People approached God in great fear and trembling, uncertain as to the outcome. Reverence toward God must always be maintained in the heart of the believer, but now we can enter BOLDLY into the very Presence of God through the precious Blood of Jesus. We don’t need to come to God with a long face, fasting, throwing dirt on our heads, wearing a burlap sack and walking barefoot up to a distant shrine. We come to God as His dear children, not as pitiful outcasts holding out a begging bowl.
Fasting is a “weak and beggarly element”, like the wearing of sackcloth and ashes (Daniel 9:3). The Prophet Daniel did the best he could to intercede for his people, considering he lived under an inferior Covenant and the Jews had lost their Temple, along with all its ceremonies. Pray reverently and earnestly like Daniel, but remember this: Daniel lived under the Old Covenant and we live in the Church Age. Our New Covenant is a far better covenant established upon far better promises (Heb.8:6). We are made one spirit with Christ by faith (I Cor.6:17). God has ALREADY blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph.1:3). We are already seated with Jesus in Heavenly places (Eph.2:6). Daniel did not enjoy these blessings during his lifetime.
During Jesus’ ministry, and even before the beginning of the New Covenant, wicked spirits were made subject to Christ’s disciples. Demons could be cast out through the imparted authority of Christ, Who has all power over the forces of darkness (Luke 10:19-20; I Pet.3:22). Daniel did not have this power and authority, since Christ’s earthly ministry had not yet begun, Jesus had not yet sealed satan’s defeat on the Cross, and the New Covenant had not been ushered in. Instead, Daniel prayed with great mourning, depending upon mighty angels to push back demonic forces so his answer to prayer could arrive (Daniel 10:13). Daniel lived under the Old Covenant. He did not have spiritual authority to cast down powers of darkness. There were occasional miracles of healing before Christ came, but not one example of any demon being cast out through prayer.
Daniel was a very wise, godly man. So godly Daniel received assurance from God of his own resurrection (Dan.12:13). Daniel was mightily used of God, despite the fact fundamental elements of Jewish worship were no longer available (the destroyed Temple, animal sacrifices, pilgrimages to Jerusalem for Feast Days, etc). But Daniel was not spiritually born again through the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5). Daniel was greatly beloved of God, but he was not a member of the Body of Christ (see I Cor.12:27). We enjoy spiritual blessings Daniel didn’t have under the New Covenant. We can pray in the tongues of the Spirit, Daniel couldn’t, because the Spirit had not been poured out yet upon the Church (I Cor.14:2,14-15).
Although we have all these great spiritual blessings at our disposal, many insist our prayer experience should be exactly like that of Daniel. Many copy Daniel’s “21-day fast” (the Daniel Fast) by subsisting on plain peas, lentils and beans, etc. I tried doing this in a time of great trial, but no miracle breakthrough came to resolve the situation. The Daniel Fast is much less severe than total fasting, but it bears some similarity to the Catholic Lent season, which forbids certain foods to be eaten, contrary to I Tim.4:3. If eating bacon instead of beans sabotaged prayer, surely the apostles would have mentioned this in their writings!
Daniel lived under the shadow of God’s judgment upon his erring nation, which had been taken captive to a heathen land. Christ had not yet come to make final atonement for the sins of Israel. The Israelites couldn’t even pacify God’s righteous wrath with animal sacrifices anymore. No wonder Daniel prayed with great fear and trembling, even with shame because of the sins of his ancestors. But things dramatically changed at the Cross. Jesus won for us not only redemption from sin, but unimaginably great spiritual blessings, including being sealed in salvation with the Spirit of Promise (Eph.1:13). Even Bible prophecy proclaims our final victory and satan’s ultimate destruction. But some pray as if the final outcome were in doubt, as if Jesus hadn’t already defeated satan on Calvary. Those bound by ascetic practices call themselves rotten sinners who are unworthy to beg God for mercy, though Scripture proclaims that Christian believers are made the very righteousness of Christ (2 Cor.5:21), and there is NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus and walk in the Spirit (Rom.8:1). Although we highly esteem Daniel’s godly example, our prayer life can’t exactly mirror his.
Dependence on fasting is very inferior to prayer in the Spirit. Prayer in the Spirit looks not upon our own human inadequacy, but unto Jesus alone, Who is the author and the FINISHER of our faith (Heb. 12:2). We can stand on the promises of God already freely given to us by the grace of God in Christ. Such prayer isn’t dependent on outward form and ritual. If anyone insists on fasting the way Daniel did, then wearing sackcloth and ashes and confessing the sins of your ancestors is part of it!
Regular fasting seems like a respectable way to get God’s attention. But it was the Pharisees who invented weekly “fast days”, not God! It’s very safe to say that nobody can prove out of his Bible that God ordained regular weekly fast days, or ordered any other regularly scheduled fast besides the Jews’ Day of Atonement! Sometimes people in the Bible fasted in times of sorrow or danger, but never in times of joy. NOT ONCE did God ever command fasting to be done to “bring the power down” in church, or to keep a Christian’s joy under restraint!
In Matt.6:16-18 Jesus is addressing Jewish listeners who habitually fasted as part of their Jewish religion. In that same chapter, Jesus also addresses the issues of alms giving and praying. Much mention is made of alms giving (giving to the poor) and prayer in the epistles (apostolic letters to the churches). The apostles command Christians to persist in prayer and remember the poor. But no commandment to fast is ever given by the apostles. Nor do they teach on its possible merits.
In Galatians Chapter 4 Paul addresses the problem of Christians living in bondage to weak and beggarly elements (rudiments) of the world ( (Gk. stoicheon, elementary principles), which “Judaisers” had tried to impose upon them. Paul takes issue with legalistic Christians who are still so bound to Judaism and its old customs that they try to bind these religious rules onto baby believers. These “weak and beggarly” elements are what you’d call the elementary ABC’s of religious observance, man’s effort to please God through faithful performance of ritual. But Paul would have none of it. In verses 5-7, Paul tells the Galatians that they have been adopted as sons into God’s family. They aren’t pitiful beggars who must perform rituals to get God’s attention and earn his mercy!
Gal.4:9: But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements (ABC’s of Jewish legalism) whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Verse 10: Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years (that would include regularly fasting like the Pharisees, who fasted each Monday and Thursday).
Verse 11: I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Paul doesn’t commend the Galatians for doing their best to be good religious people. He rebukes them for forgetting that they are sons and returning to the begging bowl of religious rituals. I’m reminded of professional beggars in my part of the world. Some Eastern European immigrants send their women and children to beg in front of stores, looking sad and wearing old clothes. Old Testament saints clung to outward forms of religion, to prove their faithfulness to God so God would take pity on them and come to their aid. Old Covenant believers didn’t know from one day to the next whether they would retain God’s favor. Their fasts were usually motivated by grief, sorrow for sin, or fear of danger. As they fasted, they would seek God with a sorrowful face. Many of them would throw dirt on their heads, tear their clothes in grief, or wear sackcloth to show deep humility. In this way they humbled themselves and fearfully approached God to BEG Him for mercy.
The Old Covenant was an inferior covenant (Heb.8:13). The UNCERTAINTY and precariousness of a believer’s continued salvation was one of its many drawbacks. People approached God in great fear and trembling, uncertain as to the outcome. Reverence toward God must always be maintained in the heart of the believer, but now we can enter BOLDLY into the very Presence of God through the precious Blood of Jesus. We don’t need to come to God with a long face, fasting, throwing dirt on our heads, wearing a burlap sack and walking barefoot up to a distant shrine. We come to God as His dear children, not as pitiful outcasts holding out a begging bowl.
Fasting is a “weak and beggarly element”, like the wearing of sackcloth and ashes (Daniel 9:3). The Prophet Daniel did the best he could to intercede for his people, considering he lived under an inferior Covenant and the Jews had lost their Temple, along with all its ceremonies. Pray reverently and earnestly like Daniel, but remember this: Daniel lived under the Old Covenant and we live in the Church Age. Our New Covenant is a far better covenant established upon far better promises (Heb.8:6). We are made one spirit with Christ by faith (I Cor.6:17). God has ALREADY blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph.1:3). We are already seated with Jesus in Heavenly places (Eph.2:6). Daniel did not enjoy these blessings during his lifetime.
During Jesus’ ministry, and even before the beginning of the New Covenant, wicked spirits were made subject to Christ’s disciples. Demons could be cast out through the imparted authority of Christ, Who has all power over the forces of darkness (Luke 10:19-20; I Pet.3:22). Daniel did not have this power and authority, since Christ’s earthly ministry had not yet begun, Jesus had not yet sealed satan’s defeat on the Cross, and the New Covenant had not been ushered in. Instead, Daniel prayed with great mourning, depending upon mighty angels to push back demonic forces so his answer to prayer could arrive (Daniel 10:13). Daniel lived under the Old Covenant. He did not have spiritual authority to cast down powers of darkness. There were occasional miracles of healing before Christ came, but not one example of any demon being cast out through prayer.
Daniel was a very wise, godly man. So godly Daniel received assurance from God of his own resurrection (Dan.12:13). Daniel was mightily used of God, despite the fact fundamental elements of Jewish worship were no longer available (the destroyed Temple, animal sacrifices, pilgrimages to Jerusalem for Feast Days, etc). But Daniel was not spiritually born again through the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5). Daniel was greatly beloved of God, but he was not a member of the Body of Christ (see I Cor.12:27). We enjoy spiritual blessings Daniel didn’t have under the New Covenant. We can pray in the tongues of the Spirit, Daniel couldn’t, because the Spirit had not been poured out yet upon the Church (I Cor.14:2,14-15).
Although we have all these great spiritual blessings at our disposal, many insist our prayer experience should be exactly like that of Daniel. Many copy Daniel’s “21-day fast” (the Daniel Fast) by subsisting on plain peas, lentils and beans, etc. I tried doing this in a time of great trial, but no miracle breakthrough came to resolve the situation. The Daniel Fast is much less severe than total fasting, but it bears some similarity to the Catholic Lent season, which forbids certain foods to be eaten, contrary to I Tim.4:3. If eating bacon instead of beans sabotaged prayer, surely the apostles would have mentioned this in their writings!
Daniel lived under the shadow of God’s judgment upon his erring nation, which had been taken captive to a heathen land. Christ had not yet come to make final atonement for the sins of Israel. The Israelites couldn’t even pacify God’s righteous wrath with animal sacrifices anymore. No wonder Daniel prayed with great fear and trembling, even with shame because of the sins of his ancestors. But things dramatically changed at the Cross. Jesus won for us not only redemption from sin, but unimaginably great spiritual blessings, including being sealed in salvation with the Spirit of Promise (Eph.1:13). Even Bible prophecy proclaims our final victory and satan’s ultimate destruction. But some pray as if the final outcome were in doubt, as if Jesus hadn’t already defeated satan on Calvary. Those bound by ascetic practices call themselves rotten sinners who are unworthy to beg God for mercy, though Scripture proclaims that Christian believers are made the very righteousness of Christ (2 Cor.5:21), and there is NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus and walk in the Spirit (Rom.8:1). Although we highly esteem Daniel’s godly example, our prayer life can’t exactly mirror his.
Dependence on fasting is very inferior to prayer in the Spirit. Prayer in the Spirit looks not upon our own human inadequacy, but unto Jesus alone, Who is the author and the FINISHER of our faith (Heb. 12:2). We can stand on the promises of God already freely given to us by the grace of God in Christ. Such prayer isn’t dependent on outward form and ritual. If anyone insists on fasting the way Daniel did, then wearing sackcloth and ashes and confessing the sins of your ancestors is part of it!
Regular fasting seems like a respectable way to get God’s attention. But it was the Pharisees who invented weekly “fast days”, not God! It’s very safe to say that nobody can prove out of his Bible that God ordained regular weekly fast days, or ordered any other regularly scheduled fast besides the Jews’ Day of Atonement! Sometimes people in the Bible fasted in times of sorrow or danger, but never in times of joy. NOT ONCE did God ever command fasting to be done to “bring the power down” in church, or to keep a Christian’s joy under restraint!
In Matt.6:16-18 Jesus is addressing Jewish listeners who habitually fasted as part of their Jewish religion. In that same chapter, Jesus also addresses the issues of alms giving and praying. Much mention is made of alms giving (giving to the poor) and prayer in the epistles (apostolic letters to the churches). The apostles command Christians to persist in prayer and remember the poor. But no commandment to fast is ever given by the apostles. Nor do they teach on its possible merits.