Galatians 4:21-31

Please read the passage first.

Paul now offers his seventh and final argument, this time an allegory based upon the biblical woman, Hagar and Sarah. I invite you to read the story in Genesis 16, 21, and the genealogy of Ishmael in 25:12-19. Paul uses the allegory to suggest the difference between the two covenants. Interestingly, some ancient rhetoric thought of allegory as a weak argument. Yet, others thought that “darkly hinting expressions” can be quite effective. The power of the flow of his argument is that he ends by emphasizing the contrast between slavery and freedom. I invite you to reflect upon how shocking it must have been that those who valued Jewish tradition are actually children of Hagar and Ishmael, while Christians are actually children of Sarah and Isaac. Paul confronts the audience, again, with a metaphorical contrast. The contrast is between spiritual freedom and spiritual slavery (in this instance, in particular, the notion "son[s] of the slave girl" versus the "son[s] of the free woman"), but also the metaphorical contrast between flesh and promise. He further suggests the salvation history under which he understands the relationship between Law on the one hand and Christ on the other. As Paul sees it, the Law is not the timelessly valid form of the divine will. It is a positive historical entity.

Paul wonders if they have listened to the witness of Scripture. It is not enough to be descended from Abraham, for Ishmael is an example.  It is necessary to be a spiritual rather than physical descendant.  Isaac's birth pre-figured Christians.  Pau now endeavors to reinforce his argument by means of an allegorical interpretation of the Genesis story of Hagar and Sarah, with their respective sons Ishmael and Isaac. Paul calls his interpretation allegorical in verse 24.

In verse 26, for Paul, the Christian is now part of a spiritual city symbolized by Jerusalem. His reference suggests it was common in early Christian communities to make such reference. One can see this in Hebrews 12:22, 11:10, 16, Revelation 3:12, 21:2, 9ff.

In verse 29, Ishmael represents Jews while Isaac represents Christians. 

In verse 30, Law and Gospel cannot co-exist.  The Law must disappear.  Lightfoot was of the opinion that in Paul's day half of Christianity clung to the Law. Calvin and Luther unite in saying that Paul refers to both the ceremonial and moral law. Luther refers to the scholastics, who teach this distinction. However, later, so would John Wesley.

According to Betz, the argument goes something like this:

Hagar¢ Slave woman¢ Ishmael¢ Flesh    ¢ Jerusalem         ¢ Judaism

Sarah¢ Free woman  ¢ Isaac     ¢ Promise¢ New Jerusalem¢ Christianity

 Lightfoot breaks out the allegory in this way.

Hagar the bondwoman - Sarah, the free woman

Ishmael, the child of the flesh - Isaac the child of promise

Old Covenant - New Covenant

Earthly Jerusalem - Heavenly Jerusalem

Muhammad developed an elaborate argument to say that life was in Abraham because he lived before the law. Of course, they went a quite different direction, continuing with food prohibitions, stated times of prayer, facing toward Mecca, and ultimately, seeking to shape Islamic Law and culture throughout a people.

For Tolmie, in this passage Paul uses the authority of Scripture to present an allegorical exposition of the Hagar-Sarah stories dominated by a metaphorical contrast between two kinds of adoption as children, one characterized by slavery and the other by freedom. He does so in order to urge the Galatians not to yield to the opponents, but rather to remain "free." Furthermore, the metaphorical contrast is used to vilify the opponents as their "gospel" is categorized as religious "slavery."

Galatians 4:1-11

Please read the passage first. A warning is in order, for this reading has stimulated much theological discussion. I will do my best to make it clear. 

Paul makes his fifth argument for his gospel, in which he focuses upon another aspect of his vision of salvation history. The implications of his arguments are radical and dangerous to those who saw the future of the church intimately interwoven with the future of Judaism. He stresses that the coming of Christ means the “fullness of time” has come, and for that reason, the time of Law, which meant slavery, is giving way to faith in Christ, which means becoming children of God. Paul has compared the Law to a prison-warden and a slave-attendant. Now, he compared its role to that of the guardians and trustees appointed to take care of a minor and his property. Thus, Paul offers another illustration that comes from law courts.  Though the Jews are chosen as heirs, yet they are only slaves to the Law.  Any Christian who wants to submit to this slavery is back to a state of childhood.  Paul now expands upon the image of being children of God.  The heir is the state of the world before, the Gospel.  Jews and Gentiles are under tutors, all having a system of ordinances.  Is the father of the heir represented as dead or living?  Since the point is the circumstance of the child, it is likely the father is living.  Is the imagery from Roman or Jewish Law?  It is likely the Romans.

Of particular note is the reference in verse 3 to “elemental spirits.”   Paul develops the theme of Christian freedom from slavery to the Law and to the elemental spirits of the world. J. Louis Martyn offers an interpretation of stoicheia that suggests the term refers to the elemental substances from which everything in the natural world is composed. He argues that the rival missionaries in Galatia may have sought to convince the Galatians that their worship of pagan divinities was an ill-informed worship of the natural elements that ought to point them to a truer form of religion. Abraham, who moved through the contemplation of the heavenly bodies to discern the God who made and ordered them, would exemplify such religion. Their point would be that the Law provided the true understanding of the natural world and the heavenly bodies, and therefore, regulated the calendar of human religious observance in a manner that enabled correct celebration of holy feasts at the proper times. Of course, Paul disparages this in verse 10. In fact, uses a variety of ways to describe the human plight, and stoicheia of the world is one, others being sin and death that Adam brought into the world.

In verse 4, God sent Jesus when the time was right to serve as the agent of redemption and adoption. Theologically, this notion of the sending of the Son is the New Testament origin of the notion of the Trinity, and it has its counterpart in the sending of the Spirit that we find in the Gospel of John,.  "Fullness of time" is the messianic or eschatological era, which completes the long wait of centuries.  One might translate it more precisely as “when the time had reached its full term.” "Fullness" means much more than an end of a period of time. "Fullness" suggests that one period of time has ended so that another can begin. It can denote the legal transition from childhood to adulthood. Furthermore, as a slave fulfills the time of his or her service, he or she becomes free; a new status is taken on, a new era has begun. First, it was the fullness of time in relation to the giver.  The moment had arrived in God's plan.  Second, it was the fullness of time in reference to the recipient.  The human race had to reach a mature age.  Law had worked out its educational purpose and God now superseded it with the sending of the Son.  Negatively, it was the purpose of the Law to deepen the conviction of sin and thus to show the inability of all existing systems to bring people near to God.  Positively, it assumes a moral and spiritual expansion. Barth says that the entire notion of the fullness of time pictures time as an empty vessel, not yet filled, but waiting to be filled up at a particular time. “Fullness” suggests a vessel, plan, concept, or form being filled full. The Old Testament promises are without content apart from the coming of the reign of God in the man, Jesus, and therefore defective in themselves, yet, being related to this event, they are not for nothing. Time has a similar character. It has the defect and advantage of being a time hastening toward the time of Jesus and is then destined to move away from His time. The new age brought in by Jesus is not a refutation of the old age. The old age had fulfilled its time, its purpose. All time from the moment of creation was moving toward this new time of redemption and release. A new age has begun. No longer does the Law hold sway; it is the season of grace! Christ has inaugurated a new regime.

"Sent" includes concept of pre-existence.  The significance of this passage for Pannenberg is that Christology begins with the primitive Christian interpretation of the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ. Messiah implies the thought of divine sonship. It early had the sense that in the man Jesus the preexistent Son of God came to earth. Only God could be behind this event, namely, the sending of the Son into the world. the sending of the Son coincides with his birth from a woman. We are to think of Jeremiah, the servant of the Lord, and Paul as he describes himself in this letter. The point is that the Son has entered the sphere of earthly existence with its conditions and relations. This applies to all his earthly course that we find mention not only of his birth but also of the subjection of his earthly course to the Mosaic Law.

In verses 5-6, as God redeems and adopts the believer, he or she can call God, the Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, "Abba, Father." "Abba" is an Aramaic word best translated "Daddy." "Abba" probably originated among Jews in Palestine. It probably relates Jesus referring to God in this way, and possibly to the Lord’s Prayer. The point is the freedom such adopted children can have in prayer. It suggests the power of response to divine love in prayer issuing forth in freedom related to adopted children. Putting Aramaic and Greek forms together symbolized Jewish and Gentile unity. It is most likely that Jesus used this word in reference to God. The word became significant to later generations of those followed Jesus. Through the grace of Jesus Christ, believers are heirs of the riches of the Kingdom of God. These verses remind the believer of the basics of faith in which they stand and offer the good news that anyone who calls God "Abba" is part of the family. The abolition of the Law and rescue from bondage was a prior condition of the universal fellowship of God family.  Though Mosaic Law is uppermost in his mind, Paul extends it to all systems. 

The negative aspect of redemption is freedom from slavery.  The positive is adoption as children.  However, it is not just an inheritance, but new life, in which Paul associates the Trinity.  The presence of the Spirit is thus a witness to being children of God.  We should note that here, the gift of the Spirit is the result of adoption as children. H. B. Swete says that the mission of the Son is to give the rights of being in the family of God and the mission of the Spirit is to give the power of using them. H. Schlier (1971) said that God bestows on us not only the status of children through the sending of his Son, but also the character and knowledge of children through the sending of the Spirit. God bestows on us the character and knowledge of children because we are already in the status of children. For Pannenberg this passage shows that reconciliation occurs as humanity is taken up into fellowship with the Father of the Son, a taking up that occurs through the Spirit, who assures that this reconciliation is no longer coming solely from the outside. We ourselves enter into it. The goal of the sending of the Son is to be found in others. As Paul sees it, a special link exists between the death of Jesus by which believers are liberated from the dominion of sin, Law, and death. Therefore, the sending of the Son aims at the reconciliation to God of the world. The Spirit brings the mission of the Son to its completion. Where this freedom of the Spirit is, our reconciliation to God has reached its goal.

In verse 8, Pannenberg says Paul implicitly gave Christian theology the task of a natural theology in saying of the gods that the Galatians had worshiped prior to their conversion that in contrast to the God of the Christian message; they are by nature no gods. This statement implies that the God of Paul’s gospel is the only true God by nature. The formulation by Paul fits in with the philosophical question of natural theology as to the question as to what is by nature divine. For him, Christian thinking could not evade discussion of the philosophical criterion of the genuinely divine that we must regard as the origin of the world. The God of Christian proclamation would need to meet the philosophical criterion.

In verse 11, the Law is the beginning instruction.  The child must be taught by rote.  However, Paul is speaking of both Jew and Gentile here.

Galatians 3:23-29

Please read the passage first.

Paul now offers the second part of his fourth argument, making the point that we have liberation from the Law because faith replaces it. By their faith, Christians are already the seed or descendants of Abraham. The social barriers that Law establishes find their reconciliation by faith. Paul can appeal to their acceptance of baptism, and thus, he appeals to their Christian experience in community and as individuals. Baptism and faith belong together. In the missionary setting in particular, baptism is acceptance of the Christian message. It establishes participation in Christ and in the Christian community.

This text begins with verse 23, as Paul continues to describe what the true nature and function of the Law have been for humanity. Instead of being the gateway to justification before God, the Law was a watchful jailer, keeping people from any further transgressions (3:19). At times, the Law may have seemed more like a benevolent guardian, but it was still keeping men and women imprisoned. The Law served this necessary but inferior purpose until the "time of faith" arrived. “Faith” here could mean both the subjective opening to faith and the objective teaching of “the faith.”

In verse 24, Paul clarifies that "time" as "until Christ came." Paul describes the Law before Christ's coming as being "our pedagogue" (NRSV: "our disciplinarian"). In Roman and Greek families, the pedagogue was a slave whose entire job was to supervise carefully young children, in and out of the home. The pedagogue was not primarily a teacher but was an "enforcer," making sure strict rules of discipline and correct behavior were practiced.

The time of justification is now here, Paul declares in verse 25. The pedagogue is now relieved of its duties. The Law is no longer in charge. Actually, the transformation that occurs during this time is twofold. First, faith in Christ replaces the guardianship of the Law. Second, the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise now goes into effect. According to Paul's previous argument, the heir to the Abrahamic covenant/promise could only be Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:8). Now that this Christ has come, all the Galatians, all the Gentiles, become true "children of God" through their faith in Christ.

I think Pannenberg is particularly instructive on what is happening in verses 23-25. We have a historically conditioned argument in that the time of the Law ended with the coming of the message of eschatological salvation. The gospel could not have initiated a new epoch in salvation history if in content it had not been independent of the validity of the Law. The relationship to the Law is not constitutive for the concept of the gospel. If we miss this point, he says, we fail to see the distinctiveness of the New Testament gospel message of the saving presence of the divine rule. Pannenberg makes it clear that the coming of Christ is the end of the epoch of Mosaic Law. The Law is not the definitive form of the righteous will of God. The Law is a provisional entity related to a world that is perishing. All forms of Law, while provisional, have a role in the world before the arrival of the end. In fact, New Testament ethical reflection primarily focuses on unfolding the implications of the fellowship of believers with Christ, a point to which we will soon come in the course of this letter.

In verse 26, Christians are “in Christ.” In verse 27, their baptism is “into Christ.” Such phrases imply a state of fellowship or union together with Christ of all believers. Paul describes those who have experienced this baptism as being "clothed with Christ." The metaphor itself intends to suggest more than a mere exterior layer, but to "take on the character of" or "to become as" Christ himself. Such images bring into focus the intense connection between Christ and those who follow Him. For F. F. Bruce, putting on Christ is a way for Paul to write of the spiritual transformation that occurs as believes participate in Christ.

Paul's excitement over the power of this baptismal unity becomes evident in verse 28. In particular, of course, breaking down the wall between Jew and Gentile was precious to Paul. Yet, for the Jew, this cleavage was the most radical within the human race. One might also note that the cleavage between owner and slave was significant as well. Yet, from what we can tell, some early bishops were slaves. In terms of Christian communities, in a practical way, he did not want anything to disrupt the present fellowship of the community. Paul applied the principle to women as well, in Philippians 4:3 and I Corinthians 11:10. Luther says that one might extend the list indefinitely: There is neither preacher nor hearer, neither teacher nor scholar, neither master nor servant, and so on. For him, in the matter of salvation, rank, learning, righteousness, influence count for nothing. Dissolving these differences also suggests that in Christ there is no hierarchy - morally (Jew/Gentile), economically (free/slave) or socially (male/female). All distinctions are removed, religious caste, social rank, sex.  "One heart beats in all, one mind guides all, one life is lived by all."

Paul's argument concludes by returning to the theme of 3:7, 9, 14 and 16 - the identity of the true descendants of Abraham. The argument turns on the identity of the Christian fellowship with Christ. Physical descendants are no longer important, but those who believe in Christ and belong to him. There is no longer any doubt about who can lay claim to the promised Abrahamic inheritance - it is all those who "belong to Christ." The promise of righteousness that God granted to Abraham and his offspring is fulfilled. All those in Christ may lay claim to God's promised gift.

Galatians 3:19-22

Read the passage first.

This passage is the first part of Paul’s fourth argument against his opponents. Paul will again approach his view of salvation history, in that the Law served a temporary purpose in the plan of God for saving humanity. Although the Law has a purpose, Paul explains it in a way that clearly suggests its inferiority to the way of faith. Paul seems to anticipate a question his readers may have at this point. The last thing he would want is to suggest that one can cut oneself from the faith of Abraham, and the faith that many people in the history of Israel. Yet, one might why God gave the Law in the first place. Lightfoot says that the Law has a purpose, but it is inferior to the promise at four points: 1) It condemns rather than gives life; 2) it is temporary, 3) it did not come directly from God to humanity, 4) it is a contract whereas the promise is unconditional.

In verse 19, the sinfulness of humanity led to the enunciation of the Law. At least part of the positive purpose of the Law was to limit sin.

In verse 20, the giving of the Law in Exodus and Deuteronomy does not include angels, but it was part of Jewish tradition that angels were present. Interestingly, within some parts of the Jewish tradition, namely, apocalyptic, the Law itself will be done away by the coming of the Messiah. It would be quite natural for Paul, convinced as he was that Jesus was the promised Messiah, to also say that God has provided a way of salvation apart from the works of the Law.

Verse 21 stresses that if Law could give life, then justification would have come through it.

In verse 22, the Law brings the universal human plight of sin to awareness. We should stress that the Law brought captivity and imprisonment, for Paul will hold out to his readers the possibility of being set free.