Hagar and Sarah
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What false teachings were the Galatians facing?
In the book of Galatians, false teachers were trying to convince the people to return to God's law to earn God's favor.
So they said, okay, we'll go back to the law. And Paul's saying, are you crazy? Do you hear what the law says? Do you want to be the child of slavery or the child of promise?
That was almost 2,000 years ago. But what the Apostle Paul was pleading with the Galatians to rediscover is just as important for us today. Thanks for being with us for Renewing Your Mind. And in this final sermon from R.C. Sproul in this series in Galatians chapter 4, you'll see that the answer always was and always is the gospel. As this is the final message in the series, it means it's also your final opportunity to add Dr. Sproul's commentary, not just on Chapter 4, but on the entirety of Galatians, to your library. This single-volume hardcover commentary can be yours when you request a copy when you donate before midnight tonight at renewingyourmind.org. Well, here's Dr. Sproul.
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.
Why does Paul question the Galatians' return to the law?
But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically, These women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. She is Hagar. Now, Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother." 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 will be more than those of the one who has a husband. Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit,
so also it is now. But what do the Scriptures 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. So, brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman." It was the night of my twenty-fourth birthday. I was coming home from a basketball game, through the portion of Pittsburgh which was called East Liberty. I was coming back to our apartment where we were going to celebrate my birthday, when as I was walking past a jewelry store, suddenly I heard a woman screaming, stop thief! And I turned and looked, and this man ran out of the jewelry store and ran right into me, instinctively and certainly not heroically. I just grabbed him by the shoulder, and I said, hold it right there.
And he looked at me meekly, and he said, I give up. Fortunately, he didn't have a knife or a gun or anything, but I just stood there and held him until the police arrived, and they took him away into custody. A couple days later, I saw one of the arresting officers on the street in East Liberty, and I said, what was with the man who robbed the jewelry store? And he says, oh, he says, that fellow's a strange one. He said he had just gotten out of jail, but jail is his comfort zone.
What is the significance of the allegory of Hagar and Sarah?
He likes it there. three square meals a day, and a roof over his head. He can't cope in free society. So as soon as he gets out of jail, he immediately commits a crime and allows himself to be apprehended so he can go back to jail. Can you imagine somebody just getting out of jail and wants to go back? Well, this is what Paul is saying to the Galatians. He says, In chapter 4, tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? Do you not pay attention to the law? Are you listening to what the law says? The law says thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, and if you are under this law, you're in bondage. under the curse of the law, and you are not living in freedom." He says, you're like the people of Israel who cried out while they were enslaved by Pharaoh in the Old Testament, and they groaned and moaned, and God heard the groanings of His people, and He sent Moses to Pharaoh to say, let my people go.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What false teachings were the Galatians facing?
0:00–1:35
2
Why does Paul question the Galatians' return to the law?
1:35–4:28
3
What is the significance of the allegory of Hagar and Sarah?
4:28–8:33
4
How does Paul relate the story of Abraham to freedom and slavery?
8:33–14:01
5
What does Paul mean by being children of promise?
14:01–26:13