0615 THE BUS DRIVER

THE BUS DRIVER

In this chapter and the next, Paul makes use of the metaphor of a child who is an heir and yet is underage. And he says that is how we were under the law until the time when Christ would set us free.

When a firstborn son comes into a family, he is in a sense already the heir of all that his family owns. House, land, animals, business, furnishings, transportation, servants, and all—it all belongs to him. Except, not yet. None of it, really, really belongs to him. For he is not yet of age. His parents are still alive. Things happen sometimes, to relationships, to fortunes, to fitness, and it simply is not yet time to pass along any of it.

So, what’s the practical difference between a son and a servant? Nothing, really. They both eat and sleep for free within the household. They both have to do what they are told. They cannot just go and sell something from the house and turn it into cash to run off to the movies with a friend. They are not free to travel or to move or to change households without permission.

Paul says it this way in 4:1: “as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.” 

What is the point of this illustration? We were also underage when we were under the law. “In slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.” We were slaves to our addictions, imprisoned by legal claims against us, held captive by our own passions. 

The law was there. As a Pharisee, Paul knew the law well. He knew what good the law had done him and his fellow Jews. Which was nothing but to induce guilt. The law served to daily remind us that we were unclean, with no way to dig ourselves out. 

So what good did the law do for us (Jews, before Christ)? It kept us. It watched over us. It was like our own personal bodyguard. You might say the law was our guardian until Christ came. Paul says, “So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.”

Our guardian? There to be sure we make it to adulthood. But not to take us directly there. More like a school bus driver, and we are the student passengers. Are we driving? No. Giving directions? No. Finding milk money in her purse? No. The school bus driver is simply there to deliver children from one point to another. 

Likewise, the law’s purpose is not to make us worthy of salvation. The law’s purpose is not to make us halfway holy, just requiring a little boost to get perfect before God. No. It was just there to keep us safe until the time was right. We were “subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.” 

Paul says, “Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” That means we are now the actual heirs of our Abba Father, inheriting all that he owns, living in freedom. In the next chapter, Paul is going to say, “So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”

The bus has arrived. Everybody off!