Galatians 4

Good morning Oakwood, I am so glad to be with you. My name is Caleb Garnett and I have the privilege to serve as the youth pastor here.

If you have been with us for the last several weeks, you know we have been walking through the book of Galatians. Today, as we wrap up chapter 4, I want to set the scene a little bit. As a reminder, in this letter, Paul has been arguing against the idea that we can be saved by keeping Jewish law. His opponents have been teaching that faith in Jesus alone is not the way to be saved. Rather, you must keep Old Testament law if you truly want to be saved. In this last portion of chapter 4, Paul is going to argue against that by bringing up a very familiar Old Testament figure, Abraham, and the birth of his two sons. If you’re just doing a quick read through Galatians, it may seem a bit random, but some scholars believe that Paul is actually responding to an interpretation of this Old Testament account that was put forward by his opponents, which claimed that only the Jews through the law could legitimize their claim to being children of Abraham.

Paul revisits this story to show that it doesn’t actually make the claims that his opponents the Judaizers think it does, and that it actually supports his claims of justification through Christ alone.

In chapter Galatians 4:21 “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?”

Here we see

Paul’s Question

He’s saying, you so badly want to be under the law, but do you even know what the law is? So he takes them back to the book of Genesis.

Galatians 4:22–23 “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.”

If you stop and think about this logically, you might say, what in the world is Paul doing? Why does he ask if they understand the law and then proceeds to take them back to the life of Abraham? If you know anything about your bible, the book of Genesis comes first, and it’s not until hundreds of years later in Exodus that the law is given to Moses.

To us, when we think law, we probably think of the Mosaic law, but Paul’s Jewish readers would have understood that law encapsulated the first 5 books of the Bible. All of the writings of Moses were considered law. He wanted to show them that “the law” actually condemned their argument of wanting to go back under the law.

So Paul goes back to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, to show that Abraham was not made right with God by following the Mosaic law which hadn’t come yet, but through his faith in God’s promises.

Genesis 15:5–6 “And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

Abraham was able to be in right standing with God because of his faith. If the law was actually needed to be justified, how could God have counted Abraham righteous? What Paul is trying to show here is that justification by faith has always been the way God has done things. If you understand Genesis, when you get to the Mosaic law being given in Exodus, you will understand that that law does not justify, that law does not save. Rather, that law exists to point out sin, and make us aware of our need for justification through faith. So by going back to Abraham, Paul is pointing his readers back to a proper interpretation of the law.

Galatians 4:22–23 “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.”

If you haven’t read Genesis in a while, or are not familiar with the life of Abraham, I want to give us some backstory on what Paul is about to dive into.

Genesis 16:1–4 “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived.

Abraham and Sarah were really old, Sarah was way past child bearing years. But even after God had promised Abraham descendants more numerous than the stars in the sky, they were impatient with God and chose to take matters into their own hands. Abraham goes into Hagar, Sarah’s servant, and they conceive a child, named Ishmael. Now if we jump ahead to Genesis 21, God fulfills his promise.

Genesis 21:1–3 “The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.”

So here we see what Paul is talking about. The two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. One born to the bondwoman, that being Hagar, and one born to the free woman, that being Sarah. Ishmael was born according to the flesh, meaning he was conceived as all children are, naturally. Meanwhile Isaac, while still conceived naturally, was born through the promise.

Don’t miss this statement that Paul is making, that one was born according to the flesh and one was born according to the promise. This is a significant part of his argument against justification by keeping the law.

He says that Ishmael was born according to the flesh. Now I’m assuming that pretty much everyone in this room knows where babies come from. They come from sexual reproduction. Babies are born as a result of “the flesh”. When a husband and wife say let’s have a baby, they don’t just sit around and wait for a stork to drop a baby at their doorstep. Not to be graphic, but there’s a physical act that has to happen for a baby to be conceived. It’s our own human effort that brings a baby into this world. This is how Ishmael came into the world. He came about as the result of human effort. Sarah got impatient of waiting for God’s promise, so she gave Hagar to Abraham and said go make a baby. In this analogy, Ishmael represents what is able to be accomplished by human effort. His birth came about completely in the natural way. No divine intervention was required to bring about his birth.

On the other hand, we are told that the son of the free woman was born according to the promise. This is the promise we just talked about to give him an heir and make his descendants like the stars of the sky. But there was only one problem, they were really old and Sarah was far past child bearing years. So even though Isaac was still conceived the natural way, God is the one who had to open Sarah’s womb. There had to be a divine intervention for this birth to happen. The birth of Isaac represents something not done merely by human efforts, but something done that only God could accomplish.

Galatians 4:24–26 “Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”

Parallel Promises

Here we see Paul shift into his allegory, comparing Sarah and Hagar as two different covenants. He says that Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia. If you remember your Old Testament, the significant event that happened at mount Sinai was the giving of the law to Moses. Paul is saying that Hagar represents the Mosaic covenant. She represents the law.

Well if Hagar represents the law, we have to ask ourselves a few questions, the first being this: What was the purpose of the law given to Moses? Paul is arguing so hard against the Galatians going back to the law. Does that mean that the law was a bad or sinful thing? No!

Romans 7:7–8 “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.”

So at our apartment, we have a spiral staircase that goes upstairs, it’s really nerve wracking when my 2 year old daughter tries to climb the stairs. So of course we have a rule, stay off the stairs, but what does that make her want to do even more? Climb the stairs! That’s what the law is like. It brought knowledge of the things that displease God. But in doing so, Paul says that just made us want to do these things even more.

Those who want to turn back to the law think that following the law will make them right with God, but that’s impossible. All that focusing on the law is going to do is actually cause them to sin more

James 2:10 “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”

We know that everyone has failed at some point of breaking God’s law because the Bible makes it clear that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Under our own power, we have no ability to avoid sin. The only thing that gives us that power is the Holy Spirit living within us. We may know we’re not supposed to do something, but under our own power, we do not have the strength not to do those things.

Paul says Galatians 4:25 “Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.”

What does Paul mean by this present Jerusalem, who are in slavery?

He’s referring to the first century city of Jerusalem.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 4:25–26

Hagar also stood for the first-century city of Jerusalem, a city enslaved to Rome and in slavery to the Law. (Donald Campbell)

This is a really interesting point that Paul is making here. To fully appreciate it, you have to understand what Paul is arguing against. His opponents, the Judaizers, would have heard this and it would have been like a slap to the face. This is because they said the descendents of Ishmael, Hagar’s son, the son born through the flesh, were the gentiles. Actually Ishmael’s descendants would have been the Arabians, which is also why Paul said Hagar represents mt. Sinai in Arabia.

The Judaizers claim was that the unclean, sinful, dirty rotten gentiles were the descendants of Ishmael. But on the other hand, the Jewish people were the descendants of Isaac. They were born of the promise of God. They were truly part of the covenant made to Abraham because the law was given to them. Meanwhile, the gentiles had to live in ignorance, sinning, eating unclean foods, uncircumcised, with no way to make themselves right before God.

So when Paul comes at them with the claim that Hagar represents the present Jerusalem, that would have been an insulting and shocking claim. How dare Paul say that the Jewish people could ever be associated with Hagar and Ishmael? The point being made here is that the real descendants of Ishmael are not those who are the fleshly physical descendants. The real descendants of Ishmael are the ones who are still in slavery. Even though it may not have looked like the kind of slavery that Hagar was under as a servant, the Jewish people were still under slavery none the less. They were under slavery to sin. They were constantly trying to keep a set of rules to justify themselves before God. In that regard they were still slaves to the law.

Galatians 4:26 “But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”

In contrast to the physical Jerusalem that is still in slavery to the law, there is another Jerusalem. This represents the covenant that was made to Abraham that says our faith in Christ alone for salvation is what justifies us before God. When we put our faith in Christ, we are no longer residents of this earth. We are given freedom to know that this new home isn’t held for us by anything we have done to earn it. Our spot is secure because of the free gift of God.

This gift of God is known as grace, No matter who you are, we are all in need of this grace. In the beginning, God created us to be in perfect relationship with him, but because mankind rebelled against God, that perfect relationship was broken, and our sins separated us from God. Then the law was given, which pointed out how far we truly were from God. Even if we kept it as well as we could, our sins couldn’t be removed by these good deeds. There was nothing we could do to bring ourselves back into right standing with God. The only one who could restore us back to right relationship was God himself, and that’s what He did. Jesus came down to earth, put on flesh, and paid the price for our sin by dying and rising again. Now everyone who trusts in him alone for salvation can have eternal life and be justified in his sight.

Not those who trust in Christ and keep the law. Not those who trust in Christ and are children of Abraham. As pastor Matthew pointed out in the first week of this series, Jesus plus anything equals nothing. No, only those who put their faith alone in Jesus will be justified in God’s sight.

Galatians 4:27 “For it is written, “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.””

Paul says, don’t just take my word for it, he quotes the Old Testament. He goes back to Isaiah 54, which in context is about the captivity of Israel in Babylon. Paul applies this to the story of Hagar and Sarah, to say that the children of promise are going to be more and greater than the children of the flesh.

The true children of Abraham who have been justified through faith are going to be more than those who attempt to be justified by the works of the law, or the flesh.

Paul is strategic in quoting Isaiah 54, as only one chapter prior is Isaiah 53, one of the most famous passages about messiah in all of scripture. He is leaving no doubt in the mind of his readers that this passage is all about Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection.

Cast out false teachers

Galatians 4:28–31 “Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

At this point Paul gets a bit more practical in his approach and he applies his analogy. He calls his readers “brothers”. He says that like Isaac, they are children of promise. He reminds them who they are. He wants them to know that just like Isaac, the only reason they are part of Abraham’s family is because of God’s promise, not because of their works. Like Isaac, we have been born of a miraculous birth through faith in Jesus, not as a result of any human action. We are now a part of God’s family, the true children of Abraham because of faith alone in Christ alone.

Galatians 4:29–30 “But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.

Paul again reminds them of the life of Abraham

Genesis 21:9–10 “But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.””

When we apply some context, Sarah wouldn’t have kicked out Hagar and Ishmael for simply laughing. This laughter would have been a mocking laughter toward Isaac. Ishmael, the older teenage brother, would have been mocking or persecuting his younger brother.

Paul again applies this to the current situation. He says just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so it is now. The children of the flesh, the Judaizers, are persecuting the children of the promise. They are saying that they aren’t really a part of Abraham’s family unless they follow the law and are circumcised.

So what does Paul say to do?

Galatians 4:30–31 “But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.”

Paul says they are to cast out the false teachers from among them! These Judaizers are drawing them away from God, away from the gospel of Jesus. While there is room in the church for us to have differing opinions on certain theological issues and to still remain in fellowship, the gospel is a non negotiable. These teachers had crossed the line from acceptable disagreement into the realm of heresy. They were also reminded not to be in fellowship with them because the son of the slave woman will not inherit with the son of the free woman. And we are not slaves but free! I love how F.F. Bruce says it.

Paul’s application becomes the statement of a basic gospel truth: legal bondage and gospel freedom cannot coexist.” - F.F. Bruce

There is no way for us as believers to truly trust in Christ alone for salvation and to try to earn our way to heaven by our good works. It simply can’t be done.

Application

The question for us today as believers is, which are we experiencing, legal bondage or gospel freedom?

If we were being completely honest today, we may have some mixed answers from everyone in the building today. I know there are people who still struggle under the weight of legal bondage because I saw it happen in my own family. My grandpa was a war veteran who served in world war 2 and the Korean war. He was proud of his service but at the same time, there were things he had to do that he was not proud of. Anytime the conversation with him would turn to faith, he would always say that he had done too many bad things in his life, and that he could never do enough for his good to outweigh his bad. He was completely under the weight of legal bondage. He thought that God needed his good deeds to justify him, but unlike the Judaizers, he realized that he could never do enough for God to accept him.

Today, you may be listening and realize that you fall somewhere on that spectrum. You have this belief that you need to work your way to God. You either believe that you are doomed because you can never do enough for God, or you think that God will accept you because of your good works. I want to tell you that both of those beliefs are lie from Satan and that he wants nothing more than for you to accept those as facts.

The difference between Christianity and every other religion is that we don’t have to work our way to God. Instead, God came down to us, into our brokenness and our mess and he took the punishment that every one of us deserved. He accomplished the work that none of us could do, by dying and rising again.

In doing that, Jesus gave us freedom, freedom from trying to earn our way to God. Freedom from a law that we could never keep perfectly.

If you’ve never experienced that gospel freedom, don’t leave today without doing so. Come and pray with someone. We would love to share with you how you can experience the freedom that comes from a life in Jesus.

But if you have experienced that freedom in Jesus, what are you doing with it? Are you keeping it to yourself or are you sharing it with a world that is lost, broken and suffering under the weight of legal bondage? In the student ministry, we have been challenging our students every single week to have gospel conversations with those in their lives who don’t know Jesus. I want to leave all of you in here who do know Jesus with that exact same challenge. We have the hope of Jesus. We have the only thing that every single person in the world needs. If you have experienced gospel freedom, I want to challenge you to go out and have gospel conversations this week. If our students can do it, you can all do it too. Because freedom in Jesus isn’t freedom to keep your faith to yourself, it’s freedom to go out, make disciples, and bring even more people into the freedom that only Jesus can bring.