Steve Biegel

Galatians 4:21-5:1

Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.

These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written: “Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.” Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.

At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Reflection:
After spending the first 40+ years of my life as a fairly “casual” or “cultural” Christian, one day a close friend inquired politely if I was satisfied with my relationship with God. When I responded that I felt like I had been treading water, he offered to lead me through a one-on-one study (he had recently completed a year+ of similar study under the guidance of another friend with the promise he would pay it forward). Starting with Dallas Willard’s Spirit of the Disciplines, over the next two years we read a series of books on spiritual growth and met weekly to discuss them. Over the course of those two years, I started developing the habits of investing more time and energy in reading the Bible and other Christian literature, strengthening my prayer life, participating in group Bible studies, and volunteering at my church and a few Christ-centered ministries.

Through the slow, faltering, and uneven process of my spiritual growth, I became aware of how confused my perception of God was – particularly between the “Old Covenant” and “New Covenant” that Paul writes about in these verses, illustrated by the allegory of Hagar, Sarah, and their sons. Intellectually, I understood that my salvation was by grace alone. Yet emotionally, almost subconsciously, I also had this vague sense of a judgmental God, watching over me and noting each of my sinful failures: the God of “if you do ‘x’ or ‘y’, you’re going to hell” from sermons and lectures I heard somewhere in my formative years, just waiting for me screw up again and record another black mark in the “hell” column of my personal scorecard. The same God with whom I furtively tried to bargain for relief from some problem or pending failure by promising I would “be better” or “never do ‘it’ again”.

Having grown up in a God-fearing family who taught me and my brothers to pray on our knees every night before going to bed, said grace before every meal, and attended church every Sunday, I was surprised by the realization of the contradictory views of my relationship with God I had been living with for so many years. Although I “knew” I was saved through my faith in Christ, and “nothing can separate [me] from God’s love” (Romans 8:38), I also had lived with the sense I was nevertheless subject to God’s condemnation for all my sinful mistakes. Despite “believing” I was saved by grace, a part of me did not accept that grace was actually sufficient to cover all my sin. As a result, I harbored guilt and shame and lived with a sense that I was nothing but a disappointment to God.

Fortunately, I have come to realize that Christ has truly set me free, and my citizenship is fully in what Paul calls “the Jerusalem that is above”. Although I still occasionally find myself lapsing into that insidious “dual citizenship” frame of mind, it happens with less and less frequency. When I catch myself falling into that trap yet again, I am able to remind myself confidently the beauty of the New Covenant is that separation between us and God has been remedied, once and for all, by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and is in no way dependent on our ability to “follow the rules”. As the lyrics of one my favorite Hillsong United songs, What a Beautiful Name, put it:

My sin was great Your love was greater
What could separate us now?

Prayer:
Good, gracious, loving, generous and merciful God, thank you for granting me citizenship in your kingdom through faith in Jesus. Help me to remember that it is only by your grace and unconditional love that I have that citizenship, and that nothing I can do will separate me from your love or earn Your favor. Help me, too, Father, to endeavor to live in holiness solely out of gratitude for that love and grace so the light of Christ will be reflected through me to others. Amen.