The Slaves and the Free
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Galatian 4:17-31
V. 17-20 They make much of you, but for no good
purpose. They
want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.
18. It is
always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am
present with you,
19. my
little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ
is formed in you!
20. I
wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed
about you.
Paul has just told of his relationship with the
Galatians from the beginning of the time that he came to them. On his part, he
had not originally intended to visit their area, but his infirmity was God’s
means to obligate him to stop there. Their mutual relationship became deeply rooted
in the love of God that passes understanding.
It was not natural love, for it manifested itself in
things that would naturally be repulsive. They loved Paul, in spite of his
physical appearance and received him as a messenger of Christ. And what was his
message? It was the message of the cross, “a
stumbling block to the Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Co.1:23). This points
to something supernatural and unearthly. Above all, their relationship was
based on eternal truth.
Now he turns to the new relationship, which has begun
between the false Judaic teachers and the churches in Galatia. The will of God
is not being fulfilled and no good will come from it. They have been attracted
and deceived through the ways, which they had learned from the world, and these
are the ways of the flesh. They have turned away from the spiritual, heavenly
ways.
It is characteristic of false sects to concentrate on
believers, not on raw pagans. Paul reveals their methods. First of all, he
states, “They make much of you.” They cater to the pride of the flesh, making
the Galatians feel good about themselves. They use the scheme of
self-importance, flattering their students, in contrast to Paul’s way of always
speaking the truth.
Secondly, they try to isolate them, “they want to shut
you out”, and this is the principle of exclusivism. They want to cut their
disciples off from any other influence, so as to fully indoctrinate them in
their views and ways. As a result, and this is the third step in their
deception: It is to make their presence all-important in the believers’ lives,
“that you may make much of them”.
Today, this is always the method of cultism. They
degrade other churches and pretend that they are the only true Christians or,
at least, they are the best. Teaching from other sources, literature and
recordings, is discouraged, if not outright forbidden. They are bringing the
people into dependence upon them and, we have seen, this is Paul’s chief concern
from the beginning of the epistle; the Galatians are looking to men and not
God.
The Scripture says of Paul and Barnabas, concerning
their stay in Galatia, that “they
committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed” (Ac.14:23). The maximum time that Paul spent in
any place was three years. “I betrothed
you to one husband” (2 Co.11:2), he declared. He worked his way out of a
job, presented the believers to Christ and went his way.
Paul has already shown that there is a good purpose in
an important relationship with others. I have been thinking in the last two or
three days of words about Lazarus from John’s Gospel: “Lord, he whom you love is ill” and Jesus’ statement to his
disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep” (Jn.11:3,11). To make much of people or, in other
words, to have believing people in your life, who are important to you, is a
beautiful part of true Christianity.
There is an old adage that states, “Out of sight, out
of mind”, but referring to true relationships, there is another expression,
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” This is the heart feeling that Paul
wants to see in the Galatians, because this is what he has in his heart. The
love of God can only ‘grow fonder’, when Christians are separated.
It is a heart-felt love that brings on the next
statement, “My little children.” Paul loves them with the love of the Lord and
his love is now hurting. Someone noted, concerning Paul’s statement to the
Ephesians, “Do not grieve the Holy
Spirit of God”, that only love can cause grief. Anger may be aroused
between enemies, as well as friends, but grief is a manifestation of love.
Paul is grieved to the point of having the “anguish of
childbirth”. He is working in conjunction with the Holy Spirit and he is under
the same heart motivation. God is in anguish and Paul is in anguish. Warren
Wiersbe comments about something that my wife and I have certainly found to be
true, “We parents never seem to outgrow
our children. ‘When they’re little, they’re a handful; but when they’re grown,
they’re a heartful!’ I remember hearing my mother say, ‘When they’re little,
they step on your toes; but when they’re grown, they step on your heart.’”
The Galatians are falling back into the old ways of
legalism and are not manifesting the presence of Christ through their lives. Paul
wished he could be present with them, talk with them face-to-face, and answer
the questions that have formed in his heart. Now, having uncovered his
feelings, he returns to doctrinal teaching and this must always be taken from
Scripture. He goes back to Genesis.
V. 21-31 Tell
me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
22. For
it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free
woman.
23. But
the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free
woman was born through promise.
24. Now
this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is
from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.
25. Now
Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she 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, 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."
28. Now
you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
29. 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.
30. 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."
31. So, brothers, we are not children of
the slave but of the free woman.
We have another chapter in the life of the patriarch,
Abraham, and it concerns his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Isaac is Sarah’s
natural son, born in her old age. Ishmael is the son of Sarah’s slave, Hagar.
Again, Paul is going to contrast slavery with freedom and he goes to a story
from the Pentateuch, the five-fold book of Moses, called The Law, to teach concerning it. He will teach powerful truth from two
powerful sources.
These two spiritual forces take a tremendous hold upon
people’s lives. They are the forces of bondage and freedom, the flesh against
the spirit, the covenant of Mount Sinai versus that of the heavenly Jerusalem,
and the natural ways versus the promise of God. It was the promise of God,
which first came into Abraham and Sarah’s life. There is nothing to compare to
its power to bring to pass that which would seem impossible, to form the
future, and produce that, which stands for eternity.
How many times have we witnessed, through the
Scriptures, the power of promise at work? Most importantly, it relates to the
coming Messiah and His kingdom and it overcomes all opposition, both natural
and spiritual. Hear the angel speak to the virgin Mary, when she asks the
question, “How will this be?” He
answers, “Nothing will be impossible
with God” (Lk.1:34,37).
Against the promise of God pit the plans and abilities
of men. Although there is no comparison between the two, yet we have the
Galatians accepting the latter, at the expense of the first, showing the
tremendous power that men can give to that which is finite over that, which is
infinite. It happened to Sarah and Abraham, as well. God spoke the impossible;
Sarah at 90 years of age would conceive and bear a son. The couple devised a
plan, which could be fulfilled merely through human resources.
Early in the story, God delivered His promise to
Abraham. When he refuses the worldly offers of the king of Sodom, God brings
him into contact with the king of Salem, who blesses him with spiritual
blessings. God makes a heavenly covenant with Abraham, directly from the heavenly
Jerusalem, which is above and is free, Paul
teaches.
Heavenly Jerusalem is the source of all freedom and every
child, who is born from above, is free. Mount Sinai came into the picture
centuries later and produced children of bondage (With this example, Paul looks
into the book of Exodus). Paul is teaching that it is not the physical
Jerusalem that is our mother church, as the Judaizers claimed. It is the heart
of those who slavishly tied themselves to an earthly source and resort to carnal
thinking, who were making the Jerusalem church a symbol of bondage to the law.
They are living in the shadow of Mt. Sinai.
We are not dealing so much with places and people, as
we are with a certain mentality and spirit, which tend to emphasize outward
things. This is what it means to live according to the elementary principles of
this world. These people rejoice in the accomplishments of the flesh. On the
other hand, the naturally barren ones rejoice in the supernatural work of God.
Once again, Paul quotes the Old Testament, this time
from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 54. This passage defines the free-born, who are
engendered by her, who has no visible, outward, ‘worldly’ husband. She doesn’t
pertain to natural Jerusalem (see again 1:17-20), which emphasized outward
religion with physical signs. She is dependent upon a heavenly Husband to bring
forth an inexplicable birth, accompanied by wonderful freedom. Christians ought
to recognize one another in the spirit of heavenly Jerusalem and not by outward
signs.
As Isaiah, who speaks and writes to a remnant, not
only in his day, but throughout history, Paul particularly addresses his
comments towards the free-born in Galatia. His teaching applies to the sheep of
our time, as well. There are surely many spiritual slaves there, as there are
in our midst these days, but the Word of God holds no comfort for them. The
only word that applies to them is repent!
Paul’s true brothers are struggling under this invasion of the law into
their midst and must return from this Mt. Sinai desert into the Promised Land
of full gospel truth and principle.
What are to be done to the sons of the slave, who are
born into the system? These are the ones, who most easily adapt to the outward
programs of the church and can function well in them, probably being among the
most productive servants in the work. They are loyal and faithful to the
system, but they show no signs of true heavenly life.
Paul makes it clear, “The son of the slave woman shall
not inherit with the son of the free woman.” This brought tremendous pain to
Abraham, for he loved Ishmael. He spent 13 years with him, before Isaac was
ever born. He cried to the Lord, “Oh
that Ishmael might live before you!” (Ge.17:18) It could not be. Let him
inherit that which most interests him on a temporal, earthly basis, but his
unregenerate nature will not allow him to partake in the heavenly ambience of
the free.
The Bible makes it very clear that Isaac and Ishmael
cannot live together peaceably and it is useless to try to bring them into
unity. The only true New Testament unity is the “unity of the Spirit” (Eph.4:3) or “the unity of the faith” (Eph.4:13). To achieve anything outside of
the faith or the Spirit is to work with frustrating impossibilities. “There must be factions (or heresies -
Greek) among you in order that those who
are genuine among you may be recognized (1 Co.11:19).
Isaac and Ishmael will eventually distance themselves
from one another. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been
of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might
become plain they all are not of us” (1 Jn.2:19). This is true in any group
of believers in any place at any time. It happened among the Galatians; it will
happen among us.
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