Hi, I was discussing this passage with Randy and would like your input:
Galatians 4:21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically:
these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; [5] she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
So, here are my questions.
1. What are the two covenants?
2. What is the covenant from Mt Sinai? Is it the Mosaic Covenant?
3. If #2 is yes, does that mean Paul see the Mosaic covenant as a covenant of work? Or is Paul responding to the Judaizer's misunderstanding of the Mosaic covenant? (I lean towards the later, as the Judaizers misunderstood how one is justified, they misunderstood the nature of circumcision, and they misunderstood the nature of covenant of grace, so it wouldn't surprise me that they misunderstood the nature of Mosaic covenant).
4. If Paul see the Mosaic covenant as a typological covenant of work, what is Paul responding to in this passage? I mean, did the Judaizers mis-applied the typological covenant of work in their justification?
I know it might
, but thanks in advance. And no, I don't intend this to be another baptism debate...