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Galatians 4.27-end
Milk
June 2nd 2019
So, after presenting us with the story out of the Law of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar and the two sons created in that situation, Paul says, beginning at verse 24, a cumbersome set of passages:
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
I find the King James too cumbersome to explain to tell you the truth as words like gendereth and answereth only complicate the matter.
So I went to the RSV which is a pretty good substitute for the King James in terms of straight across translational clarity and the passages there say:
Galatians 4:24 Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. (RSV)
25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. (RSV)
26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. (RSV)
Let’s work through these three passages with this translation. So Paul says at verse 24
Galatians 4:24 Now this is an allegory:
And from here he explains how he was using the story from the Law (the first five books of the Tanakh) allegorically and so he tells us, saying:
these women (Sarah and Hagar) are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.
Now, this is where interpretation gets a little dicey because Paul takes Hagar and assigns the Law given to the Jews on Sinai to her.
She was an Egyptian slave and to do this in his allegory makes the whole thing a little cumbersome because Sarah, of either of them, would be most naturally associated with the Law of Moses which was to come.
None the less, Paul takes the Egyptian slave Hagar, and the way she experienced life relative to the way Sarah and Isaac experienced life, and calls Hagar Sinai.
In doing this he makes his point – connection to the Law is equal to slavery, which is why he adds
these women (Sarah and Hagar) are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.
This is the whole point – to be of Sinai is to be of slavery – to be a child of Hagar, who is Sinai in this allegory – is to be a slave to the Law. Bondage. He continues and reiterates, saying:
25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
In this verse Paul clarifies his allegory a bit better and says:
Hagar corresponds to the Present – which was still standing in Paul’s day – the Present Jerusalem – the brick and mortar material Jerusalem and he adds a major line:
“For she is in slavery with her children.”
In other words, Paul is saying directly that the COI, who were his present-day Jerusalem, were in slavery – to what – to the Law of Moses which was given on Sinai to Moses and which the Gauls were attempting to insert into their Christian lives.
And at this point Paul makes a really important clarification – all the way back nearly 2000 years ago. Are you ready? He says:
26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
I don’t know how Christians today can miss the import of this passage. That since 70AD and the destruction of that city, Jerusalem below is over.
It was shaken to the dust – all the way to the dust to the point that nothing of its temple remained as a symbol of the former approach being completely wiped out, and the New Jerusalem, which is heaven-set and spiritual, is the place where all true Christians have their citizenship.
This fact is the problem with all religions that seek to establish themselves back here on terra firma – such actions are nothing more that trying to resurrect Jerusalem from the dust. But His true Kingdom is above, and while we are here it – because it is spiritual – abides in us, as Jesus plainly said:
The Kingdom of God is within you.
Physical Jerusalem was the place where God was worshipped, and hence it became synonymous with the word church.
The Greek word rendered “above” (anw) means, properly, “up above,” and therefore we are told here by Paul that His church is heavenly, celestial.
This fact is what caused Paul to write in Colossians 3:1-2
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Why can’t we take these words seriously, that if or since we have been raised (to new life) with Christ, we ought to be seeking things that are above (like the New Jerusalem where God and Christ dwell) and set out mind ON the things (the Kingdom, God, Christ) that are above (actually up above) ready . . .
AND NOT on things that are on earth?
NOT . . . on earth.
The writer of Hebrews 12:22 says:
“Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.”
And in describing this New Jerusalem John writes in Revelation 21:2:
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven.”
What does Paul wind up saying about the New Jerusalem which is above here in Galatians?
He says two things:
But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
First, Paul says that she is “free.”
I cannot emphasize this point enough as it is foundational, in my estimation, to the heart of God.
And in the face of this I boldly state that whatever impinges on freedom and liberty, especially the freedom and liberty granted all by and through Christ, is anathematic to God.
This is especially true of the law, religion, demands, condemnations and manipulations.
Jerusalem above is FREE. And it is the place where God and His Christ dwell.
See, the spirit of the gospel is that of freedom. It is freedom from sin, freedom from the bondage of rites and customs, and it promote universal freedom.
It is a city of consummate truth and as Jesus said, the truth will set people free.
Truth sets free then lies bind and imprison.
Light reveals then darkness obscures the truth.
Love opens and welcomes hate closes and maligns.
The Jerusalem which is above, which we are citizens of here in our hearts, is free – and therefore its citizens ought to be free and never put in any sort of bondage – any.
Speaking of God Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 3:6 “who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written law but in the Spirit; for the written law kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
And for this reason we do not become lawyers who are experts in the written codes and laws, but lovers who are free to forgive and accept all.
Paul confirms the spirit of Liberty and Freedom that abides in both the true Christian AND the New Jerusalem by saying in 2nd Corinthians 3:17
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
In addition to saying that it is free, Paul calls the Jerusalem above,
“the mother of us all.”
In the Book of Revelation, chapter 21, John writes the following:
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband;
Here Paul calls this “holy City,” this “New Jerusalem,” the “mother of us all.”
And if (or since) she is the mother, and a bride adorned for her husband (who we know is Jesus) then we have our heavenly parents of our faith with Jesus as the groom, the New Jerusalem the bride, and all of the inhabitants of that city their children – or the Children of God.
Okay, so that covers the three verses we hit on last week. Let’s read on as Paul continues to appeal to this allegory.
He has said that Jerusalem above is the mother of us all and at verse 27 he cites a passage from Isaiah that is tied to the idea of a mother, and offers up a difficult passage at first sight, saying:
27 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.
And then he continues and says to the believers at Gaul:
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 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.
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
Okay, back to verse 27.
27 For (in light of what I have said in my allegory) it is written (in Isaiah 54:1)
“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.
Okay – an admission – the use of this passage remains a mystery to me because I cannot really understand the meaning of the passage when Isaiah wrote it let alone get the meaning of Paul in citing it.
Some believe this chapter in Isaiah is speaking to the Gentiles; some, to the Jewish Church; and some to the earliest Christians and the conversion of the Jews to Christ.
The object of the apostle in introducing it here seems to be to prove that the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, would partake of the privileges connected with the heavenly Jerusalem.
We might say this because Paul has in the previous verse spoken of the “Jerusalem from above” as the common mother of all true Christians, whether by birth were Jews or by conversion Gentiles.
For Paul to use this to the Gauls is even more confusing to me.
The only parallel I can find in this passage to the previous verse is the passage DOES speak of a mother albeit a barren one and in this there seems to be a parallel between the mother of us all and the woman in the passage as Isaiah had spoken of Jerusalem as a female that had been long desolate and childless, now rejoicing by a large increase from the Gentile world.
Anyway, when Paul, citing Isaiah, writes:
For the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.”
The allusion seems to be that the Desolate (the Gentiles) has many more children that she that has a husband (meaning the COI who were betrothed to God.
At this point Paul returns to some clarity and says directly to the believers at Galatia:
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
We who are believers are the children of promise. In this allegory we resemble Isaac and are therefore free and of the freewoman, Sarah, having been adopted into the Children of Abraham.
And he adds
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh (Ishmael) persecuted him that was born after the Spirit (Isaac), even so it is now.
I don’t think Paul was referring to the Arabs persecuting the Jews here. The allegory is to believers being persecuted by the Judaisers and since the believers are described by and this is a better application in my estimation.
In other words, Paul was saying that as believers, or “children of the promise lead by the Spirit and citizens of the New Jerusalem,” they were being persecuted by the Judaisers whose Kingdom was material Jerusalem that was about to be destroyed. Verse 30
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? (In other words, what does the scripture say about the bondwoman and her son?)
He answers and says that it says, “Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.”
Of course, this was the language Sarah used on Abraham when she asked him to remove Hagar and Ishmael from their lives because the son of flesh was tormenting the son of promise.
Paul uses it here in his allegory and is essentially saying, in my estimation:
Just as Sarah had the slave bondwoman cast out from the presence of the freewoman and her son of promise, SO SHOULD EVERY CHRISTIAN CAST OUT, REMOVE, SEND OFF any semblance of bondage or appeal to bondage that is foisted upon them by written laws or the demands of Man!
Of course, there was not a literal radical call here from Paul for the believers at Galatia to remove Jews from their presence.
We are talking about spiritual bondage here not material distancing from people and things that we do not agree with.
He adds at verse 31:
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
By using, “so then,” he brings us back from the allegory (and his use of it) to the point of his message in the first place:
“So then brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.”
Point made.
And the celebrated allegory—one which has greatly perplexed many scholars and bible expositors over the years.
From it we cannot assume that the tale in Genesis had a basis in the Gospel to come forth hundreds of years later.
Again, Paul appealed to the contents of the story to create his allegory – and this is important because we cannot make the story fit the allegory in any other way.
At this point Paul takes all he has said about the Law and gives it application to the lives of the Gaulish believers.
Let’s read through chapter 5 and 6 together as a preface to our verse by verse analysis of the rest of this epistle.
And so now Paul says:
Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.
12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
Chapter 6
1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
11 Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
12 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Okay, so after going to some real allegorical extremes Paul now writes at verse 1 of chapter 5 to these Christians:
Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
How many commands?
Stand therefore in the liberty
Where Christ has made us free
And be not entangles again
With the yoke of bondage.
“Stand in the liberty.”
Stand “steko” (be stationary or unmoveable) in the liberty “eelootharia” (the freedom liberty emancipation from bondage).
Why? Why does Paul want these believers to be free so badly from the confines and bondage of the law?
It’s a funny question, really. I mean, we tend to give a pass to people who are in some minor bondage, don’t we? In fact, we sort of respect people who are devote to religious demands, right? We sort of hold them up as good when they allow the religion in their life to dictate to them what it means to be obedient?
Don’t we?
I mean isn’t it a good thing when someone will strive to do every thing their religion demands of them?
If this is the case why is Paul so adamantly resisting religious rites and praxis? We have to assume that he is speaking for what God wants, right, so to take it further, why is it important to God that people, his children, those who have believed on His Son, are free and stand free in the liberty?
I think the answer, in part, lies in the next line where he adds:
Stand therefore in the liberty
Where Christ has made us free
So, we are not talking about mere aberrant freedom here – about the ability to say and do anything anytime without any care. This is not the liberty wherein Christ has made us free, is it?
Contextually speaking Paul is telling the Saints at Gaul to stand therefore in the liberty where Christ has made them free, which would be a liberty to die to self, the liberty to forgive, to lend a hand, to help those in need, to suffer for Him and His cause.
The only way a person is able to experience such liberty is when governing rules and rites have been set aside, and each individual is allowed to forgive all people of all things, where they are emancipated from “musts” and provided with “cans,” where because he first loved us we are empowered to love others with as much heart as possible.
The only way possible such liberty can exist is if it has been abstracted out and away from demands for conformity.
This is what Christ gave us – the removal of the Laws, and therefore the removal of bondage, and therefore the liberty to actually authentically love.
“Stand in this liberty, Paul is telling them, that Christ has given you.”
And he adds:
“And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
But again we have to ask, why? Is it just because Jesus has given us liberty? In other words does God want us to stand in the liberty solely because that is what Christ sacrificed himself for? Couldn’t be – God had Christ give us such liberty, make a way for such freedom for a reason.
(beat)
I can’t help but believe that in liberty and freedom, in the total emancipation from all bondage, that human beings are then capable of approaching what it means to be God.
In other words He is consummately free – for he is love and true love can only exist in freedom.
We are created in His image and as such He seems to seek for all of us to be as free as He is in order to love as He loves.
This was the principle in the Garden of Eden – be free, choose this day whom you will serve, eat of every tree but if you love me, and want to relate with me openly and freely, don’t eat of that one tree.
The layout is really easy and simple. But the primary principle to it is that it IS a choice. And for there to be choice to love, there must be freedom to love.
The less freedom, the less choice. The more bondage, the less love.
And this appears to be the grand scheme of things as far as I can tell – God’s desire that those who he has created (in His image) having the ability to choose to love Him (and others) freely because in so doing, we fulfill the purpose of our existence in becoming like our creator . . . who is love.
So Paul has said to those who were seeking to implement elements of the law, which are antithetical to choice in their lives:
“Stand in this liberty, Paul is telling them, that Christ has given you.”
And he adds:
“And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
The elements that Paul has specifically mentioned for the Galatians to avoid are generally speaking, the Law, then days of the week, month and year, and now he is about to address circumcision.
And this was at a time when these things were a MAJOR part of the surrounding culture!
And so, to the application to our day – which by this time you must feel fully informed about.
Whenever we take the freedom and liberty afforded us by and through the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf, we do damage to something very very important to God that He established in and through His Son.
We do damage to our capacity to love. Understand this . . .let this grow in you because there is nothing more natural to the human make-up than to insert things – rites, rituals, clothing, foods, practices, obligations, participations – into the finished work of God’s only Son, whom he gave to save us, redeem us, justify us, sanctify us, and bring us fully into relationship with His Father.
Adding to His finished work with ANYTHING only mitigates the power of His offering, and reduces our capacity to freely love all people all the time because the additions will ultimately serve to make us:
Feel superior to others
Feel proud
Become judgmental
Condemnatory
Justified by our flesh
Sanctified by our goodness
And in the end, the very people Jesus came to save.
Let’s end here and go to questions and comments
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