Galatians 4:22-23
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.
Most of us know who our mom is…but what if you found out that you were wrong? What if the woman you thought had been your mom all these years was in fact, not the woman who gave birth to you? If you were adopted, perhaps you have already been through something like this. I have known many people who either adopted or had been adopted. Some stories were beautiful while others were very, very difficult. In our passages today, Paul was speaking to people who claimed to be “Abraham’s son”, but there was a catch: Abraham had two sons.
Slave or Free?
God had promised Abraham and Sarah a miraculous son late in their lives, but after a few years they took matters into their own hands. Sarah agreed to have Abraham sleep with their slave woman, Hagar, in order to have a son (Ishmael). Later on, through a miracle of God, Sarah gets pregnant by Abraham (they were both over 80) and gives birth to Isaac—the child of the promise. By reminding the Galatians of this story, Paul was challenging them to figure out which son of Abraham they were claiming to descend from. The same choice remains for us, today. Are you a child of the flesh, or a child of the promise?
The context of these verses relates directly to salvation and whether you are trying to achieve it…or if you have already received it. If you are a Christian, are you living as if you have been set free…or are you still living under the law of performance (a very American notion, of course). To broaden the context to a more general application, we should ask if we are living by faith or by the flesh. Are you seeking God’s face as you make your life decisions, staying in tune with His Word and relying on guidance from the Holy Spirit…or are you trying to do it all by yourself? Oftentimes we call on God after the accident rather than seeking His face in the first place. We put our hope in what we can do (Ishmael) rather than relying on what God wants to do (Isaac).
You may be a “son of Ismael” if you struggle with being a legalist, either by applying the law to your own life in order to secure God’s blessing…or by applying it to everybody else’s. As Warren Wiersbe said, “Legalism does not mean the setting of spiritual standards; it means worshipping these standards and thinking we are spiritual because we obey them. It also means judging other believers on the basis of these standards.” If that is how you are living, you are descended (spiritually) from Ismael rather than Isaac and you are living in chains.
Break Free!
John Calvin says: “No man who has a choice given him will be so mad as to despise freedom and prefer slavery.” If you are born again, you have been set free! God will not charge you with your past, beat you with your present, or haunt you in your future. When Christ left the tomb, he left it behind FOREVER. When you became a child of God through Christ, you left Ishmael’s tomb as “a son of Isaac”—a person free of the Law, condemnation, and shame. Live like it! Love like it! Worship like it! Forgive like it! Extend grace like it!
Amen.
