Galatians 4:31 Commentary

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Galatians 4:31

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How then should the Galatians respond to these things? Without doubt they should identify themselves with Isaac, but see the Judaizers as the spiritual descendants of Ishmael. If so, then they needed to do what they have failed to do so far and take the decisive step of casting out the Judaizers with their perverted gospel of works. If they now understood how these ancient Scripture foretold the hostility between the believers and the world, and the battle that takes place in every generation, then they knew they must take their turn in engaging the enemy. The time has come to stop befriending those who should be treated as enemies and to tell them clearly that they have chosen Christ and will not return again to the bondage of the law. When we understand the issues properly, it often becomes obvious to us what our course of action should be. The Galatians had failed to act rightly because they were confused about these matters, but Paul’s crystal clear exposition of the Scriptures leaves them with no excuse for not acting. If they do not act now, they will certainly fall from grace entirely.

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The reason why God could give us an allegory of the law so long before the law was delivered on Mount Sinai and even before Moses was born, is because these things were not in fact new. Ishmael and Isaac represented those under the law and those under grace, but these two types of man have existed since the beginning of the world. The law is written on the heart of every man and woman who comes into the world and all are born under the covenant of works because of their relationship with Adam. Grace too has been operating in the world since the time of the first promise given in Genesis 3:15 in which Christ’s victory over the devil was foretold. What the formal giving of the law on Sinai did was to remind the physical descendants of Abraham that their relation to Abraham did not in itself set them free from the law, but only gave them a gateway to salvation. If they followed the example of their forefather and believed in God they would be saved, but if they trusted in their physical descent from Abraham, they remained under the original covenant of works made with Adam.

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Galatians 4:31 Commentary and Bible Study