Galatians 4:21-23 Podcast To invest in BYM, click here
21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise. (Galatians 4:21-23)
Abraham had two sons, one by Hagar, Sarah's servant, and one by Sarah, Abraham's wife. The Apostle Paul juxtapositions these two sons in order to make his point: Hagar's son, Ishmael, represents bondage to the flesh (the evil desires within us). The son born to Sarah, Isaac, represents freedom to walk in the Spirit.
There is a clear choice throughout Scripture between slavery to the flesh and freedom in the Spirit. In Galatians 4:23 we learn slavery to the flesh is the result of mankind's rejection of God's definitions of life. Freedom, on the other hand, is the result of yielding to God's definitions for our lives.
In the Old Testament narrative, there came a time when Sarah and Abraham temporarily stopped believing that God would keep his promise and determined to have a son so that Abraham could bring about the promise of God. Abraham mated with his wife's slave woman, Hagar, and had a son by her. It seemed to be a sacrificial choice on Sarah’s part, but it led to slavery for many. Her son was not the son who would inherit the promise of God.
These two entities, the flesh and the Spirit, are and will always be at odds with each other. This will be a large part of our discussion in the last two chapters of Galatians. One thing is for sure: the one I feed the most is the one that will win on a given day.
In the movie, Remember the Titans, Herman Boone, played by Denzel Washington, makes his renowned speech to his players while in Gettysburg. The speech illustrates the utter necessity of fighting on the right side.
As Paul will tell us a little later in Galatians, when we feed the flesh, it will destroy us, and when we feed the Spirit, we will experience life with the touch of eternity on it. In the days to come, we will discuss what it looks like to feed the flesh and the Spirit.
