27 For it is written,
“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than those of the one who has a husband.”
28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
Paul quotes from Isaiah 54:1. The verses before this quote deal with the death, resurrection, and reign of the Suffering Servant who is the Messiah (Isa 53:1-12). Isaiah 54 deals with the future and enlargement of Israel during the reign of the Messiah.
Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, now interprets this verse. Israel, via Sarah, is the one who does not bear children and yet ends up having many more children than Hagar. It seems odd to refer to Hagar as the one who has a husband (because Sarah too had a husband) but “the one who has a husband” refers to a woman who is able to conceive and bear a son for her husband which fits Hagar.
The believers in Galatia and Paul are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free woman, children of the promise. Isaac was the promised child, not the fleshly solution to the problem. Isaac was God’s promised answer to Abraham and Sarah’s barrenness. Genesis tells us that Ishmael (born according to the flesh) persecuted Isaac (born according to the Spirit) and in the same way the legalistic Judaizers were persecuting Paul. The reality is that the Galatians would also be persecuted if they rejected the legalism of the Judaizers. In Genesis, Abraham was commanded to cast out the slave woman and her son. Ishmael represents the way of legalism and human efforts to do God’s will. We too need to cast out any human effort to please God. Christ died to set us free. God still expects us to live right lives and be holy, but the focus must not be on the doing, our focus must be on Christ. In Christ we are a new creation. When our focus is on Christ, then our doing will flow from that through spiritual sanctification and the renewal of our minds.
I am going to try (with God’s help) and focus solely on Jesus and what he wants me to do and how he wants me to do it this week and in the coming weeks
I think what I got was from the last verse. I think it meant that like you are free when you are a Christian but we must not submit to the yoke of slavery. I think what it means by that if that we must try not to submit to sin.