The elementary principles of the world
Galatians 4:1-11; 8/2/2026; Brother Mike Lei
Peace brothers and sisters. My message today is “The elementary principles of the world ”. It will be from Galatians 4:1-11. Today I will be talking about 3 points from these verses:
1) Enslaved to the elementary principles of the world
2) No longer a slave, but a son
3) Whose slaves do you want to be?
Let’s pray before we begin.
Enslaved to the elementary principles of the world
Let’s read these verses together: 4 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
What does “the elementary principles of the world” means? The Greek word for “elementary principles” is Stoichieon. It is used 7 times in the New Testament. The definitions of stoicheia can be placed into three broad categories: 1. The rudimentary principles of somethings 2. The material components of the cosmos 3. personalized spiritual beings
What meaning was Paul using for this word? What is this thing that is enslaving people? From commentaries, I see it can be either referring to the wrong use of the Mosaic Law or pagan religions. From the perspective of the Jews, it can refer to the wrong use of the Mosaic Law, depending on the rituals in the Mosaic Law, and not on the Lord’s promises. From the perspective of the Gentiles, it can refer to their past religions, including the rituals used to worship demonic spirits. Why do people follow the elementary principles of the world? Because, it appears to work for them. When people follow pagan religious practices, they find it fulfills the desires of their flesh. They seem to get what they wanted – money, success, a smooth life, or whatever they desired. We know there is demonic power behind these pagan religious practices.
Like the Law, the “elementary principles of the world” can’t change our sinful desires. It can’t change our hearts. Paul talks about the elemental spirits of the world in Colossians 2:23 :
23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
These things have no power to stop the cravings of the flesh. Can you relate to this? Maybe you have tried to change yourself before you became a Christian, but haven’t been able to? You know you had bad habits, but have no way to break them. Even after you became a Christian, you may struggle with these old things. You tried some Christian methods, but they still don’t work. It’s because you are not doing it by connecting to Christ. Remember what Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ” (John 15:5) Jesus said, “apart from me you (y’all plural) can do nothing ”. A brother from another ministry I was serving was discouraged because he doesn’t believe his faith has helped him. He said he tried it and it doesn’t work. He is still can’t get free from a bondage. He was told he will be filled with the Holy Spirit when he believed and he can overcome his bondage. However, he doesn’t see this happening. So, what went wrong? Does our Christian faith only work for some people and not work for others? I believe he didn’t start his faith journey by focusing on building his relationship with Christ, but rather focused on what his faith can do for him, especially to set him free from his bondages. Have you also been like this before? Thinking your Christian faith can help you with a particular problem? Knowing Christ means knowing Christ as your Savior and Lord. If Jesus is truly your Lord, what are you doing to crucify your sinful flesh? What are you doing to get rid of anything that doesn’t please Him? By the grace of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you need to crucify the flesh and its sinful desires. If there’s something that tempts you, make whatever changes you need so that it won’t tempt you anymore. For example, if you have a problem with swiping the phone, what should you do? If you have a problem watching too much YouTube, what should you do? If you think you play too much video games, what should you do? I believe God will make known to you what you should do, if you are willing to spend time in His word to seek Him.
As Christians, we are to be empowered by the Spirit of Christ and live in freedom. When we see New Testament ceremonies like Holy Communion and baptism, we find them a delight to follow, not a bondage. We follow God’s rules because that is how God created us to enjoy the fullest life and how we can live a life pleasing to our Heavenly Father. Through obeying Christ’s commands, we grow closer to Christ.
In the same way, we can choose to celebrate or remember the Old Testament festivals to reflect on Christ. I listened to a wonderful seminar by a Messianic Jewish Rabbi to explain the Old Testament festivals and their meanings for Christians. Messianic Jews believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah, just as Christians believe in Jesus as our Messiah. All these festivals, 8 festivals in all are in Leviticus 利未記 23. These festivals can help you remember Christ and what He has done:
- Sabbath 安息日 (vs. 3)
- Think of the peace and rest for your soul because of the forgiveness of your sins in Christ.
- Passover 逾越節 (vs. 4)
- Think of Jesus Christ as the Passover Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world.
- Feast of Unleavened Bread 無酵節 (vs. 6-8)
- Think of the sinless Christ who died for us on the cross.
- Feast of First Fruits 初熟節 (vs. 9-14)
- Think of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the first fruits of the resurrection. We will be resurrected to have new glorified bodies like Christ.
- Feast of Weeks 七七節 (vs. 15-22)
- This is also called Pentecost五旬節. Think of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the disciples and now we have the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ.
- Feast of Trumpets 吹角節 (vs. 23-25)
- This is pointing to the second coming of Christ, when the trumpet will sound. We are now in between Festival #5 and Festival #6. Let’s look forward to the day Jesus will come back and hasten the day by spreading the gospel to the unreached.
- Day of Atonement 贖罪日 (vs. 26-32)
- This is pointing to the day when all Israel will be saved. This is when the full number of Gentiles will be saved. Let’s pray for this day to come soon and for the salvation of the Jews.
- Feast of Tabernacle 住棚節 (vs. 33-43)
- This is pointing to the day when God will live with men, when Jesus will reign on the earth. Let’s remember one day Jesus will reign on the earth and God will physically dwell with us.
You can choose to remember these festivals and celebrate them to remember what God has done for you and what He will do in the future. However, we are not obligated to celebrate them.
In talking about “the elementary principles of the world”, we need to be reminded of any past experiences with “the elementary principles of the world” so we can deal with them properly. Have you followed Gentile religious practices in the past? Have you confessed them, renounced them, and cut off all ties with them after becoming a Christian? Maybe you no longer go to the temples or burn incense at home, but one thing I think may stick with us is all the superstitions we learned before we are Christians. Have we gotten rid of all the superstitions 迷信 as well? Are there certain numbers you try to avoid?
Colossians 2:8 says: 8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
A definition of superstition is “Misplaced credulity concerning the supernatural, which leads to irrational fear, misdirected reverence, false religion and magic, and which brings God’s judgment.”
1 Timothy 4: 7 says: Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;
I really regret one time when I was small, I was in the library and saw a book of superstitions. Because I read all the things that can bring bad luck as well as good luck, those things can stick to my mind and make me afraid to do those things which supposedly bring bad luck. It’s weird that I don’t really believe those things that supposedly bring good luck, but I remember those things that supposedly bring bad luck. We need to renounce all these superstitions have no right, claim, or portion in our life. You can begin to get rid of all the elementary principles of the world from your life by naming them, confessing them to God, and renouncing them in the name of Jesus Christ, tell them they have no power over you anymore, and cut off all ties with them. Tell them you have nothing to do with them anymore, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Even things we do as Christians can be turned into superstition if we are not careful. We should not depend on anything, even spiritual practices, to save you, to give you good things, apart from God Himself.
How should we get rid of superstitions? Our mind needs to be renewed by God’s word. We need to depend on God. Ephesians 4:22-24 says “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Let’s pray for God to help us get rid of all the superstitions from our lives. Amen?
The “elementary principles of the world” is also part of the ways of this world. We were all following the ways of this world before we knew Christ. Before we knew Christ, we were enslaved to “the elementary principles of the world”. How can we be set free? It is only by offering ourselves to God to be set apart for Him. It can be counter-cultural sometimes because it is not following the way the world is going. Jesus already warned us that the world will not like us when we don’t follow its ways. John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” Don’t be surprised by this. Brothers and sisters, you need to read the Bible daily. You need to let the word of God speak to you every day so your mind will be renewed.
No longer a slave, but a son
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Because Jesus came to the world, we have a Savior who can deliver us from under the law, under sin and death. God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, which is the Holy Spirit and now we can call God Abba! Father! We are no longer a slave, but a son. Since we are a son, we are an heir through God. We are no longer a slave to the course of this world. We can live in a new way that is not in bondage to the ways of the world, to the elementary principles of the world, which is under the control of Satan. As an example, I want to read the story of Pandita Ramabai that I saw from the Dallas Theological seminary website.
Born in a scholarly, high-caste Hindu family in 1858. Against cultural expectations, Ramabai’s father taught her Sanskrit—a rare education for a woman at that time. But when Ramabai was sixteen, tragedy struck: her parents died during a famine. Just a few years later, her brother died. Less than two years after she was married, her husband died. Thus, at age 23, Ramabai was fatherless, brotherless, widowed, and caring for her infant daughter as a single mother.
In 1883, she traveled to England, hoping to attend medical school, become a doctor, and bring fairer health care to women in India. Burdened by increasing frustration with Hinduism’s poor regard for women and inspired by the compassion of Christians she met, Ramabai accepted Jesus Christ.
Funds Ramabai raised through speaking engagements and book sales paid for the opening of a school in India for child widows (girls who were married very young and left destitute when their older husbands died) when she returned in 1889. Through the vibrancy of Ramabai’s Christian witness, numerous students at the school also chose to follow Jesus—which brought severe criticism from Hindus. By 1900, the school sheltered 1,500 children, widows, orphans, and others without a voice in society. Ramabai applied her linguistic skill to translating the Bible into her first language of Marathi. “People must not only hear about the kingdom of God,” she said, “but must see it in actual operation, on a small scale perhaps and in imperfect form, but a real demonstration nonetheless.”
Though God often led her through dark valleys of personal tragedy, Pandita Ramabai continually stepped across cultural boundaries to model a life of serving. “The only thing that must be done by me,” she wrote, “is to tell people of Him, and of His love for sinners, and His great power to save them.”
Brothers and sisters, looking at this example from an Indian sister-in-Christ more than 100 years ago, are you also willing to go against the course of this world, the elementary principles of the world, to follow Christ, to cross cultural boundaries, to cross any boundaries set up by Satan to enslave people, to serve others so that they might know the love of God, to know Christ and the power of His resurrection?
Whose slaves do you want to be?
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
Paul calls the elementary principles of the world weak and worthless. They are weak and worthless to set people free from their sins. They don’t have the power of God to change people. Let’s not be enslaved to those things that we are enslaved to before we knew God. Look at verse 9. It says, “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God. ” Don’t take this lightly. Do you personally know someone big like the President of the United States and does he personally know you? Yet, you personally know the Creator of the universe, and the Creator of the universe knows you! When I was at a company picnic this year, a guy walked beside me and said “hey” like he is a friend. I looked at him and recognized he is my company’s CEO. I then introduced myself to him because he doesn’t know me. He talked with me a little and at the end he still remembered my name. That’s a nice experience and I told my coworkers about it. However, this is nothing compared with you personally knowing God and Him personally knowing you!
When you trust in Christ, you have a new boss. It’s like you already left the old company, why would you still do work for your old boss, Satan and the world? It’s like you already left the old school, why would you still do the school work from your old professor or teacher?
Let us truly let God be our master. Let us not be slaves again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, but be servants of the Lord! Let me leave you with this quote from Pandita Ramabai: “A life totally committed to God has nothing to fear, nothing to lose, nothing to regret. ” Will you choose to live a life totally committed to God and make whatever changes necessary so that you no longer follow the elementary principles of the world? Remember you have nothing to fear, nothing to lose, and nothing to regret ! Amen? Let’s pray.