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Galatians 4:1-31
“Now I say, That the
heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant
though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until
the time appointed of the father. Even
so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements
of the world: But when the fullness of the time was come, God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because
ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant,
but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Howbeit
then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by
nature are no gods. But
now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God,
how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto
ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times,
and years. I am afraid
of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Brethren,
I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not
injured me at all. Ye
know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel
unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh
ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of
God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake
of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked
out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am
I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude
you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always
in a good thing, and
not only when I am present with you. My
little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ
be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to
change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. Tell
me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For
it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid,
the other by a freewoman. But
he who was of the bondwoman was born after
the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by
promise. Which things
are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from
the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar [Hagar]. For
this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem
which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But
Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For
it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth
and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many
more children than she which hath an husband. Now
we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the
flesh persecuted him that
was born after the Spirit, even so it
is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for
the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the
freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children
of the bondwoman, but of the free.
We are heirs, sons, of God
Galatians 4:1-7, “Now I say, That an heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Another thing we get as believers, that we get through faith in Jesus that we could never get by the works of the law, our faith in Jesus Christ gives us the position of sons of God. In our Christian walk we start out as ‘babes in Christ’, but we grow and mature spiritually as time goes on. But get this, God gives us the position of a fully-mature son so that he can bestow us with abilities we wouldn’t normally have as ‘babes’. “Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father” (verses 1-2). The Greek word for “child”, nepios, is not the same as the word for child in Galatians 3:26, huios, which meant “son.” The word nepios means “little child”, a child without full power of speech. One of my nephews, almost two, is just learning to speak. He is a nepios in the Greek. In Roman homes the servant who had charge of the children of his master would have charge of them as newborns onward. He’d care for a child, dressing him, changing the child, the “little son”. The child wouldn’t wear clothes any different from the servant’s own children. He had to obey the servant just as the servant’s real children did. When was this “time appointed of the father”? It was determined by the father. It wasn’t set by national law, like it is today, it was decided by each father when the age of maturity was reached. It was the ceremony of the toga virilis, where the father would bestow this toga virilis upon his son to wear, giving him the rights of a full-grown son in the family. “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (verses 3-5). So the Israelites, later the Jews, before Christ came, Paul says were “in bondage under the elements of the world”, and by this he meant ‘under the law’. The children of Israel were under the rules and regulations of the Mosaic Law of God. So when Jesus came the “children” were offered the “adoption of sons” the togas virilis. The Greek word for Adoption, huiothesia, means “to place as a son.” What these verses are saying is that a new-born believer in Jesus, though a babe, is placed in the family of God as a full-grown son, able to understand divine truth (i.e. the Bible, the Word of God). 1 Corinthians 2:9-13, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save [but by] the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but [by] the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” These verses show us that the Word of God, the Bible cannot be properly understood or interpreted by those not called of God, those “in the world.” Until the Holy Spirit indwells a person, he or she just can’t understand or properly interpret Scripture. Isaiah 64:4, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for them that waiteth for him.” If you are a new-believer, the same Holy Spirit who dwells in an evangelist, the same Holy Spirit who dwelt in the apostle Paul, dwells in you. If you are a child of God, Jesus has brought you into the position of a full-grown son, into the adoption of a son, and this is done by the receiving of the Holy Spirit. “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (verses 6-7). Abba in the Hebrew means Daddy, and even in Israel today you’ll hear a little Israeli child calling out Abba, Abba! Daddy, Daddy! It is a very personal and loving term for Father. Jesus used it to refer to his Father in heaven. Romans 8:11-14, 16-17. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies [during the resurrection to immortality] by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh, for if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God…For the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” Often God becomes more real to us in times of distress or suffering, when he “comes through for us.” 2 Timothy 4:16-17, “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.”
Going back into Torah-observancy
Galatians 4:8-11, “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” These Galatians had come into what were now churches in Galatia through Paul’s evangelism, where he had gone through all the synagogues in Asia Minor along the trades routes in Southern Galatia where these “God-fearers” had been attending. These God-fearers, along with the Jews attending these synagogues would have been attending on the Sabbath and Holy Days in a Torah-observant manner, starting their Sabbaths and Holy Days at sundown the previous day, and ending them at sundown 24 hours later, all in the strictness of the letter of the Mosaic Law. When some of these Jews along with many of the God-fearers alike were drawn away from their synagogues by Paul’s powerful evangelism, they as recent Church history shows, kept observing the Jewish Sabbath and Holy Days as their chosen “days of worship”, but in a far more relaxed manner, not in the strictness of the letter of the Law. Paul in verse 10 is in no way condemning Sabbath and Holy Days as their chosen days of worship. Those were the only days of worship they were used to and familiar with, both as Jews and God-fearers called by God through Paul’s evangelism. Greater understanding of the people being drawn to Christ by Paul’s evangelism in Asia Minor, their religious customs and training, has now become available in recent historic research. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm. A careful study of Acts shows Paul didn’t stop observing Sabbath and Holy Days, he in fact often tried to return to Jerusalem to keep the various feasts commanded in Leviticus 23, but with the saints. He no longer kept those days, Sabbath or Holy Days, in the strict letter of the Law, which also had other elements of Pharisaic strictness to them. A major paradigm shift has occurred in the understanding of early Church history from the 50s AD to the 300s AD. But Gentile Christianity has been extremely slow on the uptake of this recently discovered knowledge and understanding. Paul’s criticism here in verse 10 was that they were going back into the strict Torah-observant manner of the Mosaic Law in observing these days, in the strictness of the letter, not as they had been observing them before.
A personal section, Paul’s affliction
Galatians 4:12-15, “Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.” It appears Paul had some sort of eye disease, and as eye diseases in the Middle East were, they were quite unattractive. Commonly those eye diseases in the Middle East caused excessive pus to run out of your eyes.
“Am I your enemy because I tell you the truth?”
Galatians 4:16-18, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.” 2 Corinthians 12:12-15, “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.” Apparently the same Judaizers had hit the Corinthian church, although from the following verses, I can’t be sure. But his question to the Galatians, simply stated, is ‘Am I your enemy now, because I’m telling you the truth about these Judaizers, who have befriended you under false colors, beguiling you?’
The Allegory of Hagar and Sarah---A Vital Contrast
Between Two Covenants
Galatians 4:19-31, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar [Hagar]. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.”
“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law,
do ye not hear the law?”
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you” (verses 19-20). “Little children” is the Greek word technia, and it means “born ones.” Paul is speaking tenderly now, whereas before he’d been using some pretty strong language. “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” (verse 21) Considering the actual cultural background of this mixture of “God-fearer” Gentile believers and strongly Hellenized Jewish believers which made up the Galatian churches, based on recent historical research (Stark, Skarsaune, Pritz etc), Paul might have meant this in the above verse: ‘Do you really want to be under the Ten Commandment Law of God legal system as it exists in Judea and Jerusalem right now, with all its penalties for disobedience? When Yahweh, the Lord God gave that law on Sinai, in Arabia, the very rocks were smoking and about to melt at his very presence. You people, God-fearers and Hellenized Jews that attended those synagogues here in Galatia, in Asia Minor, when you had the Law taught to you, the 10 Commandments, Holy Days, Sabbath, clean food laws, that was all very nice, that was the sanitized version, far from the actual administration of that Mosaic Law in Judea and Jerusalem, along with the civil penalty code that governs the nation of Judea at this very moment. You kept them in a Torah-observant manner, but what was taught and you observed so willingly wasn’t close to the Mosaic code that was and is currently being enforced on people in Judea. “Do you hear the law?” Do you really understand what you are asking for? Believers in Jesus, Yeshua, live in fear for their lives in Judea, due to all the codes and strict Pharisaic enforcement, lest they break one and get stoned by those bigots that rule the land, holding their people under bondage to what has turned into a fear-religion. The religious system isn’t even being run by God anymore, who would at least run it with true justice and mercy. It’s a fear-religion right now, in the hands of religious zealots and a corrupt money-hungry priesthood. And even that system, the Mosaic system, under God was pretty harsh. Let me make an analogy, an allegory for you between what God offers you in the New Covenant and what is offered in the Old Covenant.’ That’s what Paul is saying in verse 21.
Paul’s allegory about Hagar and Sarah
“For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar [Hagar]” (verses 22-24). Paul contrasts between the two sons of Abraham, one born to Hagar, one born to Sarah. One was the son of the bondwoman, Hagar, and one was the son of the freewoman, Sarah. The freewoman represents salvation through grace, which amazingly is described and called the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34 in the 600s BC. The other son of Abraham represents bondage under the whole Mosaic Law, the old covenant. Now culturally, at the time of Abraham, the culture Abraham was brought up in, that whole Middle Eastern region was governed under the Code of Hammurabi. And it stated in this Code that the son of a slave was a slave as well. And the son of a freewoman, of course, was free. “Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar [Hagar]” (verse 24). Paul isn’t saying the story of Abraham found in Genesis chapters 16 through 21 is an allegory, as some liberal preachers have misinterpreted, he is saying that the incident of the two women who bore Abraham two sons “contains an allegory”---a message one can apply to our lives today, and that the Galatians could certainly apply to their spiritual lives back in 57AD when Paul wrote this. What is the allegory? “For these”---the two sons of these two women---“are the two covenants; the one from mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage [slavery], which is Agar.” “For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children” (verse 25). This is saying the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea, at the time Paul wrote this, 57AD, here and now in Paul’s day, are in bondage, slavery to this Mosaic system under the current corrupt priesthood and Pharisaic leaders. “And answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.” Bondage to what? The old Mosaic system of Law, now administered by these corrupt leaders. Now Paul describes the other covenant. “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise” (verses 26-28). Now Paul shows who the son of the freewoman represents. The son of the freewoman, Sarah, represents us, born-again believers, believers under grace. Sarah, interestingly, represents the new Jerusalem, which is from above. “For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband” (verse 27). This verse is saying that more descendants end up coming from Sarah than ever came from Hagar. What Paul is saying is that through the new covenant, which is through grace and faith in Christ, more of humanity gets saved than God ever saved under the Old Covenant Mosaic Law and its sacrificial system. You can count the notable born-again believers on two hands that came from the Old Testament times under the Old Covenant. Hebrews 11 has a partial list. It isn’t very large.
Those of the bondwoman persecuted
him that was born of the freewoman
Galatians 4:29, “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.” Paul wrote this in 57AD (some say 53AD, but close enough). “The son of Hagar”, “mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is”, is “persecuting him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.” Now? When? Paul wrote this in 57AD, the high priesthood and religious leaders were misgoverning with this Mosaic system in Jerusalem, and they were seriously persecuting the believers in Jesus in Jerusalem and Judea. Paul is sincerely asking the Galatians, ‘Do you really want to go under that system of bondage again? You never really knew it up here in Galatia, but let me tell you something, I was part of that evil system of bondage, I was one of the leaders of that persecution.’ “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” (verse 21) I have to put these verses in historic context for a good reason. Many well-meaning grace oriented Gentile Christian churches and ministries have misinterpreted verse 29 this way: “The legalist hates the gospel of the free grace of God.” I have found in my 25 years in what many have, rightly so, described as a legalist church, a church that yes, did not have a good understanding of grace or the gospel of salvation---I have found that many if not most in this “legalist” church did and do have the Holy Spirit. And that, in spite of their poor understanding of grace, God has blessed them with his grace in spite of themselves. Yes, they are living under grace, and even though they don’t properly understand the doctrine of grace or what grace is, God has granted them grace. Because most don’t put this verse in proper historic context, the next verse is badly misinterpreted also, and wrongly applied to legalists, or Torah-observant groups, sadly. “Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman” (verse 30). What Paul is saying here, in 57AD, is ‘Cast out that system being governed by those Pharisaic religious thugs in Jerusalem (and the misguided Judaizer sympathizers with that system, those that trouble you), it shouldn’t be part of the Church.’ That would include those Judaizers that are so radical they would travel all the way up here from Jerusalem to try to rob you of your God-given grace and freedom in Christ. Most of the brethren in Jerusalem and Judea weren’t of this radical ‘Pharisaic Judaizer (supposed) believer crowd’, they just had to try to peacefully co-exist living in the midst of this corrupted Mosaic high-priest type theocratic government. The ‘radical Pharisaic Judaizers’ were a group of what I’d call quazi-believers who actually loved this corrupt Mosaic government in Jerusalem. God totally destroyed this corrupt government by 135AD by the Romans, and these Judaizers probably died with it. Applying these verses to present-day legalist churches is taking them out of their historic and proper context, and twisting them to suit the present day, and sometimes that is not the proper thing to do, especially when you look at the fruit. It creates an unnecessary and artificial hostility between the various parts of the body of Christ. It creates division when Jesus wants unity in and through the Spirit. We have to strive to get all believers to understand that---if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you---“So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free” (verse 31). Did Paul beat up the Torah-observant Messianic Jewish believers in Rome?---whom we would label as “legalists”? Read Romans 14:5-6, 22-23. Log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/romans/romans12-14_2.htm and read it. For one thing, the old Jerusalem on earth, those under that Mosaic system, were not believers, they didn’t have the Holy Spirit, they were merely ordinary citizens of Judea. Simply put, they were Jews, not Jewish-Christians, not Messianic Jewish believers, not Judeo-Christians, whatever you might want to call them. They were just Jews. So those that are of Hagar are in no way “legalists” or believers in any way, shape or form. Those that are of Isaac, from the freewoman, are believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Any Christian, Sabbatarian Christian or grace oriented Christian, all indwelt with the Holy Spirit, is not of the bondwoman. The bondwoman was uncalled, unconverted Jewish, and in Paul’s day, that would include all the Jews of his day, in and out of Judea and Jerusalem (except for those in the Church). Nothing’s changed, Orthodox and even Reform Jews, no matter where they live, are under a minor form of bondage to a Pharisaic form of Judaism that came from the 1st century in Paul’s day. It has survived as a vestige inside the synagogue system. Does that mean we’re to cast them out? Far from it, they’re not trying to get into our churches and influence us. The ‘Cast them out’ only applied to the Judaizers and religious Jews in Jerusalem who were probably trying to influence their Judaizer friends to infiltrate Paul’s congregations. Why? Acts 24:5, “For we have found this man [Paul] a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.” Paul through his evangelism was threatening the very synagogue system throughout the Roman Empire. Jerusalem was probably fighting back by influencing the ‘Judaizers’, is my suspicion. Another point to notice concerning verse 29. Legalists have never been in a position to really persecute ‘those of the Spirit’, Isaac. The analogy previously taught just does not fit this verse. When something doesn’t fit, something’s wrong.
Why is it important to realize
who the bondwoman and her son really represent?
Why is it important to realize that Galatians wasn’t written to condemn those in the body of Christ that don’t fully or properly understand grace, or even more important, those who observe the Sabbath, Old Testament Holy Days of Leviticus 23 or the food laws of Leviticus 11? Can I let you in on a little secret? Within the past 38 years (from 1970 to 2008 so far) God via the Holy Spirit has called an estimated 500,000 Jewish people to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Christ---and he has bestowed his Holy Spirit on them. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/messianicmovement.htm for proof. Most of these Messianic Jewish believers aren’t even Torah-observant! Sabbath, Holy Days or food law observance is not to be considered as placing those within this revival of the Jewish branch of the body of Christ in the category of “the Jerusalem which is below”, of the bondwoman! Do not misinterpret the book of Galatians like that. As a matter of fact, it would be very good if we stopped misapplying Galatians 4:30 to all Torah-observant Sabbatarian Churches of God. God preserved them down through the ages, from the 300s AD to now (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/revivals.htm.) And God must have had a good reason for that, even if it is not totally clear to us at present. If a believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling him or her, regardless of denominational affiliation, he or she is of the freewomen, of Isaac, of the new covenant. Don’t you dare call that person as being from the bondwoman. And as far as calling the Jews of the bondwoman, be careful. God loves them, and is calling a number of them to become inheritors with us as part of the freewoman, the new covenant. God will regraft the Jews back into the olive root in his own good time. Don’t boast yourself as being of the free woman, read Romans 11. Apply godly love and tact as to how you use this knowledge about the bondwoman representing the Jews.
Are the bondwoman and her son still
alive?
The whole Mosaic system of government and religious system was totally dead as of 135AD. The Pharisaic Jewish religion continued to survive only as a religion, and continued on through the Jewish synagogues scattered all over the Roman Empire, and has survived down through the ages to now in that way, through the synagogue system. It has a direct connection to the Pharisees in Jerusalem during the 100s AD. These Jews are those of the bondwoman, Hagar, by extrapolation. Legalist Christians, if indwelt by the Holy Spirit, are not of Hagar, the old covenant. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes them of Isaac, the new covenant. I think our compass for apologetics needs a major realignment. Oh, and the Arabs should never be called “sons of the bondwoman”, since you see Paul identifies practicing Jews as being from the bondwoman. You don’t even want to go down that road with the Arabs. Jesus has probably called as many or more Arabs to be believers as he has Jews today, and they’re all of Isaac and the new covenant now in Christ. Arab Christians and Israeli Messianic Jews both living in Israel know they’re all one in Christ now, brothers and spiritual sons of Isaac, the son of the freewoman. Recently, Israeli Messianic Jewish believers in Jesus have come under some pretty severe (and continuing) persecution from the Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, and this would be a modern-day re-enactment of Galatians 4:29. The sons of the bondwoman are waking up, but they aren’t the legalists we’ve been mistakenly aiming our canons at. These Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jews perfectly fit the historic context of what Paul wrote in Galatians 4:29. And these Ultra-Orthodox Jews hold considerable sway and influence in the modern-day Israeli government, able to bring unfavorable legal decisions against Israeli Messianic believers. This all fits the historic Hagar allegory of Paul. Time for a serious paradigm change, folks.
[copyright © UNITYINCHRIST.COM 2009]
To read an excellent article which makes the various covenants of God clear and easy to understand, log onto:
To read a balanced study on Law & Grace, see: https://unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/whatisgraceintro.htm
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