NOTES for Gal 4:11-31
11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. |
12 Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. |
13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. |
14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. |
15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. |
16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? |
17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. |
18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. |
19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, |
20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. |
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? |
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. |
27 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. |
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. |
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. |
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? 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. |
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As can be seen, the main problem of the Galatian Christians was that, in Paul's own words, they wanted to be "under the authority of the Torah" ("under the law," v. 21). Such a desire could well have arisen in them after Paul, whom, according to his own testimony, they had received "as a messenger of God" (vv. 12-14), had left them. The freedom of the Kingdom to which the apostle had evidently testified to them could have seemed excessive to the Galatians, as sometimes happens with new converts who are looking for a "firm hand." And then Paul's place was quite naturally taken by those whom the apostle calls "unclean zealots" (vv. 17-18). In that case, the already mentioned lust for power of these new "pastors," their claims to exclusivity, and the fact that, despite all this, the Galatian church treated them with respect and even, it seems, with a certain fear, become completely understandable and explainable.
Meanwhile Paul offers them a parable based on material from the book of Genesis. He reminds them of the well-known story of the birth of Ishmael, who was born before Isaac, although he was not Abraham's son by Sarah, the son about whom God had spoken to Abraham. That is why the apostle says that one of the two sons was born "according to the flesh," that is, exclusively according to human will, while the other was born "according to the promise," in accordance with the promise given by God (vv. 22-23). Paul compares these two sons with two unions, or "covenants": the former, based on the Torah and on following the law, and the new one, based on faithfulness to God and on the promises that had been given already to Abraham and were fulfilled, according to the apostle's word, only now, after the coming of the Messiah (vv. 24-31).
At first glance, such a contrast divides the old and new covenants just as it divides the old and new people of God. But the apostle is not speaking about division. He only wants to emphasize the fact that the former union, concluded already with Abraham, can receive its fullness only in the new, messianic union that is concluded with God through Jesus Christ. The earlier unions are not canceled or devalued, but in order to make use of everything they can give, one must turn to the One in whom they received their fullness.
Readings for 3 July 2025
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