Galatians 4:24 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.

NIV: These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar.

NASB: This is speaking allegorically, for these women are two covenants: one coming from Mount Sinai giving birth to children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar.

CSB: These things are being taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery—this is Hagar.

NLT: These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them.

KJV: Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

NKJV: which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—

Paul is aware that the false teachers are arguing from the Old Testament Scriptures that the Galatian Christians must follow the law in order to be saved (Galatians 2:4). He has asked if they have really listened to the law (Galatians 4:21). To help them see why faith in Christ is superior, Paul is building an illustration about Christ and the law from the two sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael.

He has described Ishmael, born of a slave-girl (Genesis 16:1–2), as being born according the flesh. Isaac, however, was the child of God's promise, born of the free woman Sarah, Abraham's wife (Genesis 21:1–3). Now Paul lays out the careful allegory he is creating. Hagar, the slave-woman, represents one covenant, while Sarah, the free woman, represents another.

Specifically, Hagar represents the covenant from Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is where God gave His law for Israel to Moses, described beginning in Exodus chapter 19. In this letter to the Galatians, Paul has already shown that to live under the law of Moses is to live in slavery to our own sin. The law reveals our sin, but it does not offer a way to be free from it (Galatians 3:19–25).

Hagar, then, as the slave woman, represents the covenant of the law between God and His people, Israel. All born under this covenant are born into slavery, just as Ishmael, Hagar's son with Abraham, was born into slavery. Importantly, we should note that this is not God's ultimate plan—there is a "better way" planned for us.

Galatians 4:21–31 contains Paul's allegory about Abraham's two wives, and the two sons born through them. Paul sets out to use Scripture to show the difference between being born into slavery, by human effort, as opposed to being born into freedom, by the work of God through the Holy Spirit. Ishmael was born into slavery as Abraham's son, but he was cast out when the child of promise arrived. In a similar way, living under the law became pointless when Christ arrived. Those who trust in Him become children of promise by God's power.

In this chapter, Paul uses three new methods to teach his Galatian readers an important lesson. It is futile to follow the law of Moses in order to be made right before God, since justification comes only by faith in Christ. First, Paul shows that the arrival of Christ made it possible for all people to become God's children through faith in Him. Next, Paul makes a more personal appeal, asking what has changed to cause the Galatians to turn on Paul's teaching of the gospel. Finally, Paul builds an allegory from Scripture, illustrating the difference between being born into slavery and being born into the promise by faith in Christ.

Galatians 3 ends with Paul stating, once more, that those who are in Christ are Abraham's offspring, just as He is, making us heirs along with Him. Galatians 4 continues that idea, showing how Christ's arrival signaled the moment all people could receive the inheritance with Him and be adopted as God's children. Paul makes his appeal personal, asking why the Galatians moved from blessing him to rejecting the message of Christ. The chapter ends with Paul's allegory about the difference between being born into slavery under the law and being born into freedom by the power of the Spirit through faith in Christ. Chapter 5 will continue by expanding on the freedom we have in Christ.

Galatians is sometimes called “a short Romans” for its similar themes of justification and sanctification through faith. A group of Christians known as “Judaizers” were preaching a gospel of legalism, rather than grace. Paul’s main purpose in writing the letter to the Galatians was to reiterate the true nature of the gospel: we are justified (made righteous) and sanctified (made more Christlike) through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. This letter was probably written shortly before the church elders in Jerusalem issued their official refutation of the Judaizers, commonly called the Jerusalem Council.