Galatians 4:30:  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

In this Gem we see the reflection of two mothers and two sons.  The “freewoman” is Sarah, her son is Isaac.  The “bondwoman” is Sarah’s slave Hagar, her son is Ishmael.  (Hagar is called Agar in the New Testament)  Both Ishmael and Isaac were sons of Father Abraham.  After God had promised Abraham a son and many years had passed Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham so that God’s promise could be fulfilled.  But God did not need Hagar to fulfill his promise.  He used a miracle instead and Isaac was born to Sarah fourteen years after Ishmael was born to Hagar.  Genesis 16:1-2, Genesis 16:15-16 & Genesis 21:1-5  The Holy Spirit uses these two mothers to make a strong point.  His point is directed at “ye that desire to be under the law”:

Galatians 4:21-22: Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? ²²For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

These two mothers are used figuratively to represent two different “covenants”; that is contracts:  Galatians 4:24a: Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants;  Hagar represented people who had made a “binding contract” with the law:  Galatians 4:24a: the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.  This contract put her and all her ‘children’ (everyone who places themselves under the same contract) into slavery (bondage):  Galatians 4:25: For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.  ‘Mount Sinai’ represented the slavemaster: the present day Jewish law (the Mosaic Law, the Ten Commandments, the pre-Moses law of circumcision, and many additions made by the ruling Jewish authorities).  These people are said to be in bondage to it because they place their faith (trust) for Eternal Life in obedience to this set of laws.  These children of Hagar included the Pharisees and many other groups of Jews.

This Gem reveals that these ‘children of Hagar’ “shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman”.  These people will not receive the gift of Eternal Life.  Their contract with the Jewish law will not gain them what they desired.  Their slavery to this law bound them to the principle of “Eternal Life through obedience to the law”.  These people will not share in the inheritance of Eternal Life because the terms of their contract dictates that “they get what they deserve”.  The penalty for breaking the law to which they were bound was the forfeiture of Eternal Life.  As Paul had already stated, this is the curse of anyone who predicates Eternal Life on obedience to the law: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Galatians 3:10.

The children of the freewoman, represented by Sarah and Isaac fare much better.  They too had a covenant, a “contract”.  Their contract was with “the promise”:  Galatians 4:28: “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.”  These people included the Christian Jews to whom the Apostle Paul was writing.  These people also included all the faithful Israelites that had died during the Old Testament times.  It is crucial to recognize that the faithful children of Sarah who died before Christ’s crucifixion do share in the inheritance of Eternal Life.  It is crucial to see the difference between them and the children of Hagar.  These faithful Israelites also followed God's commands.  For Isaac and his offspring in the 600 years that followed, it was the covenant God made with Abraham.  For the Israelites from the time of the Exodus and beyond, it was the Mosaic Law.  But regardless of which commands; the law was not their slavemaster.  They were not slaves but freemen because their faith was not in their ability to follow God's Commands, but rather; it was in “the promise”!

The children of Sarah do not place their faith for Eternal Life in any law; but in “the promise”.  While Paul does not define in this section of scripture what “the promise” is, it is obvious that it is NOT the promise of Eternal Life through obedience to the law.  This is obvious because this is precisely the contract of the children of the slavewoman.  This contract condemned her and all of her children to Eternal Death; a sentence predicated on their disobedience to the law that was their master.

Sarah’s son Isaac was born from a promise:  Galatians 4:23b: he of the freewoman was by promise.  So was Jesus Christ.  “The promise” is none other than the promise of a Messiah, the promise that this Messiah would atone for all the sins of all mankind.  Faith in this promise frees a person from slavery to the law because it frees them from the curse of Eternal Life predicated on obedience to a law that can not be kept perfectly.  Instead the promise guarantees Eternal Life predicated upon Christ’s atonement, an accomplished fact!  This is why Paul encourages his brothers in faith, his fellow children of Sarah:   So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.  Galatians 4:31.  This freedom gains us not only Eternal Life but also the freedom to live a life of thanksgiving bringing glory to the God who so faithfully and so mercifully kept his promise of a Messiah.  This new purpose for life is displayed by the Gems that follow.