Galatians use of Isaiah 54:1

So what is Paul trying to say here? Why pull out Isaiah? What is this barren woman thing? Okay good question, here we go.

1. The Purpose of the Section

Gal. 4:21 (NAS95S) Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law?

The purpose of the section for the past two chapters has been specifically about our relationship with the Law as believers in the new covenant. Here is a brief summary of the argument.

• 3:1-4 – Are you so foolish that you would revert back to the Law? Sanctification does not occur by Law but rather by Faith.
• 3:5 – Because God works by hearing with Faith. For example, it is through faith that the spirit is provided and regeneration occurs.
• 3:6-7 – So those who are of faith are sons of Abraham (i.e. Christians/Believers)
• 3:8-9 – How so? The Gospel was preached to Abraham through the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant and he responded in faith
• 3:10-14 – The Law then, prepared the way for the promise of Christ’s atonement, who was the blessing to all the Nations mentioned in the covenant.
• 3:15-18 – So even though the covenant was between Abraham and God, it has not been annulled over time but has been ultimately was fulfilled in Christ.
• 3:19-24 – The Law served only to guide us to faith in Christ. It was not meant to impart life.
• But now that we are in Christ, we have come to realize that we are sons of God and heirs of Abraham, descendants by faith.
• 4:1-3 – What did this look like for us? Before faith brought forth adoption, we were watched and managed by the rules and regulations of the Law. Because of this, though we may have been children to be adopted, outwardly, we appeared no different than slaves.
• 4:4-8 – But now that we are adopted by God, we call him Father, and are in no way any longer slaves to law. Rather we are sons and if sons heirs of God.
• 4:9-20 – Why then are you turning back from your adoption back to slavery? (Paul appeals to the integrity of his message and his ministry)
• 4:21 – Okay fine, if you want to be under the Law again, why is it then that you do not listen to the Law (referring to the Old Testament in general, the following verses demonstrate this usage by the words “For it is written”)?

2. The Allegory

22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. 23 But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. 24 This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. 25 Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.

It is important for us to see that Paul is very clearly taking an OT passage and speaking through it allegorically. This is not a fulfillment of prophecy or anything of the sort but an illustrative use of the OT. (allegory : The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form) There are two parties represented here and each party has three representatives.

1. Hagar / Mt. Sinai (the place where the Law was given) / Present Jerusalem
2. Sarah / implied Mt. Zion (the place where the promise will be fulfilled)/ Heavenly Jerusalem

3. The Allegory Demonstrated

27 For it is written,
“REJOICE, BARREN WOMAN WHO DOES NOT BEAR;
BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR;
FOR MORE NUMEROUS ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE
THAN OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND.”

Very simply this verse corresponds to Sarah, the Barren Woman (in Isa 54, Sarah represents the whole nation of Israel), and Hagar, the one who has a husband (she was given to Abraham as a wife in order to bear his children according to Gen 16:3). But out of Sarah’s hopelessness God promised her that she would bear nations. Thus, God granted a promise to Sarah which was by faith, and the children who proceeded from her would then be children of promise as opposed to children of flesh (conceived by the will and exertion of man).

28 And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 30 But what does the Scripture say?
“CAST OUT THE BONDWOMAN AND HER SON,
FOR THE SON OF THE BONDWOMAN SHALL NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN.”
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.

Ishmael persecuted Isaac and treated him poorly. Likewise, we who are also children of promise, are now persecuted through legalistic teachings by those who subject themselves to the Law (in this case Judaizers). Paul then draws the application from the allegory. Just as Abraham was called to cast out the bondwoman so that Ishmael would not share in the inheritance with Isaac, so we also must cast out those who are of the Law from fellowship so that the Promise in Christ is attained by faith alone and not corrupted by the earning mindset of works and Law.

4. The Conclusion

Gal. 5:1 – It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Paul goes full circle now and states his original argument. Jesus set us free from the Law by fulfilling it. Do not then be foolish and revert back to the Law but stand firm in faith and reject the yoke of slavery to Law. We are no longer slaves but sons. Do not corrupt or forfeit the inheritance in Christ by giving into works-based teachings but cast out such teaching so that the purity and legitimacy of the the promise remains intact.