Galatians 4:30-31

We are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free

『 Nevertheless 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. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. 』 (Galatians 4:30-31)

The Apostle Paul had been ill during the evangelism tour of the region of Galatia and healed it there. He had conducted evangelism even when he was sick. So the Church of Galatia was born, and the Galatians were treated with sick Paul. However, Paul suffered from the heart of the Galatians. Paul explains the gospel again by saying:『 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you』 Paul wants to explain the law to members of the Galatians who want to keep it.

Trying to keep the law again is as stated in Galatians 5:3. 『For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. It is that a person who wants to return to the law again does not obey just one part of the law, but obeys all the provisions. Circumcision is one of the laws. However, the selective thinking that it is not necessary to keep only the other is wrong. It is one of two things, whether you keep it all or not. If you keep the law well and break any of them, it is the same as breaking all the law. So those who are in Christ have left the law, and those who are outside of Christ are under the law. So, those who try to keep the law become those who are outside of Christ. If you believe in Jesus and say that you are in Christ and try to keep the law, you are going out of Christ.

In an analogy, Paul explained the relationship between the gospel and the law: 『Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 』

Paul is speaking to the Galatians who are about to return to the law. Abraham had Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac was from Sarah (the one who was free), and Ishmael was from Hagar, the slave girl. Isaac followed God's promise, and Ishmael followed the body. The two sons represent two covenants.『 things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 』 Jerusalem symbolizes the law. By the way, "Jerusalem above is free."

"Sarah, who gave birth to Isaac," is Jerusalem above. Jerusalem on earth is a shadow, Jerusalem in heaven is a true image, and it is the reality of God's promise. In saying this, he quotes from Isaiah 54:1.『 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. 』

When the prophet Isaiah was active, Israel was destroyed by Babylon, and many were brought to Babylon. God said He would restore Israel again. At this time, Israel means the people of the world who are saved in the spiritual sense. That is, because of Jesus Christ, many people will be saved. “Brothers, you are children of the promise, like Isaac.” The apostle Paul tells the Galatians that they are no longer Satan's servants under the Law. In other words, remind them that they have become sons of God. This is explained in Galatians 4:4-6.『 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 』

So, Paul is telling the Galatians to become a son of God, freeing them from the law. The law is the law of slavery. But the Son of God is said to be those who are led by the Holy Spirit, not the law. It is a child of promise. When the Holy Spirit comes, the Saints call God the Father. In Galatians 4:29 『But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 』It is the time of the Genesis story.

In Genesis 21:9『 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. 』 So, when Sarah asked Abraham to take Hagar and Ishmael away, Abraham pulled them out. Likewise, the law entered the church and persecuted those who believed the gospel. So, Paul tells us that we must bring out the law and legalists in the church. When Abraham was troubled, God appeared and said.

In Genesis 21:12『 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 』 God told people to throw out a legalist, but what would happen if the church did not throw out a legalist? God will judge legalists on the basis of the law.
The law will exist until the gospel comes. In the story of Sarah and Hagar, Hagar became pregnant, and Hagar did not respect Sarah. So Sarah was severely miserable. So Hagar ran pregnant and met the angel of God, and the angel of God told her to go back to her mistress and submit.

When Isaac was born and Ishmael harassed him, Abraham chased Hagar and Ishmael. Until the coming of the promised son, Ishmael occupied that position as the son of Abraham, but Hagar and Ishmael were driven out of the tabernacle of Abraham because the promised son came. Likewise, the church is the body of Jesus Christ, the child of promise. There is Jesus Christ, like Isaac, in the same way that the legalists in the church are trying to call Ishmael again.

Everything has its time. The time to keep and the time to throw is clearly different. It is not in accordance with God's will that we should keep it when we have to throw it away. "The time to obey the law" has already passed. Because the child of promise has come, those in Christ, the child of promise, must not obey the law. Therefore, those who say that they are in Christ but who must obey the law are as in Galatians 3:23.『 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 』 These people are before faith comes. Even if they say they believe in Jesus, those under the law are not faith in revelation from God.

The Apostle Paul concludes in Galatians 4:30-31.『 Nevertheless 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.  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. 』 That is, those who are in Christ become children of the promise. So, Paul is telling you to escape the law. Today, unless the legal institutions and rules are abolished in the church, everyone becomes a follower of the law. It is only through abandoning the law and becoming free in Christ that we can be saved.