'Ga 4:21-31

Back to Contents

Example of Hagar and Sarah (Ga 4:21-31)

Paul now attacks the Judaisers by using a form of argument that they themselves liked to use. He returns to the story of Abraham to show that law-keeping is slavery and it cannot be mixed with grace. (For the background to the illustration that follows read Genesis 15:1-6; 16:1-16; 17:15-22; 18:1-15; 21:1-21.)

Abraham had two sons, Ishmael, who was born as a result of human arrangements that lacked any exercise of faith, and Isaac, who was born in fulfilment of God’s promise. The mother of Ishmael was the slave woman Hagar; the mother of Isaac was Abraham’s true wife Sarah (Ga 4:21-23).

Hagar is likened to the covenant of law given by God to Israel at Mt Sinai; Sarah is likened to the covenant of grace given freely to all people from heaven. The spiritual descendants of the slave woman are the Jerusalem Judaisers of Paul’s day; the spiritual descendants of the free woman are those saved by God’s grace through faith (Ga 4:24-26).

The Jews, children of Abraham by natural descent, have largely failed to be God’s people; the Gentiles, who previously had neither life nor hope but who now largely make up the church, become Abraham’s spiritual children. Thus, in Paul’s illustration, the slave woman finishes with few offspring, but the free woman, who was formerly childless, now has a multitude of descendants (Ga 4:27).

Ishmael is likened to the Jews who are slaves under the bondage of the law; Isaac is likened to those saved by God’s grace and freed from the law. Just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so the Jews under the law now persecute those who are God’s people through his grace. Children of the law and children of grace cannot live together; the former must be thrown out. There is no place for law-keeping in God’s family (Ga 4:28-31).