The text of the slave and the free refers to the use of the law in Jerusalem. Galatians 4:12-31 Brethren, I beseech you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong; 13 you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first; 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What has become of the satisfaction you felt? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 For a good purpose it is always good to be made much of, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you! 20 I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. 21 Tell me, you who desire to be under law, do you not hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, the son of the free woman through promise. 24 Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in travail; for the children of the desolate one are many more than the children of her that is married." 28 Now we, brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave and her son; for the son of the slave shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." 31 So, brethren, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (RSV) We do not keep the law because we are slaves to the law propitiating the law according to the flesh, which is the realm of the demons and the god of this world. We serve God and are part of the New Jerusalem. The statement of Paul to them to become as he is, shows that he is not talking about the keeping of the feast because he kept the feasts and the Sabbath (as we know from Acts and his epistles) as did all the apostles. If he is saying that the feasts are done away then he makes Christ a liar who spoke by the prophets and stated that the Sabbaths and New Moons (Isa. 66:23) will be introduced together with the feasts (Zech. 14:16-19). If the elect could dispense with the Holy Days and the Sabbath, it would be an act of utmost capriciousness for God to punish the nations for not keeping them under the millennial system. God is not a respecter of persons and therefore demands uniform standards of people. The elect have a harder job in the execution, having to walk by faith. If anyone says the law is done away, they are quite simply ignorant of Scripture, which cannot be broken, and of the nature of God. More particularly, they are ignorant of the real issues in dispute in Galatia and at Colossae. The forms of error in those churches began to assert themselves within Gnosticism at an early stage. The thought processes are also extant in Liberation Theology and, particularly, Buddhism. The concepts are evident in modern Process Theology. The Gnostics struck at the very existence of God (the paper The Works of the Law Text - or MMT (No. 104) examines this issue).
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 12:53:20 +0000
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