“But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.” (Galatians 4:29, ESV)
In October this year, 2023, we watched news reports of a horrific scene in Israel. It was on the seventh of October that Hamas brutally attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip. In the wake of this attack Hamas killed 1,139 Israelis, of which 764 were civilians, and took another 248 hostages. This conflict between Israel and the Arab world is nothing new. It has spanned the centuries. This attack was launched purely for ideological reasons. It is a form of religious persecution.
Paul took his readers back to Abraham’s time when there were two children born. One was Isaac, the one born of the promise, the free born by Sarah. The other Ishmael, was born of the slave woman Hagar, born according to the flesh. Earlier in the letter, Paul indicated that Hagar was “Mount Sinai in Arabia.” Ishmael considered that as Abrahm’s eldest son that he would have had supremacy over Isaac regarding the inheritance of Abraham’s estate. The Scripture recorded,
“And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.” (Genesis 21:8–9, ESV)
Thus, the animosity and strife between Isaac and Ishmael began early on. This has grown into tension between the offspring of both Ishmael and Issac, which we know today as tension between the Arab and Israeli people.
However, it is not the tension between these two people groups that Paul specifically addressed here. It was the tension between the legalists and the Christians in Galatia. Paul used the persecution of Ishmael towards Isaac allegorically to refer to the message of the legalists and their attack on the message of free grace. In the same way as there was tension between Ishmael and Issac, the message of justification by obedience to the law was in conflict with the message of justification by grace through faith.
This conflict between justification by works and that of justification by faith has been going on throughout the centuries. It is prominent still today. Many organizations professing to be Christian hold to a works-based theology. We must realize that we are still immersed in this conflict and it can sneak in very subtly. Be aware and do not get drawn into a legalistic heresy.
Renewing the Heart 