Let me answer that question…a son is not a son when he is a slave. Paul begins this phase of his theological argument with an example from real life in Roman times.
Let’s just say that there is a a big house. The master of the house has a son and he would correctly be called the heir of everything that his father owned. But he is still a child and does not have full control over everything. He is young anfd immature and still must learn many things before he can take his place as the heir of it all. In the meantime, while growing up, there are other adults (household slaves would probably be the term) who would be keeping an eye on him and training. Now is bedtime. Get up and go to school. Do your homework. The dirty dishes in the kitchen are yours to do. All that sort of thing. So in a sense you could say that even though he would be master of all at some point, at this tie in his life he is little better than a slave, being told what to do and when to do it.
But this would have a time limit. At some point, the father seeing the maturity in his son, would declare that now was the time when he didn’t need to pay attention to all those who were giving him instruction anymore.
Here is the full text of the passage from Galatians 4:1-7...”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, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born dof a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
This image of a child being an heir to everything but still under the control of others? Paul takes that and says that’s what we were like before faith came for us. We were the children under what Paul refers to as elemental things of the world. These basic things correspond to the tutors and guardians that Paul is talking about. They could refer to such things as rudimentary non-Christian religions, the elementary lessons of outward things or (and I almost prefer this one) ‘be a good person’ religion. Most people think that if you are a good person you will go to heaven…even if they have very little perception of anything that is truly spiritual.
But when the right time had come (in Paul’s analogy this would be when the heir reached full maturity), God send His Son Jesus. who was born the usual way as Jew under the law. Just as the father in Paul’s analogy chose the right time for his son to be liberated, God did the same at that right time. Another way to put it is that the pre-Messianic era was over.
The purpose of God sending His son was that those who were under the law could be redeemed, or bought out of their slavery and exchange their identity as a slave to that as a son. God adopted people who had a prior identification as a slave.
But then God does something really interesting. He sent HIs Son so that we might be adopted, and then once we have that sonship identity, He then sends what Paul calls ‘The Spirit of His Son’ (which we know to be The Holy Spirit). This is a consequence of having a sonship identity rather than a slavery identity. This Spirit is the same Spirit which allows us to cry out to The Father in the first place. This Spirit also would not be given unless we were sons…it would not be given to slaves.
Important to note also Ephesians 1:13 where Paul says there that The Holy Spirit is a downpayment on our eternal salvation.
Or we can look at it this way…no slave>sonship>heir of God. Through Christ the Galatians believers were already sons of God and heirs to the promise of faith…not heirs of anything according to the law.
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