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Galatians 4:21-31

12/8/2019

 
Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Galatians (Acts)

Rusty's Notes

Paul uses six different arguments to prove that God saves sinners through faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law.
  1. He begins with the personal argument (Gal. 3:1–5) in which he asks the Galatians to recall their personal experience with Christ when they were saved.
  2. Then he moves into the scriptural argument (Gal. 3:6–14), in which he quotes six Old Testament passages to prove his point.
  3. In the logical argument (Gal. 3:15–29) he reasons with his readers on the basis of what a covenant is and how a covenant works.
  4. He then presents the historical argument (Gal. 4:1–11), explaining the place of Law in the history of Israel.
  5. At this point, Paul’s love for his converts comes to the surface. The result is a sentimental argument (Gal. 4:12–18) as the apostle appeals to them to remember his love and their happy relationship in days past.
  6. But then Paul goes right back to his close reasoning, and concludes with the allegorical argument (Gal. 4:19–31), based on the life of Abraham and his relationships with Sarah and Hagar.
  • Practical application of his doctrinal argument follows in the last two chapters.[1]
Galatians 4:21-31
21 
Tell me, you who want to be under the law, don’t you hear the law?
 - the Galatians would be rejecting God’s gift and missing the purpose of the law altogether.[2]
22 For 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and the other by a free woman. 23 But the one by the slave was born as a result of the flesh, while the one by the free woman was born through promise. 24 These things are being taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery—this is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,
Rejoice, childless woman, unable to give birth. Burst into song and shout, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate woman will be many, more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.
28 Now you too, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as then the child born as a result of the flesh persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit, so also now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never be a coheir with the son of the free woman.” 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave but of the free woman.[3]

Breakdown – Genesis 12-21

Age 75— (Gen. 12:1–9) - Abraham is called by God to go to Canaan; and God promises him many descendants. Both Abraham and his wife, Sarah, wanted children, but Sarah was barren.
 - God was waiting until both of them were “as good as dead” before He would perform the miracle of sending them a son (Rom. 4:16–25).

85— (Gen. 16:1–3) - The promised son has not yet arrived, and Sarah becomes impatient. She suggests that Abraham marry Hagar, her maid, and try to have a son by her.
 - This act was legal in that society, but it was not in the will of God. Abraham followed her suggestion and married Hagar.

86— (Gen. 16:4–16) - Hagar gets pregnant and Sarah gets jealous! Things are so difficult in the home that Sarah throws Hagar out.
 - But the Lord intervenes, sends Hagar back, and promises to take care of her and her son. When Abraham is 86, the son is born, and he calls him Ishmael.


99— (Gen. 17–18) - God speaks to Abraham and promises again that he will have a son by Sarah and says to call his name Isaac.
- Later, God appears again and reaffirms the promise to Sarah as well.

100— (Gen. 21:1–7) - The son is born. They name him Isaac (“laughter”) as commanded by God.
 - But the arrival of Isaac creates a new problem in the home: Ishmael has a rival.
 - For fourteen years, Ishmael has been his father’s only son, very dear to his heart.

103— (Gen. 21:8–14) - It was customary for the Jews to wean their children at about the age of three, and to make a great occasion of it.
 - At the feast, Ishmael starts to mock Isaac and to create trouble in the home.
 - There is only one solution to the problem, and a costly one at that: Hagar and her son have to go.
 - With a broken heart, Abraham sends his son away, because this is what the Lord tells him to do.

- On the surface, this story appears to be nothing more than a tale of a family problem, but beneath the surface are meanings that carry tremendous spiritual power.
 - Abraham, the two wives, and the two sons represent spiritual realities; and their relationships teach us important lessons.[4]

- Paul begins with the two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, and explains that they illustrate our two births: the physical birth that makes us sinners and the spiritual birth that makes us the children of God.

The Old Covenant
The New Covenant

Law
Grace

Hagar the slave
Sarah the freewoman

Ishmael, conceived after the flesh
Isaac, conceived miraculously

Earthly Jerusalem in bondage
Heavenly Jerusalem which
is free

Isaac illustrates the believer in several particulars.
He was born by God’s power. In fact, God deliberately waited twenty-five years before He granted Abraham and Sarah their son.
 - Isaac was “born after the Spirit” (Gal. 4:29), and, of course, the Christian is “born of the Spirit” (John 3:1–7).
 - Isaac came into the world through Abraham (who represents faith, Gal. 3:9) and Sarah (who represents grace); so that he was born “by grace … through faith” as is every true Christian (Eph. 2:8–9).

He brought joy. His name means “laughter,” and certainly he brought joy to his aged parents.
 - Salvation is an experience of joy, not only to the believer himself, but also to those around him.
He grew and was weaned (Gen. 21:8). Salvation is the beginning, not the ending.
 - After we are born, we must grow (1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18).
 - Along with maturity comes weaning: we must lay aside “childish things” (1 Cor. 13:11).
 - How easy it is for us to hold the “toys” of our earlier Christian days and fail to lay hold of the “tools” of the mature believer.
- The child does not enjoy being weaned, but he can never become a man until it happens.

He was persecuted (Gen. 21:9). Ishmael (the flesh) caused problems for Isaac, just as our old nature causes problems for us.
 - Ishmael created no problems in the home until Isaac was born, just as our old nature creates no problems for us until the new nature enters when we trust Christ.

 - In Abraham’s home we see the same basic conflicts that we Christians face today:
Hagar versus Sarah = Law versus grace
Ishmael versus Isaac = flesh versus Spirit
It is important to note that you cannot separate these four factors.
 - The Judaizers taught that Law made the believer more spiritual, but Paul makes it clear that Law only releases the opposition of the flesh and a conflict within the believer ensues.
 - There was no Law strong enough either to change or to control Ishmael, but Isaac never needed any Law.
 - It has well been said, “The old nature knows no Law and the new nature needs no Law.”
 
Ishmael and Isaac represent the two lines of descendants that sprang from Abraham.
- According to Gen 25:13–18, Ishmael begot twelve sons who became the ancestors of the Arab tribes, which occupied the territory “from Havilah to Shur,” that is, the desert lands between Egypt and the Euphrates River.
- The birth of Ishmael was the result of the outworking of the philosophy that “God helps those who help themselves.”[5]
 - Not even in the Bible.

Having explained the significance of the two sons, Paul now turns to an explanation of the two wives, Sarah and Hagar.
 - He is illustrating the contrasts between Law and grace and is proving that the believer is not under Law but is under the loving freedom that comes through God’s grace.

 - Notice, then, the facts about Hagar that prove that the Law no longer has power over the Christian.
Hagar was Abraham’s second wife. God did not begin with Hagar; He began with Sarah.
As far as God’s dealings with men are concerned, God began with grace.
 - In Eden, God provided for Adam and Eve by grace. Even after they sinned, in His grace He provided them with coats of skins for a covering (Gen. 3:21). He did not give them laws to obey as a way of redemption; instead, He gave them a gracious promise to believe: the promise of a victorious Redeemer (Gen. 3:15).


In His relationship with Israel also, God first operated on the basis of grace, not Law.
 - His covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15) was all of grace, because Abraham was in a deep sleep when the covenant was established.
 - When God delivered Israel from Egypt, it was on the basis of grace and not Law, for the Law had not yet been given.
 - Like Hagar, Abraham’s second wife, the Law was “added” (Gal. 3:19). Hagar performed a function temporarily, and then moved off the scene, just as the Law performed a special function and then was taken away.

Hagar was a slave. Five times in this section she is called a “bondmaid” or “bondwoman” (Gal. 4:22–23, 30–31).
 - Sarah was a freewoman, and therefore her position was one of liberty; but Hagar, even though married to Abraham, was still a servant.
 - Likewise, the Law was given as a servant.
 - It served as a mirror to reveal men’s sins (Rom. 3:20) and as a monitor to control men and ultimately lead them to Christ (Gal. 3:23–25); but the Law was never meant to be a mother!

Hagar was not meant to bear a child. Abraham’s marriage to Hagar was out of the will of God; it was the result of Sarah’s and Abraham’s unbelief and impatience.
 - Hagar was trying to do what only Sarah could do, and it failed.
 - The Law cannot give life (Gal. 3:21), or righteousness (Gal. 2:21), or the gift of the Spirit (Gal. 3:2), or a spiritual inheritance (Gal. 3:18).
 - Isaac was born Abraham’s heir (Gen. 21:10), but Ishmael could not share in this inheritance.
 - The Judaizers were trying to make Hagar a mother again, while Paul was in spiritual warfare for his converts that they might become more like Christ.
 - No amount of religion or legislation can give the dead sinner life. Only Christ can do that through the Gospel.

Hagar gave birth to a slave. Ishmael was “a wild man” (Gen. 16:12), and even though he was a slave, nobody could control him, including his mother.
 - Like Ishmael, the old nature (the flesh) is at war with God, and the Law cannot change or control it.
 - By nature, the Spirit and the flesh are “contrary the one to the other” (Gal. 5:17), and no amount of religious activity is going to change the picture.
 - Whoever chooses Hagar (Law) for his mother is going to experience bondage (Gal. 4:8–11, 22–25, 30–31; 5:1). But whoever chooses Sarah (grace) for his mother is going to enjoy liberty in Christ.
 - God wants His children to be free (Gal. 5:1).

Hagar was cast out. It was Sarah who gave the order: “Cast out this bondwoman and her son” (Gen. 21:9–10), and God subsequently approved it (Gen. 21:12).
 - Ishmael had been in the home for at least seventeen years, but his stay was not to be permanent; eventually he had to be cast out.
 - There was not room in the household for Hagar and Ishmael with Sarah and Isaac; one pair had to go.

- It is impossible for Law and grace, the flesh and the Spirit, to compromise and stay together.
 - God did not ask Hagar and Ishmael to make occasional visits to the home; the break was permanent.
 - The Judaizers in Paul’s day—and in our own day—are trying to reconcile Sarah and Hagar, and Isaac and Ishmael; such reconciliation is contrary to the Word of God.
 - It is impossible to mix Law and grace, faith and works, God’s gift of righteousness and man’s attempts to earn righteousness.

Hagar was not married again. God never gave the Law to any other nation or people, including His church. For the Judaizers to impose the Law on the Galatian Christians was to oppose the very plan of God.
 - In Paul’s day, the nation of Israel was under bondage to the Law, while the church was enjoying liberty under the gracious rule of the “Jerusalem which is above” (Gal. 4:26).
 - The Judaizers wanted to “wed” Mt. Sinai and the heavenly Mt. Zion (Heb. 12:22), but to do this would be to deny what Jesus did on Mt. Calvary (Gal. 2:21). Hagar is not to be married again.

From the human point of view, it might seem cruel that God should command Abraham to send away his own son Ishmael, whom he loved very much.
 - But it was the only solution to the problem, for “the wild man” could never live with the child of promise. In a deeper sense, however, think of what it cost God when He gave His Son to bear the curse of the Law to set us free.
- Abraham’s broken heart meant Isaac’s liberty; God’s giving of His Son means our liberty in Christ.[6]

 - We must keep in mind that legalism does not mean the setting of spiritual standards; it means worshiping these standards and thinking that we are spiritual because we obey them.
 - It also means judging other believers on the basis of these standards.
 - A person can refrain from smoking, drinking, and attending theaters, for example, and still not be spiritual. The Pharisees had high standards; yet they crucified Jesus.[7]
- Legalism is one of the major problems among Christians today.
 
Galatians 4:31 - Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave but of the free woman.[8]

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 697). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ga 4:21). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ga 4:21–31). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 709). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] George, T. (1994). Galatians (Vol. 30, p. 338). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[6] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, pp. 709–711). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 712). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[8] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ga 4:31). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

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