The Letters · New Testament
Galatians 4
Galatians 4: heirs, a personal appeal and the allegory of two women
General context
Paul compares their former state to a legal minority. An heir who is still a child is no different from a servant, though he owns everything, and stays under tutors and governors until the time the father appoints. So they were in bondage under the elements of the world until God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those under the law so they could receive adoption as sons, and sent the Spirit of his Son into their hearts crying Abba, Father. Since they are sons, he says, they are heirs. He then asks why people who now know God turn back to weak and beggarly elements, notes that they observe days and months and times and years, and fears his labour was wasted. The tone turns personal. He asks them to be as he is, recalls that he first preached through an infirmity of the flesh, that they did not despise his condition but received him as an angel of God, and would have given him their own eyes. He asks whether telling the truth made him their enemy, says those courting them want to shut them out, and calls them his little children, saying he is in labour again until Christ is formed in them and wishes he could be present to change his voice. The chapter closes with an allegory. Abraham had two sons, one by a bondmaid born after the flesh and one by a freewoman born by promise, and Paul reads them as two covenants: Agar, mount Sinai and the present Jerusalem in bondage, against the free Jerusalem above. He quotes a promise to a barren woman and a command to cast out the bondwoman, and concludes that the readers are children of the free.
Cited passages: Galatians 4:1, Galatians 4:2, Galatians 4:3, Galatians 4:4, Galatians 4:5, Galatians 4:6, Galatians 4:7, Galatians 4:9, Galatians 4:10, Galatians 4:11, Galatians 4:12, Galatians 4:13, Galatians 4:14, Galatians 4:15, Galatians 4:16, Galatians 4:17, Galatians 4:19, Galatians 4:20, Galatians 4:22, Galatians 4:23, Galatians 4:24, Galatians 4:25, Galatians 4:26, Galatians 4:27, Galatians 4:28, Galatians 4:30, Galatians 4:31
Galatians 4 (KJV)
1Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
8Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
9But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
10Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
12Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.
13Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
14And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
15Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
16Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
17They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.
18But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.
19My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
20I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.
21Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
22For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
25For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
28Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
29But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
31So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.
Historical context
The allegory names only two of its people. Agar is named and identified with mount Sinai in Arabia, and Isaac is named once as the pattern for the readers. The freewoman is never named, and the bondwoman's son is never named. The source verse for the name is spelled differently: Genesis 16:15 prints Hagar bare Abram a son, where the letter prints Agar. Two quotations appear. Verse 27 prints Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not, where Isaiah 54:1 prints Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child. Verse 30 prints Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman, and attributes it to the scripture, while Genesis 21:10 reports the words as spoken to Abraham and ends them with my son, even with Isaac. The infirmity of the flesh that Paul mentions as the occasion of his first preaching is never described, and the days, and months, and times, and years the readers observe are never specified.
Cited passages: Galatians 4:13, Galatians 4:10, Galatians 4:22, Galatians 4:24, Galatians 4:25, Galatians 4:27, Galatians 4:28, Galatians 4:30, Genesis 16:15, Isaiah 54:1, Genesis 21:10
Literary context
Three different kinds of argument sit side by side here. The first is a comparison from family law, where dates and guardians decide when a child becomes an owner. The second abandons argument for memory, and it is the most personal writing in the letter: an illness, a welcome, the offer of their own eyes, and the blunt question, Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? Paul even names the problem of writing at a distance, saying he wants to change my voice. The third is labelled by the writer himself, Which things are an allegory, so the reading method is declared rather than assumed. Birth and motherhood tie the parts together. Paul is in travail with them, the barren woman is told to break forth and cry, and the Jerusalem above is called the mother of us all.
Cited passages: Galatians 4:1, Galatians 4:2, Galatians 4:13, Galatians 4:14, Galatians 4:15, Galatians 4:16, Galatians 4:19, Galatians 4:20, Galatians 4:24, Galatians 4:26, Galatians 4:27
Key moments
- The heir as a child (Galatians 4:1). An heir under age is compared with a servant.
- Abba, Father (Galatians 4:6). The Spirit of the Son is sent into their hearts, crying Abba, Father.
- Days, months, times, years (Galatians 4:10). Paul names their observance of a calendar as evidence of a turn backwards.
- Received as an angel of God (Galatians 4:14). He recalls that they welcomed him despite an illness.
- Your enemy for the truth (Galatians 4:16). He asks whether honesty has made him their opponent.
- Which things are an allegory (Galatians 4:24). Paul labels his own reading of Abraham's two sons.
- Cast out the bondwoman (Galatians 4:30). A quoted command closes the allegory.
For reflection
Paul asks whether telling the truth has made him an enemy to people who once would have given him their eyes. What has it cost you to say something true to someone who liked you better before?
