TWO WOMEN/COVENANTS

                                                                 TWO WOMEN/COVENANTS

^{Galatians 4:21} Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. ²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, ²⁴ which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— ²⁵ for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— ²⁶ but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. ²⁷ For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren,

You who do not bear!

Break forth and shout,

You who are not in labor!

For the desolate has many more children

Than she who has a husband.”

²⁸ Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. ²⁹ But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. ³⁰ Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” ³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. 

Introduction

            If we use Christ as our key, we can easily unlock all of Scripture. Think about, Christ was circumcised but was also baptised. He partook of the Passover meal, and He partook of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus straddled both administrations of the covenant, the old covenant and the new covenant. He was “born of a woman, born under the law” (4:4). He came to set us free from the condemnation of the law (Rom. 8:1).

All the promises God made to Abraham have been fulfilled in Him and by Him (2 Cor. 1:20). Indeed, all these same promises that were made to Abraham were also made to Christ (Gal. 3:16). If we keep in mind that a covenant, at its very basic level, is a conditional promise, we will see clearly how the law failed. It failed because no one was able to keep it perfectly. Thus, it brought only condemnation – until “when the fulness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (4:4-5).

Jesus perfectly kept the law on behalf of those who could not, He received the condemnation of the law on behalf of those the law condemned, and, by so doing, He redeemed or bought back everyone who trusts in Him and His redemption. This, of course, it the very heart of the gospel, the same gospel the Galatians are on the verge of rejecting.

To be an adopted son of God that you are no longer a child of the flesh but are now a child of the promise. A son was promised to Abraham. Isaac was that child of promise. However, what Isaac typified, Jesus was the antitype. In other words, the promise that Abraham would have a son was totally fulfilled in Jesus, who, as to His flesh, is descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We, along with the believing Galatians, have been adopted as sons of Abraham, not according to the flesh, but according to the promise.

 Paul uses and allegory, a symbol, to teach the Galatians this truth, that believing Gentiles are also Abraham’s children.

Two Women

Though her name is not mentioned, the “freewoman” is Sarah, and the “bondwoman” was Sarah’s servant, Hagar. To be born of Hagar is to be born of a servant or slave. To be born of a freewoman is to be born free. Though Jesus was born of a woman, He was also born under the law, which the bondwoman is symbolising. However, because He perfectly kept every jot and tittle of the law, He demonstrated that He was in realty born of Sarah not Hagar. In other words, He was THE Child of promise, the promise God made to Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 15:4, 18:14).

Now, that this promise was to include both Jews and Gentiles, including those at Galatia, has already been made clear to Abraham, when God said to him “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). That blessing, of course, comes in, by, and through Jesus Christ and His gospel. It does not come through unbelieving Jews or Gentiles.

Some, in our own day, think that modern day Israel and those who follow the different forms of modern Jewish religion is what God is referring to with the blessings and curses in God’s promise to Abraham. However, Paul exposes that false idea by his allegory about the bondwoman and the freewoman.

Image from Web

“For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all (4:24b-26). Hagar represents Jerusalem below and Sarah represents Jerusalem above. How plainer could Paul make it? Whether it is Jerusalem in Israel before AD70 or whether it is Jerusalem in Israel post AD1948, this Jerusalem the not the “Jerusalem above”! Whereas the Jerusalem below is the Jerusalem of the bondwoman and therefore those who are born of her are likewise in bondage, so those who belong to the Jerusalem above are born of the freewoman and therefore are free.

One woman equals bondage and one woman equals freedom. Which do you think represents curses and which do you think represents blessing? The Galatians, under the influence of the Judaizers, were contemplating placing themselves under the curse of the law!

Mount Sinai is where God handed down His law which included all its rules and regulations for Old Testament Israel, including both the ceremonial law and the judicial law which have expired now that Christ has come. The ceremonial law was essentially the gospel in picture form, and the judicial law was how Old Testament Israel were to conduct themselves as a corporate body. The writer to the Hebrews contrasts the old covenant with the new, the bondwoman with the freewoman, i.e., the then with the now:

 

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Heb. 12:18-24)

All engrafted into one olive tree (Image from Web)

        The “heavenly Jerusalem” spoken of here is the “Jerusalem above”, the same one that John speaks of in Revelation, “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2). So, the “Jerusalem above” is the both the bride of Christ and the place where the bride dwells. The question then becomes: Does God have two brides or one bride? “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:26-29).

Yes, we are all one in Christ. The Judaizers where teaching the Galatians that they needed to become Jews to get right with God, but Paul was teaching that both Jew and Gentile get right with God through faith in Christ Jesus. Only those who belong to Christ are children of Abraham, children of the promise, i.e., children of the freewoman.

Two Covenants

Which two covenants is Paul talking about when he says, “For these are the two covenants…”? He is not talking about the pre-Fall covenant God made with Adam. Nor is he talking about the Noahic covenant. Clearly, the covenant of bondage is the Mosaic covenant.

It is not hard to see that the Mosaic covenant somewhat echoes the Adamic covenant and the Noahic covenant. The pre-Fall Adam was promised life for obedience and death for disobeying God. Yes, blessings and curses. Same for Israel after Sinai (Deut. 28). Noah knew the difference between clean and unclean animals (Gen. 7:2, 8:20), which would be incorporated into the ceremonial law as part of the sacrificial system. Of course, the sacrifice of these “clean” animals was foreshadowed in the covenant God cut with Abraham (Gen. 15).

Image from Web

So, we see two main covenants, viz, the Mosaic and the Abrahamic. The former was the old covenant that is now obsolete, and, as Abraham is the forefather of all believers, so the latter, i.e., the Abrahamic covenant, is the antecedent or forerunner or predecessor of the new covenant. In other words, God’s covenant with Abraham is the promise of the new and better covenant. The covenant is the same, only its administration changed when the new arrived. E.g., circumcision became baptism, Passover became Lord’s Supper.

If we keep in mind that the ceremonial law was essentially picturing what the promised Messiah was coming to do, i.e., the seed promised to Abraham, we won’t confuse the Mosaic and Abrahamic covenants. Though both are administrations of the covenant of grace, the Mosaic covenant emphasised works of obedience while the Abrahamic covenant emphasised faith. The idea of the Mosaic covenant was not given as a means for Israel to earn salvation. It was given to teach Israel about the promised Messiah, the One who would bring salvation, the One who was promised to Abraham.

Confused? Well, so were the Galatians and so are many Christians today. Why? Because of false teachers. Salvation was never by faith plus works, even works of the law. It was always by faith alone, but a faith that was never alone. As James says, “But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18). Good works are a fruit of faith, i.e., a fruit of the Spirit who gives the gift of faith. The Galatians along with some Christians today were thinking that it is works that produce faith and not the other way around. It’s covenantal.

The Mosaic law and the history of Old Testament Israel under that covenant demonstrated time and time again that no one could keep the law. It was given to show our need of someone who could keep that law on our behalf. Thus, the promise of the Messiah! That is why Jesus was “born of a woman, born under the law.” He needed to be like us in every way apart from our sin which condemns and disqualifies us. The Mosaic covenant is about how we are adopted as children of Abraham.

Mosaic covenant is about the flesh epitomised in fleshly circumcision. The Abrahamic covenant is about believing the promise depicted by fleshly circumcision, “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer” (Deut. 10:16). How does one circumcise the foreskin of one’s heart? Do like Abraham the father of the faithful, “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3). “How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also” (Rom. 4:10-11). The “foolish” Galatians were giving up salvation by faith alone for a faith plus works, a works righteousness.

Abraham did what Jesus commands us to do where He says, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Wait! say some. There was no gospel in the Old Testament! Weren’t they saved by keeping the law? That’s what the Judaizers were erroneously teaching. However, Scripture begs to differ where it says, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (Gal. 3:8-9).

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We see something of a lapse into a works righteousness taking place with Abraham himself under Sarah’s beckoning. Like the Judaizers adding to the gospel, Sarah took the initiative and added to the promise. Because she had not yet conceived and remained barren, she invited Abraham to sleep with her servant Hagar, the bondwoman. This was a work of the flesh. It was not the work of the Spirit nor the fruit of the Spirit.

Hagar conceived and bore Ishmael. Subsequently, Sarah conceived and bore Isaac. Ishamel. In the process of time, “Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Hagar and her son were ejected from the camp. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac” (Gen. 21:9-10). This is what Paul is referring to where he says, “But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now” (4:29). The Judaizers are persecuting the Galatians who have been born according to the Spirit!

Because of the weakness of the flesh, the Mosaic covenant brought only bondage. Because of the power of the Spirit, the new covenant foreshadowed in the Abrahamic, brings freedom. Freedom from what? From bondage, from being a slave to the flesh and the works of the flesh. God doesn’t need a hand to save you. Therefore, “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” And remember, “So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.”

Conclusion

The old covenant was administered and kept by shedding the shedding of lots of blood, of bulls, goats, lambs etc., and even human blood through circumcision, external ceremonies all representing what the promised Messiah was coming to do. The Old Testament saints were saved through believing these promises. Jesus perfectly kept every jot and tittle of the requirements of the law. The new covenant is administered and kept through unbloody sacraments representing the shed blood of Christ and the faithful proclamation of the gospel, the good news of what Jesus has done and our belief in His righteousness revealed therein.

Christ is the key to understanding Paul’s allegory of the two covenants. Hagar and her son were excommunicated. They were sent away. They were of the flesh, additions to the gospel. Sarah’s son was a child of the Spirit, a child of God’s promise. Jesus is the true Son, the One from whom all of God’s promised blessings to Abraham flow. Therefore, we must be done with all our feeble attempts to improve on the gospel and thereby be guilty of trusting in the flesh and not the Spirit. Trust only in Jesus!