References:

• Quick Review
  • Gal 4:1-20
    • Being on guard against the elemental principles that reduce us to children of the universe rather than living in the power of the Spirit as children of God.
    • The true powerlessness and poverty that leads us to humbly receive the truth
    • The travail of childbirth that brings forth new children of promise
  • What’s next?
• Galatians 4:21-31
  • Vss 21-23
    • Genesis 15 through 18
      • Ch 15 - Abram says a slave will become his heir. God says no, and promises a son. Vs 6 “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.”
      • Ch 16 - The promised child isn’t coming, so Sarai concocts a plan B and Abram submits to the scheme. Hagar becomes pregnant and gives Abram a son, Ishmael.
      • Ch 17 - circumcision, the sign of the covenant. Renaming.
      • Ch 18 - the promise is renewed. A son will be given through Sarah. She and Abraham laugh. 
      • Ch 19 & 20 - other stuff
    • Ch 21 - the birth of Isaac (laughter), the promise. Abe is 100 yrs old. 
  • Vs 22-26: the allegory - two women, two covenants
    • “These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants.”
      • ἀλληγορέω (al-lay-gor-eh'-o) hapax legomenon
        • a story, poem, or piece of art where characters and events act as symbols. It is essentially an extended metaphor designed to reveal a hidden or broader meaning, such as a moral, religious, or political lesson. - Miriam-Webster online
        • The two levels of allegory
          • The literal - what’s really happening
          • The symbolic - the hidden meaning, abstract idea, or real-world concept those events and actions represent.
      • Plato’s allegory of the cave
      • George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”
    • Hagar - Mt Sinai, Law, Jerusalem in bondage
    • Sarah - heavenly Jerusalem, freedom
  • Vs 27 - OT Prophetic reflective interlude
    • Relating Sarah to the childless woman who now has many children
    • Foot note - Isaiah 54:1
    • Note that this comes abruptly after the suffering servant of Is 53
  • Vss 28-31 - casting off the bondage of the law
    • Children of the “promise” - ἐπαγγελία (ep-ang-el-ee'-ah)
      • See Acts 1:4 - the “promise” of the Father
      • The Holy Spirit
    • Being persecuted - διώκω (dee-o'-ko)
      • Used by Jesus 4X in Mt 5 Sermon on the Mount
      • Paul used it of himself in Gal 1
      • Gen 21:9 - “But Sarah saw Ishmael making fun of her son, Isaac.”
    • Vs 30 - get rid of the slave and her son
      • Gen 21:10-21
      • A great nation from Ishmael
    • Vs 31 - we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman
      • Learn the lesson of allegory
      • the limits of allegory
        • We don’t want to miss the human lessons of the actual, or literal, story of Genesis
        • The allegorical reading does not negate the bad behavior of Abraham and Sarah
        • Hagar in Gen 16 - called God El-roi, the God who sees me.
• On to Freedom in Christ!