The Book of Galatians Chapter 4
Commentary by Ron Beckham
Verse 1. “Now I
say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from
a slave, although he is the owner of everything.”
We are inheritors of EVERYTHING in Christ
Jesus. God is our Father through what Christ has done for us, and
in Him, we have the grace of God. If you look at us carefully from
a human perspective, we don’t LOOK like the inheritors of anything,
and that was Paul’s point. The Galatians had it all in Christ
Jesus. The slaves were now free, and yet, when some men came and
said, “You need more,” the Galatians believed the lies they were
told.
And that is so often the way it is with you and
me. In Christ we are free, and yet we live as though still in the
slavery of this world. You are given His love. You are being
gifted with His faith and are taken into the heavenlies in Christ
Jesus. Yes, we have reason for sorrow in this life, but why do we
often live as though we have nothing. You have EVERYTHING in Him.
Verse 2. “but he
under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.”
Isn’t it wonderful that God introduced the Law
into this world! In the United States, there is a growing trend
toward eliminating the ten commandments from the walls of public
buildings and from the hearts of the people. Watch Out! For the
nation that throws away God’s Law, will at some point, throw away
the leaders of human government. Lawlessness, like Godlessness, is
both dangerous and contagious.
Previously, we have been under the law of “Thou
Shalt Not Speed” in automobiles. We had “guardians and managers”
who enforced the concept of a “Maximum Speed Limit.” The law is not
now being enforced and people typically travel 75 in places where
“65” is the posted speed limit. The commandments of God are not
unlike those driving laws, for they prevent a lot of harm to
ourselves and other people.
The “date set by the father” was the time the
Roman or Greek father set as the age when the son would be eligible
to inherit his estate. The date set by the arrival of God the
Father, was the time of arrival of Jesus Christ into this world. He
FULFILLED the Law, and when we receive Him, we find ourselves acting
like truly free people (responding in love). The Law was a guardian
that kept us in check until Christ is in us. From that point, we
have less need of the Law, for He prompts us to act in His love.
Verse 3. “So also
we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental
things of the world.”
To be in Christ is to become like a child, in
the sense that we become child-LIKE, gradually re-entering the state
of innocence won for us on the cross of Christ. To not be In Christ
is also to be like a child, but in a different way. To REFUSE Him
is a child-ISH response, much like a human child will refuse
correction that is beneficial to them.
The child is governed by the senses of the
human body, including sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. They
use the brain to comprehend the realities their bodies encounter in
this world. Children need to be ruled by adults, because children,
left to their own devices, will actually damage themselves.
Receiving Christ is like growing up, because we
receive His Spirit, who gives a whole new approach to life,
especially in the area of love.
Verse 4. “But
when the fullness of he time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a
woman, born under the Law,”
In Isaiah 7:14, God,
through the prophet said, “The Lord Himself will give you a sign;
behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His
Name Immanuel” (God with us). For a woman to conceive and bear a
son is not unusual, and so this verse in Isaiah had a specific
reference. We know this is about Jesus Christ, because the
Scripture in Isaiah was quoted by Matthew, who identified Jesus as
the “Son” who was to be born (Matthew 1:23).
The “fullness of time” is
all about the advent of Jesus Christ. Up to that time, the world
waited for Him, though they did not know precisely who or what they
needed. (There is an unsatisfied ache in all people, that can only
be met in Him). Christ was SENT to you and me, born of a virgin
(Mary), just like Isaiah said, and it’s important that He was born
under the Law. He fulfilled the Law, in that he lived without sin
and died in innocence. And innocence like we don’t even begin to
comprehend.
Verse 5. “so that
He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive
the adoption as sons.”
I love my children and would do anything for
them, which is similar to the response of God toward you and me –
except His love is infinitely greater than anything we could
imagine. One of my sons is adopted, though it would never be seen
from our relationship. I love all of my children and they love me.
“Adoption” is an important concept for us to understand, and the
grace of God is seen by that term. None of us is naturally
“related” to God. He is holy and without sin. We, as a race of
beings, are sinners to the core.
All of us were created by Him, but to be a
“son” is infinitely more. Jesus Christ is the Promise of God, who
redeemed us from the Law, and His holiness is satisfied in what He
did for us. Jesus is the Inheritor of – everything! To receive the
Son (to be in Him) is to receive God’s inheritance. Jesus shares
everything with those who love Him. We are adopted into the family
of God, through the grace given us in Jesus Christ.
Verse 6.
“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son
into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!’”
“Abba”, of course, means “Daddy”, in the
language of the time. Slaves were forbidden to address the head of
the family by that title. But we are made children of the King in
Christ Jesus. Through Him, God is our “Daddy” and we can thus
address Him, because of what our Lord has done. Jesus said, “unless
you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the
kingdom of heaven.” You are that child, when you trust in Him.
And note this: The Holy Spirit of God is
guaranteed to all who simply breathe “yes” to Christ Jesus. Our
Lord promised, “ If I do not go away (to the
cross), the Helper (the Holy Spirit) will not come to you, but if I
go, I will send Him to you.” Did Jesus “go
away” (die) for you and me? Yes, He did. Did He promise the
Holy Spirit to those who believe? Yes, He did. When you take
Christ as Savior, you are God’s son, and the Holy Spirit is yours.
You never have to be afraid again, for you are His child and He is
with you – always!
Verse 7.
“Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then
an heir through
God.”
Inheritance was quite simple and was known by
just about everyone in that culture. To be a slave (which was most
of the people) meant that you couldn’t inherit anything, because
there wasn’t anything to inherit. The child’s parents had the USE
of certain personal items, but not the ownership, because it all
belonged to the masters. The slaves owned – nothing! The young
slave might or might not grow up around “nice” things, but none of
it could ever be his.
But every once in awhile, an especially
faithful slave would be adopted by the master of the house, and
become a son of that household. The adopted son, if he was the
eldest, would be named in the will and would inherit all that was
possessed by his adopted father. The estate would be his. Jesus
Christ died for us all. His will was specific – Simply trust in
Him, and you inherit – everything! In Christ, you are free and the
estate is yours.
Verse 8.
“However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to
those which by
nature are no gods.”
There are many religions in the world, and they
are often quite different from one another. Which one will you
choose? It’s not unlike a multiple choice question, but instead of
answers “A” through “E”, you’ve got over 20,000 possible answers to
the question, considering all the variations within the many
religions this world offers. One of the answers might be “All of
the above”, which is the one taught by the “Hindu” religions of
India. But to choose the wrong answer leads to slavery of the
soul. We need freedom – we need God!
Another answer might be “NONE of the above”,
and that would be the one selected by Paul the Apostle. Idolatrous
religion was rampant in the world of that time, and there were
hundreds of little idols to be found within a few city blocks -
almost all the homes contained them. The direct problem with
idolatry is that the little statues are man made and can do nothing
for you. Religions have a similar problem, in that they are created
by people. The way to Jesus Christ was wholly created by God the
Father, and it’s not something we DO that makes us right with God;
but instead we are saved by Someone we trust.
Verse 9. “But
now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,
how is it that you turn back again
to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to
be enslaved all over again?”
If you were a beggar on a street corner, and
someone, for some reason, crammed a million dollars into your tin
cup, what would you do? One thing is sure – you likely would not be
on that street corner tomorrow! There’s no need to sell pencils
from a tin cup when you’ve already got the money! And similarly,
there was no need for the Galatians to rely on legalism, for they
had received the free gift of Jesus Christ.
Faith in Christ is God’s gift to you and me.
We are like beggars in His sight, and yet we are given EVERYTHING in
the Son of God. When we receive the grace of God, we don’t to rely
on rules and regulations. The Galatians were returning to the
bondage of Law, and Paul was astonished because it would do nothing
for them! Jesus is the only way! The Law simply shows us our
need, but we are set free in the Lord.
Verse 10.
“You observe days and months and seasons and years.”
Paul covered this topic in Romans 14,
particularly in verses 5 and 6: “One person esteems one day above
another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully
convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to
the Lord, and he who does not observe the day to the Lord, he does
not observe it”. Paul would say, “If you like Christmas and Easter,
ENJOY them, and love the Lord in relation to such days.”
On the other hand, you may decide Christmas and
Easter have “pagan” origins and are therefore offensive to you.
Then don’t celebrate those days. The Galatians, however, had gone
heavily into the celebration of certain days for a DIFFERENT
reason. “Judaizers” had come to Galatia and convinced the people
that they had to celebrate certain “holy” occasions in order to be
right with God. In other words, they thought that if they didn’t
keep the Sabbath and Passover, they weren’t saved anymore! Nothing
could be further from the truth.
Verse 11. "I
fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain."
The people Paul ministered to, really
MATTERED to him. This was the man (Saul a.k.a. Paul) who had
persecuted God's people by killing them and consigning them to
prison (Acts 7:58, 8:3). Now, he tenderly "fed" them with the
gospel of our Lord. He had visited the Galatians on his second
missionary journey (Acts 16:6) and revisited the Galatian churches
on his third journey, as shown in Acts 18:23.
Paul, of course, had been remarkably changed
by the love of God in Christ Jesus, and he reflected that love into
the lives of those he served. Now, he was deeply concerned for
those he loved, because "Judaizers" had entered the Galatian
churches and told the new Christians something like, "You must be
good Jews in order to be right with God." Paul knew what they were
told was not true. He felt like a mother who had labored over her
children, and then helplessly watched them go in the wrong
direction.
Verse 12. "I
beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you
are. You have done me no wrong;"
We can compare this verse to 1 Corinthians
11:1 – "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." Paul's
statements have special power, because he once was a persecutor of
the things and people he now espoused. Christ had become Paul's
Savior, his Model, and his Love. He put his trust in Christ and
understood from personal experience that there is no other way to be
right with God. He had tried the Law as a way of life (see Romans
Chapter 7) and saw that no one can be saved by attempts to keep that
Law.
Paul understood the Galatians. They were
trying so hard to be "good" and it just wasn't working out for
them. He had made a similar attempt, and is essentially saying,
"Hey, guys, I understand; I was there myself!" As we see in the
next verses, Paul had been taken in by the Galatians and nursed back
to health. For his part, he had given them the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. There was no wrong done, for both gave of their
hearts to the other.
Verse 13.
"but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I
preached the gospel to you the first time;"
Based on the words of the Book of Acts, it
is believed that Paul's first visit to the Galatians was recorded in
Acts 16:6. Very little was written about that event, except this:
"They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been
forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia." But we
know from this verse that because of a "bodily illness", Paul
lingered in Galatia and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A
church (or group of churches) had been formed at that time.
There has been a teaching prevalent in some
churches since the 1960's, that the person who gets sick or doesn't
have enough money, lacks faith. To say such a thing about the
Apostle Paul would be foolish, because he obviously had enough faith
for the rest of us. And yet, the Holy Spirit allowed him to become
seriously ill, to the point that he stopped his journey and stayed
in Galatia. And the purpose of his illness was wonderful - out of
that illness, many Galatians came to the Lord.
Verse 14. "and
that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not
despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ
Jesus Himself."
Paul was ILL when he visited the Galatians
for the first time. In modern American jargon, we might say, "He
was a mess!" But they did not reject him because of his bad
appearance. Instead, they received him and embraced him as though
he was God's holy angel or Jesus Christ Himself. That is because
Paul saw EVERY circumstance as an opportunity to speak of his Lord,
and he did speak of the Lord Jesus to them.
The Galatians were people bound by religious
law, which has been true for many in history, and is true in the
world right now. They saw the FREEDOM Paul spoke about in Christ,
and though he was bound to a bodily illness, he was free inside in
his "heart" where it counts. Paul was "loathsome" (disgusting) in
appearance at that time, but what he said was so wonderful that they
took him in to their midst and RECEIVED this man of God.
Verse 15.
"Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you
witness, that if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and
given them to me."
What happens to people sometimes? Why are
we so easily led astray? I received Christ when I was 16-years old,
and was so astonished at the "touch" of the Holy Spirit in me and
the presence of Jesus in my life, that it was like I was
REVOLUTIONIZED. And yet so very soon, I turned my back on all that
was received, and stayed very far away from Him for the next
15-years. How could I have done that? I must have been insane.
Certainly I was in a state of denial, for the Lord had entered my
heart and life, and how could ANYONE receive so much and then turn
away from the simplicity and joy of trusting in Him?
That's what Paul was wondering about the
Galatians. There was something wrong with his eyes according to
this verse, and though he was awful in appearance, they would have
changed places with him in a moment. They would have given up their
eyes to him, because his word about Jesus was the greatest news they
had ever received! How could they be blessed so much and then
deliberately "lose" what they had been given?
Verse 16.
"Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth?
To those who are in Christ,
He (the Lord) is as real as any person we have ever met. When we
encounter a physical human being, we likely see them with our eyes,
hear them with our ears, and perceive them with our other senses.
It is similar for those who love our Lord. though our senses have
failed us, because they do not show us the whole of reality. In
Christ, the Holy Spirit has come into us, and we "see" and "hear" in
an additional way that we did not know before.
We know the Lord is real,
because the same Lord we encountered in Scripture, has "touched" us
in our hearts. The relationship is based on "faith" but this
"faith" is not what we might expect. This faith is "the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews
11:1). Faith itself is the gift of God, and it is like eyes that
"see" and ears that "hear" our Lord. Paul had given them the Holy
Spirit of God and faith had been imparted to them. Was Paul their
enemy because of the great truth he had given to them?
Verse 17.
"They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you
out, in order that you may seek them."
"They" are the "Judaizers"
who had come to the Galatians (and other churches) after Paul had
continued on his missionary journeys. Paul had given the Galatians
the grace of God, the FREEDOM we receive in Christ. We, like them,
are no longer bound by external rules of behavior ("don't do this;
don't do that") but instead we are free to worship God in spirit and
in truth. We do good; not because we hope to be saved by doing nice
things, but because we are grateful to the Christ who saved us by
the grace of God; and in Him, we love one another.
The Judaizers eagerly sought
the Galatians, not for any good reason, but because they wanted the
Galatians to turn their backs on the grace of God. It was their
wish, Paul observed, that people like the Galatians would follow
THEM instead of following God. This is horrible, but it really
happened, and is all too common in the world right now. A true walk
with the Lord is PERSONAL, initiated by God in the cross of Jesus
Christ, and it involves RELATIONSHIP that will fill you with joy
like you have never known before.
Verse 18.
"But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner,
and not only when I am present with you."
Paul had observed about the
Judaizers (verse 17) that "they eagerly seek you" (the Galatians)
but not in a good way. The word for "eagerly seek" can be
translated "zealous" and means "to be jealous of" or "seek and
desire eagerly." This is very much like courting someone you wish
to marry, and the Judaizers had "come on strong" to those of the
Galatian churches. There have been many like that in the church.
Those who are true to you, those who belong to the Lord, will point
you to Christ and not to themselves.
To be "zealous" about someone
can be a good thing, as Paul is mentioning in this verse. He
"eagerly sought them (was "zealous" about them) also, but not to
draw them to himself. His desire, as we shall see in the next
verses, is that CHRIST would be formed in them. He was like the
friend of the bride groom, never the groom, and his desire for all
the people of God, was for them to receive freedom in the Lord
through the agency of the Holy Spirit of God. For the Judaizers it
was about themselves. For Paul, it was all about the Lord.
Verse 19.
"My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed
in you;"
What should our attitude be
toward the one who does not seem to be in Christ? Paul ached for
them to receive the Lord, and saw many of the Galatians apparently
receive Christ in the past. But now he was not so sure. For
reasons he could not imagine, they seemed to be exchanging the
freedom of grace expressed through faith, for a form of legalism.
They had been set free from the weight of this world but had taken
up the keeping of the Law; a burden none of us can bear.
Our attitude toward others
should be not different than Paul's - he was like a mother who is
about to give birth to her child. Paul was in actual pain for the
Galatian people. His heart ached for them, that they might be set
free from sin and death, and delivered to LIFE in Christ Jesus. The
mother normally loves the child she is bearing with a love that is
like no other. If Paul could be thought of as a "mother" in this
context, it is like he has gone back into "labor" to bear them a
second time. His labor was to pray for them, that they should be
delivered to our Lord.
Verse 20.
"but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone,
for I am perplexed about you."
Paul was exchanging letters
with the Galatians. He had received at least one letter from or
about them, expressing concern about the "Judaizers" who had come to
their churches, insisting they must be under the Mosaic Law in order
to be right with God. They were shocked. Paul, in his brief times
with them, had told them of the grace and freedom through faith in
Jesus Christ. They did not understand what this was all about and
were tempted to follow these men who were misleading them.
Paul wished he could be with
them once more. He had so much to tell them, and he was saying,
"Quite frankly, I don't know what to make of you." He was perplexed
at what the Galatians were doing. This is a reasonable position for
a man like him, for he had lived under law. He had been a "Pharisee
of the Pharisees" and knew the bondage of the Law. Christ had set
him free, and he wanted that freedom for literally - everyone.
Especially, right now, for the Galatians.
Verse 21.
"Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the
Law?"
There have been many in the
visible church who try to keep some kind of law, and they often tend
to insist on those rules for others, as well. Doctrines are very
helpful, but we must remember they are tools to understanding, not
ends in themselves. Far too often we have let our doctrines become
laws by which we try to enslave other men. We need to become
willing to look at what we are doing. If we wish to dictate laws of
behavior and patterns of thought, we should LISTEN to our own words,
for we cannot live under law and neither can the people we are
speaking to.
We should also listen to the
Law itself, for it is designed to bring us to the Lord. Everything
that we need is summed up in the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus. GRACE is given to us in Him, through faith in our Lord.
There is no work we can do to be saved, this race has sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God. We are condemned from the
beginning and there is no hope - except in Him. If we receive
Jesus, we have it all, and we should receive one another in His
name.
Verse 22.
"For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman
and one by the free woman."
Abraham, the man of faith,
initially had two sons. Later on, after the death of his wife
Sarah, he married a woman named Keturah, and he had other children
(Genesis 25:1-2). But for Paul's (and the Holy Spirit's)
illustration, we are introduced to Abraham's first two sons:
Ishmael, born of Hagar, an Egyptian servant-girl, and Isaac, born
years later to Sarah, Abraham's first wife.
Hagar was a "bondwoman", an
Egyptian maidservant (actually a slave) of Abraham's wife Sarah
(Genesis 16:1 & forward). God had promised Abraham and Sarah a "son
of promise" but many years passed and nothing happened. Sarah (the
"free woman") became impatient and urged Abraham to have a child by
Hagar, which he did and Ishmael was born to Hagar (the
"bondwoman"). Years later, Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah,
just as God had promised.
Verse 23.
"But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and
the son by the free woman through the promise."
Must of what people do is
"according to the flesh". Abraham and Sarah were promised a son,
but they lost patience and made the human decision that Abraham
would produce a child through Sarah's slave girl, Hagar. Out of
that union, Ishmael, who was to be the progenitor of all the Arab
nations, was born. But God always keeps His word (in ways we might
not expect), and He tends to do things in HIS time, His way. Many,
many years later, when Abraham and Sarah no longer thought God's
promise was possible, Isaac, the son of the promise, was born to the
"free woman", Sarah. Just as Paul knew, when he observed that "the
gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29), God
will keep His promise in your life and mine.
Verse 24.
"This is allegorically speaking: for these women are two covenants,
one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be
slaves; she is Hagar."
Paul knew that no only are
Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac very real, historical human
beings, but they, like so many of the Old and New Testament people,
also represent parables (allegories) that help us to understand -
everything! Hagar is used to show that human efforts, no matter how
sensible or commendable they may seem to be, fall short of God's
grace, and can lead to a slavery of the soul.
This section of Scripture is
difficult for some to understand, for the Arabs came from Ishmael,
and the Jews are the progeny of Isaac. But Paul's argument is not
about Jews and Arabs at all - Ishmael, son of Hagar, represents the
slavery of religious legalism. The true promise is the grace of God
in Christ, and HE is the One who sets us free. These verses compare
the covenant of Law with the covenant of Grace. One enslaves and
the other sets us free.
Verse 25.
"Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the
present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children."
Mount Sinai was the place
where God met and spoke with Moses, and gave him the written Law.
That is why the Scripture applies the "slavery" of Ishmael and Hagar
to the Jews ("Jerusalem"). The Jews were attempting to become right
with God through an outward system of following the written Law.
Though they outwardly were of the lineage of the promise, descended
from Abraham through Isaac, yet they remained in "slavery", because
most of them rejected the grace of God.
This is so important to see.
No matter who or what we are, if we try to be "godly" men and women
through any method other than the grace of God in Christ, we will
utterly fail. Pastor Todd Ehrenberg (who likes acrostics), put it
this way:
-
"GRACE
= God's Riches At Christ's Expense"
--- and he continued,
-
"GRACE
= God Rejects All Carnal Efforts".
Those two acrostics perfectly
tell us the difference between following Law and receiving the grace
of God in Christ. We must learn to live this life His way.
Verse 26. “But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our
mother.”
All of the
physical places and persons of Scripture are not only literal in the
space and time history of this earth, but they are also analogies
(parables) that tell us of the workings of God. They instruct us
about humans and our attempts to find God. The word "Jerusalem"
speaks of more than a city, for it also reveals to us a people. We
visited that place and its people, not long ago. But the
"Jerusalem" we saw, though God loves that city and those in it (Luke
19:41), is not the only place with that name.
There is a
"New” Jerusalem, which is also both a place and a people (Revelation
21:1 & Forward), being prepared for those who love the Lord. This
"Jerusalem" has never been touched by sin. No person can even enter
the place, who "defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie"
(Revelation 21:27), but only those "who are written in the Lamb's
Book of Life" (those changed and made new by the blood of Jesus
Christ). This Jerusalem is a place of freedom, and it will be for
us like a mother to a nursing child.
Verse 27. “For it is written, ‘Rejoice, barren woman who
does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; for
more are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a
husband.’”
Isaiah Chapter
53, is a surprising and wonderful look at the cross of Jesus Christ,
written 700 years before Jesus was even born into this world. Like
Psalm 22, it was written at a time before crucifixion was known as a
form of execution. It tells us of the suffering the Lord would
endure, in His substitutionary death for you and me. Isaiah 54:11,
is perfectly within the context of Isaiah 53, and is here quoted by
Paul the Apostle. We of this earth, are like a "barren woman" who
is given something - wonderful!
In our
attempts to please God, we sometimes (perhaps often) fall into some
kind of legalism. The Galatians did precisely that, and they became
like a “barren woman who does not bear” a child, a reference to
Sarah, who was to become the mother of Isaac. We can become a
fruitful "tree" in the Lord, bearing much good “fruit” for God and
into the lives of other people, when we simply receive Jesus Christ
and trust in Him. You will produce love, joy, peace, faithfulness
and more (Galatians 5:22-23), through the grace of our Lord.
Verse 28. “And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of
promise.”
Would you have
chosen Isaac as the child of the promise? Abraham had two sons at
that time: Ishmael and Isaac. Later, he had other children by
Keturah, who he married after the death of Sarah, but it was the two
first sons that formed the imagery for God’s word to you and me.
Ishmael was a man’s man, much like his nephew to be, Esau, an
athletic, outdoor guy, that people would admire. Isaac liked Esau
and preferred him to his other son, Jacob, but he was actually
similar to Jacob in personality.
Isaac made
mistakes. He was flawed and ordinary in most of his ways. At one
point, he placed his beloved wife Rebecca into great jeopardy
(Genesis 26). When he was old and blind, he showed he did not
understand the will and grace of God, because he liked his older
son, Esau, and would have given him the blessing. And yet, Jacob
(Israel), who was also flawed, was chosen by God, as was Isaac,
because the promise (the blessing) of God is based on GRACE
(unmerited favor) and not on outward works.
Verse 29. “But as at that time he who was born according to
the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it
is now also.”
Paul is here recalling an incident where the
older brother, Ishmael, who was then a teenager, laughed at (made
fun of) Isaac, who was a toddler at the time (Genesis 21:9). The
occasion was a feast given when Isaac was weaned from the breast of
his mother, Sarah. The incident caused Abraham’s wife (Sarah) to
become very angry, and at her demand, Ishmael and his mother Hagar,
“were cast out” of their encampment and into the wilderness (Genesis
21:10)
The other day,
as this is written, the Prime Minister of Israel declared that his
nation is in a “state of war” with the Palestinians; a statement
that is true. This is a war that started millennia ago, in the
lives of Ishmael (who was to be the father of the Arab nations) and
Isaac, the father of Jacob), who was later called "Israel". We
think our “little” disagreements don’t mean much, but they grow, and
that which only seems of small effect in our lives, can be harmful
to many.
Verse 30. “But what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the
bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an
heir with the son of the free woman.’”
As we saw in
the preceding verses, Abraham’s wife, Sarah, became very angry at
the teenager, Ishmael, and his mother, Hagar, the Egyptian
handmaid. The incident is quoted in this verse, where it is
recorded that Sarah shouted at her husband, Abraham, “Cast out”
Ishmael and Hagar (Genesis 21:10). Abraham was a wealthy man, and
his son would inherit a great deal. Ishmael was the older son and
from a physical perspective, could have inherited the promise of
Abraham's estate.
It was not to
be Ishmael, but instead Isaac, who would be the inheritor of all he
had. The real question Paul is raising, behind the analogy of these
words, is: Who will inherit the kingdom of God? Will it be those
who attend religious meetings regularly and keep rules of outward
behavior? Or will it be those who simply TRUST in Jesus Christ, the
Gift of God? The answer is: through trust in Christ was are given
the grace of God, and we inherit EVERYTHING in Him.
Verse 31. So then, brethren, we are not children of a
bondwoman, but of the free woman.”
Paul has been discussing “inheritance” in
these verses, and he has posed the question, who will inherit the
kingdom of God? Who will be acceptable to Him? It’s a good
question, and the world offers us many conflicting answers. In
these verses, Paul has been using the analogy of the first two sons
of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac. Abraham was very rich, not only in
faith, but also in worldly goods – To whom would be leave his
considerable estate?
His riches are
long gone, dissipated into the world at large, but his example of
faith lives on. Abraham TRUSTED in God. Paul quoted Genesis 15:6,
in Galatians 3:6 – “Abraham BELIEVED God, and it was counted to him
as righteousness.” That righteousness is offered to you and me, in
the Son of God. To be children of the “free woman” is to trust in
Him. Your works may be commendable and that is good, but the issue
is: Who will inherit the Promise of God? The answer is: Those who
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ron Beckham, Pastor
Friday Study Ministries
www.fridaystudy.org
ron@fridaystudy.org
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