After Paul’s exasperated statement about being perplexed, he again returns to questioning these Gentile believers who are wanting to convert to Judaism. He wants to know why, from a theological standpoint, they would seek to submit themselves to living under the law as Jews. He also makes his case on their own turf, claiming the very Law they seek to live under speaks against their current reasoning.
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.
Paul then launches into discourse built on an allegory. It is a parable of sorts, using pictures and images to make his point. Paul tells us clearly that this is what he is doing:
Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written,
“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”
Paul takes the story from Genesis about Abraham and his two wives (Hagar and Sarai) and uses it as the template for his allegorical parable. He explains that each woman had children: One woman bore children who were born into slavery, and the other woman had children who were free because they were born of the promise of God. He connects Hagar to the Sinai covenant and the present city of Jerusalem (I believe it’s obvious that Paul is referring to the ‘circumcision party’ from the Jerusalem church). However, Sarah represents a greater truth, a greater narrative — it’s the narrative of promise and is the “Jerusalem from above.”
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Paul then says that these Gentile believers (notice how he now calls them “brothers,” having made the case that through faith they are members of God’s household) are allegorically children of Isaac, because they were born spiritually of the promise of God. But in the story, God told Abraham that he was to let Hagar go, for he had to build his story upon his promises.
Let’s sit and appreciate what Paul just did from a rabbinical standpoint, because it was brilliant.
All throughout the letter, Paul has been building a case that the Gentiles do not need to live under the miqsat ma’asay haTorah because they are justified by faith. His main passage for arguing the case has been the story of Abraham, and primarily Genesis 15–17. Paul then decides to use an allegorical picture to bolster his case. Instead of simply creating a picture to suit his needs for a teaching, Paul draws a picture from an actual biblical story! That would be stunning in and of itself, but the story Paul chooses isn’t just any story — it actually makes the theological point he’s arguing for AND it is pulled from the very passage that has been under examination.
Incredible.
Nevertheless, Paul’s point makes sense and we could move to draw our conclusions, but I find that when we teach Paul’s argument using visuals to describe the context of Paul’s argument, it can really help many people get a grasp of the book of Galatians and how Jew and Gentile fit together with the Law. I’d like to use some diagrams to portray Paul’s argument about covenants and God’s narrative.
Before we wrap up Galatians, let’s take a look at some pictures.
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