Born on the Far Side

Series on Galatians

II The Apostolic Assertions

G The Parable

Text: 4:21-31

Introduction

To be born in the other Jerusalem, on the far side, means to be born supernaturally: to be born from above: to be born free. Paul’s purpose for his alleged allegorical interpretation of Genesis 21 is to identify the Galatian Christians as the children of freedom and to instruct them to resist those who would lead them into slavery under the law. I say alleged allegory because, strictly speaking, this Scripture has been called an allegory but it is not an allegorical interpretation. It gives no comfort whatever to “allegorizers” of the wild type; such as Rabbi Akiba distilling a mystical sense from the hooks and crooks of the Hebrew letters; Philo, who imagining that the cherubim placed at Eden’s gates represented God’s lovingkindness and his sovereignty; Origen, who according to Calvin “tortured Scripture in every possible manner, turning it away from the true sense” Ancient allegorizing was fanciful. Bob Uttley writes, ‘“This is not “allegory” as used by Philo, Clement or Origen, but rather typology. Paul saw the current situation as analogous to the two children of Abraham; one by social custom, one by divine promise. One corresponds to works righteousness, the other to free grace! Normally allegory ignored the historical setting, developing teachings entirely foreign to the original author’s intent. Paul’s approach is better characterized as typology. Paul reveals that such historical events were designed to convey a meaning other than—in addition to—the strictly literal. Paul assumed the historical setting of Genesis and the unity of the Old and New Covenants, thus he was able to build on the similarities between them because they have one author—God. The essence of Old Testament faith was not found in Mosaic Law, but Abrahamic faith. This is an explanation of holy history, that is, progressive divine revelation. Isaac is born and Ishmael is rejected precisely because God is in control of history and is constantly reminding us that we are saved not by keeping the law, but by the promise, or pledge or covenant of God’s grace. This passage is a contrast between two ways and thus we must consider the two means, the two mounts and the two minds.

I Two Means

There were of course many sons born to Abraham, but the two important ones are mentioned in Genesis 21 and they are Isaac and Ishmael. About these sons Paul speaks in verses 20-23, 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. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. We who live in an era of high tension between the Muslim world and historically Christian nations are well aware of the Isaac-Ishmael dispute. In the mind of Muslims Ishmael being the first born son is the true heir of Abraham. In the narrative of the near-sacrifice of Abraham’s son in the Quran, the son is not named and the general interpretation is that it was Ishmael. Ishmael is regarded as a prophet in Islam. Paul’s point here, however, has to do not with the men, but with the means. According to the account in the Judaeo-Christian Scriptures, our Bible, Ishmael is produced by ordinary means, but Isaac is only born through a miracle, that is, the wondrous, gracious, supernaturally restored fertility of his mother, Sarah and his father Abraham in their old age. Thus Isaac is born not naturally but by God’s promise, that is, by God’s grace. The Judaizers were devotees of Moses, but Paul chooses from Moses writings the story which illustrates that Isaac was born by grace through faith because Abraham believed God and God imputed righteousness and salvation to Abraham 430 years before the law was given through Moses. This illustrates the difference between those who seek salvation through the law and those who recognize that we are saved by grace through faith, like Abraham. It was as a reward for the exercise of this faith that God intervened miraculously, enabling Abraham, though he had become “as good as dead,” to deposit seed, and making it possible for Sarah, heretofore barren, to conceive. Isaac, then, was Spirit-born, for it was the Holy Spirit who caused the promise to be realized. The conclusion, therefore, that Isaac is a symbol of all Spirit-born in the sense of regenerated men is not far-fetched.

II Two Mounts

The Apostle has reminded us that those who attempt to be saved by the law are slaves as were Hagar and Ishmael, but those who are saved through faith are free like Sarah and Isaac. Now Paul turns to a different point of comparison, two mountains and what they represent. Mount Sinai is a mountain you must climb. But the holy mount, the mount of Jerusalem, you cannot climb. I know there is an old spiritual titled, “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder,” but the ladder in Jacob’s vision was a ladder for heaven to come down. It was the angels of God that Jacob saw ascending and descending the ladder. Paul writes in verses 24-27, These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written: “Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.” There is a wealth of allusion contained in this comparison. First, the book of Hebrews tells us that Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. In other words the vision of faith went far beyond the promised land in the Middle East where earthly Jerusalem was later located to a heavenly city, Jerusalem, that is above. These two mounts like the two women, says Paul, represent different administrations and therefore two distinct affirmations of God’s one and only covenant of grace the covenant with Abraham and the law of Sinai. And as Paul has already explained, the law was added to the covenant of grace. But we must always remember that the “law” was not just moral precepts. It contained an entire apparatus of worship that was based on blood sacrifice, in the tabernacle and later the temple. All of that pointed to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ and was for its own time a means of grace for the Israelites. However they chose in later generations to focus on the moral precepts and missed the grace. Thus, if it is called a covenant, and it is, here and elsewhere, we must understand that it is a temporary administration of the covenant of grace yet to be fulfilled in Christ. There are actually three mountains in view in this passage Sinai and the Holy Mount of Jerusalem on earth (Zion), both of which represent slavery and bondage, and the Holy Mount above, the New Jerusalem which is the mother of us all and is free. As the author of Hebrews says, in 12:18–24 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

III Two Minds

In Romans 8 Paul writes about two minds, the mind of the Spirit and the mind of the flesh. In verses 5-9 he says, For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace: because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be: and they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. There in Romans 8 Paul has described for us the difference between those born of the Spirit like Isaac and those born of the flesh like Ishmael. This is the difference between a freeman and a slave. Here in our text he applies it to the situation in the churches of Galatia in verses 28-31, Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does the 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.” Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. The Galatians who truly believe are brothers. These Galatians, whether they be Gentiles or Jews by birth makes no difference, are “children of promise.” They are Abraham’s legitimate sons, the true heirs. What the Judaizers and their followers were doing opposed the work of God which He was doing wherever Gentiles, on equal terms with the Jews, were gathered into the church. Paul characterizes the activity of the Judaizers as persecution in verse 29, At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. In Genesis 21:9 and 10 we read that when Isaac was weaned (at about age three) Sarah saw Ishmael, who was 14 years older, mocking the boy, But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” The Hebrew word translated mocking does not generally refer to innocent fun. There was, for example, nothing innocent in the “jesting” with which Lot’s prospective sons-in-law greeted the announcement of Sodom’s imminent doom in Genesis 19. The word is used again when Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of attempted rape by suggesting he “mocked” her. The word also describes the unrestrained hilarity of the Israelites around the golden calf, and the “amusement” of the Philistines in connection with their prisoner Samson in Gaza. The word is conveying ridicule and insult. As a result Paul says that the inheritance is not for mockers or persecutors. It is for believers, and for them alone. Thus the son of the handmaid must be cast out because law and grace cannot dwell in one camp. Ishmael must be summarily ejected! Sarah demanded it and, God Himself supported this demand. “What does Scripture say?” The bottom line here is that the true heirs of the inheritance, the heirs of Abraham are those who believe like faithful Abraham and are saved by grace through faith. Those who are insisting that one must be circumcised and become a Jew before he can be saved are not the heirs. As Paul teaches us in Romans 8 those who believe are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and Jesus is the son of Abraham that ultimately inherits the blessing and gives it to both Jews and Gentiles who believe.