Weak and Beggarly Elements

After proclaiming all believers to be sons of God with full inheritance rights apart from law-keeping, Paul makes a startling and insulting comparison: he equates service to idols with bondage under the Mosaic Law! Law-keeping for righteousness of any sort is weak, unprofitable, enslaving, and cannot produce righteousness or salvation.

To make his point, Paul reminds them of the bondage to false gods that they were formerly under. It was wasted labor, because it was performed to imaginary gods that could not save.

But now by faith in the Gospel, they know the true God, better yet, are known by Him with love, affection, care, and rights of inheritance! Paul expresses his shock that they would want to go back under the worthless scheme of works that couldn't save them in their pagan days. What good could such works possibly do them now?

Paul proclaims that such works - feast days, sabbaths, new moons, and other rituals of law-keeping - are weak and beggarly elements of the world. They are just as worthless as idol worship!

They are weak because they cannot save, they cannot make righteous before God or please Him. They are the sort of elementary bondage that school boys are under. They are not the actions of grown young men who are free sons in the father's house!

Not only so, but they are poor things, up against the rich inheritance the sons enter into by faith.

Why, Paul demands to know, would you grown sons with privileges in Christ want to go back to being treated like school boys under hard discipline, with no liberty, no redemption, back under the curse and judgment of the law?

Legalism is plain unattractive compared to salvation by grace!