Galatians 4:21-31
Galatians • Sermon • Submitted
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Galatians 4:21–5:1 (CSB)
“21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, don’t you hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and the other by a free woman. 23 But the one by the slave was born as a result of the flesh, while the one by the free woman was born through promise. 24 These things are being taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery—this is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, Rejoice, childless woman, unable to give birth. Burst into song and shout, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate woman will be many, more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.,28 Now you too, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as then the child born as a result of the flesh persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit, so also now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never be a coheir with the son of the free woman.”, 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave but of the free woman. 1 For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
The passage today can be confusing. The remedy to the confusion is a solid understanding of the Old Testament, and to the usage of literary tools like allegory to make a point or an illustration.
Old Testament background:
Abraham, Sarah & Issac, & Hagar & Ishmael
God called Abraham to follow Him out of the land of Ur and to a land that He would show him. Abraham was married to Sarah, and she had a maid servant named Hagar. Abraham followed God and trusted Him completely. Abraham and Sarah did not have children, and when Abraham and Sarah were old God told them they would have a son, and He was going to bless all the nations of the earth through the one that was promised.
After some time Abraham and Sarah began to struggle to trust God’s promise that they were going to have a child. So, (Genesis 16) Sarah told Abraham to take her slave Hagar as a wife. Abraham did this and then Hagar became pregnant. Sarah became angry with this and mistreated Hagar until she ran away from her.
Later, (Genesis 21) God kept His promise and Sarah became pregnant. When her son, Isaac, was born, Ishmael (Hagar’s son) was overheard mocking the child. It was at this point that Sarah told Abraham that he need to drive out Hagar and her son. But, Abraham struggled with this thought because Ishmael was his son. So, God told Abraham to do as Sarah thought, and God also told Abraham that he would take care of Ishmael. God said in Genesis 21:13 “I will make a nation of the slave’s son because he is your offspring.”
Quick side note: Ishmael is not the father of Islam.
It is true that Arabia is mentioned here. But we cannot make a direct correlation to the founding of Islam as the religion of Ishmael. In fact, it would seem to be contradictory to the manner in which God comforts Abraham in Genesis 21. Especially since Paul is correlating Ishmael in this allegory with the Jews in Jerusalem and the Judaizers who have infiltrated the Galatian church.
Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away, and God fulfills His promise through Isaac.
Now, the point that Paul is making is figurative with Hagar and Sarah. But, he is driving home his previous points that justification is by faith and not by the works of the law.
In Paul’s figurative illustration:
Hagar and Ishmael represent the law, while Sarah and Isaac represent grace.
Ishmael’s birth was according to the flesh
Isaac’s birth was according to the promise of God.
Ishmael represents the Old Covenant
Isaac represents the New Covenant
Ishmael represents the Present Jerusalem
Paul is pointing out the Jews who have rejected Christ and still cling to the law as Jerusalem. They are still under the slavery and imprisonment of the law.
Isaac represents the Heavenly Jerusalem
Paul is referring to those who have trusted in Christ as citizens of a new Jerusalem, one that is where Christ is.
Jerusalem was the capital of the promised land. Paul points us heavenward toward the new Jerusalem that John writes about in Revelation that will come down to the new earth after the judgment of the world.
God’s blessing is not earned by keeping the law.
God’s blessing is not earned by keeping the law.
This is true throughout all of God’s Word.
Paul refers back to the promises and covenants of the Old Testament so that we can see that those who misunderstood Christ did so because they misunderstood God already.
Pursuing God’s blessing through the law is the same as preferring your own strength over the Lord’s strength.
God’s blessing is the result of trusting in His promise by faith in Jesus Christ.
God’s blessing is the result of trusting in His promise by faith in Jesus Christ.
This is true throughout all of God’s Word.
Paul has made it clear in the previous sections of Galatians that the blessing and inheritance of Christ is found through faith and not through works.
In the same way that God made Sarah’s barren womb able to bear a child, He takes your sinful and barren heart and produces life!
The same God who made and formed the world from nothing, is the same God who has promised to fill the earth with those who trust Him and belong to Him.
At the time that Paul wrote this the church was beginning, and Judaism was king. But, we see through the prophet Isaiah that the promise God fulfills in Christ will grow and overwhelm in number those who have sought a blessing through the law.
Galatians 4:25 says that those who pursue God’s blessing through the law, are like Ishmael and are like slaves.
Galatians 4:26 means that those who pursue God’s blessing through faith are like Isaac and are free.
A few closing thoughts:
Persecution is to be expected
Persecution is to be expected
Just like Ishmael ridiculed Isaac at his birth, the children of the promise will be persecuted by the children of the flesh.
False teaching must be expelled from the church
False teaching must be expelled from the church
Paul makes this point emphatically in verse 30. He writes, “Drive out the slave and her son…” There is only logical and practical way to understand this- those who are teaching a gospel other than the one Paul gave to them in the beginning must be rejected and removed. They aren’t members because they don’t believe the gospel. They need to hear the gospel not have a platform to share the gospel.
This has become too sensitive an issue in the modern church. We must guard the gospel at all costs.
But, remember our Theological triage categories. Heresy is when someone denies a 1st tier issue.
1st tier issues are those that are necessary for salvation. This is what Paul is addressing in teh Galatian church.
2nd and 3rd tier issues are not heresy, but differences in interpretation and application. Like we have mentioned before, it is difficult to work in unity with those you have 2nd tier disagreements with- but they aren’t heretics. (Things like baptism, ecclesiology, etc)
3rd tier issues are things we need to be able to disagree on and worship together and serve together without major concern.
True Gospel teaching must be elevated in the church
True Gospel teaching must be elevated in the church
This is another sensitive issue in the modern church. Without meaning too we have moved the primary role of the pastors which is praying and preaching out of view.
Hear me out- at first this might sound really different. But, we have reached a point in many churches where the ministry of the deacon is the primary expectation of the pastor. I am not trying to diminish the role of deacon at all, nor am I saying pastors aren’t called to ministry relationally to the congregation.
I am only saying that we must elevate the importance and role of the preaching of the gospel in the life of the church. Preaching is the staff of the shepherd.
Pastors must care for the flock in more ways than one… but without gospel the church will wander and become something altogether different.
Have you noticed that revival is never the result of visiting and writing letters. Revival is the result of prayer and the proclamation of God’s Word. This is true in the OT, the NT, and throughout all of history.
Rest in the perfect sacrifice of Christ for your sins, not your perfect keeping of the law.
Again, I am not advocating for a life of sin.
But, to rest in the work of Christ is to live according to the grace and Spirit of God. Resting in the work of Christ doesn’t mean you don’t do anything for the Lord. It means you don’t try and earn God’s favor through your work, you work for the Lord because you have received His favor.
Thoughts, Quotes, & Commentary
God blesses in Christ extends to all nations, including the nation God made from Ishmael.
God’s promise to bless everyone through Christ is really for everyone.
We know through Jesus’ own teaching that the blessing is received by faith. So, it’s accurate to say that all who trust God by faith in Christ are saved by the grace of God rather than the works of the law. All who trusted in the promise God that pointed toward Christ are saved and justified by faith Christ, and all who trust in the promise of God in Christ today are saved and justified by faith in Christ.
No one has ever been saved by keeping the law, because no one other than Jesus has ever perfectly kept the law.
The danger Paul saw in Galatia is with us today. The flesh loves and craves “religious excitement” and feels gratified when it can keep some religious law. While there is nothing wrong with church traditions that are tied to Scripture and magnify Christ, we must beware of inviting Hagar and Ishmael back into the family. There can be no mixture of law and grace. May God help us to hold fast to His simple grace
Warren W. Wiersbe, Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1992), 527.