Galatians 4

Ga 4:1-31.

THE

SAME

SUBJECT

CONTINUED:

ILLUSTRATION OF

OUR

SUBJECTION TO THE

LAW

ONLY TILL

CHRIST

CAME, FROM THE

SUBJECTION OF AN

HEIR TO

HIS

GUARDIAN TILL

HE

IS OF

AGE.

PETER'S

GOOD

WILL TO THE

GALATIANS

SHOULD

LEAD

THEM TO THE

SAME

GOOD

WILL TO

HIM AS

THEY

HAD AT

FIRST

SHOWN.

THEIR

DESIRE TO

BE UNDER THE

LAW

SHOWN BY THE

ALLEGORY OF

ISAAC AND

ISHMAEL TO

BE

INCONSISTENT WITH

THEIR

GOSPEL

LIBERTY.

1-7. The fact of God's sending His Son to redeem us who were under

the law

(Ga 4:4),

and sending the Spirit of His Son into our hearts

(Ga 4:6),

confirms the conclusion

(Ga 3:29)

that we are "heirs according to the promise."

the heir--

(Ga 3:29).

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). He is not at his own disposal.

lord of all--by title and virtual ownership

(compare

1Co 3:21, 22).

2. tutors and governors--rather, "guardians (of the person) and

stewards (of the property)." Answering to "the law was our schoolmaster"

or "tutor"

(Ga 3:24).

until the time appointed of the father--in His eternal purposes

(Eph 1:9-11).

The Greek is a legal term, expressing a time defined by

law, or testamentary disposition.

3. we--the Jews primarily, and inclusively the Gentiles also. For

the "we" in

Ga 4:5

plainly refers to both Jew and Gentile believers. The Jews in

their bondage to the law of Moses, as the representative people of the

world, include all mankind virtually amenable to God's law

(Ro 2:14, 15;

compare Note, see on

Ga 3:13;

Ga 3:23).

Even the Gentiles were under "bondage," and in a state of discipline

suitable to nonage, till Christ came as the Emancipator.

were in bondage--as "servants"

(Ga 4:1).

under the elements--or "rudiments"; rudimentary religion

teaching of a non-Christian character: the elementary lessons of

outward things (literally, "of the [outward] world"); such as the

legal ordinances mentioned,

Ga 4:10

(Col 2:8, 20).

Our childhood's lessons [CONYBEARE and HOWSON]. Literally, The letters of the alphabet

(Heb 5:12).

4. the fulness of the time--namely, "the time appointed by the Father"

(Ga 4:2).

Compare Note, see on

Eph 1:10;

Lu 1:57;

Ac 2:1;

Eze 5:2.

"The Church has its own ages" [BENGEL]. God does

nothing prematurely, but, foreseeing the end from the beginning, waits

till all is ripe for the execution of His purpose. Had Christ come

directly after the fall, the enormity and deadly fruits of sin would

not have been realized fully by man, so as to feel his desperate state

and need of a Saviour. Sin was fully developed. Man's inability to save

himself by obedience to the law, whether that of Moses, or that of

conscience, was completely manifested; all the prophecies of various

ages found their common center in this particular time: and

Providence, by various arrangements in the social and political, as

well as the moral world, had fully prepared the way for the coming

Redeemer. God often permits physical evil long before he teaches the

remedy. 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]. The same verb is used of the Father's

sending forth the Spirit

(Ga 4:6).

So in

Ac 7:12.

Compare with this verse,

Joh 8:42;

Isa 48:16.

his--emphatical. "His own Son." Not by adoption, as we are

(Ga 4:5):

nor merely His Son by the anointing of the Spirit which God sends into

the heart

(Ga 4:6;

Joh 1:18).

made of a woman--"made" is used as in

1Co 15:45,

"The first man, Adam, was made a living soul," Greek,

"made to be (born) of a woman." The expression implies a special

interposition of God in His birth as man, namely, causing Him to be

conceived by the Holy Ghost. So ESTIUS.

made under the law--"made to be under the law." Not merely as

GROTIUS

and ALFORD explain, "Born subject to the law as a Jew." But "made"

law," to keep it all, ceremonial and moral, perfectly for us, as the

Representative Man, and to suffer and exhaust the full penalty of our

whole race's violation of it. This constitutes the significance of His

circumcision, His being presented in the temple

(Lu 2:21, 22, 27;

compare

Mt 5:17),

and His baptism by John, when He said

(Mt 3:15),

"Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."

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. "Receive as something destined or due"

(Lu 23:41;

2Jo 8).

Herein God makes of sons of men sons of God, inasmuch as God made of

the Son of God the Son of man [AUGUSTINE on Psalm

52].

6. because ye are sons--The gift of the Spirit of prayer is the

consequence of our adoption. The Gentile Galatians might think, as the

Jews were under the law before their adoption, that so they, too, must

first be under the law. Paul, by anticipation, meets this objection by

saying, YE ARE sons, therefore ye need not be as children

(Ga 4:1)

under the tutorship of the law, as being already in the free state of

"sons" of God by faith in Christ

(Ga 3:26),

no longer in your nonage (as "children,"

Ga 4:1).

The Spirit of God's only Begotten Son in your hearts, sent from, and

leading you to cry to, the Father, attests your sonship by adoption:

for the Spirit is the "earnest of your inheritance"

(Ro 8:15, 16;

Eph 1:13).

"It is because ye are sons that God sent forth" (the Greek

requires this translation, not "hath sent forth") into

OUR (so the oldest manuscripts read for "your," in

English Version) hearts the Spirit of His son, crying, "Abba,

Father"

(Joh 1:12).

As in

Ga 4:5

he changed from "them," the third person, to "we," the first person, so

here he changes from "ye," the second person, to "our," the first

person: this he does to identify their case as Gentiles, with his own

and that of his believing fellow countrymen, as Jews. In another point

of view, though not the immediate one intended by the context, this

verse expresses, "Because ye are sons (already in God's electing

purpose of love), God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your

hearts," &c.: God thus, by sending His Spirit in due time, actually

conferring that sonship which He already regarded as a present reality

("are") because of His purpose, even before it was actually fulfilled.

So

Heb 2:13,

where "the children" are spoken of as existing in His purpose, before

their actual existence.

the Spirit of his Son--By faith ye are one with the Son, so that

what is His is yours; His Sonship ensures your sonship; His Spirit

ensures for you a share in the same. "If any man have not the Spirit of

Christ, he is none of His"

(Ro 8:9).

Moreover, as the Spirit of God proceeds from God the Father, so the

Spirit of the Son proceeds from the Son: so that the Holy Ghost, as the

Creed says, "proceedeth from the Father and the Son." The Father was

not begotten: the Son is begotten of the Father; the Holy

Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son.

crying--Here the SPIRIT is regarded as the

agent in praying, and the believer as His organ. In

Ro 8:15,

"The Spirit of adoption" is said to be that whereby WE cry, "Abba, Father"; but in

Ro 8:26,

"The SPIRIT ITSELF maketh intercession for us with groanings which

cannot be uttered." The believers' prayer is His prayer: hence arises

its acceptability with God.

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).

7. Wherefore--Conclusion inferred from

Ga 4:4-6.

thou--individualizing and applying the truth to each. Such an

individual appropriation of this comforting truth God grants in answer

to them who cry, "Abba, Father."

heir of God through Christ--The oldest manuscripts read, "an

heir through God." This combines on behalf of man, the whole

before-mentioned agency, of THE

TRINITY: the Father sent His Son and the Spirit;

the Son has freed us from the law; the Spirit has completed our

sonship. 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.

8-11. Appeal to them not to turn back from their privileges as free

sons, to legal bondage again.

then--when ye were "servants"

(Ga 4:7).

ye knew not God--not opposed to

Ro 1:21.

The heathen originally knew God, as

Ro 1:21

states, but did not choose to retain God in their knowledge, and so

corrupted the original truth. They might still have

known Him, in a measure, from His works, but as a matter of fact they

knew Him not, so far as His eternity, His power as the Creator, and His

holiness, are concerned.

are no gods--that is, have no existence, such as their

worshippers attribute to them, in the nature of things, but only in the

corrupt imaginations of their worshippers (see on

1Co 8:4;

1Co 10:19, 20;

2Ch 13:9).

Your "service" was a different bondage from that of the Jews, which was

a true service. Yet theirs, like yours, was a burdensome yoke; how then

is it ye wish to resume the yoke after that God has transferred both

Jews and Gentiles to a free service?

9. known God or rather are known of God--They did not

first know and love God, but God first, in His electing love,

knew and loved them as His, and therefore attracted them to the saving

knowledge of Him

(Mt 7:23;

1Co 8:3;

2Ti 2:19;

compare

Ex 33:12, 17;

Joh 15:16;

Php 3:12).

God's great grace in this made their fall from it the more heinous.

how--expressing indignant wonder at such a thing being possible,

and even actually occurring

(Ga 1:6).

"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).

The state of the "child"

(Ga 4:1)

is weak, as not having attained manhood; "beggarly," as not having

attained the inheritance.

elements--"rudiments." It is as if a schoolmaster should go back to

learning the A, B, C'S [BENGEL].

again--There are two Greek words in the original. "Ye desire again,

beginning afresh, to be in bondage." Though the Galatians, as Gentiles,

had never been under the Mosaic yoke, yet they had been under "the

elements of the world"

(Ga 4:3):

the common designation for the Jewish and Gentile systems alike, in

contrast to the Gospel (however superior the Jewish was to the

Gentile). Both systems consisted in outward worship and cleaved to

sensible forms. Both were in bondage to the elements of sense,

as though these could give the justification and sanctification which

the inner and spiritual power of God alone could bestow.

ye desire--or "will." Will-worship is not acceptable to God

(Col 2:18, 23).

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. The whole

life alike belongs to the Lord in the Gospel view, just as the whole

world, and not the Jews only, belong to Him. But as in Paradise, so now

one portion of time is needed wherein to draw off the soul more

entirely from secular business to God

(Col 2:16).

"Sabbaths, new moons, and set feasts"

(1Ch 23:31;

2Ch 31:3),

answer to "days, months, times." "Months," however, may refer to the

first and seventh months, which were sacred on account of

the number of feasts in them.

times--Greek, "seasons," namely, those of the three great feasts,

the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.

years--The sabbatical year was about the time of writing this Epistle,

A.D. 48 [BENGEL].

11. lest--Greek, "lest haply." My fear is not for my own sake,

but for yours.

12. be as I am--"As I have in my life among you cast off Jewish

habits, so do ye; for I am become as ye are," namely, in the

non-observance of legal ordinances. "The fact of my laying them aside

among Gentiles, shows that I regard them as

not at all contributing to justification or sanctification. Do

you regard them in the same light, and act accordingly." His observing

the law among the Jews was not inconsistent with this, for he did so

only in order to win them, without compromising principle. 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. You at that time did me

no wrong; "ye did not despise my temptation in the flesh"

(Ga 4:14):

nay, you "received me as an angel of God." Then in

Ga 4:16,

he asks, "Have I then, since that time, become your enemy by

telling you the truth?"

13. how through infirmity--rather, as Greek, "Ye know that

because of an infirmity of my flesh I preached," &c. He implies

that bodily sickness, having detained him among them, contrary to his

original intentions, was the occasion of his preaching the Gospel to

them.

at the first--literally, "at the former time"; implying that at

the time of writing he had been twice in Galatia.

See my

Introduction;

also see on

Ga 4:16,

and

Ga 5:21.

His sickness was probably the same as recurred more violently

afterward, "the thorn in the flesh"

(2Co 12:7),

which also was overruled to good

(2Co 12:9, 10),

as the "infirmity of the flesh" here.

14. my temptation--The oldest manuscripts read, "your temptation."

My infirmity, which was, or might have been, a "temptation," or

trial, to you, ye despised not, that is, ye were not tempted by it

to despise me and my message. Perhaps, however, it is better to

punctuate and explain as LACHMANN, connecting it with

Ga 4:13,

"And (ye know) your temptation (that is, the temptation to which ye

were exposed through the infirmity) which was in my flesh. Ye despised

not (through natural pride), nor rejected (through

spiritual pride), but received me," &c. "Temptation does not

mean here, as we now use the word, tendency to an evil habit,

but BODILY TRIAL."

as an angel of God--as a heaven-inspired and sent

messenger from God: angel means "messenger"

(Mal 2:7).

Compare the phrase,

2Sa 19:27,

a Hebrew and Oriental one for a person to be received with the highest

respect

(Zec 12:8).

An angel is free from the flesh, infirmity, and

temptation.

as Christ--being Christ's representative

(Mt 10:40).

Christ is Lord of angels.

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? Once

you counted yourselves blessed in being favored with my

ministry.

ye would have plucked out your own eyes--one of the dearest members

of the body--so highly did you value me: a proverbial phrase for the

greatest self-sacrifice

(Mt 5:29).

CONYBEARE and HOWSON think

that this particular form of proverb was used with reference to a

weakness in Paul's eyes, connected with a nervous frame, perhaps

affected by the brightness of the vision described,

Ac 22:11;

2Co 12:1-7.

"You would have torn out your own eyes to supply the lack of mine." The

divine power of Paul's words and works, contrasting with the feebleness

of his person

(2Co 10:10),

powerfully at first impressed the Galatians, who had all the

impulsiveness of the Celtic race from which they sprang. Subsequently

they soon changed with the fickleness which is equally characteristic

of Celts.

16. Translate, "Am I then become your enemy (an enemy in

your eyes) by telling you the truth"

(Ga 2:5, 14)?

He plainly did not incur their enmity at his first visit, and

the words here imply that he had since then, and before

his now writing, incurred it: so that the occasion of his

telling them the unwelcome truth, must have been at his second

visit

(Ac 18:23,

see my

Introduction).

The fool and sinner hate a reprover. The righteous love faithful

reproof

(Ps 141:5;

Pr 9:8).

17. They--your flatterers: in contrast to Paul himself, who tells them the truth.

zealously--zeal in proselytism was characteristic especially of the

Jews, and so of Judaizers

(Ga 1:14;

Mt 23:15;

Ro 10:2).

affect you--that is, court you

(2Co 11:2).

not well--not in a good way, or for a good end. 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. ALFORD

explains it, that their wish was to shut out the Galatians from the

general community, and attract them as a separate clique to their own

party. So the English word "exclusive," is used.

18. good to be zealously affected--rather, to correspond to

"zealously court" in

Ga 4:18,

"to be zealously courted." I do not find fault with them for zealously

courting you, nor with you for being zealously courted: provided

it be "in a good cause" (translate so), "it is a good thing"

(1Co 9:20-23).

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.

The older interpreters, however, support English Version

(compare

Ga 1:14).

always--Translate and arrange the words thus, "At all times, and

not only when I am present with you." I do not desire that I exclusively should have the privilege of zealously courting you. Others

may do so in my absence with my full approval, if only it be in a good

cause, and if Christ be faithfully preached

(Php 1:15-18).

19. My little children--

(1Ti 1:18;

2Ti 2:1;

1Jo 2:1).

My relation to you is not merely that of one zealously courting

you

(Ga 4:17, 18),

but that of a father to his children

(1Co 4:15).

I travail in birth--that is, like a mother in pain till the birth of

her child.

again--a second time. The former time was when I was "present with you"

(Ga 4:18;

compare Note, see on

Ga 4:13).

Christ be formed in you--that you may live nothing but Christ, and

think nothing but Christ

(Ga 2:20),

and glory in nothing but Him, and His death, resurrection, and

righteousness

(Php 3:8-10;

Col 1:27).

20. Translate as Greek, "I could wish." If circumstances permitted

(which they do not), I would gladly be with you [M. STUART].

now--as I was twice already. Speaking face to face is so much more

effective towards loving persuasion than writing

(2Jo 12;

3Jo 13, 14).

change my voice--as a mother

(Ga 4:19):

adapting my tone of voice to what I saw in person your case might need.

This is possible to one present, but not to one in writing [GROTIUS and ESTIUS].

I stand in doubt of you--rather, "I am perplexed about you," namely,

how to deal with you, what kind of words to use, gentle or severe, to

bring you back to the right path.

21. desire--of your own accord madly courting that which must condemn

and ruin you.

do ye not hear--do ye not consider the mystic sense of Moses'

words? [GROTIUS]. The law itself sends you away

from itself to Christ [ESTIUS]. After having

sufficiently maintained his point by argument, the apostle confirms and

illustrates it by an inspired allegorical exposition of historical

facts, containing in them general laws and types. Perhaps his reason

for using allegory was to confute the Judaizers with their own weapons:

subtle, mystical, allegorical interpretations, unauthorized by the

Spirit, were their favorite arguments, as of the Rabbins in the

synagogues. Compare the Jerusalem Talmud [Tractatu Succa,

cap. Hechalil]. Paul meets them with an allegorical exposition, not

the work of fancy, but sanctioned by the Holy Spirit. History, if

properly understood contains in its complicated phenomena, simple and

continually recurring divine laws. The history of the elect

people, like their legal ordinances, had, besides the literal, a

typical meaning (compare

1Co 10:1-4; 15:45, 47;

Re 11:8).

Just as the extra-ordinarily-born Isaac, the gift of grace according to

promise, supplanted, beyond all human calculations, the naturally-born

Ishmael, so the new theocratic race, the spiritual seed of Abraham by

promise, the Gentile, as well as Jewish believers, were about to take

the place of the natural seed, who had imagined that to them

exclusively belonged the kingdom of God.

22.

(Ge 16:3-16; 21:2).

Abraham--whose sons ye wish to be (compare

Ro 9:7-9).

a bond maid . . . a free woman--rather, as Greek, "the bond

maid . . . the free woman."

23. after the flesh--born according to the usual course of nature:

in contrast to Isaac, who was born "by virtue of the promise" (so

the Greek), as the efficient cause of Sarah's becoming pregnant out

of the course of nature

(Ro 4:19).

Abraham was to lay aside all confidence in the flesh (after

which Ishmael was born), and to live by faith alone in the

promise (according to which Isaac was miraculously born, contrary

to all calculations of flesh and blood).

24. are an allegory--rather, "are allegorical," that is, have

another besides the literal meaning.

these are the two covenants--"these [women] are (that is, mean; omit 'the' with all the oldest manuscripts) two covenants." As among the

Jews the bondage of the mother determined that of the child, the

children of the free covenant of promise, answering to Sarah, are free;

the children of the legal covenant of bondage are not so.

one from--that is, taking his origin from Mount

Sinai. Hence, it appears, he is treating of the moral law

(Ga 3:19)

chiefly

(Heb 12:18).

Paul was familiar with the district of Sinai in Arabia

(Ga 1:17),

having gone thither after his conversion. At the gloomy scene of the

giving of the Law, he learned to appreciate, by contrast, the grace of

the Gospel, and so to cast off all his past legal dependencies.

which gendereth--that is, bringing forth children unto bondage.

Compare the phrase

(Ac 3:25),

"children of the covenant which God made . . . saying

unto Abraham."

Agar--that is, Hagar.

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. Hagar

twice fled into the desert of Arabia

(Ge 16:1-16; 21:9-21):

from her the mountain and city took its name, and the people were

called Hagarenes. Sinai, with its rugged rocks, far removed from the

promised land, was well suited to represent the law which inspires with

terror, and the spirit of bondage.

answereth--literally, "stands in the same rank with"; "she corresponds

to."

Jerusalem which now is--that is, the Jerusalem of the Jews, having only

a present temporary existence, in contrast with the spiritual Jerusalem

of the Gospel, which in germ, under the form of the promise, existed

ages before, and shall be for ever in ages to come.

and--The oldest manuscripts read, "For she is in bondage." As Hagar

was in bondage to her mistress, so Jerusalem that now is, is in bondage

to the law, and also to the Romans: her civil state thus being in

accordance with her spiritual state [BENGEL].

26. This verse stands instead of the sentence which we should expect,

to correspond to

Ga 4:24,

"One from Mount Sinai," namely, the other covenant from the

heavenly mount above, which is (answers in the allegory to) Sarah.

Jerusalem . . . above--

(Heb 12:22),

"the heavenly Jerusalem." "New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of

heaven from my God"

(Re 3:12; 21:2).

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. "Mother of us," namely, believers who are already members of

the invisible Church, the heavenly Jerusalem, hereafter to be

manifested

(Heb 12:22).

27.

(Isa 54:1).

thou barren--Jerusalem above: the spiritual Church of the Gospel,

the fruit of "the promise," answering to Sarah, who bore not "after

the flesh": as contrasted with the law, answering to Hagar, who was

fruitful in the ordinary course of nature. Isaiah speaks primarily of

Israel's restoration after her long-continued calamities; but his

language is framed by the Holy Spirit so as to reach beyond this to the

spiritual Zion: including not only the Jews, the natural descendants of

Abraham and children of the law, but also the Gentiles. The

spiritual Jerusalem is regarded as "barren" while the law trammeled

Israel, for she then had no spiritual children of the Gentiles.

break forth--into crying.

cry--shout for joy.

many more--Translate as Greek, "Many are the children of

the desolate (the New Testament Church made up in the greater part from

the Gentiles, who once had not the promise, and so was destitute

of God as her husband), more than of her which hath an (Greek,

'THE') husband (the Jewish Church having GOD for her husband,

Isa 54:5;

Jer 2:2)."

Numerous as were the children of the legal covenant, those of the

Gospel covenant are more so. The force of the Greek article is,

"Her who has THE husband of which the other is

destitute."

28. we--The oldest manuscripts and versions are divided between

"we" and "ye." "We" better accords with

Ga 4:26,

"mother of us."

children of promise--not children after the flesh, but through the

promise

(Ga 4:23, 29, 31).

"We are" so, and ought to wish to continue so.

29. persecuted--Ishmael "mocked" Isaac, which contained in it the

germ and spirit of persecution

(Ge 21:9).

His mocking was probably directed against Isaac's piety and faith in

God's promises. Being the older by natural birth, he haughtily prided

himself above him that was born by promise: as Cain hated Abel's piety.

him . . . born after the Spirit--The language, though referring

primarily to Isaac, born in a spiritual way (namely, by the promise or

word of God, rendered by His Spirit efficient out of the course of

nature, in making Sarah fruitful in old age), is so framed as especially

to refer to believers justified by Gospel grace through faith, as

opposed to carnal men, Judaizers, and legalists.

even so it is now--

(Ga 5:11;

6:12, 17;

Ac 9:29; 13:45, 49, 50; 14:1, 2, 19; 17:5, 13; 18:5, 6).

The Jews persecuted Paul, not for preaching Christianity in opposition

to heathenism, but for preaching it as distinct from Judaism. Except in

the two cases of Philippi and Ephesus (where the persons beginning the

assault were pecuniarily interested in his expulsion), he was nowhere

set upon by the Gentiles, unless they were first stirred up by the

Jews. The coincidence between Paul's Epistles and Luke's history (the

Acts) in this respect, is plainly undesigned, and so a proof of

genuineness (see PALEY, Horæ

Paulinæ).

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.

Cast out--from the house and inheritance: literally, Ishmael;

spiritually, the carnal and legalists.

shall not be heir--The Greek is stronger,

"must not be heir," or "inherit."

31. So then--The oldest manuscripts read, "Wherefore." This is the

conclusion inferred from what precedes. In

Ga 3:29

and Ga 4:7,

it was established that we, New Testament believers, are "heirs." If,

then, we are heirs, "we are not children of the bond woman (whose son,

according to Scripture, was 'not to be heir,'

Ga 4:30),

but of the free woman (whose son was, according to Scripture, to be

heir). For we are not "cast out" as Ishmael, but accepted as sons and

heirs.