Galatians 4 v 30, 31, 5 v 1a - The exclusion of Hagar the slave girl and her son Ishmael from the inheritance

 ‘But what is Scripture saying? ‘Be throwing out the slave girl and her son, because the son of the slave girl will absolutely not inherit in company with the son of the free woman’. 31 Therefore on this basis brothers, we are absolutely not children of the slave girl, but on the contrary, of the free woman, the free’, (Galatians 4 v 30, 31, 5 v 1a).

Paul refers to the language of Sarah to Abraham when she requested him to throw out Hagar and Ishmael, (Genesis 21 v 10). Her words received endorsement, ‘And rulers and judges said to Abraham, ‘Don’t let it be displeasing in your sight because of the boy or your concubine. All, whatever Sarah has said to you, listen and pay attention to her voice, because your seed will be called out within Isaac’, (Genesis 21 v 12). Thus, as the Galatians could read for themselves in the Scriptures, delegated rulers and judges said that Hagar and Ishmael were indeed to be sent away from Abraham’s family. The son of the slave girl was not to share the inheritance with Isaac. In the same way, on this account, all Jews who continue to exist under 'Jerusalem' and the legal Covenant of Sinai, enslaved to seeking to obtain judicial approval by observing its written codes of law, are excluded from the ‘family’ of those brought forth as a result of the announced promise. They are excluded from the divine inheritance. Thus Jesus says to Jews, ‘Struggle to go in by means of the narrow door. For I am saying to you, many will seek after entering in and will not be able, 25 away from which the master of the house having roused up and shut the door. And you begin to stand outside, knocking the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us’. Answering, he will say to you, ‘I don’t know you, from what place you are’. 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in front of you, and you taught in our streets’. 27 And he will say, ‘I am telling you, I don’t know where you are from, stand away from me all workers of injustice. 28 There will be the lamentation and the grinding of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets within the Kingdom of God, but you being thrown out. 29 They will come from the east and west, and from north and south, and will recline in the Kingdom of God. 30 And look! Those existing last who will be first, and those existing first who will be last’, (Luke 13 v 24 – 30). 

Paul comes to a conclusion. ‘Therefore on this basis brothers…’. They are his brothers on account of being fellow Jews, but more especially they are his brothers because along with Paul, they ‘are absolutely not children of the slave girl, but on the contrary, of the free woman, the free’. Paul applies the allegory and brings it to its conclusion. Paul said earlier ‘Now if you [are] of the anointed, then you are existing Abraham’s seed, heirs down from announced promise’, (Galatians 3 v 29). And again, So therefore, you are no longer existing a slave, but if a son by means of God, also an heir, allotted a share, (Galatians 4 v 7). His logic then is this, if we are heirs, ‘we are not children of the slave girl’, whose son, according to Scripture, was ‘not to be heir’ (verse 30). But we are of the free woman whose son was, according to Scripture, to be heir. We Hebrew Christians are not ‘thrown out’ like Ishmael, but accepted as sons and heirs in God’s household on the basis of God’s announced promise.

Galatians 4 v 28, 29 - The children and heirs of God’s announced promise

 ‘But you brothers are down from Isaac, are children of announced promise. 29 But just as at that time the one having been procreated down from flesh persecuted the down from Breath, [Pneuma], in this manner also at this present time. 30 But what is Scripture saying? ‘Throw out the slave girl and her son, because the son of the slave girl will absolutely not inherit in company with the son of the free’. 31 Therefore on this account brothers, we are absolutely not children of the slave girl, but on the contrary, of the free’, (Galatians 4 v 28, 29).

‘But you brothers are down from Isaac’. Paul continues the allegory that he introduced in verse 23. He is not talking about physical descent from Abraham and Isaac, but about a line of ‘children of promise’, as he confirms in the next phrase – you ‘are children of announced promise’. Remember, Paul is speaking to and about Jews, and the contrast is between -

Jews existing under the Sinai Covenant and its written codes of law, and

 

Jews existing under the announced promise of God, by means of entrustment

The allegory describes -

Jews under the Sinai Covenant in terms of Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael

Jews under the announced promise in terms of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac

Scripture describes the animosity between Ishmael, born of the flesh, and Isaac who was brought forth as a result of the announced promise, down from the Breath. The particular reference made by Paul is doubtless to Genesis 21 v 9 where Ishmael treated Isaac with ‘outright scornful laughing’, jeering and deriding him. Jewish commentators pretty much also agree that Ishmael took his bow and shot an arrow at Isaac, with an intention to kill him, though he pretended it was but in play. The incident is recorded in the non-canonical Book of Jasher. ‘And Ishmael the son of Abraham was grown up in those days; he was fourteen years old when Sarah bare Isaac to Abraham. 12 And God was with Ishmael the son of Abraham, and he grew up, and he learned to use the bow and became an archer. 13 And when Isaac was five years old he was sitting with Ishmael at the door of the tent. 14 And Ishmael came to Isaac and seated himself opposite to him, and he took the bow and drew it and put the arrow in it, and intended to slay Isaac. 15 And Sarah saw the act which Ishmael desired to do to her son Isaac, and it grieved her exceedingly on account of her son, and she sent for Abraham and said to him, ‘Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for her son shall not be heir with my son, for thus did he seek to do unto him this day’.’, (Book of Jasher 21 v 11 – 15). Other commentators suggest that there was also contention about the inheritance, which Sarah’s words to Abraham seem to confirm. Ishmael claimed the birthright, despising Isaac as the younger son, and insisting on his right to the inheritance. He mocked the promise of God with respect to Isaac and threatened what he intended to do to Isaac should Isaac claim it.  Mocking has been always reckoned as a form of persecution.

Paul applies this animosity to the present situation. Just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so now at this present time, Jews under the Sinai Covenant with its written codes of law pursue and persecute Jews, and indeed Gentiles, who are ‘down from the Breath’.

Galatians 4 v 23, 24a - Hagar and Sarah, allegories of two Covenants [2]

 ‘But on the one hand, the from out of the slave girl was brought forth down from flesh; but the from out of the free by means of an announced promise, 24 which are speaking allegorically. For these are two set arrangements’, (Galatians 4 v 23, 24a).

Paul makes one last attempt to restore the Hebrew Christians who were turning back to Covenant law, and he addresses their failure to listen to divine law so as to hear or comprehend what it says. He turns their attention to their patriarch, Abraham, and the birth of his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. He contrasts them like this – 

Ishmael was brought forth down from flesh

By means of Hagar, the slave-woman and thus

born a slave

Isaac was brought forth by means of an announced promise

By means of Sarah, his wife and free-woman, and thus

born free

Paul says that these are ‘speaking allegorically’. The Greek word is ‘allégoreó’ - from ‘allos’, meaning ‘other’, and ‘agoreuó’, meaning ‘to speak in the assembly or broad gathering’. The word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament, nor is it found in the Septuagint, though it often occurs in the classic writers. An ‘allegory’ is a sustained metaphor in which known events and experiences are used as ‘stepping stones’ to point to unseen realities. Paul says that Abraham’s situation says something to Jews in general, something other than what the words themselves imply. Within the Jewish assembly or community, they speak beyond the literal sense, in a way that reveals a hidden or parallel truth, often pointing to unseen heavenly realities. Sarah and Hagar were allegorised by Philo the Jew, before Paul did so. 

The allegory points to ‘two set arrangements’, (verse 24a). The Greek word is ‘diathéké’, usually translated into English as ‘covenant’ - a set-arrangement or disposition that has complete terms determined by the initiating party. The Apostle goes on to explain what these covenants are. They point to the difference between those who rested in the Messiah only, and those who trusted in obeying the law, and this is pointed to by the histories of these two women and their sons, as Paul goes on to explain.

Galatians 4 v 21 – 24a - Hagar and Sarah, allegories of two Covenants [1]

 ‘Tell me, those wishing to exist under law, are you not listening to and comprehending law? 22 Because it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from out of the slave girl, and one from out of the free, unbound woman. 23 But on the one hand, the from out of the slave girl was procreated down from flesh; but the from out of the free by means of an announced promise, 24 which are speaking allegorically, because these are two set arrangements’, (Galatians 4 v 21 – 24a).

After gathering his thoughts together, Paul has one last attempt to restore the Hebrew Christians who were turning back to Covenant law. He addresses them directly and begins to point out their inconsistency. You who are ‘wishing to exist under law, are you not listening to and comprehending law?’. He implies that they are turning to Covenant law but are not listening to it so as to hear or comprehend what it says. 

He turns their attention once again to their patriarch, Abraham, from whom Jews were keen to show their physical descent. Abraham was married to Sarah who was ‘barren’, or unable to bear children. Nevertheless, God announced a promise to Abraham that he would have a son. However, the promise of a son was not immediately fulfilled, and the years went by. So after a time, Abraham and Sarah concluded that since Sarah was barren, God must mean that Abraham would have a son by means of him entering into union with their slave-girl, making Hagar Abraham’s concubine. So Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham so that he would not be completely without descendants, and in this way fulfil God’s promise, (Genesis 16 v 3). The son of Abraham and Hagar was named Ishmael. But God told Abraham that Ishmael was not the announced promised son. In due course, contrary to expectation, Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to Isaac, who was the son of the announced promise. Thus Paul tells us, it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from out of the slave girl and one from out of the free, unbound woman’ (verse 22). The word ‘freewoman’ is never applied to Sarah in the story in Genesis, not even in the Genesis passage that is freely quoted later in verse 30, but it is an obviously true description, and it is introduced in complete fairness as an antithesis to Hagar. 

Abraham’s two sons are contrasted in this way –

   

Ishmael was procreated down from flesh

born a slave

Isaac by means of an announced promise

born free

Now why did Paul decide to look at the events surrounding Abraham and the birth of his two sons? It is because these two situations are ‘speaking allegorically, because these are two set arrangements’. Paul will go on to explain what he means. 

Galatians 4 v 4 – 8 - Christians – adopted sons and heirs

 ‘But when the completion of the season had come, God sent away His son, having  come into being from out of a woman, having come into being under law, 5 in order that he buy back those under law, in order that we receive placing as a son. 6 And because you are sons, God sends forth the Breath of His Son penetrating into our hearts, our deep inner core, crying aloud and shrieking ‘Abba, Father!’. 7 So therefore, you are no longer existing a slave, but if a son by means of God, also an heir, allotted a share. 8 But indeed, at that time, absolutely not knowing God, you were the enslaved by nature, lest being gods’, (Galatians 4 v 4 - 8). 

Paul has just said that Jews existed like under-age heirs, enslaved under the orderly system of rudimentary elements and first principles of the Sinai Covenant with its written codes of law, until the time appointed by the Father. That season of under-age enslavement of Jews was completed when ‘God sent away His son’. The only-begotten Son pre-existed his ‘coming into being from out of a woman’. Indeed, the Son of God is ‘the image of the invisible God, firstborn of the whole in terms of the individual parts of what is originally formed’, (Colossians 1 v 15). ‘By means of him all came into being, and apart from him, not even one was caused to be that has come into being’, (John 1 v 3). Thus ‘God sent away His son’ from out of the heavenly realm to ‘come into being from out of a woman, having come into being under law’. God’s purpose was ‘that [His son] buy back those under law, in order that we receive placing as a son'. The details of this forms the details of the gospel or ‘good news’ of course. But Paul is not interested here in explaining the gospel in detail. He is interested to present the concept of ‘sonship’, because ‘if children, also heirs, indeed, God’s heirs, and fellow-heirs with the Messiah’, (Romans 8 v 17). 

But there is more, ‘because you are sons, God sends forth the Breath of His Son penetrating into our hearts, our deep inner core’. Over the course of his writings, Paul places two pairs of principles that are in opposition to one another - 

     Covenant Law vs God’s Promise (Galatians)

    Fleshly impulses towards death vs Breath penetrating into Life (Romans 7, 8)

The Breath of the Messiah penetrating within the Christian’s heart, including the heart or deep inner core of Hebrew Christians, is ‘crying aloud and shrieking ‘Abba, Father!’. 

Paul then reaches his conclusion in verses 7 and 8. ‘So therefore, you are no longer existing a slave, but if a son by means of God, also an heir, allotted a share. 8 But indeed, at that time, absolutely not knowing God, you were the enslaved by nature, lest being gods’ 

Paul’s conclusion is that Jews who are entrusting the Messiah are adopted sons and fellow heirs with the Messiah as a result of God fulfilling His promises through giving His only-begotten son and His Breath. Hebrew Christians are no longer enslaved to Covenant law, and no longer ‘the enslaved by nature’, by the impulses of their flesh. Why? Because of the opposing impetus and movement of the Breath of God within them in their deepest inner core. But previously, before entrusting the Messiah, Jews were enslaved, by their own human nature. Paul then adds sarcastically, ‘lest being gods’ – unless you Jews were gods with superhuman ability and strength. 

Galatians 3 v 25 – 29 - Christians – Their union in the Messiah

 ‘But confident persuasion and entrustment having come, we are no longer under a child’s governor. 26 Because you are all sons of God by means of persuasion and entrustment within Jesus, His anointed. 27 For as many as have been immersed  - there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, and there is neither male and female, because you all exist one within Jesus the anointed. 29 Now if you [are] of the anointed, then you are existing Abraham’s seed, heirs down from announced promise’, (Galatians 3 v 25 - 29).

What happens when a Jew penetrates towards persuasion and entrustment? Paul says that such Jews ‘are no longer under a child’s governor’. They are no longer under the authority and government of Covenant law (verse 24). Recognising their need of the promise given by God to Abraham, in the light of the extent of their self-forfeiture and loss as revealed by Covenant law, they are persuaded and entrust God. 

Now that the Messiah has been revealed, this rendering idle of divine law is especially the case for those Jews who have heard the gospel and placed their trust in Jesus as their Messiah – Hebrew Christians. Why? ‘Because you are all sons of God by means of persuasion and entrustment within Jesus, His anointed’. Hebrew Christians ‘are no longer under a child’s governor’. They are no longer under the authority and government of Covenant law because by means of persuasion to the point of obedient entrustment within Jesus, God’s anointed, all such Jews are sons of God. They have received divine adoption into the household of God. But what does this mean? What are the implications?

Paul returns to the theme of ‘oneness’. ‘For as many as have been immersed within His anointed have sunk into being enclothed with the anointed one’. Those who entrust Jesus, the anointed of God, are immersed, submerged or baptised, implying enclothing, being ‘wrapping around’, and a very close and intimate relationship. What are they immersed into? They have been immersed ‘within His anointed’, by which believers are placed into mystical union with the crucified and risen Lord, the means of this union being the set-apart Breath of God. The result is that believers have ‘sunk into being enclothed with the anointed one’. They have sunk into the Messiah in the same way that someone sinks into a garment, into clothing. ‘Putting on’ the Messiah implies that his character, feelings and works become the believer’s own. The believer has received God’s anointed as the means of their judicial approval, have obtained union with him, and in consequence a likeness to him – walking around within his clothes.

Now this is true of all who are persuaded and entrusting the Messiah, be they Jews or Gentiles. There is no difference ‘because you all exist one within Jesus the anointed’. There we see the theme of ‘oneness’ once again. The God of Sinai Covenant law is one and the same as the God of promise, and those hearing, persuaded and entrusting in Jesus ‘all exist one within Jesus His anointed’, denoting the closest and most intimate approximation conceivable. We see it again here, ‘you (Christians) [are] of the anointed (Messiah), and the anointed (Messiah) of God’ (I Corinthians 3 v 23).

Paul now reaches a sub-conclusion and in doing so he continues to explain the Christian’s position in relation to divine law. He will explain this over the first eleven verses of chapter 4. His sub-conclusion is this, ‘Now if you [are] of the anointed, then you are existing Abraham’s seed, heirs down from announced promise’. Paul is applying what is true of Christians specifically to Hebrew Christians and he links existing ‘within the Messiah’ to their patriarch Abraham and the promises made to him by God. 

If you [are] of the Anointed,

Then you are existing Abraham’s seed (plural), and

        Heirs down from announced promise.

Paul introduces the theme of inheritance. Hebrew Christians are no longer in the situation of experiencing the loss of their inheritance because of their self-forfeiture. On the contrary, they are heirs down from the announced promise to Abraham.

Galatians 3 v 23, 24 - Covenant law – a guardian for infants

 ‘Now persuasion and entrustment came in front. Under the law we were guarded, protected and kept watch over, enclosed and shut in together penetrating into the persuasion and entrustment intended to be uncovered, 24 so that the law has come into being our guardian and tutor of children, penetrating into His Anointed, in order that we might be judicially approved and made right wise from out of persuasion and entrustment’, (Galatians 3 v 23, 24).

Persuasion and entrustment, like that of Abraham’s, came first, long before the law. Then, for Jews, over four hundred years later, the law was added. Jews, who are God’s chosen ethnic group, came to exist under the authority of Covenant law, they ‘were guarded, protected and kept watch over, enclosed and shut in together’. Covenant law was (and is) not given as a means to divine judicial approval. It was not (and is not) an alternative to, or a means of fulfilment of, that which was made known by the announced promise of God to Abraham. The function of the law was (and is) to penetrate into persuasion and entrustment, as individuals under the law came to know their self-forfeiture and hopeless position. The function of Covenant law was (and is) to enable individuals to perceive their need of God’s promise. The law provides knowledge of self-forfeiture, it is the starting point that reveals the sinfulness of sin, and the extent and increase of sin within our fleshly constitution. The law does indeed lead wayward Jews to entrustment in God. The particular details of how God would bring His promises into effect, and what this entrustment would mean in particular, were yet to be revealed. Jews were in a state of infancy.

Covenant law came in towards Jews like a tutor or guardian of children or infants. It points out what God judicially disapproves of and indicates the penalties that certain behaviours incur. The law also provided the means of paying for and sending away self-forfeiture and loss by means of the infrastructure of Levitical priests and the various prescribed ceremonies and sacrifices. All of this constitutes an ‘outline shadow’ pointing to, and penetrating into His Anointed and judicial approval by means of hearing, persuasion and entrustment in him.  

That was the position of Jews prior to the coming of the Messiah. It remains the position of those Jews who are still not persuaded that Jesus is the Messiah and who therefore do not place their trust in him.

Galatians 3 v 21 – 22 - The written codes of law are not how God’s promises are fulfilled

 ‘Therefore, is the law down from the announced promises of God? May it not be caused to happen! Because if law had been given having ability to give Life, indeed, the judicial approval and right wise-ness would exist from out of law. 22 But the Scripture shut up and enclosed all things underneath self-forfeiture and loss in order that the announced promise be given from out of entrustment and persuasion, to those who are persuaded and entrusting Jesus, His Anointed’, (Galatians 3 v 21 – 22).

In verses 19 and 20, Paul said that the God of the Sinai Covenant and its written codes of laws is one and the same as the God Who announced promises to Abraham. There is divine unity in spite of the various different aspects in which God reveals Himself to successive generations and different groups of humanity. Paul defines the implications of this in the following verses, and he considers another potential objection, which he once again expresses in the form of a rhetorical question - ‘Therefore is the law down from the announced promises of God?’ He immediately answers his own question, ‘May it not be caused to happen!’. 

This question proposes that God is fulfilling His promises to Abraham and his seed by giving Covenant law. In other words, it is proposed that Covenant law is the means by which God’s promises will be attained. ‘Not at all’ says Paul. ‘If it was possible that divine judicial approval could exist from out of individuals keeping the written codes of Covenant law, if Covenant law had the ability to give Life, then that would indeed be the arrangement that God would put in place’. But this is not possible, and Paul explains why.

‘Scripture shut up and enclosed all things underneath self-forfeiture and loss’. Self-forfeiture and loss encloses everyone. Everyone is trapped and imprisoned by self-forfeiture and loss, and there are no exceptions. There is an impulse and impetus inherent within our human nature, within the fabric of our flesh, inclining us towards self-forfeiture and loss. It is present within everyone, including those placed under Covenant law. Both Jews and Gentiles are trapped by it.

Why is this? Why does Scripture enclose everyone underneath self-forfeiture and loss? It is ‘in order that the announced promise be given from out of entrustment and persuasion, to those who are persuaded and entrusting Jesus, His Anointed’, (verse 22b). The announced promise given to Abraham – ‘in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed’, (Genesis 22 v 18a), is not and cannot be attained by any individual expending their energy and labour to keep the written codes of Covenant law. This is because everyone is trapped and imprisoned within self-forfeiture and loss. This means that as with Abraham, the announced promise is received by means of persuasion and entrustment, and the ‘object’ of this persuasion and entrustment is Jesus, His Anointed, the seed of Abraham. Because of the all-pervading principle of self-forfeiture and loss, knowledge of which only increases by knowing divine law, it means that hearing, persuasion and entrustment is the means by which the announced promise is attained – in other words, the promise is attained by means of faith. 

Galatians 3 v 19, 20 - If God’s promise is still in effect, why was the law given? [2]

 ‘the law… was added on account of stepping contrary, up until that the seed comes to whom the announced promise [was made], having been arranged and ordered by means of angel/messengers within the hand of a mediator. 20 But a mediator is not one; and God is One’. (Galatians 3 v 19, 20).

Different commentators have given many different explanations with regard to Paul’s reference to a ‘mediator’. But they can be classified into three divisions based on who the ‘mediator’ is understood to be.

In the first centuries after Jesus, commentators understood the word ‘mediator’ to refer to Jesus and indeed, many passages in the New Testament use this word in reference to Jesus. But the word ‘mediator’ does not refer exclusively to Jesus. In addition, the problem with using this interpretation here in Galatians is that the context is obscured or lost, and the force of the Apostle’s argument weakened.

A more probable view is that in verse 20, as in verse 19, the mediator is Moses. This is in full agreement with the context of the passage. In verse 19 ‘the mediator,’ is undoubtedly Moses. However, the problem now is that what was true of Moses as a mediator is also true of every other human mediator. 

The third view is that the first half of verse 20 presents a general principle – the characteristic of a mediator as such. Mediation implies a transaction involving at least two parties, but the announced promises to Abraham came from God alone, and have His will as sole source and guarantee. Thus the announced promises are more sure and more elevated. God alone dealt directly with Abraham, without a mediator. The logic is that Covenant law is thus inferior to the announced promises, and that the Sinai Covenant is a transaction of quite a different nature to the promises.

But the difficulty now is to see the relevance of what Paul is saying to the logical argument he is making. What does he intend to illustrate? How does what he states about ‘oneness’ and ‘mediators’ illustrate his point? 

Sinai Covenant Law pertained to Jews as God’s chosen ethic group. Covenant law was not given to Gentiles. In the passage in Genesis that Paul refers to, I have pointed out that in the first part of Genesis 22 v 17, the words ‘seed’ and ‘sand’ are intended to be understood in the plural sense – ‘I will increase your seed according to the stars of the heavens and….the sand on the sea shore’. The reference is not to a single seed or grain of sand, (or to one star), but to one body of seed or sand. But then, in the second part of verse 17, as Paul has been arguing, the word ‘seed’ refers to one individual who ‘will take possession of the gate of his enemy’ – this individual seed being the Messiah.

So the words ‘seed’ and ‘sand’ support both plural and singular meanings depending on the context. They are metaphors that either point to, 

The Messiah [singular]

Those delivered by means of hearing – both Jews and Gentiles [plural]

Jews, who are physically descended from Abraham [plural]

The point that Paul is making is that God is one and the same in reference to all. His promises pertain to all. He is the one God of Jews, Gentiles and His anointed deliverer. By contrast, Moses was a mediator between God and the Israelites. Moses was not a mediator on behalf of Gentiles. Therefore Moses could not transact anything that would tend to the annulment of that aspect of the promises of God to both Jews and Gentiles. Paul’s purpose is to show that the giving of Covenant Law could not negate the promises announced to Abraham. The true force of the clause may be expressed like this – ‘but the God of Sinai is one and the same as the God of promise’. There is divine unity in spite of the various aspects in which God reveals Himself to successive generations and groups of humanity.

Having made this general statement, Paul will explain over the next nine verses how this relates to Christians, and he begins by considering another potential objection.

Galatians 3 v 19, 20 - If God’s promise is still in effect, why was the law given? [1]

 ‘Then why the law? It was added on account of stepping contrary up until that the seed comes to whom the announced promise [was made], having been arranged and ordered by means of angel/messengers within the hand of a mediator. 20 But a mediator is not one; and God is One’. (Galatians 3 v 19, 20).

Paul anticipates another objection. If judicial approval and right-wiseness is shown as the result of promises made by God to Abraham and his seed, promises given over four hundred years before the law, then why was the law given to Jews at all? Paul says that the law was added because Jews and their delegated leaders were ‘stepping contrary’. They were engaging in wayward teaching and disapproved-of behaviour. So the law was brought in until the seed – Jesus - to whom the announced promise was made, (verse 14) - came in. It was brought in because of waywardness.

Covenant law is not of human origin. It does not belong to human manufacture, tradition or philosophy. Rather, it was arranged and ordered by means of angel messengers. ‘Yahweh came from Sinai and rose up on them from Seir. He shone forth from Mount Paran and He came from a myriad of the set apart. From His right hand, a fiery law for them’, (Deuteronomy 33 v 2). And again, ‘who received the law into the arrangement of angels…’, (Acts 7 v 53). (See also Acts 7 v 38, Hebrews 2 v 2). Covenant law was delivered ‘within the hand of a mediator’, namely, Moses. Thus, Covenant law was not given to Israel in the same way that the promises were announced to Abraham. The promises were announced immediately from and directly by God Himself. By contrast, Moses served as an intermediary, a ‘middle man’ between God and the angels on one hand, and Israel on the other hand. 

Then Paul seems to add an unusual sentence. He says, ‘but a mediator is not one; but God is One’, (verse 20). The statement itself is plain enough in its meaning, but why does Paul say such a thing here? A mediator is a facilitator who helps parties resolve disputes through communication. In Scripture we read that almost immediately after leaving Egypt the Israelites engaged in wayward behaviour, (Exodus 32), incurring God’s judicial anger. But Moses pleaded on behalf of the Israelites, reminding God of his promises to Abraham, and in due course divine law was given to Israel by means of Moses. So a mediator is not ‘one’ – rather he is an intermediary, in the case of Moses, between God and His chosen ethnic group. But it is also true to say that Jesus is a mediator between God and those whom God has selected. So the first problem is this, who is Paul referring to when he says a ‘mediator is not one’? Paul contrasts a mediator with God, Who is one. The second problem is this, what does Paul mean by raising this theme of ‘oneness’? Many scholars and commentators have had their minds exercised by these questions, and they have come up with different answers. I will consider these themes a little more in the next post.

Galatians 3 v 17, 18 - Divine law does not negate God’s announced promise

 ‘Now I am saying this, the set arrangement has been confirmed in advance under God. Law, having come 430 years afterwards, is absolutely not invalidating or penetrating into to rendering the announced promise entirely idle. 18 Because if the inheritance is from out of law, [then it is] no longer from out of the announced promise. But God has shown favour to Abraham by means of an announced promise’, (Galatians 3 v 17, 18).

Paul clarifies what he has said in verses 14 -16 and anticipates a potential objection. He said that, ‘The announced promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed’, and the ‘seed’ is God’s Anointed, Jesus. ‘The benefit penetrating towards Abraham comes towards the Gentiles within Jesus, His Anointed. So that they receive the announced promise, the Breath, by means of faithful entrustment’ (verse 14). The potential objection is that Covenant Law, which came in later, overrides and invalidates the announced promise made to Abraham. 

Paul states that this is not the case. The set arrangement of faithful entrustment was confirmed in advance under the authority of God. The establishment of Covenant Law that was given some 430 years later, does not penetrate into rendering God’s promise idle. God promised a blessing, a divine inheritance. But if this blessing and inheritance is now from out of Covenant Law, by means of people expending energy and labour to observe its written injunctions, then this is a completely different arrangement. It would mean that the blessings and benefits of inheritance are no longer obtained from out of God’s announced promise. But the fact remains – ‘God has shown favour to Abraham by means of an announced promise’. Having established the set arrangement of an announced promise, the later establishment of Covenant Law did not and does not ignore it, negate it or add to it. God’s announced promise stands, and it is received by faithful entrustment.

Galatians 3 v 13 – 16 - Jesus and God’s announced promises to Abraham and his seed

 ‘His anointed has paid the price to rescue us from out of the law’s denouncement, having been denounced above and beyond us, because it has been written: ‘Denounced – all hanging on a tree’, 14 in order that the benefit penetrating towards Abraham comes towards the Gentiles within Jesus, His anointed. So that they receive the announced promise, the Breath, by means of faithful entrustment. 15 Brothers, I am speaking down from man, nevertheless, even man, having validated an agreed arrangement, no one sets it aside, negating it or adding to it. 16 The announced promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say ‘seeds’, on the basis of many, but on the basis of one – ‘and your seed’ – who is His anointed’, (Galatians 3 v 13 - 16). 

There is no individual human being who has the ability to fully construct all that is written in the book of law. Instead, everyone who seeks to observe the injunctions of the book of law finds that they are denounced by it. The law reveals that they incur self-forfeiture and loss, and that they face divine disapproval. 

So how can anyone obtain divine approval? How can they be delivered from divine condemnation? The answer is that God’s anointed – His only-begotten Son - ‘has paid the price to rescue us from out of the law’s denouncement’. The Messiah himself has been denounced above and beyond us, so that the benefit that penetrates towards Abraham also comes towards Gentiles, within Jesus. This means that Gentiles as well as Jews receive the announced promise, the Breath, by means of faithful entrustment. (Compare Joel 2 v 28, 29; Acts 2 v 16 - 21).

Paul says, ‘I illustrate this by a familiar example taken from common human practice. Even human beings, having established an agreement, don’t then ignore it, negate it or add to it without the consent of the other stipulating party’. This constitutes his next general statement. Namely that such an agreement is established and fixed. Nothing is going to come in from the side to make it invalid. 

Paul then explains what he means in more detail. ‘The announced promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed’, (verse 16). Paul refers to Genesis 22. ‘And Yahweh says, ‘I have sworn by Myself…17 that praising I will praise you, and increasing I will increase your seed according to the stars of the heavens, and according to the sand upon the sea shore. And your seed will take possession of the gate of his enemy. 18 And in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed in consequence that you listened and obeyed My voice’.’, (Genesis 22 v 16a, 17, 18).

Paul comments on this text and says, ‘The announced promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say ‘seeds’, on the basis of many, but on the basis of one – ‘and your seed’ – who is His anointed’. In the first part of Genesis 22 v 17, the word ‘seed’ is intended to be understood in the plural sense – ‘according to the stars of the heavens and….the sand on the sea shore’. As with ‘stars’, the word ‘sand’ is to be understood in the same way. The reference is not to a single grain of sand, but to one body of sand made up of many grains.

Then, in the second part of verse 17, the word ‘seed’ refers to one individual, one seed out of many, who ‘will take possession of the gate of his enemy’. This phrase indicates conquest and victory. Similarly in verse 18, the word ‘seed’ refers to one individual within whom ‘all the ethnic groups of the earth, (not only Jews), will be blessed’. Paul says that this individual is God’s Anointed - Jesus.

New series coming soon

 New series on Paul's letter to the Galatians coming soon.

'God's promise in relation to Covenant Law'

Also coming soon, a link to a new website that will have a complete commentary on the Book of Revelation