Click Here to Read Galatians 4:21-31

In this section Paul gives us another example of slavery versus freedom.  Ishmael representing what is born of the flesh, Isaac representing what is born of the Spirit.  I have to say, it never occurred to me to look at Isaac’s conception as supernatural.  I knew it was miraculous, but I never saw it as a type and a shadow of the conception of Jesus.  But here in verse 23 Paul says that Ishmael was born of the natural realm and Isaac was born supernaturally by the Spirit (just like my Jesus!).  The Amplified translation says that Ishmael was born according to the flesh, Isaac was a fulfillment of the promise.  Also, Hagar representing earthly Jerusalem and Sarah representing the heavenly Jerusalem, the way of faith.  The main point that I got from this is that living by the flesh is to live in slavery but living by the Spirit is to live in freedom. 

Interestingly in order to live by the Spirit we must submit to Him which doesn’t sound like freedom at all.  Let’s do a quick comparison of these two ways of living.  To me, living by the flesh means living by own strength, my own wisdom, and my own capabilities.  It means living up to the demands and expectations of others.  It means punishment, condemnation, isolation, shame, and failure.  It looks like running up a mountain but never even getting close to the top.  Living by the Spirit means that I get to do things in His strength, wisdom, and abilities.  It means I am accountable to no one’s expectations but rather I am invited into a partnership opportunity with God and together we get to fulfill what He has purposed in me.  It means unity, justification, glory, and righteousness.  It looks like abiding with Him on the mountaintop.  Yes, submitting to the Holy Spirit and living in Him is freedom.

Paul uses a passage from Isaiah 54:1 in this section as well to relate to the contrast between law and grace.  In this passage from Isaiah the Israelites are receiving liberation that they did not work for – it was God’s idea.  Just as in our own lives, grace offers us a brand new life of liberation that we do not work for – it was God’s idea (and as we have seen, every bit of it was God).  In fact, we wouldn’t even know of it had He not called us to it.  So why would we ever want to trade life for death?  Freedom for slavery?  Supernatural for natural?  Grace for the law?

In going through this section, the first time I had made a note that through faith and belief in Jesus we are spiritually transformed, brought out from the authority of the law, and brought under the authority of grace.  I wasn’t really sure if “grace as an authority” works, I’m still not sure but it did spark some intriguing thoughts.  I will share them, and you can decide what you think.  I took a psychology class a number of years ago and was learning about different types of authority.  For some reason two of the four types we talked about always stuck with me.  Authoritarian and authoritative.

Authority – the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.  The right to act in a specified way, delegated from one person or organization to another.  Official permission, sanction.

Authoritarian – absolute obedience to an authority (strict but commanding)

Authoritative – arising or originating from a figure of authority (strict but nurturing)

The law is obviously authoritarian, commanding and absolute.  Remember the verse from Deuteronomy that said you were cursed if you did not comply with all of the law?  When you think about it, this kind of authority actually inspires rebellion. Looking at grace I had this picture in my imagination of Jesus taking the keys of authority and throwing them to us through a ring of fire (grace).  We could never get these keys of authority outside of grace, but only through grace.  And from the authority of grace, we arise in authority delegated to us by Jesus, sanctioned to walk as sons and daughters of God. Grace lifts us up, it doesn’t hold us down. Grace inspires honor. 

Another random thought I had after reading this section was, “What if Abraham didn’t have Ishmael?”  After a few days I came back to this question and the answer came right back at me.  He did have Ishmael, and God blessed him anyway.  God fulfilled His covenant anyway.  God counted him as righteous anyway.  We talk about Abraham and Sarah’s faith crediting them as righteous but there was a little “self-sabotage” there when they decided to take God’s supernatural promise and force it into existence the only way their minds could conceive.  How often do we do that?  We have faith that carries us only as far as our minds can carry us.  And then we think the only way God would possibly deliver on it is to cheapen it in some way.  Like when Sarah thought God meant to give Abraham a son through some other women, leaving her out. 

Sometimes we can have a dream that is so deep and close to our heart that we don’t even think we can trust God with it.  We think that God would deliver to us a cheapened version of that dream because it isn’t humanly possible to have what we really desire.  We don’t dare expect that God would do more than we could ever think or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).  I’ve done that too.  But that isn’t God.  And just like He did with Abraham and Sarah he gave it to me anyway.  Even though I doubted and even started to throw it out altogether.  And there was no way I could have ever imagined how he did it.  But I will tell you, it solidified my faith in His love, His willingness, and His creativity.  I think it must have done the same for Abraham, how else could he have taken his only son (the very promise God delivered) and taken him up the mountain to offer in sacrifice to God when God instructed him to?  I think after seeing what God did for them, he had no doubt that somehow, someway, when he got to the top of that mountain, God would meet him there with a provision.  He didn’t have to understand it or know, but he sure did believe it! 

Let’s pray.

Father we thank you for the freedom we have in submitting to Your Spirit.  We thank you for the joy of this freedom that we get to experience.  As we get to know your heart more, we pray that we would just keep moving deeper and deeper into this freedom.  We thank you for the grace that raises us up to walk as sons and daughters of the Most-High God.  We pray Father, that we would never see ourselves as unworthy or undeserving of your grace, but we would see how much you value and love us that you would give us such a priceless gift.  If we have anything missing in our relationship or understanding of you, we ask that you bring us a new revelation so that we can live fully in the Spirit, not lacking or wanting for anything.  Keep us from turning aside to the world for understanding, you gave us your Spirit to guide us into all truth.  Thank you, Father, for your faithfulness to us that has no end.  Amen.