Skip to main content

Paul's Argument in Galatians 4:21-31

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 according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.

24 These things are being taken figuratively: 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, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband.”

28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does 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 and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. (NIV)

Yes we are back at Galatians after (yet another) break and we'll take up one of the more fascinating passages in Galatians as Paul allegorically interprets Genesis 21 and its surrounding context. While allegory is looked down upon now, that has not always been the case. Second temple Judaism and Christianity at least up to the Reformation embraced allegory, as Paul clearly does here. Far from being a throw away or small addition to his argument, Paul uses the allegory to drive one of his key exhortations to the Galatians, to have them kick out the false teachers. Some interpreters have claimed that Paul isn't actually resorting to allegorical interpretation here but instead is interpreting typologically. I think that opinion results more from their own uncomfortableness with non-literal methods of interpretation. While Paul isn't going wild in his allegory, it still clearly is allegory.

One of the keys to interpreting this passage is seeing who's who. Paul here contrasts two groups. On the one side is Paul and those who promoted a law-free Gentile mission. On the other side are the Teachers and those who required Gentiles to be law observant. The Teachers are the children of Hagar, the ones who are enslaved and thus continue to beget children in slavery, children who oppress the children born of the promise.

Paul also rips a portion of the Jerusalem church here as well. The Teachers claimed their superiority to Paul because they were backed by part of the Jerusalem church. Paul had no official backing. However, Paul claims backing from a better Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem. Any who require Torah observance to be part of the people of God are going back to the old order before Christ, back into slavery (similar to his argument in 4:8-11). Patrilineage guarantees nothing. Only children of the promise (who's identity was revealed earlier) are free.

The citation in the middle of the passage comes from Isaiah 54:1. To understand Paul's usage here, first we need to notice the wider context in Isaiah. It directly follows Isaiah 53 and the description of the suffering servant. Isaiah 54 is the beginning of a song of praise for the eschatological victory that God's people will experience. By citing the verse at the hinge (remember there were no chapter divisions in Paul's day) Paul here is declaring that it is through union with God's people through Christ's work on the cross that the Gentiles have hope. They know that they will some day enter glory, and it's not because of the Torah, but because of the work of Christ alone. The choice of passage is also brilliant by Paul for the echoes back to the Genesis passage at hand (as well as to the story of Hannah).

As mentioned before, Paul concludes with the command to kick out the Teachers from the congregation. There is no room in the body of Christ for those who seek to marginalize and enslave God's children with any kind of law.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians 2:11-14: The circumcision group

11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? (TNIV) There's an important issue that we need to wrestle with in this passage, and it's the question of whether or not the people from James and the circumcision group are the same group. I am not inclined to think that they are. The ensuing discussion is drawn from Longenecker's commentary pp 73-5

More Calvinist than Calvin?

I'm working on a paper on the topic of divine sovereignty and human freedom. Occasionally on this topic (or the subtopic of election) you will hear people through out the barb at strong Calvinists that they're 'being more Calvinist than Calvin.' After having read Calvin carefully on the issue I don't think that there's any validity to that charge. I don't see a material difference here between Calvin and say John Piper. Here are several quotes from the Institutes to prove my point. 'All events are governed by God's secret plan.' I.xvi.2 'Governing heaven and earth by his providence, he also so regulates all things that nothing takes place without his deliberation.' I.xvi.3 'Nothing happens except what is knowingly and willingly decreed by him.' I.xvi.3 Calvin explicitly rejects a limited providence, 'one that by a general motion revolves and drives the system of the universe, with its several parts, but which does not specifc

Jude 20-25

This is the last of our studies on Jude, but stick around, there will be a few more posts this week on the theology of Jude and on Jude commentaries. Finally in Jude 20-23, Jude tells his readers how to contend for the faith. As we will find out, though, it does not take the exact shape that we might expect. Vs. 20: The first and most important thing Jude exhorts his readers to do is to build themselves up in the holy faith. This is not a command given to the members of the church as individuals, but to them corporately. They are to build up the corporate body of Christ, which is God's temple (c.f., 2 Cor. 6:16). Being in a strong community of faith lessens the allurement of false teaching and sinful lifestyles. Secondly, Jude implores them to pray in the Holy Spirit (Jude probably does not mean speaking in tongues). As a church they are to develop a life constantly in communion with the Spirit through prayer. This intimacy with the Spirit will guard them from error. Vs. 21: In ve