UBF Daily Bread

WE ARE CHILDREN OF THE FREE WOMAN

Passage: Galatians 4:21~31

Key verse: 31

Hagar and Sarah

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

²⁴These 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. ²⁵Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the Jerusalem that is above^(F) is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷For 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.”^[a]^(G)

²⁸Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.^(H) ²⁹At that time the son born according to the flesh^(I) persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit.^(J) It is the same now. ³⁰But 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.”^[b]^(K) ³¹Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman,^(L) but of the free woman.^(M)

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Footnotes

Galatians 4:27 Isaiah 54:1
Galatians 4:30 Gen. 21:10

1. Two covenants: pick one! (21-26)

It seemed that Abraham and Sarah could never have children. So, Sarah gave her maidservant Hagar to Abraham, and they had a son, Ishmael. He was born of the flesh. Later, God promised Abraham a son by Sarah. That was Isaac. He was born by the promise of God. Paul compared Hagar and Sarah to the covenants of law and grace. The covenant of law leaves us as slaves to sin and death. The covenant of grace makes us truly free. As Christians, we are under God's covenant of grace, and we are free from sin!

2. Like Isaac, we are children of promise (27-31)

Paul quoted Isaiah to tell the Galatian Christians that though they were small in number, they would flourish if they held to the gospel. He reminded them that they were children of the promise. As Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so they were being persecuted by the false teachers. They should get rid of them! They were made to be free by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for setting us free by the gospel of Jesus.

One Word: Set free by the gospel of Jesus Christ