Two Sons, Two Roads

Paul confronts the Galatians who "desire to be under the law" (Galatians 4:21, NKJV) by drawing a comparison from Abraham's household. Hagar the slave and Sarah the free woman, with their sons Ishmael and Isaac, picture "the two covenants" (Galatians 4:24, NKJV). One road is law-keeping, which produces bondage; the other is God's promise received by faith, which produces freedom. Paul's point is that salvation comes by grace through faith in Christ, not by works of the law.

No. Paul calls the account "symbolic" (Galatians 4:24, NKJV), using the Greek term behind our word "allegory," but he is not treating the history as fiction. He draws a typological comparison from events he affirms as true. As John Calvin argued, Paul's reading stays consistent with the text's true and literal meaning. The Reformed tradition reads this as typology rooted in real redemptive history, not fanciful spiritualizing that dissolves the facts of Genesis.

Paul identifies one covenant with "Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar" (Galatians 4:24, NKJV), representing the law approached as a means of self-justification. The other corresponds to Sarah and "the Jerusalem above" (Galatians 4:26, NKJV), the covenant of grace fulfilled in Christ. He is not condemning the law itself but the Judaizers' attempt to be justified by it. The Westminster Confession (chapter 7) frames the unity of the covenant of grace across Scripture.

Hagar bore a son "according to the flesh" (Galatians 4:23, NKJV) through human effort rather than promise. Paul links her to Sinai and "Jerusalem which now is" (Galatians 4:25, NKJV) because the religion of works-righteousness, however zealous, still enslaves. The earthly Jerusalem of the Judaizers trusted in law-keeping and circumcision. Hagar's bondage pictures every system that tries to earn God's favor by human performance, leaving the worshiper in spiritual slavery rather than the freedom of sons.

Paul writes, "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise" (Galatians 4:28, NKJV). Isaac was not produced by human scheming but given by God's word and power when Sarah was barren. To be a child of promise means your standing with God rests on His sovereign grace and faithful promise received by faith, not on your works. Believers are born again by the Spirit and counted righteous in Christ, just as Isaac's birth depended wholly on God.

Quoting Genesis 21:10, Paul declares, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman" (Galatians 4:30, NKJV). The point is that law and grace cannot coexist as rival paths to salvation. The way of works-righteousness must be decisively rejected. One cannot mix earning and receiving; the inheritance belongs to those who rest in Christ by faith, not those who cling to the law for justification.

Isaac was born "through promise" (Galatians 4:23, NKJV), not by human effort, picturing how sinners are justified. The Westminster Confession (chapter 11) teaches that God justifies the ungodly by imputing Christ's righteousness, received by faith alone. Galatians 4:21-31 dramatizes this: the bondwoman represents salvation attempted by works, the free woman salvation given by grace. Martin Luther saw this chapter as a clear defense of the gospel that we are accepted by faith in Christ, apart from the works of the law.

Paul concludes, "we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free" (Galatians 4:31, NKJV), then urges, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free" (Galatians 5:1, NKJV). Christian liberty is freedom from the law as a way of justification and from the guilt of sin, not freedom to sin. The Westminster Confession (chapter 20) describes this liberty as a benefit purchased by Christ for all believers.

Paul notes that Ishmael, "born according to the flesh," persecuted Isaac, born "according to the Spirit," and adds, "even so it is now" (Galatians 4:29, NKJV). Recalling Genesis 21:9, he explains why the Judaizers opposed the gospel of grace. Works-religion has always resented the freedom of grace. Believers should expect that those trusting in human merit will often oppose the message that salvation is God's free gift received by faith in Christ alone.

The passage confronts every attempt to add human performance to the finished work of Christ. Whether through legalism, ritual, or self-righteousness, the flesh always seeks a workaround for grace. Dr. Holt presses the same choice Paul gave the Galatians: slavery under the law or freedom in Christ. Believers are called to rest entirely in Christ's righteousness, to "stand fast" in gospel freedom (Galatians 5:1, NKJV), and to refuse any teaching that makes salvation depend on works.