The Supremacy of the Promise
Galatians 4:21-31
Many people believe that slavery was abolished in America back in 1865, with the Emancipation Proclamation. That declaration did make it illegal to own human beings as property in servitude to another human being without remuneration or consent. And history has led many to believe that with this declaration, slavery was altogether removed from the American landscape. But nothing could be further from the truth.
The Emancipation Proclamation outlawed one type of slavery; physical servitude to another human being. But in a broader sense, Americans are more enslaved today than ever before in history. Yet most of us don’t even realize our bondage until we see someone who is really free. I’m referring to the slavery of sin and even slavery to a form of religious righteousness, which is anything but freedom. We may sense the chaffing from the manacles of lust, or drugs, or empty entertainment, or we may groan under the burden of a gnawing dissatisfaction at the end of every work day… to the end of our lives, asking ourselves, “What am I missing?” That’s not freedom.
How men and women who have given themselves so much in this world can come away feeling so empty for so long, sounds like a mystery. For most Americans, this slavery is as real as the emptiness that haunts their souls. Now we Americans don’t have chains on our ankles or irons around our wrists; we’re too ingenious to work for nothing. So, we pay our masters. We pay them to keep us in bondage. After all, they’ve promised to lead us to freedom. Our modern American masters have come to us disguised as liberators, come to make us happier and more productive. Our slavery is more than physical today; it’s moral, it’s religious, and it’s spiritual.
Right here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, our masters are legion. And some of us don’t even see it. So the Bible speaks to our blindness; it points to our self-made, self-fulfilled arrogance and says: “This is bondage!” Even in Christianity, there’s a mutant form of the true faith that genuinely wants the blessings of God, but tries to obtain them by fleshly means. So we may say we are children of Abraham—as ethnic Israel said; but we forget that Abraham had two sons. One son came by fleshly means, the other came by promise.
Let’s look at the way Paul explains it in Galatians 4:21-31. He uses the relationship between Hagar and Sarah, and Ishmael and Isaac to draw an allegory for believers. To understand the difference Paul draws between these two figures is to understand the difference between religion and true Christian faith. Galatians 4:21-31. In honor of God and His Word, please stand for the reading of these verses.
21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.
24 These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.”
28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” 31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. [NIV]
[Prayer] These verses from Galatians comprise the Christian’s Emancipation Proclamation. I want to break this long passage down into three major divisions, each having timeless applic-ations for all who want to live the Christian life with the freedom of the promise. First…
I. The Bible reveals two ways of pursuing the blessing of God, one true, the other false (21-23).
21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.
This is a very pro-Jewish portion of Scripture; it’s very pro-Israeli. One man said that Paul’s problem with the Judaizers wasn’t that they were Jewish, but that they weren’t Jewish enough! The Judaizers had settled for a Hagar-Ishmael way of relating to God. It was based on the flesh. This is the manner with which Jewish people would typically associate Arabic, Palestinian religion. It’s the difference between Ishmael and Isaac! (Ishmael is the father of the Palestinian and Arabic people.) Paul is saying, “Don’t approach God the Ishmael way, come the Isaac way… the Jewish way, the way of promise.” Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews and he never surrendered his loyalty to the perfect Law of God. But he used the Law to draw men and women to Jesus Christ, which is the highest purpose of the Law.
When I was in Dallas, I once went with some seminary students to a Jewish synagogue on a Sabbath morning to observe their worship rituals. They have such reverence for the Law of Moses! One of the men would carry a large copy of the Torah scrolls from the back of the synagogue, walking slowly toward the front up the center aisle. The men who stood close enough to the aisle would kiss the tassels on their prayer shawls and touch the kissed tassel to the Torah. Then the scrolls were placed at the front of the synagogue behind a veil, after which the rabbi gave a brief homily or sermon on a portion of the Law.
If you saw this scene, you would have thought this was very Jewish. But ironically, those of us who were Christians were more authentically Jewish than those who kissed the Torah. Because whoever loves Jesus Christ with all his heart and mind and soul and strength has kept the Law more than one who only goes as far as kissing the Law of Moses. That’s why when a Jewish person comes to faith in Jesus they are called “completed Jews.” Jesus Christ is the completion of true Judaism going all the way back to the Abrahamic Covenant. The very best we can be apart from Christ is incomplete. Why be content with kissing the Law, when God invites us to kiss the Lawgiver and have life through Him.
Hagar or Sarah… Ishmael or Isaac? Both of these figures represent two contrary ways of pursuing the blessing of God through religious service. One is borne of bondage, the other is borne of freedom. Yet both could claim a relationship with Abraham. The relationship based on the flesh is the way of slavery; the relationship based on the promise is the way of freedom. And this is the promise: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Jesus Christ is the promised Seed of which God told Abraham. This Seed would come through Isaac, the son of promise, not through Ishmael, the son of flesh. So there are two ways of pursuing the blessing of God, one true, the other false. Second…
II. The Old Covenant leads to bondage, but the New Covenant leads to freedom and inherits the original promise (24-27). Verse 24…
24 These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.”
Paul’s allegory is inspired by God and is to be taken figuratively (he says) to represent the difference between the two covenants. Fortunately, Paul also interprets his own allegory so we don’t have to fill in the blanks. He tells us, “Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem…”
Why does Paul link Mt. Sinai (where the Law was given to Moses) to the land of Arabia? Think of Ishmael’s descendants. The sons of Ishmael are the Arabic (and Palestinian) people and Sinai represents a way of appearing godly and religious (and even Abrahamic) without having faith in the promise. It appeals to the flesh and not the promise. This is exactly what the Judaizers were doing in Galatia. So Paul links this religious charade to the present city of Jerusalem because that’s where the (Mt. Sinai) Judaizers wielded the most authority. He links the way of the Judaizers to the way of Hagar and Ishmael… it’s a fleshly way that only leads to bondage.
Then Paul quotes the poetic reference from Isaiah 54:1 about the blessing that comes to the barren woman who believes the promise of God. This is to say, the blessing comes to Sarah, not to Hagar. It all has to do with faith in the promises of God. The promise leads to freedom. Third,
III. Believers are separated as children of promise and are persecuted by children of the flesh (28-31).
Keep in mind, both of these children are presented in a religious context. Both children (Ishmael and Isaac) want to inherit the promises made to Abraham. But God has separated by faith those who inherit the promises from those who don’t. It doesn’t mean that all the physical descendants of Isaac will automatically come to faith in Christ; many won’t. Neither does it mean all the physical descendants of Ishmael cannot come to faith in Christ; many will… and many have.
In the church, these two groups are represented by unbelieving religionists who say they have faith but really glory in their own fleshly attainments, in one group; and true believers who have the authentic faith of Abraham and live by faith in Jesus Christ apart from the flesh, in the other group. This is the difference between Ishmael religion and Isaac Christianity in the modern church. It’s the difference between trying to get God’s blessings by the flesh (working for it without faith) and obtaining God’s blessings by faith (receiving it as a free gift of grace). On the surface, it’s so easy to confuse the two groups. Sometimes Ishmael looks so much better than Isaac when it comes to religious accomplishments.
I’ve seen Hagar-Ishmael religionists who try to control every church committee, attend every function, and take great pride in their parachurch involvements. They want you to know how busy they are with religious affairs in the community; and sometimes they want you to feel guilty that you’re not as involved as they are. It’s a point of pride. It’s the Hagar-Ishmael syndrome in the church because it’s fleshly! Now there’s nothing wrong with being on church committees, or faithfully attending services, or actively supporting parachurch ministries… but when the motive is the praise of men rather than the glory of God, it is of the flesh and not of faith. The Sarah-Isaac way is the way of faith and it does better and more joyful work because it has a better motive: building God’s kingdom for God’s glory. This is the supremacy of the promise.
As verse 29 indicates, the Hagar-Ishmael religionists will persecute the Sarah-Isaac believers. There’s a different principle at work in these two different natures. Keep in mind, both groups claim to be rightly related to God; both claim to be genuine sons of Abraham. But Abraham had two sons representing two different ways to relate to God and inherit His promises, one true and one false. The way of Hagar and Ishmael leads to bondage, even when it’s done in the name of Christianity… under the pretense of “serving the Lord”; but the way of Sarah and Isaac leads to freedom through the promise. This is the way that depends on God and takes Him at His word.
Paul is teaching Christians that through faith, we are like Isaac, children of promise. Therefore we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. The warning for Christians from this passage is that even though we may be children of promise, we must avoid using Hagar and Ishmael means of serving God in the flesh. Those who rely on the flesh will have no reward; “…for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”
Therefore, my fellow believers—remember who you are as a believer in Jesus Christ… and remember whose you are. This will determine how you treat other people, how you live your life, how you serve in the church and for what reasons. It will determine whether you bear the fruit mentioned later in chapter 5. The way of the flesh leads to bondage and death… but the way of the promise leads to freedom, and joy, and life. This is the way God calls us to walk.
(c) Charles Kevin Grant
2003