Galatians
Salvation by
grace! Justification by faith! Sanctification by faith!
The Appeal To Stay Away From Legalism
-Because legalism is bondage – 4:8-11
-Because of their personal relationship –
-Illustrated in Hagar and Sarah – 4:21-31
Allegorical contrast between Promise & Law
Verse 21 – “…do
you not listen to the law?” From
Genesis, part of the Torah, Paul contrasts the Sarah-Isaac and Hagar-Ishmael
relationships. He seeks to prove the
Judaizers wrong from their own source document.
Verse 22-23 Two
contrasts:
Son of the bondwoman - Son of the free woman
Born of the flesh - Born of the promise
Abraham and Sarah devised a fleshly
scheme. However, scheming and true
Biblical faith are mutually
exclusive. If we trust God and His promises, we will not
scheme!
Verse 24 “This is
allegorically speaking…”
Paul is not denying the historicity of the
persons and events or advancing an allegorical method of
interpretation. He is allegorizing the historical facts
because they illustrate his point about the
distinctives of law versus grace.
Principle:
Law is not only
incapable of adding anything to what grace provides, it is also
counter-productive.
A believer
turning to law for spirituality is like a banker turning to a beggar for
financial support!
Verses 28-30 – Three Applications:
1. Believers are born supernaturally and are part
of God’s promise.
2. Legalists always persecute those living in
liberty.
3. Christians should exclude legalists from
their midst.
POINT: Those in
accord with the flesh will antagonize those in accord with the Spirit.
Legalism
gives vent to the flesh!
Legalism gives
the flesh a chance to look good!
CONCLUSION: There
is only one way to be children of God –through the free woman, that is
through
the faith-promise
principle!