Galatianschapter 4
31 verses · Paul · AD 48 or 49 · Paul's letters
But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
Introduction
Paul, Paul's letters, Galatians Overview.
Paul carries the argument of the third chapter into the life of a household, where a young heir waits under guardians for the day his father has set. He then stops arguing and speaks as a friend and a parent, recalling how the Galatians first received him. Near the end he returns to Genesis and the two sons of Abraham. Listen for the words slave, son and heir, which run from the first verse to the last. Notice also how the tone changes in the middle, from teaching to pleading, and back again.
Context
- Who
- Churches Paul had founded while sick among them, now drifting toward calendars and rules.
- What
- A picture of sonship and adoption, a personal appeal to the Galatians, and a reading of Hagar and Sarah as two covenants.
- Where
- Written to the churches of Galatia; the chapter recalls Paul's first visit there and reaches back to Abraham's household and Mount Sinai in Arabia.
- When
- Written about AD 48 to 57; verses 13 and 14 look back to Paul's first preaching in Galatia a few years before.
- Why
- To show the Galatians that turning to the law would make sons into slaves again, and to win back their trust in the apostle who first preached to them.
Historical context
The opening image is precise Roman-style household law: an heir who is still a minor is no different from a slave in practice, managed by guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. He owns everything and controls nothing. Then the date arrives.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
Against that, adoption again, the legal act by which someone became a son with full rights, and the Spirit crying Abba, Father, the Aramaic word carried into Gentile congregations untranslated.
The "days and months and seasons and years" they were beginning to observe are the Jewish calendar of Sabbaths, new moons, and festivals. Paul's alarm is not that calendars are evil but that returning to observances as a requirement puts them back under the guardianship they were released from, and, for former pagans, functionally back among the elemental powers they once served.
The personal aside is one of the most human passages in his letters: it was because of a bodily ailment that he first preached to them, they did not despise his condition, and they would have torn out their eyes and given them to him. He does not say what the ailment was.
The Hagar and Sarah passage is offered explicitly as allegory. Paul is not rewriting Genesis but using the two mothers, slave and free, as a figure for two covenants.
Significance
The Galatians were being asked whether Paul had become their enemy by telling them the truth. He compares his anxiety to labour pains, a startling image from a man about his own converts.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The argument's force was social as much as theological. The agitators were courting them, he says, in order to shut them out and make them dependent. Going back under the calendar meant handing someone else the keys to their standing.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
From Minor to Son: The Spirit Cries Abba
Galatians 4:1-3
he is no different from a slave: Paul carries the guardian figure of 3:24 and 25 into the household. While the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything.
Galatians 4:1
“It is not, as in earthly inheritances, the death of the father, but our Father's sovereign will simply that makes us heirs. child--Greek, "one under age." differeth nothing, &c.--that is, has no more freedom than a slave (so the Greek for "servant" means).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
until the date set by his father: Guardians and trustees had charge of a minor's person and property. Roman law fixed the age of release by statute, yet Paul says the father set the date. The picture points to God, who fixed the time for His Son to come.
Galatians 4:2
“But is under tutors - Επιτροπους· Guardians and governors; οικονομους· those who have the charge of the family. These words are nearly similar; but we may consider the first as executor, the last as the person who superintends the concerns of the family and estate till the heir become of age; such as we call trustee. Until the time appointed of the father - The time mentioned in the father’s will or testament.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:2
"Guardians and trustees" could be taken as the prophets, by whose words we were made ready, day by day, for the coming of the Savior, just as the law of Moses is described above as a custodian.… Or the phrase could be taken to refer to priests and princes, who then held power over the people and are now a reflection of God's purpose. People are correctly said to live under tutors and overseers when, having the spirit of fear, they have not yet deserved to receive the spirit of freedom and adoption.
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 4.1-2patristic
the basic principles of the world: Basic principles translates stoicheia, the letters of an alphabet or the first elements of a subject. Readers take the word of the rudiments of the law, or of the powers of the world the Gentiles served as gods. Paul applies it to both.
Galatians 4:3
“He has used the name "elements of the world" for those whom he called tutors and overseers above.… Some hold that these are angels that preside over the four elements. … Many think that it is the heaven and earth with their inhabitants that are called the elements of the world, because the wise Greeks, the barbarians and the Romans, the dregs of all superstition, venerate the sun, the moon, … from which we are liberated by Christ's coming, knowing them to be creatures and not divinities.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 2.4.3patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:3
“Even so we - We who were Jews - for so I think the word here is to be limited, and not extended to the pagan, as Bloomfield supposes. The reasons for limiting it are: (1) That the pagans in no sense sustained such a relation to the Law and promises of Gad as is here supposed; (2) Such an interpretation would not be pertinent to the design of Paul.”
Galatians 4:4-5
when the time had fully come: The words when the time had fully come name a moment of God's choosing. One sentence holds the incarnation: God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. Christ entered Israel's covenant duty to redeem those under the law.
Galatians 4:4
“But when the fulness of the time - Appointed by the Father, ver. 2. Was come, God sent forth - From his own bosom. His Son, miraculously made of the substance of a woman - A virgin, without the concurrence of a man.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:4
“The smallpox had for long committed its ravages before inoculation, and then vaccination, was discovered. It was essential to the honor of God's law to permit evil long before He revealed the full remedy. Compare "the set time" (Ps 102:13). was come--Greek, "came." sent forth--Greek, "sent forth out of heaven from Himself" [ALFORD and BENGEL].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
ConnectionsGenesis 3:15
to redeem those under the law: Adoption translates huiothesia, the placing of a person as a son with full legal rights. Christ was born under the law to buy back those held under it. Redemption comes first and adoption follows as its purpose.
Galatians 4:5
“To--Greek, "That He might redeem." them . . . under the law--primarily the Jews: but as these were the representative people of the world, the Gentiles, too, are included in the redemption (Ga 3:13). receive--The Greek implies the suitableness of the thing as long ago predestined by God.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 4:5
“Someone might raise the problem: "If then he was made subject to the law to redeem those who were subject to the law … if he himself was not made also outside the law, he did not redeem those who had not been subject to the law." Another, however, will scrutinize the word redeemed more closely and will say that by the "redeemed" are meant those who were once of God's party and later ceased to be so, whereas those who were not subject to the law were not so much redeemed as purchased.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 2.4.4patristic
Galatians 4:5
“To redeem them that were under the law,.... By whom are meant chiefly the Jews, who are elsewhere represented as in and under the law, in distinction from the Gentiles who were without it; see Rom 2:12 the Gentiles indeed, though they were not under the law of Moses, yet were not without law to God, they were under the law of nature.”
Galatians 4:6-7
because you are sons: Paul follows adoption with its evidence: God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out Abba, Father. Abba is the Aramaic word of a child's own household, kept untranslated as Jesus used it in Gethsemane in Mark 14:36.
Galatians 4:6
“And because ye - Gentiles who believe, are also thus made his adult sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts likewise, crying, Abba, Father - Enabling you to call upon God both with the confidence, and the tempers, of dutiful children. The Hebrew and Greek word are joined together, to express the joint cry of the Jews and gentiles.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 4:6
“But this is God's kindness to man, that of whom He is Maker, of them according to grace He afterwards becomes Father also; becomes, that is, when men, His creatures, receive into their hearts, as the Apostle says, 'the Spirit of His Son, crying, Abba, Father.' And these are they who, having received the Word, gained power from Him to become sons of God; for they could not become sons, being by nature creatures, otherwise than by receiving the Spirit of the natural and true Son.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Four Discourses Against the Arians, Discourse 2, Section 59patristic
Galatians 4:6
“Abba, Father--The Hebrew says, "Abba" (a Hebrew term), the Greek, "Father" ("Pater," a Greek term in the original), both united together in one Sonship and one cry of faith, "Abba, Father." So "Even so ('Nai,' Greek) Amen (Hebrew)," both meaning the same (Re 1:7). Christ's own former cry is the believers' cry, "Abba, Father" (Mr 14:36).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
So you are no longer a slave: The verse moves to the singular and addresses each believer. Sonship brings heirship, and the inheritance comes through God as His gift. The slave of verse 1 and the heir of verse 7 are the same person before and after the appointed time.
Galatians 4:7
“Thus the redeemed are heirs THROUGH the Triune GOD, not through the law, nor through fleshly descent [WINDISCHMANN in ALFORD]; (Ga 3:18 confirms this). heir--confirming Ga 3:29; compare Ro 8:17.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Back to the Weak and Beggarly Calendar
Galatians 4:8-11
those who by nature are not gods: Paul turns the argument on the Galatians: having known God, they are turning back to those weak and worthless principles. Their observing of special days and months and seasons and years works like a relapse into the old religious calendar they were rescued from.
Galatians 4:8
“Indeed then when ye knew not God, ye served them that by nature - That is, in reality. Are no gods - And so were under a far worse bondage than even that of the Jews.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:8
“When ye knew not God - Though it is evident, from the complexion of the whole of this epistle, that the great body of the Christians in the Churches of Galatia were converts from among the Jews or proselytes to Judaism; yet from this verse it appears that there were some who had been converted from heathenism; unless we suppose that the apostle here particularly addresses those who had been proselytes to Judaism and thence converted to Christianity; which appears to be most likely from the following verses.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
or rather are known by God: Paul corrects his own phrase. Knowing God begins with God's knowing them, His choice and care resting on them first. To turn back from Him is to be enslaved again by weak and worthless things.
Galatians 4:9
"How is it that ye turn back again?" weak--powerless to justify: in contrast to the justifying power of faith (Ga 3:24; compare Heb 7:18). beggarly--contrasted with the riches of the inheritance of believers in Christ (Eph 1:18).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:9
“Now these same elements that he has now styled "weak and beggarly" he called above merely the "elements of the world." … And so I think that so long as someone is an infant … he is subject to the elements, namely, the law of Moses.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 2.4.8-9patristic
You are observing special days: The days, months, seasons and years are the Jewish calendar of Sabbaths, new moons, feasts and sabbatical years. The Galatians were keeping them as duties that won standing with God. Paul treats this as slavery all over again.
Galatians 4:10
“Ye observe days - Ye superstitiously regard the Sabbaths and particular days of your own appointment; And months - New moons; times - festivals, such as those of tabernacles, dedication, passover, etc. Years - Annual atonements, sabbatical years, and jubilees.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:10
“To regard the observance of certain days as in itself meritorious as a work, is alien to the free spirit of Christianity. This is not incompatible with observing the Sabbath or the Christian Lord's day as obligatory, though not as a work (which was the Jewish and Gentile error in the observance of days), but as a holy mean appointed by the Lord for attaining the great end, holiness.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I fear for you: Paul fears for the Galatians and for his own efforts among them. The word means labor to the point of weariness. If they return to slavery, that labor will have been in vain.
Galatians 4:11
“I am afraid of you,.... Which shows the danger he apprehended they were in, by taking such large steps from Christianity to Judaism, and expresses the godly jealousy of the apostle over them; intimates he had some hope of them, and in the whole declares his great love and affection for them; for love is a thing full of care and fear: lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain; in preaching the Gospel among them with so much diligence and constancy, though so many afflictions and pressures lay upon him.”
4 more voices on this verse
Galatians 4:11
“Observe the tender compassion of the Apostle; they were shaken and he trembles and fears. And hence he has put it so as thoroughly to shame them, "I have bestowed labor upon you," saying, as it were, make not vain the labors which have cost me sweat and pain. By saying "I fear," and subjoining the word "lest," he both inspires alarm, and encourages good hope.”
John Chrysostom · written before 407 · Homily on Galatians 4patristic
Galatians 4:11
“I am afraid of you ... - I have fears respecting you. His fears were that they had no genuine Christian principle. They had been so easily perverted and turned back to the servitude of ceremonies and rites, that he was apprehensive that there could be no real Christian principle in the case.”
Galatians 4:11
“So, let the reader choose whichever interpretation he wishes, so long as he understands that such superstitious observances of times bring great peril to the soul, so much so that the apostle adds, "I am afraid, lest perhaps I should have labored in you in vain." … And yet if someone, even a catechumen, is caught observing the sabbath by the Jewish rite, the church is confused. As it is, innumerable members of the church say with great complacency in open view of us, "I do not travel on the day after the first."”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Epistle to the Galatians 35 [1B.4.10-11]patristic
Galatians 4:11
“I am afraid of you - I begin now to be seriously alarmed for you, and think you are so thoroughly perverted from the Gospel of Christ, that all my pains and labor in your conversion have been thrown away.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
You Would Have Torn Out Your Eyes for Me
Galatians 4:12-14
become like me, for I became like you: Paul appeals to their old affection and recalls that it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to them. They welcomed me as if I were an angel of God.
Galatians 4:12
“A disciple harms his master if he wastes his precepts and his work by his own neglect. The Galatians had not harmed the apostle, because they had observed his gospel and his commands right up to the present.… Or else [he means]: "When I first preached the gospel to you … I pretended to be weak that I might be helpful to you in your weakness; did you not receive me as an angel, as Christ Jesus?”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 2.4.13patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:12
“On the other hand, the Galatian Gentiles, by adopting legal ordinances, showed that they regarded them as needful for salvation. This Paul combats. ye have not injured me at all--namely, at the period when I first preached the Gospel among you, and when I made myself as you are, namely, living as a Gentile, not as a Jew.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
because of an illness: Paul first preached the gospel in Galatia because of an illness. Readers have named an eye disease, a fever or the marks of persecution. The illness was a trial to the Galatians, and it brought them the gospel.
Galatians 4:13
“This is an obscure passage and demands closer attention. "I preached to you initially," he says, "as if to infants and sucklings on account of your bodily weakness.… This economy and pretense of weakness in preaching was my own policy.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 2.4.14patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:13
“Ye know how - To show them the folly of their embracing the new views which they had adopted, he reminds them of past times, and particularly of the strength of the attachment which they had evinced for him in former days. Through infirmity of the flesh - Greek “Weakness” (ἀσθένειαν astheneian); compare the 1Co 2:3 note; 2Co 10:10; 2Co 12:7 notes.”
as if I were an angel of God: In that world a sickness could be taken as a sign of divine displeasure, so the illness was a trial to the Galatians. They welcomed him anyway, as an angel of God and as Christ Jesus Himself. The comparisons mark how high that welcome rose.
Galatians 4:14
“And my temptation which was in my flesh - On this verse there are a great many various readings, as there are various opinions. Instead of μου, My temptation, ABC*D*FG, some others, with the Coptic, Vulgate, Itala, and several of the primitive fathers, have ὑμων, Your temptation. The word πειρασμον, which we translate temptation, signifies trial of any kind.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:14
“An angel is free from the flesh, infirmity, and temptation. as Christ--being Christ's representative (Mt 10:40). Christ is Lord of angels.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Galatians 4:15-16
What then has become of your blessing?: The Galatians once counted themselves blessed to have Paul, so that you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. That devotion has turned to treating him as an enemy for one cause: Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Galatians 4:15
“Where is then the blessedness - Margin, “What was” - in accordance with the Greek. The words “ye spake of” are not in the Greek, and should have been printed in italics. But they obscure the sense at any rate. This is not to be regarded as a question, asking what had become of the blessedness, implying that it had departed; but it is rather to be regarded as an exclamation, referring to the happiness of that moment, and their affection and joy when they thus received him. “What blessedness you had then! How happy was that moment!”
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:15
“Where, &c.--Of what value was your congratulation (so the Greek for "blessedness" expresses) of yourselves, on account of your having among you me, the messenger of the Gospel, considering how entirely you have veered about since?”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Have I now become your enemy: Paul had told the Galatians the truth, and those zealous teachers had made him look like their enemy. He asks whether telling the truth has made him one. The line runs between the zeal that flatters and the truth that warns.
Galatians 4:16
“It is no uncommon thing for men to account those their enemies who are really their best friends; for so, undoubtedly, those are, whether ministers or others, who tell them the truth, and deal freely and faithfully with them in matters relating to their eternal salvation, as the apostle now did with these Christians.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Galatians 4:17-18
Those people are zealous for you: The Judaizing teachers court the Galatians zealously, but not well, aiming to exclude them from Paul's fellowship. Paul answers that zeal for a good thing is always right, so the fault lies in the object of the zeal.
Galatians 4:17
“They zealously affect you - See 1Co 12:31 (Greek); 1Co 14:39. The word used here (Ζηλόω Zēloō), means to be “zealous” toward, that is, for or against any person or thing; usually, in a good sense, to be eager for. Here it means, that the false teachers made a show of zeal toward the Galatians, or professed affection for them in order to gain them as their followers. They were full of ardor, and professed an extraordinary concern for their welfare - as people always do who are demagogues, or who seek to gain proselytes.”
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:17
“Neither the cause of their zealous courting of you, nor the manner, is what it ought to be. they would exclude you--"They wish to shut you out" from the kingdom of God (that is, they wish to persuade you that as uncircumcised Gentiles, you are shut out from it), "that ye may zealously court them," that is, become circumcised, as zealous followers of themselves.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
it is good to be zealous: Paul approves zeal itself. The fault in verse 17 was its aim, for those people wanted the Galatians zealous for them. Zeal for good should hold at any time, when Paul is with them and when he is away.
Galatians 4:18
“But it is good to be zealously affected,.... A zealous affection when right is very commendable, as the instances of Phinehas, Elijah, John the Baptist, and our Lord Jesus Christ show, and a contrary spirit is very disagreeable.”
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 4:18
“My reason for saying the "not well" (Ga 4:17; the Greek is the same as that for "good," and "in a good cause," in Ga 4:28), is that their zealous courting of you is not in a good cause.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Galatians 4:18
“No wonder indeed that on the apostle's departure … the Galatians were changed, since even now we witness the same occurrence in the church. For never was there a teacher in the church so distinguished in speech and life.… We see people busy with haste and fervor about alms, fasting, sexual abstinence, relief of the poor, taking care of graves, etc. But when he departs we see that they waste away and, from loss of their food, grow thin, pale and languid. Then follows the death of all that was thriving before.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 2.4.17-18patristic
Galatians 4:19-20
for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth: Paul reaches for his most intimate figure: My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. The labor is repeated because the first birth has not reached its shape.
I am perplexed about you: Paul wishes he could be with his children now and change his tone. A letter holds one tone for every hearer. He is perplexed about them, so the chapter moves between sharp words for the law and tender words for his children.
Galatians 4:20
“I desire to be present with you - I wish to accommodate my doctrine to your state; I know not whether you need stronger reprehension, or to be dealt with more leniently. I stand in doubt of you - I have doubts concerning your state; the progress of error and conviction among you, which I cannot fully know without being among you, This appears to be the apostle’s meaning, and tends much to soften and render palatable the severity of his reproofs.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Hagar and Sarah: Two Covenants, Two Cities
Galatians 4:21-23
you who want to be under the law: Paul turns the law on those who want to be under it, going to Genesis for two sons of Abraham. One was born according to the flesh and the other was born through the promise, and the allegory rests on that difference.
Galatians 4:21
“Ye that desire to be under the law - Ye who desire to incorporate the Mosaic institutions with Christianity, and thus bring yourselves into bondage to circumcision, and a great variety of oppressive rites. Do ye not hear the law? - Do ye not understand what is written in the Pentateuch relative to Abraham and his children. It is evident that the word law is used in two senses in this verse. It first means the Mosaic institutions; secondly, the Pentateuch, where the history is recorded to which the apostle refers.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
4 more voices on this verse
Galatians 4:21
"For (it is written) that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond maid, the other by a free woman; but he who was of the bond maid was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise: which things are allegorized" (that is to say, they presaged something besides the literal history); "for these are the two covenants," or the two exhibitions (of the divine plans), as we have found the word interpreted," the one from the Mount Sinai," in relation to the synagogue of the Jews, according to the law, "which gendereth to…
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Marcion Book Vpatristic
Galatians 4:21
“He says rightly, "ye that desire," for the matter was not one of a proper and orderly succession of things but of their own unseasonable contentiousness. It is the Book of Creation which he here calls the Law, which name he often gives to the whole Old Testament.”
John Chrysostom · written before 407 · Homily on Galatians 4patristic
Galatians 4:21
“But because in it was prefigured the new testament, the men of God who at that time understood this according to the ordering of the times, were indeed the stewards and bearers of the old testament, but are shown to be the heirs of the new. Shall we deny that he belongs to the new testament who says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me"?”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Against Two Letters of Pelagius 3.6patristic
Galatians 4:21
“One should note that the whole narrative in Genesis is here called Law, not, according to the popular assumption, simply statements of what is to be done or avoided but everything that is rehearsed concerning Abraham and his wives and sons.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 2.4.21patristic
Abraham had two sons: Genesis 16 and 21 tell of Ishmael, born of Hagar the slave, and Isaac, born of Sarah the free wife. The teachers stressed descent from Abraham. Paul asks which son and which mother.
Galatians 4:22
“For it is written,.... In Gen 16:15 that Abraham had two sons, not two sons only; for besides the two referred to, he had six more, Gen 25:2 but it being only pertinent to the apostle's purpose to take notice of these two, he mentions no more, though he does not deny that he had any more. These two sons were Ishmael and Isaac: the one by a bondmaid. Ishmael was by Hagar, Sarah's servant, who represented the covenant the Jewish nation was under the bondage of. The other by a free woman.”
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:22
“For it is written - Viz. in Gen 16:15; Gen 22:1, etc., that Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac; the one; Ishmael, by a bond maid, Hagar; the other, Isaac, by a free woman, Sarah.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
born through the promise: Ishmael was born in the ordinary course of nature. Isaac was born when Sarah was past bearing, by the power of God's promise. The two births set the pattern for the two covenants of the next verses.
Galatians 4:23
“But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh - In the ordinary course of nature, without any special promise, or any unusual divine interposition, as in the case of Isaac. But he of the free woman ... - The birth of Isaac was in accordance with a special promise, and by a remarkable divine interposition; see Gen 18:10; Gen 21:1-2; Heb 11:11-12; compare the notes at Rom 4:19-21. The idea here of Paul is, that the son of the slave was in a humble and inferior condition from his very birth.”
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:23
“From God's own Scripture it is evident that the birth of Ishmael also was according to promise. But the answer is that a promise is truly fulfilled in the giving of a covenant. It is one thing to bless, increase and multiply greatly, as is written in Ishmael's case, but another to make an heir through a covenant.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Epistle to the Galatians 2.4.22-23patristic
Galatians 4:24-26
These things serve as illustrations: translates allegoroumena, Paul's own word and license for what follows: the women represent two covenants. Hagar is the one from Mount Sinai that bears children into slavery, and Sarah is the Jerusalem above, which is free.
Galatians 4:24
“Which things are an allegory - An allegory is a figurative speech, wherein one thing is expressed, and another intended. For those two sons are types of the two covenants. One covenant is that given from Mount Sinai, which beareth children to bondage - That is, all who are under this, the Jewish covenant, are in bondage.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Galatians 4:24
“Which things are an allegory - They are to be understood spiritually; more being intended in the account than meets the eye. Allegory, from αλλος, another, and αγορεω, or αγορευω, to speak, signifies a thing that is a representative of another, where the literal sense is the representative of a spiritual meaning; or, as the glossary expresses it, ἑτερως κατα μεταφρασιν νοουμενα, και ου κατα την αναγνωσιν· “where the thing is to be understood differently in the interpretation than it appears in the reading.” Allegories are frequent in all countries, and are used by all writers.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Galatians 4:24
“The former, Agar, represented that which was given from mount Sinai, and which gendereth to bondage, which, though it was a dispensation of grace, yet, in comparison of the gospel state, was a dispensation of bondage, and became more so to the Jews, through their mistake of the design of it, and expecting to be justified by the works of it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Galatians 4:24
“Which things are an allegory,.... Or "are allegorized": so Sarah and Hagar were allegorized by Philo the Jew (p), before they were by the apostle. Sarah he makes to signify virtue, and Hagar the whole circle of arts and sciences, which are, or should be, an handmaid to virtue; but these things respecting Hagar and Sarah, the bondwoman and the free, and their several offspring, are much better allegorized by the apostle here.”
Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia: Hagar and her descendants belonged to Arabia. Mount Sinai stands in the same region. Paul links the covenant given there to the present Jerusalem, still in slavery under the law.
Galatians 4:25
“Translate, "For this word, Hagar, is (imports) Mount Sinai in Arabia (that is, among the Arabians--in the Arabian tongue)." So CHRYSOSTOM explains. Haraut, the traveller, says that to this day the Arabians call Sinai, "Hadschar," that is, Hagar, meaning a rock or stone.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 4:25
“For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia,.... The Arabic version, instead of Arabia, reads "Balca". The Syriac version makes Hagar to be a mountain, reading the words thus, "for Mount Hagar is Sinai, which is in Arabia": and some have been of opinion that Sinai was called Hagar by the Arabians.”
Galatians 4:25
“For this Agar is Mount Sinai - This Hagar well represents the Law given on Mount Sinai. No one can believe that Paul meant to say that Hagar was literally Mount Sinai. A great deal of perplexity has been felt in regard to this passage, and Bentley proposed to cancel it altogether as an interpolation. But there is no good authority for this.”
the Jerusalem above is free: The Jerusalem above is the heavenly city, the true home of believers. Hebrews 12:22 and Revelation 21:2 use the same picture. She is mother to all who are born of the promise.
Galatians 4:26
“But Jerusalem which is above,.... This Sarah was a type and figure of; she answered to, and agreed with this; which is to be understood, not of the church triumphant in heaven, but of the Gospel church state under the administration of the new covenant; and that, not as in the latter day glory, when the new Jerusalem shall descend from God out of heaven, but as it then was in the apostle's time, and has been since.”
2 more voices on this verse
Galatians 4:26
“But Jerusalem which is above - The apostle still follows the Jewish allegory, showing not only how the story of Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac, was allegorized, but pointing out also that even Jerusalem was the subject of allegory; for it was a maxim among the rabbins, that “whatsoever was in the earth, the same was also found in heaven for there is no matter, howsoever small, in this world, that has not something similar to it in the spiritual world.””
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Galatians 4:26
“Here "the Messianic theocracy, which before Christ's second appearing is the Church, and after it, Christ's kingdom of glory" [MEYER]. free--as Sarah was; opposed to "she is in bondage" (Ga 4:25). all--omitted in many of the oldest manuscripts, though supported by some.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Galatians 4:27-28
Paul cites Isaiah 54:1, Rejoice, O barren woman, who bears no children, spoken of Jerusalem's restoration after exile. He applies its barren woman surpassed in children to Sarah, whose son of promise outnumbers the slave woman's.
Galatians 4:27
“Wherefore the Church beareth much fruit of the redeemed: because no longer Moses (as) mediator nor Elijah (as) messenger, but the Lord Himself has redeemed us, granting many more children to the Church than to the first Synagogue; as Isaiah declared, saying: "Rejoice thou barren, that didst not bear." The barren is the Church, which never at all in former times presented sons to God. "Cry out and call, thou that didst not travail: for the children of the desolate are more than of her which hath an husband." Now the first Synagogue had as husband the Law.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · The Proof of the Apostolic Preachingpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:27
“For it is written - This passage is found in Isa 54:1. For an exposition of its meaning as it occurs there, see my notes at Isaiah. The object of the apostle in introducing it here seems to be to prove that the Gentiles as well as the Jews would partake of the privileges connected with the heavenly Jerusalem. He had in the previous verse spoken of the Jerusalem from above as the common mother of all, true Christians, whether by birth Jews or Gentiles.”
Cross references
Galatians 4:27
- QuotingIsaiah 54:1“Shout for joy, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth in song and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD.
'Rejoice, thou barren' (Sarah/Jerusalem-above allegory, 'it is written')
like Isaac, are children of promise: Isaac came by God's word when nature offered no hope. The Galatian believers likewise owe their life to the promise. Their standing in Abraham's family rests on that birth.
Galatians 4:28
“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,.... The Ethiopic version reads, "you, brethren"; and so one of Stephens's copies. As the two women, Hagar and Sarah, might be, and are allegorized; so likewise their respective offspring.”
Galatians 4:29-31
the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit: Genesis 21:9 and 10 supplies the last piece: the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit. Sarah's demand, Expel the slave woman and her son, becomes the word of Scripture on the inheritance.
Galatians 4:29
“But as then he that was born after the flesh - Ishmael; see Gal 4:23. Persecuted him that was born after the Spirit - That is, Isaac. The phrase, “after the Spirit,” here, is synonymous with “according to the promise” in the previous verse. It stands opposed to the phrase “after the flesh,” and means that his birth was by the special or miraculous agency of God; see Rom. 4. It was not in the ordinary course of events. The persecution here referred to, was the injurious treatment which Isaac received from Ishmael, or the opposition which subsisted between them.”
Paul cites Sarah's words from Genesis 21:10, which God confirmed to Abraham. Scripture itself orders the line of slavery out of the inheritance. For the Galatians, the lesson is a clean break with teachers who would place them under the law.
Galatians 4:30
“Nevertheless, what saith the Scripture?.... This is a Talmudic form of citing Scriptures, and answers to מאי קראה, "what says the Scriptures (e)?" the passage referred to is Gen 21:10 and which are the words of Sarah to Abraham; but inasmuch as she spake them under divine inspiration, and they were approved of and confirmed by God, as appears from Gen 21:12 they are ascribed to God speaking in the Scripture: cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.”
3 more voices on this verse
Galatians 4:30
"Since, when we were children," says the same apostle, "we were kept in bondage under the rudiments of the world. And the child, though heir, differeth nothing from a servant, till the time appointed of the father." Philosophers, then, are children, unless they have been made men by Christ. "For if the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free," at least he is the seed of Abraham, though not of promise, receiving what belongs to him by free gift.
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Stromata Book 1patristic
Galatians 4:30
“Ge 21:10, 12, where Sarah's words are, "shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac." But what was there said literally, is here by inspiration expressed in its allegorical spiritual import, applying to the New Testament believer, who is antitypically "the son of the free woman." In Joh 8:35, 36, Jesus refers to this.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Galatians 4:30
“But what saith the scripture - Showing the consequence of this. Cast out the bondwoman and her son - Who mocked Isaac. In like manner will God cast out all who seek to be justified by the law; especially if they persecute them who are his children by faith.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Cross references
Galatians 4:30
- QuotingGenesis 21:10and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”
'Cast out the bondwoman and her son' ('what saith the scripture?')
Therefore, brothers: The verse draws the conclusion of the whole allegory. Believers belong to the free woman and share her son's inheritance. The next verse turns this conclusion into a command to stand firm in freedom.
Galatians 4:31
“Are not children of the bondwoman - Have nothing to do with the servile Mosaic dispensation. But of the free - Being free from the curse and the bond of that law, and from the power of sin and Satan.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Galatians 4:31
“So then, brethren - It follows from all this. Not from the allegory regarded as an argument - for Paul does not use it thus - but from the considerations suggested on the whole subject.”
How this psalm is built
The form: A figure in which the two sons of Abraham are said by allegory, one thing written and another signified, as Jerome classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Slave, son and heir | The chapter opens on an heir who is no different from a slave, reaches its first conclusion at verse 7, no longer a slave but a son and an heir, and ends on the slave woman's son who will never share the inheritance. The same three words frame the household picture and the allegory.John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament, on Galatians 4:1 and 4:31. | Galatians 4:1, Galatians 4:7, Galatians 4:30, Galatians 4:31 |
| Abba, Father | Verse 6 sets the Aramaic Abba beside the Greek word for Father. Augustine of Hippo holds that Paul joined words from two languages that mean the same thing on purpose, to show one people called from Jews and Gentiles.Augustine of Hippo, Epistle to the Galatians 31, on Galatians 4:6. | Galatians 4:6 |
| Two women, two covenants, two cities | Verses 22 to 31 set two columns side by side: the slave woman and the free, flesh and promise, Sinai and the Jerusalem above, the present city and the free one. Paul names his own method, saying these things serve as illustrations, and the lines are drawn in pairs.Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Galatians, on Galatians 4:24. | Galatians 4:22, Galatians 4:23, Galatians 4:24, Galatians 4:25, Galatians 4:26 |
The structure
7 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter has three parts. Verses 1 to 11 continue the argument with the picture of the child heir, the sending of the Son and the Spirit, and a warning against turning back to the old principles. Verses 12 to 20 are a personal appeal, the warmest passage in the letter. Verses 21 to 31 read the story of Hagar and Sarah as two covenants and close on the children of the free woman.
Where the chapter stands in the letter
This chapter closes the letter's argument from Scripture, begun in chapter 3. The heirs of 3:29 become the child heir of 4:1, and the freedom of the last verse becomes the command of 5:1. The allegory is Paul's last proof before he turns to how the free are to live.
The debate: the elements of the world
The basic principles of verses 3 and 9 translate stoicheia. J. B. Lightfoot and John Gill read the word of elementary teaching, the rudiments of religion under the law (Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians; Exposition of the New Testament, on Galatians 4:3). Others read it of the elemental powers the Gentiles served, and verse 8 speaks of gods who by nature are no gods. Paul applies the word to the Jewish past and the pagan past alike.
Where the Old Testament is read
Verses 22 to 30 read Genesis 16 and 21, verse 27 quotes Isaiah 54:1, and verse 30 quotes Sarah's words at Genesis 21:10. Jerome notes that allegory is a term of the grammar schools for a figure that says one thing and means another, and that Paul knew the art (Epistle to the Galatians 2.4.24).
Keep studying
Studies22
People and groups1
Places1
Words12
Subjects2
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Augustine of Hippo, Epistle to the Galatians 40, on Galatians 4:21 to 31; Jerome, Epistle to the Galatians 2.4.24, on Galatians 4:24 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Galatians, on Galatians 4:24.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Galatians; John Chrysostom, Commentary on Galatians; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.