Home -- English -- Galatians - 023 (The two sons of Abraham represent those who are born according to the flesh and are slaves of the law, and those born of the Spirit according to the promise of God)
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GALATIANS - I Have Been Crucified With Christ
Studies in the Letter of Paul to the Galatians
PART 3: THE LAW OF MOSES AND THE GOSPEL, THEIR INTENTION AND THEIR RESULTS (Galatians 3:1 – 4:31)
7. The two sons of Abraham represent those who are born according to the flesh and are slaves of the law, and those born of the Spirit according to the promise of God (Galatians 4:21-31)
GALATIANS 4:26-28
26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written: "Rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear! Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband." 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
The old covenant, with its shining orders, is not the only covenant in our world, and the law does not mean the gospel, for our gospel is Jesus’ call to us to the freedom of the children of God. Our home is in heaven and not on earth, and the constitution of this spiritual home is not an earthly one, but is related to the kingdom, which will rein, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul raised the eyes of the Galatians from the earthly Jerusalem to the heavenly Jerusalem, where God and his Son Jesus live together with multitudes of his children in the houses of their Father. From this spiritual center, the power of the Lord comes down. Thus, we were not born again of the law, but directly from God, our Father. The first churches used to refer to the heavenly Jerusalem as a loving mother (Heb 11: 10; 12: 22; 13: 14; Rev 21: 2; Phil 3: 20). Paul says to the Galatians: “Leave the earthly Jerusalem, for you will obtain nothing from it except bondage and death. Long for the heavenly Jerusalem, the spiritual center around God, and expect all grace from him.
The proud city of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus was torn down with its priestly leadership, while the community of Jesus was multiplied in the world, and it became a great people. Therefore, look not at your small meetings, but at the Lord, and expect from him all help and revival; for it is neither the strong parties, nor arrogant religions, nor boastful churches, but the small, despised, lowly communities, which continue steadfastly in prayer, believing in the promise of God to it, that have the same promise. So, believe in what you pray for. Your faith has saved you and all those whom you are concerned about.
GALATIANS 4:29-31
29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
Are you born of the Holy Spirit? Then do not be astonished if the children of the law mocked at you and persecuted you, for the spirit of bondage contradicts the spirit of grace. He who relies on the diligences of his body, and believes in the power of his mind, hates him who confesses his weakness and need of the guidance of the Lord, for man, in his nature, is disobedient to the Spirit of the Lord. Christ beatified those who were persecuted for his name, because their distress is a proof of the dwelling of the divine essence, that is the Holy Spirit, in them.
Paul referred to the end of the prosecutors of the Galatians, which is their expulsion from the expanses of grace. As Hagar could not continue in the tents of the free, because of her spite and her hatred to her son, so the angels of the Lord will drive away the lawyers who confined those who became free by grace. They will deprive them of the heavenly inheritance, and destroy them.
In the end of his deep penetration into the principles of the history of salvation, the apostle addresses the Galatians of another origin than that of Abraham, who believed in Jesus, and were delivered from sin and anger, calling them brothers, born of God in the new covenant, and worthy of the divine inheritance. In this closing statement, he warns them of falling away to holding the law, and encourages them to stand fast in the privilege of the gospel.
PRAYER: We magnify you O Lord Jesus, because you delivered us from the requirements of the law, from the last judgment, and from its consequences, and you caused us to be born again of the Spirit of your gospel, and made us, who were previously slaves of sin, inheritors of God. You gave us this grace as a gift, though we do not deserve it. We rejoice in your gift, and tell all men to leave their reliance on themselves and join you, enter into your expanses, and stand fast in the fullness of your mercy. Keep us from returning to self-sanctification, for you are the guarantor of our liberty, and have perfected us once by your death on the cross. Amen.
QUESTION:
- Why are we free, and what is the purpose of our spiritual freedom?