Galatians 4
Big idea: Three movements that could not be more different in tone. First the legal image that finishes chapter 3's argument — a minor heir is indistinguishable from a slave until the father's appointed day, and the proof the day has come is a cry in your own heart. Then the most personal writing in the letter, where Paul says he is in labour a second time. Then Genesis read allegorically, which he announces he is doing rather than smuggling in.
Chapter 4 ends with 'children of the free woman'. Chapter 5 opens by telling them to stand in that freedom.
4:1–7 — Abba, Father
The image is precise Roman-era household law: an heir who is still a minor has the title and none of the use of it, and the change comes not by growth but by a date the father sets. Paul applies that to the whole span before Christ — and then the argument stops being an argument. The evidence that the date has passed is not a doctrine but a word people find themselves saying.
1 But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed by the father. 3 So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, 5 that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as children. 6 And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
4:8–20 — Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?
The argument gives way to something rawer. Paul reminds them what they came out of, names what they are doing now in the bluntest possible terms — turning BACK — and then stops arguing altogether and appeals to the memory of how they first received him. He was ill when he came; they treated him like an angel; he says they would have given him their own eyes.
8 However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again? 10 You observe days, months, seasons, and years. 11 I am afraid for you, that I might have wasted my labor for you. 12 I beg you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong, 13 but you know that because of weakness in the flesh I preached the Good News to you the first time. 14 That which was a temptation to you in my flesh, you didn’t despise nor reject; but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 What was the blessing you enjoyed? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. 16 So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They zealously seek you in no good way. No, they desire to alienate you, that you may seek them. 18 But it is always good to be zealous in a good cause, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you— 20 but I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
4:21–31 — Two covenants
Paul turns the tables: you want to be under the law — then listen to what the law actually says. What follows is Genesis read allegorically, and he announces the method rather than smuggling it in. The provocation is in the assignment: the slave woman's line is the one that maps to Sinai and to the present Jerusalem, which is the reverse of what his opponents' reading would produce.
21 Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant, and one by the free woman. 23 However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. 24 These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. 25 For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out and shout, you who don’t travail. For the desolate women have more children than her who has a husband.” 28 Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 However, what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).