HAGAR AND SARAH

Galatians 4:21-31 / Keywords 4:31

Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

 

Hagar and Sarah

4:21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.

24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:

“Be glad, barren woman,

    you who never bore a child;

shout for joy and cry aloud,

    you who were never in labor;

because more are the children of the desolate woman

    than of her who has a husband.”[e]

28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”[f] 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

Footnotes

e. Galatians 4:27 Isaiah 54:1

f. Galatians 4:30 Gen. 21:10

1. Paul used the story of Hagar and Sarah to help the Galatians understand their inheritance in Christ, which came by faith. When Abraham’s wife, Sarah, was unable to conceive, he took her maidservant, Hagar, who was a slave, and she bore him a son. This son was born according to the flesh. But in His time, God blessed Sarah with her son Isaac who was born as the result of His gracious promise. Paul uses these two women to compare the two covenants. Just Hagar’s children were born out of slavery, so are we who are bound by the law. But just like Isaac, we are children of promise through God’s covenant to us in Christ.

 

2. Sarah was once barren and unable to conceive. But God fulfilled His promise to her husband Abraham that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. We are children of that promise. The Galatians were being persecuted by those enslaved by the law, just as Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael. However, just as the Scripture said to get rid of the slave woman and her son, so the Galatians needed to be separated from these false believers. They needed to know their identity as children, not of the slave woman, but of the free woman. We are made free in Christ and through God’s promise.

 

Prayer Father, thank you for setting us free by your grace and promise to us. Forgive me for compromising and trying to go back to the law. May I live as your child who has been set free through faith.

One Word Children of God’s promise