Galatians 4:21-31 Promises Life and Law
Notes
Transcript
21 Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says? 22 The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. 23 The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.
24 These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. 25 And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. 26 But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother. 27 As Isaiah said,
“Rejoice, O childless woman,
you who have never given birth!
Break into a joyful shout,
you who have never been in labor!
For the desolate woman now has more children
than the woman who lives with her husband!”
28 And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. 29 But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit.
30 But what do the Scriptures say about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” 31 So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.
My confusion when reading this and Background
My confusion when reading this and Background
What!!?? I’ve read Galatians MANY times… but this week when I got to the passage we just read all I could say was , “WHAT! How does THIS make ANY sense?” I get the main argument, but how these two women equate with what Paul says they equate with baffled me...
Well, to understand this, let’s dig a little deeper into the background...
Background
Date - Before the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) because that council is never mentioned in this letter and it would have greatly helped Paul’s discussion in the letter.
Occasion - Paul planted the churches in the Galatia region on his 1st Missionary Journey sometime around 47/48 AD
Sometime after that, Jews started bothering Gentile Christians declaring that for them to be followers of the Jewish Messiah they must, essentially, convert to Judaism. They must take up circumcision and all the requirements of the Jewish Law. The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 settled this matter (around 48/49 AD) . Yet, before that time, Paul had to combat this heresy in the churches he planted. So, he wrote this letter to the churches in the region of Galatia. The letter was written either around 48 AD… Although, some argue that the letter could have come after the Jerusalem Council and was written between 51-53 A.D. Some even argue that the letter was written to Norther Galatian Churches (of which Paul did NOT evangelize) as late as between 53-57 AS.
There is NOT 100% agreement on this, but if the earliest dates are the case, Galatians may very well be the earliest canonical letter we have in the New Testament (but, a close second or close first is 1 Thessalonians…)
Paul’s argument is one that highlights the necessity of Christ Alone for salvation and that Christ is the fulfillment of ALL the promises from God...
15 “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. 16 Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”
21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.
Ultimately, the response from Paul is Faith vs Law...
7 The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. 8 What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
10 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”
The purpose of the Law?
A placeholder, temporary solution until Christ came...
19 Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people.
The Law owns us as if we were it's slave
23 Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. 24 Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. 25 And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.
Now to deal with Hagar and Sarah
Now to deal with Hagar and Sarah
What does this have to do with Hagar and Sarah?
This is NOT to be a commentary on the site of Hagar and Sarah. Paul is doing something that Jewish Rabbis would have done in his day. He's taking the story and using it as an analogy for a current context/situation.
2 "sons" trace their lineage to Abraham
Ishmael who was born of Hagar, Sarah servant
Hagar was a slave and her son, therefore is a slave
Isaac is the child of the promise - that came about because of GOD’s DIVINE ACTION - NOT HUMAN PLAN.
Sarah received a covenant and a promise
Hagar provided a temporary solution, but it did not solve her slavery and it did not change that here child was not the child of the promise - he was a temporary, man made solution.
The Law was a temporary solution as well.
Yes, God provided it, but God provided it as a temporary place holder until Jesus Christ would come. The Law was a solution to guide humanity to God and ultimately to Christ. Its purpose was to point forward to Jesus Christ.
So, one could say that although God provided it, it was provided because humans would not rely on the Spirit of God to lead and guide them because of their sinfulness. In fact, for Paul, the law highlights how sinful we are, and how much we need God’s grace. So, it was provided because HUMANS were evil and would not rely on God’s Spirit.
Therefore, those who follow the law are enslaved to it (similarly to Hagar... She was a temporary solution and was still enslaved. The promise was yet to come...)
Hagar represents Mt Sinai...
This baffled me because those who were at Mt Sinai were the descendents of Isaac - not Ishmael.
But, Mt Sinai is in Arabia, which was outside the promised land. But, Jerusalem is in the promised land. What is Paul equating and how does this work?
Genesis 16...
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. 8 The angel said to her, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress, Sarai,” she replied. 9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority.”
Well... the Lord appeared to Hagar on the road... In the Bible this place is called Shur. HOWEVER, in Aramaic targums (commentaries) the places is called Hagra...(probably the name of the place came from Hagar and Ishmael and their descendents later).
Anyway, Shur/Hagra was, supposedly near, or the very place of Mt Sinai. Mount Sinai is definitely IN the areas known as Shur (which was where the Arabian Tribes who descended from Ishmael dwelt). So, Hagar can represent Mt Sinai.
Many Translations of Galatians 4:25 state...
The Lexham English Bible Chapter 4
Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is a slave with her children
"Hagar/Hagra is Mt Sinai." With that bit of knowledge we can better understand Paul's equating Mt Sinai with Hagar and a TEMPORARY solution to the GREATEST fulfillment of the Promise.
In that case JERUSALEM, the earthly Jerusalem, is the temporary solution to the greatest fulfillment of the promise.
What promise?
The promise of the Seed of Abraham - no, not Isaac, but JESUS CHRIST, who ultimately fulfilled them all...
14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.
The point? God will keep God's promises
The point? God will keep God's promises
Paul’s point in this section was clear to me…
28 And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac.
He uses the analogy of Hagar and Sarah to prove that point again. It’s a point he has been making ALL through the letter - Gentiles are included in God’s promise to Abraham
1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
But, there's another point… Paul brings in the image of the Heavenly Jerusalem and he quotes from Isaiah 54:1 to make this point...
27 As Isaiah said, “Rejoice, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful shout, you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!”
1 “Sing, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into loud and joyful song, O Jerusalem, you who have never been in labor. For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband,” says the Lord.
In the Jewish Scripture readings in the synagogues they used a lectionary where texts from different parts of Scripture were read that assisted in understanding the other passages. In Jewish tradition, when Genesis 16, the story of Hagar and Sarah was read Isaiah 54 was read.
Paul borrows from that tradition and proves the point that the Heavenly Jerusalem is the Childless Woman from Isaiah 54 who now has many children (in Jewish tradition that passage referred to the city of Jerusalem in Israel who was barren when her people were taken into exile). This is done through the promises that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
And what does this mean for us today?
And what does this mean for us today?
But wait, there is more...
The image of the Heavenly Jerusalem would conjure up ideas of End Times, eschatological events… when God would restore Jerusalem… But, for Paul, there is so much more… The promise of the Heavenly Jerusalem is fulfilled in Christ and the followers of Christ ARE the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Holy City...
The Heavenly Jerusalem is not ONLY an eschatological, end times hope, it is a REALITY NOW as the Spirit produces within us the fruit of the Heavenly Jerusalem...
Because the promise has been fulfilled WE, who are children of the promise are different. Because God keeps God's promise we are not enslaved, but are free citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Because of this we have freedom in Christ, but also a New Life by the power of the Spirit. This was also God's promise...
31 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord. 33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
23 I will show how holy my great name is—the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord. 24 For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land. 25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. 28 “And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God.
It's not about laws, it's about realizing God's promises fulfilled.
Its about true living, not enslaved to the law, but in freedom of Christ by the Holy Spirit. This gives us the ability to say No to the ways of the World and Yes to the ways of God.
Not because the Law enslaves us to do so, but because the Holy Spirit encourages us, inspires us, motivates us, enlivens us, incites us, revives us to do so…Because, by Christ through the Holy Spirit God is close and God, by the power of the Spirit, is inscribing his perfect law on our hearts and lives...
So, as children of the promise, LIVE BY THE SPIRIT...
16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
May the promise of God fall fresh upon us! May the Holy Spirit fill us, change us, and USE us! May we walk by the Holy Spirit and the freedom she brings to say NO to our flesh and YES to God.