Genesis 17:15-21 & Galatians 4:21-31

Freedom or Bondage

Throughout Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, Paul will take Old Testament passages that have been used against his position by the Judaizers, correct their interpretation and show that their proof texts rather support his argument instead of theirs. 

The Judaizers entered the Galatian churches, which were primarily Gentile, and argued that if Gentile believers are to be “true” sons of Abraham and therefore inherit the promise, then they are to be circumcised and begin to follow the commandments of the Mosaic Law.  To illustrate their teaching, they used the two sons of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, as symbols of two kinds of Christians within the church.  They argued that though Ishmael was truly a son to Abraham, in fact the first son, it was only through Isaac that the promise was given.  The line of the “true” seed of Abraham beginning with Isaac extends through Moses and the Law given at Mt. Sinai and only comes to focus in the present city of Jerusalem, which is the center of Israel’s Law, land, and temple.  One commentator describes the argument of the Judaizers:

The true descedents of Abraham are the Jews, who inhabit Jerusalem.  Here are the true people of God; and it will follow that Jerusalem is the authoritative center of the renewed people of God, now called the church.  Those who are not prepared to attach themselves to this community by the approved means (circumcision [and obedience to the Law of Moses]) must be cast out; they cannot hope to inherit promises made to Abraham and his seed (Barrett in Longnecker, 218).

They argued that Paul and his converts were only “related” to Isaac and the Jewish nation, much like Ishmael being related to Isaac.  Rather, to be “true” son and receive the promised inheritance, Gentile believers had to be engrafted into the “true” lineage through circumcision and obedience to the Law of Moses.

Throughout Paul’s argument, he not only demonstrates that “legalism” or “salvation is dependent upon the works of the Law” was never the means of receiving the promise, but he also demonstrates that the Mosaic Law itself has come to an end with the coming of the “true” seed, Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the end of the Law.  The “tutor” or “pedagogue” is no longer the authority for those who trust in Christ.  Those who belong to Christ, through faith alone, are the “true” descendents and heirs of the promise to Abraham.  They are now “sons” of the Living God, and are no longer considered slaves.  Jesus Christ has bought their freedom by coming under the Law and fulfilling it.  Therefore, they are no longer slaves, but sons and joint-heirs with Christ.

But, sadly, it seems that the Galatians have begun to buy into the Judaizers’ argument.  Paul addresses them as those “who want to be under law.”  By implication, Paul sees that though they have not yet fully adopted the Judaizers’ position, they are well on their way.  It seems that they have already begun to observe the fasts and festivals of the Jewish calendar (4:10) and are now considering circumcision (5:2-3).  Paul describes them as having already capitulated to some degree (1:6; 3:3; 4:11).  To “be under the law” means to have one’s life regulated by the Mosaic Law, similar to what Paul described in 3:22 and 4:4.  Seeing that the Law has now ended and has completed its purpose, to “be under the law” is to regress back into slavery and childhood.

This is why Paul wants them to “hear the law”.  They need to understand what they are doing, if they decide to fully accept the Judaizers’ teaching.  As Paul has already said the Law is not of faith, it is of works and if you attempt to achieve the promise through obedience to the Law you must be prepared to fully obey it or be cursed if you don’t do everything that is in the Law (3:10-12).  Paul explains that the Mosaic Law is not buffet line in a cafeteria.  You don’t simply choose which laws “you” want to follow, but the whole Law was given as one Law and it belongs together.  As James says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point, he has become guilty of all.”  The whole Law stands together and if the Galatians are wanting to be under it, they must be prepared to go all the way or be cursed (cf. 5:2-3). 

But why do they want to do this?  Christ has come to redeem us from under the Law (4:4-5).  We are no longer under it.  It no longer stands over us as a commanding authority.  We have been set free.  We are no longer slaves to Law of Moses.  We are no longer children regulated by its commandments.  We have been emancipated.  Therefore, why do the Galatians want to be under it?  We have already received the promise, why do we want to go back and add something to our lives that could never gain it in the first place?

It is at this point in Paul’s argument that he turns the Judaizers use of the Old Testament against them.  They argue that they are the true descendents of Isaac and Paul and his followers are only distantly related to Abraham as was Ishmael. 

Paul agrees with the Judaizers that Abraham indeed had two sons, one of the bondwoman, Hagar, and another of the freewoman, Sarah.  He also agrees that the son by the bondwoman, Ishmael, was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman, Isaac, was born according to promise.    

You remember the story that Sarai could not have children, even though God promised them to her.  So rather than wait on the Lord, Sarai gave Abram, her servant Hagar as a wife to bear children.  Abram went along with the plan, not as God commanded, and Hagar conceived Ishmael according to the works of the flesh.

God comes to Abram latter and explains that his plan was to produce a supernatural birth through Sarah.  She would conceive Isaac according to promise, not the works of the flesh.

Up to this point, Paul agrees with the Judaizers.  But now he takes their interpretation of this story and corrects it.  Rather than seeing the Judaizers as the true descendents of the promise, Paul tells them that the Covenant made at Mt. Sinai where the Law was mediated through Moses in the presence of the angels was a covenant of slavery and bondage.  Paul’s gospel is not related to Hagar, the Judaizers are.  There message of the Law is one of slavery and they want to enslave the Galatians along with them.  This life of bondage under the Law corresponds to present day Jerusalem, where the Judaizers came from.  The city of Jerusalem had become a symbol for the Mosaic Covenant and when that covenant/law came to an end so did all the hopes that were rooted in that city, including the land and temple. 

No longer for the Christian is Jerusalem, the land of Israel, and law of Moses the center of our hope.  All of these things have been fulfilled in Christ and with the fulfillment of the reality all shadows have come to an end.  This Christian’s hope is not to be found in whether or not a nation today called Israel locates itself in the middle east, or if they are able to slaughter enough Arabs to take over the city of Jerusalem, or if they are able to take control of the temple mount and rebuild the temple.  These things are all vain hopes.   They are Jewish empty dreams.  They are simply the confused dog chasing his shadow in the yard.

Rather, the Christian has become heirs of the realities, not the shadows.  Let the Jews continue to place their hopes in shadows which have come to an end.  We, in union with Jesus Christ, have come to the substance.  They still look to present day Jerusalem, their Law and the land of Israel as their hope.  Paul is willing to give them all of it.  Let them place their hope their. 

Our hope is rooted in the reality above, the land of freedom.  The author of Hebrews describes this Jerusalem above:  Heb. 12:18-24.  John envisions the glorious culmination of this Heavenly Jerusalem in the New Heavens and the New Earth (Rev. 22:9-11a).  This is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And our position is heavenly.  It is a life of freedom and sonship.  It isn’t the life of bondage and slavery.  It isn’t a life under the Law, but of the Spirit of the living God.

Paul quotes from Isaiah 54 which looks forward to the future glory of Mt. Zion, the Heavenly Jerusalem.  Because this is our mother, Isaac is our “true” brother and therefore with him we are the “true” heirs of the promise. 

Paul pictures the Judaizers as persecuting the Galatian churches in the same manner that Ishmael mocked and persecuted Isaac.  Just as Sarah told Abraham to cast out Ishmael and Hagar from the presence of the promised child, Paul is implying that the Galatians should no longer listen to the teachings of the Judaizers, that they should go no further following them, but that they should put them out of the church.  Why?  Because we are not children of slavery to the Mosaic Law, but we are children of freedom in the life of the Spirit. 

The question throughout Paul’s epistle is, “Who are Abraham’s true children?”  Paul’s answer to this throughout the epistle is that Abraham’s true children are those who place their faith in Christ alone, and not those who want to add anything to the all-sufficiency of Christ’s work.  But the manner in which Paul argues against the legalism of the Judaizers is that the Christian is no longer subject to the directives of the Mosaic Law.  That entire Covenant of bondage and slavery has come to an end.  The Christian is no longer to look to Moses or Jerusalem or the temple for their hope and life as followers of Christ.  Christ has set us free.  To go back to those things, as the Galatians seem to want to do, is to give up the freedom that we have in Christ and to be placed back under the bondage of slavery. 

The purpose of Moses was to drive us to Christ.  But there are those, even in the church today, that believe that Christ’s drives us to Moses.  Some put their hope in the Law of Moses and try to impose it not only upon Christians, but even upon all nations.  Some put their hope in Jerusalem and Israel today.  They believe that prophecy is being fulfilled when Israel reenters a piece of real estate in the middle east and their hope is that Israel will throw out the present inhabitants, take control of the temple mount, and rebuild the temple. 

But hopes are all rooted in the same thing:  a return to shadows and childishness.  It is a sign of immaturity for an adult to go back to his childish ways.  As Christians, we have the privilege of being given the realities to which all these types and shadows pointed.  It is a sign of maturity as Christians when we move forward finding out hope in these realities of spiritual and heavenly blessings.  Our hope is no longer rooted in this world or this present age.  Our position is that of being raised into the heavenlies to sit upon thrones with Christ.  Our life is guided by this new heavenly position and lived out in the life of the Spirit.  It is a life of faith, rooted in union with Christ and empowered and lived out by the Spirit of Christ.  Right now our life is guided by faith, but with the hope that what is now ours spiritually in Heaven, will one day become realities of sight in the New Heavens and the New Earth.

Amen!  - SDG -