NOTES for Gal 4:11-31
Why does Paul speak of a “son born according to the flesh”? It is not because he wishes to disparage God's covenant with the people of Israel. That covenant was by no means a theory; it was a real agreement between the living God and His people. Yet the New Covenant is a new promise, and now the Old Covenant has no force without the New. God has not taken back His words or His promises, but they can no longer be considered outside the context of the New Covenant. Moreover, only the New Covenant, only Christ's Church, gives us the possibility of direct contact with Him through the sacraments. God spoke to the righteous of the Old Testament from the cloud, but He can speak to us directly in our heart, which He enters through the sacraments.