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Galatians 4:28-31 (JDV)

Galatians 4:28 Now you too, brothers, like Isaac, are promised children.

Galatians 4:29 But just as then the child born as a result of the physical act persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit, so also now.

Galatians 4:30 But what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the slave and her son, because the son of the slave will never obtain inheritance rights with the son of the free woman.”

Galatians 4:31 For this reason, brothers, we are not children of a slave but of the free woman.

siding with the bully

Paul carries out his allegory a bit further. He equates the Jewish nation apart from Christ as Ishmael, bullying little Isaac. The reason Paul brings this up is that the heretical faction trying to take over the Galatian churches is seeking to convince them that they need to follow the Jewish traditions even though they are Gentiles. Paul’s team made no such rules for the new Gentile church. To do so would be (in Paul’s analogy) like siding with Ishmael.

Lord, help us to respect your gospel of grace, and resist adding any new regulations to it.