Two Families: Galatians 4:28-5:10, especially vs. 31: "So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free."
Keep in mind during the first three days this week, as the course readings through the Epistle to the Galatians concludes, that this letter is a fervent exhortation to stand fast in the Gospel and not revert to servitude under the Mosaic Law. St. Paul was combating certain self-styled, Judaizing teachers who were fostering legalism in Galatia.
As he closes the Epistle, the Apostle continues contrasting these two religious alternatives, pleading with those he had brought to the Faith to "stand fast" (vs. 5:1). In today's passage he makes the contrast in terms of "two families." Tomorrow he will speak in terms of "two walks," and Wednesday he will conclude with "two harvests."
St. Paul begins the present passage by alluding to the history of Abraham and the two sets of descendants through his sons, Isaac and Ishmael (vss.28-31). Reading the history of Isaac and Ishmael from the Genesis account (Gen.16; 17; 18:1-15; 21:1-21) we can appreciate the way in which the Apostle uses the life-stories of these two families in his exhortation.
The ancient People of God traditionally believed themselves to be God's People because of their lineal descent from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and his twelve sons. They judged that membership in this family, because of Divine promises to the Patriarchs (Dt. 1:8), set them above other peoples. The Lord Jesus rejected this long-accepted interpretation (Jn. 8:31-48), and in today's passage St. Paul also refutes this belief by reconsidering Abraham's two families.
The Apostle directs attention toward two families: one "according to the flesh," in keeping with the pattern or "type" of Ishmael (vs. 29), which he identifies, surprisingly with the Jews who rely on lineal descent from Abraham. The other "family" is composed of those who, "as Isaac was, are children of promise" (vs. 28). When the Apostle says to the largely Gentile Galatians, "we, brethren" (vs. 28), he reveals the Church as a family, as "the children of promise." He reinforces this distinction by pointing out that just as Ishmael "persecuted [Isaac] who was born according to the Spirit" (vs. 29, and Gen.21:9), so history now is sadly repeating itself as the non-Christian Jews persecute the ethnically mixed Christian community (vs. 29).
As the Genesis account records, Ishmael was born of a slave mother and was therefore under bondage. Hence, the Apostle states that traditional Jews and any who follow the path of legalism of the Covenant given at Mt. Sinai (see Gal. 4:21-27), are effectively slaves. Therefore, the Apostle exhorts the Galatians (and us) to "stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free" (Gal. 5:1). Listen to his exhortation: "You are born by the Spirit into a free family, so ‘do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage'" (vs. 1). Reject appeals to re-make the Faith into rules, like the Judaizers, for that way "will profit you nothing" (vs. 2).
Observe: anyone who abandons "the liberty by which Christ has made us free" (vs. 1) for any form of legalism, "Jewish" or whatever, simply makes himself again a "debtor to keep the whole law" (vs. 3). Such a person becomes "estranged from Christ...fallen from grace" (vs. 4). Christians are in the family "of promise," those who "through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith" (vs. 5). We are united to God "in Christ Jesus" by faith (vs. 6).
Let us realize what it means to be "children of promise" by faith in the Lord Jesus (vs. 28), to be members of a family united by God's promises; and let us work at our faith "through love" (vs. 6), responding in love to the ineffable love of God in Christ. Let no one hinder himself by abandoning this basic truth for even a little of the leaven of living legalistically (vs. 9).
Help us always, O Lord, to be children of Thy kingdom through Thy good will and grace.
