A Tale of Two Children

Introduction:

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Slavery, Spiritual

Some years ago in Los Angeles a man was walking down the street with a sign on his shoulders. The front of it said, “I’M A SLAVE FOR CHRIST.” The back of it read, “WHOSE SLAVE ARE YOU?”

That is a good question, because all of us are slaves to one or the other of two masters—sin or righteousness. We have no other choices. By the very nature of our humanity, we are made to serve and to be controlled by forces beyond our power.

We all have a choice: do we abide by a set of rules and regulations that guide our spiritual lives, or do we live in grace and enjoy all of the promises that are afforded to us by that grace? What characterizes our lives in Jesus, what gives our personal witness meaning? Is it the fact that WE were able to accomplish everything in life on our own, or were we able to overcome the temptations of life through the power of the Holy Spirit found only in Jesus Christ? It has been said that if you are free, you are a slave to sin (meaning I can do what I want without consequence) or if you are a slave to Christ, then and only then are you truly free (free from the bondage and servitude of sin). Which one characterizes your life?

Galatians 4:21–31 ESV

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 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. 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. 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.” Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 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. 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.

Galatians

Verse 21

Paul opens this last section with a command (Tell me). Pau is continuing his discussion from 4.12 where he tells the believers at Galatia to “become as I am for I have become as you are.” What he meant by this was he was encouraging them to get away from the restraints of the law and return to the true freedom they had experienced at their initial acceptance of the true gospel. What Paul is doing here is concluding the scriptural discussion of his basis for justification by faith alone.

Make a note here to

The question/command is directed to “you who desire to be under the law.” This reinforces the idea from the beginning of Galatians that Paul presented in 1.6 where he said they were quickly deserting the true gospel which means that some were entertaining the idea of actually giving in to circumcision at this point.

He poses the question of “do you not listen to the law?” and basically what he is saying here is, “have you not really grasped the original intent of what the law was supposed to be for? Here, let me explain it to you through an illustration. Which is what he will proceed to do in verses 23-27, and then bring up an application point in verses 28-31. We know that there is a difference between hearing what someone says, and actually listening to what they are saying, and this what Paul is calling attention to in this area. It’s the same type of human qualities that Paul had already attributed to scripture earlier in the letter when he said “scripture preached the gospel” in 3.8, and how the law holds people captive later in that chapter. The essence of what Paul is driving at here is, “you are wanting to turn to the law, but do you actually realize that the law has finished its purpose and has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Paul is posing the rhetorical question so that the readers will think on this after he has instructed them to “become like him” and not digress in their walk because turning to the law would be going backwards. Basically aul set out what he was expecting from the readers and is now expecting them to respond with an answer of one way or the other.

Verses 22-23

In 22 and 23, Paul now introduces his illustration, and he bases his illustration in scripture going back to the promise of Abraham. In Genesis chapter 16, we read the story of Abraham and his two sons. God had promised that Abraham would be blessed through his seed and that he would be made a great nation by God. Abraham was getting older and at about the age of 85, he still had no child, so Sarah, his wife, gave him her handmaiden and she conceived Ishmael. That relationship turned sour and Sarah had her sent away and God was faithful in His promise to Abraham when Sarah had Isaac. These are the two children that Paul is speaking of as the child of the flesh and the child of promise. Hagar was a slave and Sarah was free. Paul uses this section of the passage to introduce the allegorical contrast that he is about to make in regard to the births of the two children with the birth if Ishmael being born of human means and the birth of Isaac being of supernatural means.

Verses 24-27

Paul states that the story of Ishmael and Isaac can be interpreted allegorically. An allegory is a literary device that, by definition, is a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. Allegory is a spiritual or symbolic interpretation of a story that has literal meaning, in this case the story of Isaac and Ishmael and the contrast between being free by the promise of God and being a slave to the law.

Paul relates Hagar the salve to Mount Sinai which, of course is where the Hebrews received the law that would bind them to a system of deeds, which induced slavery to the people and put them under a curse that Paul had spoken of in 3.10 and 3.22-23, and he will reiterate this point again in 5.3 where he says, “every man who accepts circumcision that he will be obligated to keep the whole law,” and the whole purpose of the law was to be a guardian that Paul had already spoke to in 3.24. By presenting this story in the fashion that he does, we see that there is a tension between the two just as there was in the original story, and just as there is a tension in the church today when you have a group that insists on salvation coming by works and salvation coming by grace alone through faith alone.

Paul continues in verse 25 with the comparison of Hagar to the old covenant of the law which he also equates to the Jerusalem of his day which was the religious center of Israel. The temple was there which represented the law and everything that it bound people to. Paul closes out the discussion of Hagar stating that “she is in slavery with her children,” which means that even in Paul’s time, the Jews were bound to the system of works according to the law.

Now, we move on to verse 26 where Paul begins discussing Sarah as a contrast to those that are held in slavery to the law. Paul writes that Sarah is the Jerusalem above which is the heavenly Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem, and I believe this is the very same Jerusalem that will descend from heaven that is spoken of in Revelation. Paul then quotes as a contrast to the future lineages of the two women. Sarah who represents grace was initially barren, but now she has an innumerable amount of children by virtue of the promise of God made to Abraham, and here we see the progression to the true freedom promised by God: God gave the promise to Abraham, the Israelites were held captive in Egypt, and during the exodus, the law was given to Moses at Mount Sinai. The law put people under bondage to a system of works and sacrifices until the time came that God saw fit to send Jesus who is the seed of Abraham. Jesus perfectly fulfilled all of the requirements of the Law, and because of His fulfillment of the Law and atoning death and resurrection we can all now stake a claim to that very same promise given to Abraham without having to work for it.

Verses 28-31

Paul then moves into the application portion of his discourse which will introduce the last two chapters of Galatians as he now starts to shift focus to life application for the Galatians.

Paul compares the Galatians to Isaac as children of promise. He also makes it a point to affirm that persecution is part of the nature due to the original tension between Isaac and Ishmael. He is affirming that the Galatians are being persecuted by those that are slaves to the law.

How does Paul help the Galatians apply all of this to their live? By quoting . “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.” Plain and simple, ditch the corrupt gospel, ditch the methods of works. The law does not carry the authority or blessing of God to save people. It is only faith apart from works in Jesus Christ.

Paul affirms that we are not children of the salve, but of the free woman. So what does that mean for us?

Get rid of the expectations and reclaim the joy of the Christian life by remembering that, we are heirs to all of the promises of God through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Have you been trying to live up to a set of holy expectations? Perhaps you pride yourself on being “good, clean, and wholesome” all day every day? Either of those can be detrimental to your walk as a Christian. Those standards hold no joy in and of themselves. return to the source of the joy in the promises of eternal salvation apart from maintaining it on your own power.

Conclusion

Living a life of faith that includes working to maintain your salvation will take the joy out of life. We end up living (or trying to live) up to set expectations, and we will never be able to stand up to it all. This becomes frustrating and sucks the joy out of everything. I want to remind you of the question posed to the Galatians earlier, “what happened to you blessedness?” we can find joy in the promise of God and the hope we have in Jesus Christ without the requirement of any standards that we will never be able to match up to.