The Word Made Fresh
1Here’s my point: heirs are no better than slaves so long as they are minors, even though they own all the property. 2They are still under guardians and trustees until the day set by their father. 3So it is with us: as long as we were minors we were slaves to the basic principles of the world. 4But at the proper time God sent his Son, born to a woman and born under the law, 5so that those who were under the law would be redeemed and adopted as children. 6And that is why God sent the spirit of his Son into us, making us God’s children. 7So, we are no longer slaves. We are God’s children, and that means we are the heirs through God.
8In the old days, before you knew God, you were the slaves of others. 9But now that you know God and are known by God, why would you return to being slaves? How can you want that again? 10You celebrate special days and seasons and years – 11has my work on your behalf been wasted?
12I implore you to become like me as I became like you. You have done me no wrong. 13You are aware that I first told you about the gospel because of a physical illness. 14My illness tested you, but you didn’t reject me. You welcomed me as you might welcome an angel of God, or as Christ Jesus himself. 15So, what has happened to your goodwill? Honestly, I’m convinced that if you could have you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 16Am I your enemy now because I’m telling you the truth?
17Those others who enslaved you pretended to treat you well, but not for a good reason. They wanted you to feel like outsiders so that you would think highly of them. 18It is a good thing to be thought highly of as long as it’s for good reason, and not just because I am present with you. 19You are like my children, and I’m in the pains of giving birth until Christ has become part of you. 20I wish I could be there with you now and could change my tone because I am confused about you.
21So, those of you who want to be under the law, tell me why you refuse to obey the law? 22It is written, you know, that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave girl and one by a free woman. 23The slave girl’s child was born in the usual way; the free woman’s child was born as an answer to the promise. 24This is a parable, you see: the two women represent two promises: one of them is Hagar, of course, from Mt. Sinai, giving birth to children for slavery. 25Mt. Sinai, the one in Arabia, is like the present Jerusalem, and she is enslaved with her children. 26The other one is the real Jerusalem; she is free, and she is our mother. 27The scripture says of her:
“Rejoice, you who have borne no children.
Sing and shout, for you have not had to endure the birth pangs.
The children of the other woman are more numerous
than the one who is married.”
28Now we are children of the promise, the same as Isaac. 29Back then the child born in the usual way persecuted the child that was born in answer to the promise. The same thing is happening now. 30But the scripture says, “Send the slave girl and her child away. The child of the slave will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s child.”
31Do you see? We are not the children of the slave girl, but of the free woman!
Commentary
1-7: Paul likens the law to trustees assigned to govern the behavior of a minor child until the time comes for the passing of the inheritance. In Christ we have been redeemed from allegiance to the law and now have the status of children of God, inheritors of eternal life through faith in Christ.
8-11: Paul grieves that the Christians in Galatia have “fallen back” into slavery to the law. The requirement of circumcision has been mentioned before and will be again. Here Paul also mentions that they are keeping the observance of special days and seasons; apparently the teachers who have convinced them of the necessity of circumcision have also laid on them the burden of keeping the Jewish festivals.
12-20: His tone takes on a personal timbre as he recalls the time he spent with them. He refers to an infirmity, the nature of which we are never to learn, but he has mentioned suffering with a “thorn in the flesh” on another occasion (2 Corinthians 12:7). He urges them to “become like I am,” meaning to give up their new allegiance to the legalists who have turned them away from relying on faith. He recalls how tenderly they had treated him before and wonders what has become of their goodwill towards him.
21-31: Back to Genesis. Abraham had two sons; one by Sarah’s maidservant Hagar, the other by Sarah. Hagar’s child was Ishmael, Sarah’s was Isaac. The covenant promise was of course carried through Isaac, not Ishmael. In Biblical lore Ishmael was sent away from Abraham’s family and married an Egyptian woman (Genesis 21:20-21). In a curious twist, Paul now identifies Hagar and Ishmael with Jerusalem because she, having been a slave, represents slavery to the law, while Isaac represents the church because he is the child of the promise (born to a barren woman to whom God promised a child). Abraham was told by Sarah to drive Hagar out (Genesis 21:10), and God supported her in that demand (Genesis 21: 12). Paul is telling the Gentile Christians in Galatia that they are symbolically the spiritual children of Abraham/Isaac.
Takeaway
God takes the long view; things we do today can shape what happens a long time from now. We should always consider the long term of our words and actions before we speak and act.