Gálatas 4:21-31

3. The biblical illustration 4:21-31

Paul interpreted allegorically (i.e., figuratively, NIV) features of the history of Abraham’s two sons to convince his readers that they were in danger of joining the wrong branch of Abraham’s family. The apostle appears to have used the story of Abraham the way he did because this was a common rabbinic method that the Judaizers probably employed in their teaching in Galatia. [Note: R. Alan Cole, The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, pp. 128-29. Longenecker wrote an excursus on "The Hagar-Sarah Story in Jewish Writings and in Paul," pp. 200-6.] Paul used the same method on the false teachers but taught his readers truth rather than falsehood with it.

"We have one Old Testament story, but two complimentary interpretations of it. The first [Galatians 4:22-27] defends the equation of existence hupo nomon [under law] with captivity and thus takes up a theme from what precedes. The second [Galatians 4:28-30] makes a statement about the freedom of the believer in preparation for what is to come." [Note: Charles H. Cosgrove, "The Law Has Given Sarah No Children [Galatians 4:21-30]," Novum Testamentum 29:3 (July 1987):235.]