I wrote this about two years ago. It is a summary about how we are to regard the law as those in Christ.
The covenant that would have made priests and kings of the Jewish people was the the one God made with God, the promise of which was given to Abraham. The covenant at Sinai was between the people present and God. God kept His end of the deal but the Jews did not. This incurred an indebtedness the Jews could not pay therefore, they became slaves: their lives was the only thing they possesed that they could give.
Let's look at Galatians, chapter 4, it's very clear here: Because the Jews were slaves they could never be sons. Remember: Paul is writing to believers in Christ.
Galatians 4 “Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.”
Now note the references to Hagar and Sarah are references in terms of their liberty. Hagar is a slave; Sarah is a free woman, and that sets up the matter of the status of their sons. Abraham’s son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way. That means she could have children, she belonged to Abraham, was a member of his household as a slave, so she could have children to Abraham.
But the son by the free woman was born as a result of promise.
Now I said that the covenant of sonship, which was the first covenant, is between God and God and Abraham was the third party beneficiary, Abraham received the promise but he did not have to keep any part of the deal. This is like when a child shows up in a marriage and is born into a house of godly order. The child benefits from the covenant of marriage but was not part of it.
There was a promise made to Abraham. He was not entitled to sonship; it was a promise that God made to himself, He attached this promise to the lineage of Abraham. So that is the difference: born as a result of promise vs born the natural way.
The passage says "These things may be taken figuratively". When the Bible says you may take something figuratively that is because it intends for you to take it figuratively. So, what's the figure of speech?
The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mt. Sinai. Which covenant is that? Unmistakably this is the law. It was enacted at Mt. Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves. And notice how the references flip:
“Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
We read this as Sarah because she was a barren woman but let's read on...
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.”
Hold on, "she who has a husband" is also Sarah. That is because this is regarding children of promise. Hagar had no right to benefit from the promise of sonship through Abraham, BUT Hagar, representing the barren woman not connected to the spiritual promise, will have more children of promise than those who come naturally through Sarah.
Moses said it in Deuteronomy, chapter 5. “God did not make this covenant with our fathers, He has made it with us who are alive here at the mountain today.” The Law governed the relationship between God with the Jews. Now God would always keep his covenant, but the Jews would not. Therefore there arose an indebtedness under the law which, in order to satisfy that indebtedness, the Jews had to be converted from human beings to property to satisfy this. And they changed their status from being free people to the status of being slaves.
“One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar.”
You must understand what an insult this would have been to the Jews and what an insult it would be to Jews today and to those people who are Judaizers among the people of God. It is a popular thing today to be a Judaizer but the danger that it is, is that it turns sons with liberty back to slavery and you lose your rights of sonship once you become a slave. Nevertheless, the natural children of Sarah and Abraham, the Jews, are the actual slaves if they remain under the law.
“Now Hagar stands for Mt. Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem.” At the point at which Paul was saying this, Jerusalem had not fallen so he was saying Mt. Sinai corresponds to Hagar because the children of the law are going to be made into slaves and that ties into the present city of Jerusalem with the Temple and with the worship associated with the Temple. And it says this about all of that: “She is in slavery with her children.”
Now for all of those who would go under the law, especially if you are a believer, never under the law, if you would go under the law this is what you have done. You have traded your liberty in Christ for the status of a slave. You have gone from a relationship of grace, the grace of sonship, to the restrictions of the law, which you can never keep. And because you cannot keep the law you have traded your place in the house of God for that of a slave—that’s what you have done because the law is only capable of making you into a slave. Now that’s what Paul is saying here when it says, “But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.”
Now here it gets to be amazingly plain. Galatian 3:15, this lays out everything that I’ve been saying. It lays out the fact that God began creation with a promise of sonship, a covenant that He swore to Himself. That covenant pre-existed the Law and is known as a covenant. God attaches this covenant to Abraham and promises his descendents that they would be his heirs. At Mount Sinai, He offers this covenant to the Jews, promising to make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They elected not to, because that would have required them to go up into the presence of God, which, when they refused to, then God gave them the law. The law was between them and God because they couldn’t keep the law; the law made them a slave. God kept the law; they refused to keep it; they were made into slaves. But here the Scriptures line all of this out for us.
This is not a mystery. I would challenge anyone to read the following verses and say that believers are still to follow the law.
Galatians, chapter 3 beginning at verse 15,
“Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later…” Later than than this promise to Abraham. The law..., “…does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator” (the mediator was Moses.)
“A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not!
For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.”
What are we then?
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” And then he says, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
So first God promised the Jews sonship. They would have been refined in the presence of God on Sinai. But they refused sonship; they were put under the law, but, because they couldn’t keep the law, they became slaves. The law on Mount Sinai arrived 430 years after the original covenant was made. God first made a covenant with himself and then ratified that covenant with Abraham. That was the existing covenant.
That’s why God would have brought them up to Mount Sinai to have entered that covenant. When they rejected that covenant, then God gave them the law, which made them into slaves. He could hold them under the restrictions of the law until the Seed should come but once the Seed came He fulfilled the law. Once the Law was fulfilled there is no benefit of the Law for those in Christ. Sons are now led by the Spirit of God. He is our Father. If you say that the “do and don’ts” of the Law (which include the 10 Commandments) are your direction for life then you have agreed to a slave’s wage; you are not thinking as a son. Furthermore, no one who thinks this way (a transactional relationship in the Law vs one of love and sameness in the Spirit) can please God.
The covenant that would have made priests and kings of the Jewish people was the the one God made with God, the promise of which was given to Abraham. The covenant at Sinai was between the people present and God. God kept His end of the deal but the Jews did not. This incurred an indebtedness the Jews could not pay therefore, they became slaves: their lives was the only thing they possesed that they could give.
Let's look at Galatians, chapter 4, it's very clear here: Because the Jews were slaves they could never be sons. Remember: Paul is writing to believers in Christ.
Galatians 4 “Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.”
Now note the references to Hagar and Sarah are references in terms of their liberty. Hagar is a slave; Sarah is a free woman, and that sets up the matter of the status of their sons. Abraham’s son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way. That means she could have children, she belonged to Abraham, was a member of his household as a slave, so she could have children to Abraham.
But the son by the free woman was born as a result of promise.
Now I said that the covenant of sonship, which was the first covenant, is between God and God and Abraham was the third party beneficiary, Abraham received the promise but he did not have to keep any part of the deal. This is like when a child shows up in a marriage and is born into a house of godly order. The child benefits from the covenant of marriage but was not part of it.
There was a promise made to Abraham. He was not entitled to sonship; it was a promise that God made to himself, He attached this promise to the lineage of Abraham. So that is the difference: born as a result of promise vs born the natural way.
The passage says "These things may be taken figuratively". When the Bible says you may take something figuratively that is because it intends for you to take it figuratively. So, what's the figure of speech?
The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mt. Sinai. Which covenant is that? Unmistakably this is the law. It was enacted at Mt. Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves. And notice how the references flip:
“Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
We read this as Sarah because she was a barren woman but let's read on...
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.”
Hold on, "she who has a husband" is also Sarah. That is because this is regarding children of promise. Hagar had no right to benefit from the promise of sonship through Abraham, BUT Hagar, representing the barren woman not connected to the spiritual promise, will have more children of promise than those who come naturally through Sarah.
Moses said it in Deuteronomy, chapter 5. “God did not make this covenant with our fathers, He has made it with us who are alive here at the mountain today.” The Law governed the relationship between God with the Jews. Now God would always keep his covenant, but the Jews would not. Therefore there arose an indebtedness under the law which, in order to satisfy that indebtedness, the Jews had to be converted from human beings to property to satisfy this. And they changed their status from being free people to the status of being slaves.
“One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar.”
You must understand what an insult this would have been to the Jews and what an insult it would be to Jews today and to those people who are Judaizers among the people of God. It is a popular thing today to be a Judaizer but the danger that it is, is that it turns sons with liberty back to slavery and you lose your rights of sonship once you become a slave. Nevertheless, the natural children of Sarah and Abraham, the Jews, are the actual slaves if they remain under the law.
“Now Hagar stands for Mt. Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem.” At the point at which Paul was saying this, Jerusalem had not fallen so he was saying Mt. Sinai corresponds to Hagar because the children of the law are going to be made into slaves and that ties into the present city of Jerusalem with the Temple and with the worship associated with the Temple. And it says this about all of that: “She is in slavery with her children.”
Now for all of those who would go under the law, especially if you are a believer, never under the law, if you would go under the law this is what you have done. You have traded your liberty in Christ for the status of a slave. You have gone from a relationship of grace, the grace of sonship, to the restrictions of the law, which you can never keep. And because you cannot keep the law you have traded your place in the house of God for that of a slave—that’s what you have done because the law is only capable of making you into a slave. Now that’s what Paul is saying here when it says, “But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.”
Now here it gets to be amazingly plain. Galatian 3:15, this lays out everything that I’ve been saying. It lays out the fact that God began creation with a promise of sonship, a covenant that He swore to Himself. That covenant pre-existed the Law and is known as a covenant. God attaches this covenant to Abraham and promises his descendents that they would be his heirs. At Mount Sinai, He offers this covenant to the Jews, promising to make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They elected not to, because that would have required them to go up into the presence of God, which, when they refused to, then God gave them the law. The law was between them and God because they couldn’t keep the law; the law made them a slave. God kept the law; they refused to keep it; they were made into slaves. But here the Scriptures line all of this out for us.
This is not a mystery. I would challenge anyone to read the following verses and say that believers are still to follow the law.
Galatians, chapter 3 beginning at verse 15,
“Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later…” Later than than this promise to Abraham. The law..., “…does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator” (the mediator was Moses.)
“A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not!
For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.”
What are we then?
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” And then he says, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
So first God promised the Jews sonship. They would have been refined in the presence of God on Sinai. But they refused sonship; they were put under the law, but, because they couldn’t keep the law, they became slaves. The law on Mount Sinai arrived 430 years after the original covenant was made. God first made a covenant with himself and then ratified that covenant with Abraham. That was the existing covenant.
That’s why God would have brought them up to Mount Sinai to have entered that covenant. When they rejected that covenant, then God gave them the law, which made them into slaves. He could hold them under the restrictions of the law until the Seed should come but once the Seed came He fulfilled the law. Once the Law was fulfilled there is no benefit of the Law for those in Christ. Sons are now led by the Spirit of God. He is our Father. If you say that the “do and don’ts” of the Law (which include the 10 Commandments) are your direction for life then you have agreed to a slave’s wage; you are not thinking as a son. Furthermore, no one who thinks this way (a transactional relationship in the Law vs one of love and sameness in the Spirit) can please God.
Blessings.
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