Paul today quotes Isaiah the Prophet!

In illustrating the ultimate victory “Salvation by Grace” will enjoy over Law, over human works!

The Quote fits well into Paul’s overall argument against the “Judiazers” who have come from Jerusalem to Galatia to confuse the believers in that Roman Province.

It’s part of the Biblical Backbone to Paul’s “allegory,” his inspired “word picture,” concerning the true means of salvation.

“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.” Galatians 4:27

The Isaiah Passage is beautiful! Although Paul only utilizes verse 1, I have decided to share the whole paragraph. Read it! Get the “trajectory” of what the Prophet is saying. “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. Verse 1 of Isaiah 54. 

But there’s even more good news! This is certainly Grace, saving Grace! Verses 2-5 … “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy REDEEMER the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.” Isaiah 54:1-5

Now Paul is taking this dynamic Old Testament (Isaianic, just meaning pertaining to Isaiah)  “truth” and applying it to his Hagar/Sarah (Ishmael/Isaac) illustration.

Our Text is actually pitting one woman against another! Sarah’s child against Hagar’s! But in a “twist” of expected meaning, the Apostle has Sarah as being “desolate” and Hagar as being “the married wife!” And Sarah, in the end, has many (many) more children than does Hagar! Grace (Promise) enjoys proliferation, the manifold blessings of God, many “converts!” Law (works) … does not!

Sarah went 13 years “desolate,” grieving over Hagar’s son … when she (Sarah) all that time was “barren!” But then God stepped in (as He had promised) and miraculously (by faith, not by works) gave her a child. And through that child … Isaac … ultimately a whole nation, the Jews … and through those Jews … in time  came Jesus Christ God’s Son!  

FAITH is God’s means of bringing eternal life to the world!

FAITH in Jesus and His Finished Work on Calvary!

“Many more children!”

Literally as Israel (in the Millennium) prospers!

And spiritually (right now) as multitudes (lots and lots of Gentiles) are born again by belief in Sarah’s (and Abraham’s) greater Son, our dear Saviour!

Oh yes, GRACE IS REJOICING today, all over Heaven I suspect!

“Saying with a loud voice, WORTHY IS THE LAMB that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” Revelation 5:12

“Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the HEADSTONE (a definite picture of JESUS, the Cornerstone and Headstone) thereof WITH SHOUTINGS, CRYING GRACE, GRACE UNTO IT (unto HIM).” Zechariah 4:7, singing GRACE, GRACE to our Saviour some day!

And Romans 5:21 reminds us that, this very second, GRACE reigns throughout God’s creation! Through Jesus and His Shed Blood! “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might GRACE REIGN THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

 

Let’s follow Paul’s logic a while.

He is (successfully) trying to illustrate how we Christians enjoy real “liberty” (not “license” to sin, but “freedom” to live a godly life, via the sweet Holy Spirit’s Guidance, Power) in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Paragraph in focus is Galatians 4:22-26. The whole “thought” continues through verse 31, but we’ve not reached that point yet in our studies.

“22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 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.”

Today verse 26 is in our purview, our “range of thought.” Literally, our “sight” or “scope.” Precisely, in the King James Version: “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”

Ishmael, born of slavery.

Isaac, born of freedom.

Ishmael and Hagar are symbols of some “legalistic” means of salvation! Like the “bondage” placed on the Jews at Sinai, the Mosaic Law! Or the current religious state in Jerusalem (in Paul’s day), even though Jesus had been born, crucified, buried, and raised from the grave! Jerusalem, its people, the vast majority of them … still wanted to earn their salvation via the Law! Still wanted to emphasize (overemphasize) Moses, to the (near) exclusion of Jesus!

Wow!

But Isaac (and Sarah his mother), are symbols of those who have been born again by faith in Jesus … here pictured as another Jerusalem! The one which is “above!” A heavenly City!

One that is “free!” 

Free in Jesus!

Free to live a life that pleases God! 

I suspect a man claiming his liberty in Jesus, and full of the Holy Spirit … will live a far more godly life than anyone ever did under the “requirements” of the 613 laws in that vast Mosaic Code!

Then Paul “spiritualizes” a bit, he really does! “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”

He makes this “Heavenly City” the “mother” of us all!

By faith, not by works!

We have been born (again) into freedom!

Saved people are not slaves to a list of “dos” and “don’ts!”

We are under the “Law of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 8:2), Who has led us to Jesus Christ the great Liberator!

The Emancipator!

The Preacher of Grace, of Belief, of Salvation as a Gift of God!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Now, it will take tomorrow’s verse (Thursday’s too) to complete our thought. Paul is laying a careful groundwork for the Grace of God to be enjoyed, as Jesus meant it to be.

Not legalism!

Not libertinism!

But Biblical literalism!

Meaning: salvation by believing, by trusting in Jesus and His Shed Blood … then living a godly life as motivated by the Spirit of Jesus, living deep within our hearts!

Again, who needs the Law of Moses?

When he or she already has “the Law of the (Holy) Spirit of Life” abiding within his chest!

Yes, if a choice must be made, Jesus is better than Moses! 

 

We have come to Galatians 4:25, one more link in Paul’s allegorical chain of thought, in his vital doctrine of Salvation by Grace!

“For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.” 

The Apostle has carefully taught us the background of two sons of Abraham. Or maybe I should say Abram’s first two wives! (Technically Hagar, spelled “Agar” here, is a slave wife, in our Text a handmaid, but still the mother of one of the man’s children!)

So Paul is now using her, Hagar, as a symbol, as a picture, as a “type” the Bible teachers sometimes say … of someone in bondage! And naturally her child as a servant/slave too!

Accordingly, she is here in Galatians 4:25 being called the equivalent of “Mount Sinai,” the place the Law of Moses was penned (given by God) hundreds of years earlier. The place those 613 injunctions were pressed upon Israel. As a way of pleasing God! As the way of achieving God’s Blessings! Including land, and health, and prosperity!

Sidebar: How did Paul learn some of these dangers of trusting “Arabia” instead of “Jesus” for salvation? Personally, I suspect from the Holy Spirit Himself … as the Apostle invested those “silent” years in Arabia … shortly after his conversion! See Galatians 1:17 … “Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; BUT I WENT INTO ARABIA, and returned again unto Damascus.”

Our Text for today, again: “For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.” 

The verb “answereth” is unique. It’s a “hapax legomenon,” occurring only one time in all the Bible. But Paul needed it here! It is spelled “sustoicheo,” and is a blend. Its prefix is really “sun,” a preposition meaning “with” or “alongside,” suggesting “union.” And its root verb is “stoicheo” (which does occur elsewhere (but only 5 times, 4 in Paul and once in Acts, used by Luke) meaning “to line up in a row.” In our King James Bible it is once translated “to walk orderly.”

In other words, “Hagar” is parallel (in the same line as) “Jerusalem.” Not the literal city as in its “streets and houses and infrastructure”) … but in its (“current” to Paul and his coworkers) theological teaching. In its insistence that the coming and death and resurrection of Jesus had absolutely NO bearing on the plan of salvation, as if Jesus had never been Virgin Born!

Embedded in the name “Jerusalem” is the Hebrew word “shalom,” essentially meaning “peace, welfare.” But the City has seldom experienced any of that illusive little quality! And as Paul wrote she was in the clutches of strict a deadly “Moses-helps-save-as-much-as-Jesus” heresy!

“Agar” used to be, but of course she died.

“Jerusalem” still is, and is carrying forward Agar’s “slave/handmaid” status, not to Abraham this time but instead to Moses!

That’s what Paul means by using the word “bondage” in our Verse. “For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in BONDAGE with her children.” 

Really a verb, “is in bondage” translates “douleuo,” merely “to be a slave.” Present tense, active voice … still happening, and by choice!

Wow!

What analogy!

So … do these Gentile converts to Jesus, these Galatians, REALLY want to go back into a form of slavery, after having been set free by Christ our Lord? 

To go back into a life foreign to the working of the Freedom-Giving (yet godly-living) Holy Spirit, the Godhead?

And as they say … THAT IS THE QUESTION!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

Yes … Jesus only saves!

Today’s Text verse is Galatians 4:24. Where Paul writes: “Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.”

Paul is here teaching … with a specific goal in mind. Trying to “save” his Galtian converts from drifting back into a form of slavery! From neglecting their precious “liberty” in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son!

So he is relating the story of Abraham’s two sons, his first two sons precisely. One who was born of a salve girl, a handmaid. The other being born of a full-fledged Wife, “Sarah.”

That’s where today’s verse “fits” into the overall scheme. “Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.”

But first, what is an “allegory?”

The English word “allegory” is defined as: “a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, often a moral or religious one.” Another dictionary shortens it some, to merely  a (verbal) “symbol!”

Better maybe yet, the Greek word here is “allegoreo.” It is a blend of “allos” (a pronoun) which simply means “another,” or “the other” of two or more choices. Then “agoreo” (a verb) meaning “to gather together,” or even “to assemble.” (This is the only time in all the Bible this word appears, a true “hapax legomenon.”)

Hence, an “allegory” takes one set of facts (Abraham’s two boys) and compares them to a corresponding set of facts, for teaching/illustrative purposes.

And what is an “Agar?”

Just the Old Testament name “Hagar,” but brought directly from Greek into English, not translated … but transliterated! (In Greek technically there is not “h” letter, not in their whole alphabet! So the King James translators obeyed this grammatical constriction precisely.)

Yes, Hagar was a woman in “bondage,” in the employ of Abraham and Sarah as a “servant.” (The first time the noun “handmaid” is used in Scripture is Genesis 16:1, identifying Hagar! “Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an HANDMAID, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.” The noun is “shipchah,” a slave girl!)

Things are becoming clearer.

The Galatians, who have been born again by the liberating Grace of God … can now live like free-born sons (Isaac’s kind) … or they can spurn their freedom and go back into a form of slavery (Ishmael’s kind, the son of Hagar) and live an inferior life!

Wow!

“Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.”

Boys compared to covenants!

The verb “gendereth,” just like it one might suspect, means “to give birth” to something.

Paul does not “hate” the Law of Moses. He is just violently opposed to it as a means of salvation! Something better (Someone Better) has now been provided by God the Father!

As is stated in 1 John 4:14. “And we have seen and do testify THAT THE FATHER SENT THE SON TO BE THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.” 

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Look at this, too! “For the Law MADE NOTHING PERFECT, but the bringing in of A BETTER HOPE did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.” Hebrews 7:19, and obviously Jesus is that BETTER HOPE!

 

In Luke 15 Jesus told the beautiful short Story of a man with two sons, and the our Lord drew a wealth of practical truth from that account. But even longer ago (back in the Book of Genesis) a man named Abraham also had two sons. And the Apostle Paul (in our Text today) is going to begin drawing vital Biblical truth leaned from these two boys, their lives, their births even!

Galatians 4:23 reminds us: “But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.”

The child of the slave (bondwoman) was Ishmael. 

The baby born to the freewoman (the mistress, the matriarch, wife of the household) was Isaac.

Ishmael’s mother was Hagar.

Isaac’s … Sarah.

But Paul wants us to know more than these bare facts.

“But he who was of the bondwoman was born AFTER THE FLESH; but he of the freewoman was BY PROMISE.”

These two facets of the boys’ origins must be important!

They must be established … in order for Paul to continue with his application.

I’d say Ishmael (the name means “God will hear”) was certainly born via fleshly means. Abraham had sexual relations with a slave they owned. And through her was this child given! Sarah was not involved, except she at first agreed to the plan. In fact, she originated it! (“Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.” Genesis 16:1-2)

And THIS TIME … Abraham listened!

But not always did he put Sarah’s best interest first! (“And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. SAY, I PRAY THEE, THOU ART MY SISTER: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.” Genesis 12:10-13)

Yes, this is the flesh!

But Isaac’s birth was different!

Solely by promise!

Miraculously so!

Here’s the Genesis Record … “And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.” Genesis 21:1-5

Abraham, a new Dad, at age 100! (Sarah was 90, folks!)

Again I say, this is promise!

Well before the birth, God said: “And God said, Sarah thy wife (Sarah) shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.” Genesis 17:19, named even before he was conceived!

I think the point is well established … our Text today … “But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.”

Now Paul can go forward building his illustration, his argument, his sermon!

Which we shall notice further tomorrow morning, the Lord willing.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

In reality, from the time God first told Abraham about his “seed” (his “child”) being “of promise” (when Abraham first left Ur of the Chaldees) a period of 25 years had lapsed! Yes, Abraham was 75 years of age when he left his home, solely to follow God Almighty. And he (as we have seen) was 100 when Isaac was born!

That’s trusting God and His PROMISE!