LESSON 4c
REDEEMED FROM THE BONDAGE OF THE LAW
Galatians 4:1-31
Memory Verse: 4:4
III. REDEEMED BY FREE GRACE vv. 19-31
A. The Allegory Declared, vv. 19-26.
1. A plea to the deluded justified believers, vv. 19-21.
a. “My little children,” Matthew 18:3, “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
b. Paul expressing the birth pangs of sorrow, v. 19; 1 Corinthians 4:15-16, “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.”
c. He desired to satisfy his doubts about them, v. 20.
1) Paul desired to be present with them, 2 Corinthians 11:2-3,“For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
2) He needed to remove his doubts of them, Philippians 2:16, “Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.”
d. It was incredible that they desired to be under law, v. 21.
1) How could any sane person desire to return to “weak and beggarly elements of religion?” v. 9.
2) Why would they desire to be under the “curse” again? Galatians 3:10, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”
2. Hagar and Sarah represent law and grace, v. 22. Abraham had two sons: Ishmael = law; Isaac = grace.
a. The one by a bondmaid, Ishmael, the son of Hagar, Genesis 16:3-4, “And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. 4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.”
b. The other by a free-woman. Isaac, the son of Sarah, Genesis 21:1-2, “And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.”
3. Ishmael was born after the flesh, v. 23;
4. While Isaac was born after the promise, v. 23, Genesis 18:10, “And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.” It all boils down to asking them who their mother was.
B. The Allegory Explained, vv. 24-29.
1. It would be well to read Genesis 21:1-12. Here it is made plain that the law with its legalism always persecutes those who are under free grace. We can see that repeated in our day as well. An “allegory” is “to speak allegorically or in a figure.” Mr. Webster says that “it is the description of one thing under the image of another.”
“An allegory is properly a fictitious way of speaking; but here it designs an accommodation of a real history, and matter of fact, to other cases and things, and seems to intend a type or figure; and the sense to be, that these things which were literally true of Hagar and Sarah, of Ishmael and Isaac, were types and figures of things to come.” –John Gill.
2. Agar (Hagar) represents the covenant of law, v. 24. Let us compare the two covenants:
a. The OLD Covenant was LAW, which is represented by Hagar the SLAVE, who gave birth to Ishmael who was conceived after the flesh. This was the condition of earthly Jerusalem which was in bondage.
b. The NEW Covenant is GRACE, which is represented by Sarah the FREEWOMAN who gave birth to Isaac who was conceived miraculously. This was the condition of the heavenly Jerusalem which is free.
3. Jerusalem with her children (the JEWS) were UNDER this BONDAGE of the law, v. 25; The Arabs, it is thought, called Mt. Sinai Mount Hargar in Abraham’s time.
4. Jerusalem “above” represents the COVENANT of GRACE, v. 26; Colossians 3:1, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.”
5. The DESOLATE have many more children, v. 27, the quotation is from Isaiah 44:1; Isaiah 54:1, “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.”
6. Saved Jews and Gentiles are the CHILDREN of PROMISE, v. 28; Galatians 3:29, “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
7. False religion and legalism will ALWAYS PERSECUTE those who believe the truth, v. 29.
8. This is why that BIBLE BELIEVERS CAN NEVER ENGATE IN ECUMENICAL ENDEAVORS with LEGALISTS, Genesis 21:9, “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.”
C. The Allegory Blessings, vv. 30-31.
1. The only scriptural thing to do is to CAST OUT the children of the bondwoman, v. 30.
2. Let us explore the POSSIBILITIES of dealing with those that are under the bondage of legalism:
a. We can TRY to CHANGE them, but that DOES NOT WORK, John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
b. We can COMPROMISE with them, but you CANNOT MIX LAW and GRACE anymore than you can mix oil and water. The Galatians were trying to do this, and Paul was correcting them.
c. We can do the SCRIPTURAL THING and CAST THEM OUT, Genesis 21:10, “Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.”
2. We must declare and enjoy the FREE GRACE OF GOD, v. 31.
a. We should stand fast in our freedom in Christ, Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
b. We are free indeed, John 8:36, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
–Lesson by E. L. Bynum; Revision by Art Davison