The Apostle Paul told the believers of Galatia that God had placed Israel under the guardianship of the Law until she was mature enough to receive her inheritance. This inheritance was the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham that through his seed all nations of the earth would be blessed. Paul said that as long as Israel was under the Law, she was treated as a slave with no rights, but when Christ came, He died for sin and gave the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If Israel had put her faith in Christ, she would have been brought to spiritual maturity and would have been in a position to receive her inheritance.

Gal 4:3-6
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 of 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!" (NKJ)

Even Christian people often turn back to the elementary rituals and ceremonies of religion when they feel spiritually weak. However, their faith in Christ should lead them to call out to God, Who is willing to show them great and mighty things (Jer. 33:3). Paul told these people:

Gal 4:9
9 But now after you have known God, or rather are 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? (NKJ)

When Paul speaks of the weak and beggarly elements, he is primarily thinking of the practice of circumcision for there were Jews who were telling the believers of Galatia that they could not be saved without being circumcised. However, he also has in mind all of the various requirements of the Law.

Gal 4:10
10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. (NKJ)

Galatians was written during the Acts period as God was offering Israel her inheritance, namely an earthly kingdom. During this period of time, Paul did not intend for the Jews to stop practicing the Law (Acts 21:18-26), but he was emphatic that the Gentiles should not.

Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians were written after the Acts period, and in these epistles Paul revealed the Church which is the Body of Christ. Believers today belong to this heavenly Church. We have no longing for Israel’s kingdom inheritance for we set our affections on things above, not on the things of the earth (Colossians 3:2). We have no reason to participate in the beggarly elements of the earth for we are spiritually circumcised and spiritually baptized.

Col 2:11-12
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (NKJ)

Paul admonishes us, as members of Christ’s Church, to recognize our completeness in the fulness of Christ so that we are not cheated by a cowardly return to the rituals associated with the laws of Israel’s promised kingdom.

Col 2:8-10
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: (KJV)

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