The Epistles of Paul - Galatians Part 5: Sons of the Promise

The Epistles of Paul - Galatians Part 5: Sons of the Promise

Perhaps after his epistle to the Romans, Paul's epistles to the Galatians is a paramount exhibition of the practical conception of covenant theology. But this is only apparent when the individual sentences of the epistle are read and interpreted in their own context, rather than being isolated and their interpretations perverted as the commentators of the denominational sects are accustomed to doing.

In Galatians chapters 1 and 2 Paul addressed the fallacy that one's righteousness could be obtained through the works of the law, by clinging to ordinances in ceremonies and rituals, which certainly is contrary to Scripture since the Scripture itself professes that no living man can be justified in the sight of Yahweh God: for all men are sinners and fall short of the glory of God. From Romans chapter 9 it is evident that there were Edomites in Judaea who claimed to be of Israel and who were seeking their righteousness by the law, but there were also many Israelites remaining in Judaea who were persuaded by them, which we can tell from Acts chapter 21, and it is these Judaizers whom Paul is addressing here in the bigger picture which he began to explain in those same opening chapters of Galatians. Then in Galatians chapter 3 Paul explained that in spite of the law, righteousness is inferred by God through the promises to Abraham, but that those promises to Abraham were not passed on to all of Abraham's descendants. Rather they were passed on only to those which had been anointed by God, which are the children of Israel. The children of Jacob-Israel are the anointed seed out of all of Abraham's seeds, or the various races which could claim descent from Abraham, and therefore the children of Israel are the exclusive heirs of the covenant, in spite of whether the Edomites or Ishmaelites would keep the law.

However just because as we read this epistle the chapter number now changes, that does not mean that the subject of Paul's discourse is changing, and in this chapter it becomes absolutely manifest that Paul has indeed been teaching what we may call Covenant Theology, which is the knowledge that the promises to Abraham which in the New Covenant are fulfilled in Christ, are fulfilled along the same lines as the promises to Abraham fulfilled in Kingdom Israel under the Old Covenant: they are promises made to Abraham concerning his seed, or offspring, and they are eternal. Each of these Covenants represents the fulfillment by Yahweh God of the promises to Abraham in their respective ages. The promises of God do not change, and were upheld in spite of the fact that the children of Israel had failed to keep the Levitical covenant, which, as we learn from Paul here, was supplementary to the promises to Abraham. As Paul had explained, and as we had seen in the Psalms and in the records of the promises themselves while discussing Galatians chapter 3, the promises to Abraham cannot fail, and they are without condition. Further, as Paul had said in Romans chapter 4, the promise to Abraham is assured to all of the offspring of Abraham, which are accounted through Jacob-Israel, because the offspring are accounted according to the promise, as Paul had said, “thus your offspring will be”.

In Galatians 3:23 Paul had told his readers that “23 But before the faith was to come we had been guarded under law, being enclosed to the faith destined to be revealed. 24 So the law has been our tutor for Christ, in order that from faith we would be deemed righteous. 25 But the faith having come, no longer are we under a tutor; 26 for you are all sons of Yahweh through the faith in Christ Yahshua.” So the heirs according to the promise, as it is wholly evident in the Book of Genesis, are those who would later receive the law, which are the children of Israel. Then Paul concluded that chapter by saying in verse 29 “But if you are Christ's, then of the offspring of Abraham you are heirs according to promise”, where we exhibited the fact that this is a conditional sentence of the type which expresses a factual implication, and that sentences of such a type also appear at Matthew 12:28 and in Hebrews 12:8.

Here in Galatians chapter 4 Paul of Tarsus continues to expound upon that very same thing, reinforcing what he had already said in Galatians chapter 3 by explaining that those whom Christ had come to redeem are those same offspring of Abraham who at one time had been under the law, something which can only apply to the dispersions of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

1 Now I say, for as long a time as the heir is an infant, he differs not at all from a bondman, being master of all; 2 but he is subject to guardians and stewards until a time appointed by the father.

Paul is making an analogy which describes Yahweh God's relationship with the children of Israel. Under the Old Covenant, the heir, which is the children of Israel collectively, was an infant and was therefore given the law and its ordinances and rituals as his guardian. They were to learn from that guardian, in spite of the fact that they ultimately rebelled from it. The punishment for rebellion is also a part of the lesson, as it says in Amos chapter 3: “1 Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” The analogy continues:

3 Just as we also, when we were infants, we were held subject under the elements of the society.

The society is a reference to the Abrahamic society, as Abraham was promised that his seed would inherit the old Adamic world, and by the time of Christ the seed of Abraham certainly did inherit that world. By this time, the predominant tribes of the Adamic οἰκουμένη were all descended primarily from the ancient children of Israel: the Romans, the Dorians, the Phoenicians of the west and the Scythians, or Germanic Galatae. This is in spite of the fact that within the empires of the Romans and Parthians, the internationalist merchant class of Mystery Babylon was influencing the world powers behind the scenes, as they had done until very recently, whereas now for these past 100 years or so to a great extent they are out of the shadows and in the forefront of world politics: Satan freed from the pit.

The elements of that old Abrahamic society which the children of Israel were subject to ,were the ordinances and rituals of the law, which were framed within the society in which the children of Israel had been bound. Once again, this is in spite of the fact that for the most part they had abandoned their God in favor of the Canaanite paganism which they had brought with them to Europe. For that reason, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 Paul explains that “Israel according to the flesh” were the nations of the society that were sacrificing to pagan devils, rather than to Yahweh their God.

4 And when the fulfillment of the time had come, Yahweh had dispatched His Son, having been born of a woman, having been subject to law, 5 in order that He would redeem those subject to law, that we would recover the position of sons.

The word translated as redeem both here and in the King James Version is ἐξαγοράζω (Strong's # 1805), and it can simply mean to buy from or to buy up, but according to the large 9th edition of the Liddell & Scott Greek-English Lexicon, the noun form of the word, ἐξαγορασία, means ransom or redemption. This is not the same word for redeem frequently seen in the Septuagint, which is λυτρόω (Strong's # 3084), although Paul also uses that word in this same context in Titus 2:14, as does Peter, who among others is addressing these same Galatians, in 1 Peter 1:18.

The Greek word ἀπολαμβάνω (Strong's # 618) is to recover here while in the King James Version it is translated merely as receive. If Paul only wanted to say receive, the simple word λαμβάνω (Strong's # 2983) alone would have been sufficient. For ἀπολαμβάνω there is a stronger meaning, for which Liddell & Scott have “to take or receive from another, to receive what is one’s due...II. to take back, get back, regain, recover….” Even the King James Version renders this same word as “receive...again” in Luke 6:34. Paul uses the word in the sense of “to receive what is one’s due” at Romans 1:27 and Colossians 3:24. We have also translated this word as recover in Luke 15:27, and in the context there, where the King James Version has receive, it can mean nothing but recover, which in that case is the getting back of a son who was lost.

The Greek word υἱοθεσία means to place a son. By itself, it describes only the placement of a son, and it does not describe the actual act of adoption, although adoption is one reason for which a son may be placed. In the act of adoption, where someone who is not a natural son but who is being made into a son according to the laws of man, the act itself was described in ancient Greek with the word εἰσποίησις, which is the making of one thing into another. So someone would come along who saw a son placed (where υἱοθεσία is appropriate) for adoption, and then the word εἰσποίησις would describe the act of adoption itself. But that is not the context in which the word υἱοθεσία is ever used in the Bible.

Presenting Romans chapter 8 here in June of 2014, where this same word υἱοθεσία first appears in Paul's epistles in Romans 8:15, we described the meanings of these words at length using specific examples from Classical Greek writers including Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch. The Greek word εἰσποίησις describes the act of adoption, whereas υἱοθεσία describes the placing of a son, for which adoption may be one reason. But another reason may be the placing of a son into his rightful place in the household or into his place in the inheritance of the household. The children of Israel, we are told, have reconciliation in Christ, so returning to God through Christ, they are being restored to their proper place in His household. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5: “19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” he also said in Hebrews chapter 2: “16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren [referring to the rest of the children of Israel], that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” This is how the word υἱοθεσία is used in the Bible, for the placing of sons back into the household of God.

In this same manner, according to the Word of God, Yahweh God in the person of Yahshua Christ is the Redeemer only for the children of Israel, as He says in Isaiah chapter 49: “7 Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.” Therefore, when that Redeemer appeared, He Himself had said in Matthew chapter 15: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The denominational sects refuse to believe these things, so they pervert the many plain statements in Scripture, and especially those in these epistles of Paul.

Here there is further substantiation that Paul is addressing “lost” Israelites, whom he had been addressing throughout this epistle, and he is addressing them exclusively since only the Israelites had ever been subject to the Mosaic law, as it says in Psalm 147: “19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. 20 He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.” When the heirs were infants, they were bound under the Mosaic law, as Paul also asserted in Galatians chapter 3 where he had told them “23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.” Furthermore, only the Israelites could possibly recover the position of sons which they had under the Levitical covenant, and Yahweh said to Israel in Isaiah chapter 49 “for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.” Only the Israelites could be redeemed, as Yahweh had promised them so often, such as in Isaiah chapter 52 where He says “3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.” These statements, made to the Galatians, would be utter nonsense unless Paul knew that he was speaking to “lost” Israelites (those of the Assyrian deportations and times earlier), those who at one time had the position of sons in the Levitical kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and had lost their positions as sons in that kingdom when they were put out of the sight of Yahweh their God for their disobedience. In the Word of God given through His prophets, that putting out was accompanied with promises of reconciliation, so that the initial promises to Abraham would never fail.

6 And because you are sons, Yahweh has dispatched the Spirit of His Son [P46 wants “of His Son”] into our [the MT has “your”] hearts, crying Father, Father.

The phrase “Abba, Father” appears three times in Scripture, here and in Mark 14:36 and Romans 8:15. We have opted to translate the meaning of both words, “Father, Father”.

Speaking of the punishment of the children of Israel, in Isaiah chapter 64 the prophet attributes these words to the people of the nation: “4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. 5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved. 6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. 8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. 9 Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. 10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste. 12 Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?”

In Acts chapter 14 Paul had told the Lycaonians of Iconium, who were not descended from the ancient Israelites, but who were evidently of the stock of the Thracians, that God “in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways”, and in Acts chapter 17 Paul told the Athenians, who were Ionians by race, that God “26 … hath made of one all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us”. Yet Thracians (Tiras) and Ionians (Javan) alike are Japhethites, descended from those Genesis 10 nations of the children of Noah, and their land was divided by God and the bounds of their habitations ordained in the account given in Genesis chapter 11, and referred to again in Deuteronomy 32:8. This is the Adamic οἰκουμένη which the seed of Abraham was to inherit, which had indeed happened by the time of Christ. So Paul told the Romans in chapter 4 of his epistle to them, speaking of Abraham, “13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith… 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be”, where he also assured his readers that “to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed”.

But Paul had also told the Athenians in Acts chapter 17 that “certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” That the Athenians, although they were not Israelites, are of the children of God is indeed true, since as we read in Luke 3:38 that Adam was the son of God, all of Adam's children, which are the White nations of the ancient world, are also sons of God. This is a part of the larger picture of Scripture which begins in Genesis chapter 3, in verse 22, where we have the first promise of eternal life found in Scripture, that if the man “put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever”. But Paul never spoke to them concerning Christ, redemption, reconciliation, or the promises to Abraham and his seed, because they were not of that seed.

In the Old Testament, as we have seen Paul attest, all of the other Adamic nations were allowed to go off into the larger world, engaging in Satanic paganism and eventually becoming obliterated by mixing with or being overrun by the non-White races. So the Word of God says to the children of Israel in chapter 43 of Isaiah: “3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. 4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.” The original Egyptians, the Cushite Ethiopians and the Sabeans were also all of the original Genesis 10 White Adamic nations, descended from Adam through Ham. But they were overrun by the enemies of God, and they were all being destroyed in that manner when the prophet had spoken.

Then in that same chapter of Isaiah where it had spoken of the destruction of Egypt, Ethiopia and Seba, we read in the verses which follow, where it is still speaking only of the children of Israel: “5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; 6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; 7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. 8 Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. 9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth. 10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. 11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.” The references to the blind and the deaf are also exclusive references to the children of Israel, as it says earlier, in Isiah chapter 42, speaking of those same children of Israel: “18 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. 19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant?”

In the Old Testament Yahweh God only claimed the children of Israel as His children, because he chose them out of all of the Adamic Genesis 10 nations for which to execute His will in the world. So we see in Deuteronomy chapter 14: “1 Ye are the children of the LORD your God...” The children of Israel are described as the children of God many times from that point in Scripture, right up to John chapter 11 where it says “51… that Jesus should die for that nation; 52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” Everywhere in the prophets where this promise of God gathering His children is made, it is speaking exclusively of the children of Israel. As it says in Jeremiah chapter 50: “4 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God. 5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten. 6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.” Then speaking to these Galatians who were once under the law, Paul says:

7 So you are no longer a bondman but a son, and if a son, then an heir through Yahweh.

The Codex Bezae (D) and the Majority Text have at the end of this verse “then an heir of God through Christ”; the text follows the 3rd century papyrus P46 and the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Alexandrinus (A), Vaticanus (B), and Ephraemi Syri (C).

Paul said to these Galatians in verse 6 that “because you are sons” that “Yahweh has dispatched the Spirit of His Son into our hearts”. Here Paul says to the Galatians that “you are no longer a bondman but a son, and if a son, then an heir through Yahweh.” Therefore it is absolutely evident that one must first be a son (or daughter) of Yahweh God, a designation which in the Old Testament God had only given to the children of Israel, and then, if one is a son, one receives the Spirit of Christ. And if one was in bondage to the law, which again only pertains to the children of Israel, then one is a son but one is no longer in bondage to the law, where Paul is referring to the performance of the rituals and ceremonial ordinances. That being so, then if one is a son, then one is an heir to the promises of Abraham, which is the inheritance of which Paul is speaking.

One does not become a son merely by believing in Jesus. As Paul says here, if one is of those people who were at one time bound under the law, which refers to the dispersed children of Israel, then in Christ one is no longer a bondman, but a son. Therefore, being one of the children of Israel, one is an heir. Each condition clearly relies upon the preceding condition. Here in Galatians 4:7 we have another type of conditional sentence which we had encountered in Galatians 3:29: which is a conditional sentence that expresses a factual implication. In these cases, both the “if” part and the “then” part, which are the protasis and the apodosis, must be true statements. If one is an heir, then one must be a son, meaning that one must be of the anointed seed of Abraham as Paul had explained in Galatians chapter 3. If one is a son, then one in turn must be an heir, one of the seed to whom the promise is certain, as Paul had also explained in Romans chapter 4 that the promise is certain to all the seed, and that the seed are accounted according to the promise.

It is not the other way around. The Roman Catholic church and all the denominations which have followed it all claim to be heirs and sons, and their claims are based on the false pretenses of church membership and obeisance to their particular church organizations. But the Scripture teaches that the children of Israel can return to their position as sons if they return to Yahweh their God through Christ and make their obeisance to Him. The church comes from out of Israel, but Israel does not come from out of the church. Rather, Israel comes from Abraham's loins, according to the promises of God to which Paul refers here in Galatians chapter 3, and also in Romans chapter 4. The Scripture does not say that many nations could be Abraham's seed. Rather, the Scripture says that Abraham's seed would become many nations, and that those of Abraham's seed which came through Jacob-Israel are those which are chosen of God. One must first be a son of Jacob, the only people who were in bondage to the rituals of the law, and then being freed from those rituals in Christ, one may assume one's preordained position as a child of God and an heir to the covenant, because only the children of Israel are the sons of the promise to Abraham.

Whether we want to read John 1:11-12 in the corrupt manner, such as where the King James Version understands it to say that “11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God” or whether we want to read it in the context of Scripture by which the Greek of the passage should be read “11 He came into His own land, and the men of the country received Him not. 12 But as many who received Him, He gave to them the authority which the children of Yahweh are to attain” is immaterial. Although we prefer the latter, it does not really matter which way we read it, because in any case John refers only to those who belonged to Christ even before they received Christ. He came to His Own, not to those who were not His in the first place, as Christ Himself told those who rejected Him “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you” (John 10:26). Therefore He never came for them. But to understand who His and those others were, one must understand the history of Judaea leading up to that time, which the denominational sects all ignore. It is that which Paul relates to us in Romans chapter 9 and in Galatians chapter 3.

Likewise, Paul is not teaching that the children of Israel can or should “become” children of God. Neither is Paul teaching that anyone else can somehow “become” children of God. The children of Israel being children of Adam, they are already children of Yahweh their God (Luke 3:38), and being Israelites who were at one time under the law and who are of the seed of Abraham through Jacob, they are indeed the children of God according to the Word of God, which they were explicitly told in the Old Testament, for instance in Deuteronomy 14:1 or in Isaiah 45:11, as well as later in the New Testament, for instance in Romans 8:14-17 or in Hebrews 2:13-14.

In Romans chapter 8 Paul had said: “14 Indeed as many as are led by the Spirit of Yahweh, these are sons of Yahweh. 15 Therefore you have not taken on a spirit of bondage anew to fear, but you have taken on a spirit of the position of sons, in which we cry: Father, Father. 16 That same Spirit bears witness with our Spirit, that we are children of Yahweh. 17 And if children, then heirs: heirs indeed of Yahweh, and joint heirs of Christ...” Then we may read in Hebrews chapter 2: “13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. 14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17, Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Where we fear not death, only then can we do what is right in the eyes of God.

The language and context of the passages at Galatians 4:6 and Romans 8:15, as well as this citation from Hebrews chapter 2, are all similar because in each case Paul is writing to people who had descended from the ancient Israelites of the Old Testament, and it is to them alone for whom these promises were made, because they are among the nations sprung from the loins of Abraham through Jacob Israel. The Scripture does not allow that anyone can become Abraham's seed, and the Scripture does not allow that anyone can become a child of God simply because they profess a belief in some vaguely defined Jesus. The other races are the enemies of God, which is proven in Scripture where Yahweh said that He had given up Egypt, Ethiopia and Seba for the sake of the children of Israel. These nations (meaning the people, not the geographical areas) are therefore already consumed by His enemies from before the time of Christ. These fell victim to the flood from the mouth of the serpent which now persecutes the children of Israel, as it foretells in Revelation 12:15. None of these others shall ever be Christians in the eyes of God. As Paul said in these past few verses of Galatians, one receives the Spirit of God because one is already a son of God, and if one is already a son of God then one is also already an heir, but the sons, and therefore the heirs, are reckoned according to the promise, as Paul has already explained in Romans chapters 4 and 9 and here in Galatians chapter 3. Therefore only the genetic children of Israel can be heirs, or sons, or Christians. As the children of Israel are portrayed as saying in Isaiah chapter 63: “18 The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. 19 We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name.” As it says in Luke chapter 1, Christ came to save Israel from those adversaries, not to make them into Christians with Israel.

These are the basic teachings of Scripture, but they have never been taught because for three hundred years this basic Biblical doctrine was persecuted out of existence by the Jews, and by the Romans at the instigation of the Jews, until the only Christian teachers who remained were teaching a watered-down, universal form of Christianity which the universalist pagan Romans finally found to be tolerable, and for that reason the Jews could no longer resist. But Paul's original commission, as it is recorded in Acts chapter 9 (verse 15), was this, according to the words of Christ: “For he is a vessel chosen by Me who is to bear My Name before both the Nations and kings of the sons of Israel.” And then Paul himself again professes the essence of this same commission in Acts chapter 26 where he spoke before Herod Agrippa II: “6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: 7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come.” Then in Acts chapter 28 we see this same profession once again where Paul exclaims that “for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” We know further that it is this doctrine which was persecuted because we have the words of Paul as they are recorded in Acts chapter 22 where speaking of Christ he attested that “He said to me 'Go, because I shall send you off to distant nations'”, referring to the “lost sheep” of the nations of Israel of his original commission, and the Jews responded immediately and said “Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.” Here Paul commences by referring the estrangement of Israel:

8 But while at that time not knowing Yahweh, you had been enslaved to those who are not gods by nature;

The ancient Israelites were cast off for following after the gods of Canaan. In their apostasy they had forgotten their God, as we read in Jeremiah chapter 2 where the Word of Yahweh addresses the children of Israel: “25 Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. 26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, 27 Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. 28 But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah. 29 Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD. 30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. 31 O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee? 32 Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.”

As a result of their apostasy, they were cast off from the presence of their God, yet they had a promise of mercy and reconciliation, as we may read later, in Jeremiah chapter 33: “23 Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. 25 Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; 26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.” Therefore Paul had said in Colossians chapter 1, where he was also speaking to anciently dispersed Israelites: “21 And you at one time being alienated and odious in thought by wicked deeds, 22 yet now He has reconciled with the body of His flesh through that death, to present you holy and blameless and void of offense before Him...” Speaking of that reconciliation Paul then says:

9 and now knowing Yahweh, and still more being known by Yahweh, how do you again turn back to the weaknesses and poor elements of knowledge to which from above you again desire to be enslaved?

Paul had said in verse 3 of this chapter “Just as we also, when we were infants, we were held subject under the elements of the Society.” Here the word for elements is that same Greek word, στοιχεῖον (Strong's # 4747). Here the word for elements may have been interpreted as rudiments, in that manner referring to a rudimentary knowledge of the law. Paul is of course still addressing the Judaizers, and referring to the rituals and ceremonial ordinances of the law to which at least some of the Galatians were evidently succumbing. These are what Paul calls here “poor elements of knowledge”, because the children of Israel in the New Covenant are being offered a better way in Christ. As Paul had explained here, the law was only a schoolmaster to bring the children of Israel to Christ, and as he later wrote to the Hebrews, in chapter 8 of that epistle: “7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.” Likewise, he said here in Galatians 3:21: “… if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.”

The Greek word ἄνωθεν (Strong's # 509), which is “from above” here, was ignored by the translators of the King James version. It does not mean “again”. The two occurrences of the word “again” in the English of this verse are both from the Greek word πάλιν (Strong's # 3825), which is rendered by its literal meaning. I am tempted to write here “...to which you who are from above again desire... ”, adding the words “who are”, since the verb εἰμί is sometimes implied where it is not actually written in Greek.

Nearly every Bible translation ignores the word ἄνωθεν here in its translation of this passage. Most have each occurrence of πάλιν as again, and only a couple (the Berean Literal and Darby) of versions even recognize the presence of the word ἄνωθεν, although imagining the word to also mean again they translate the two words as “again anew”, in their attempts to render both ἄνωθεν and πάλιν.

We would rather believe that Paul is making a greater distinction. Being subject to those elements of the law in rituals, Paul said in verse 4 that Christians were “subject under the elements of the Society”. But being redeemed, Christians “would recover the position of sons” and receive the Spirit of Yahweh their God, as he then explained in verses 5 and 6. Then later in this chapter in reference to this same thing he refers to the “Jerusalem which is above”. Therefore, taking one's rightful place in the household of God the Christian lives in the Spirit of God as being “born from above”, which Paul refers to later in Galatians chapter 5 where he says “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” and to which Paul later makes reference to in this chapter where he speaks of freedom from the rituals of the law and refers to the “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Christians, being Adamic Israelite children of God, are indeed born from above, and taking the position of sons in Christ they live as if they are born from above, not participating in the sins of the world for which the rituals of the law had sought propitiation, as Paul shall explain here in Galatians chapter 5. Paul taught this same thing in Romans chapter 8 where he said “12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”

Therefore, returning to the idea of justification by the works of the law, Christian Israelites abandon their position as sons of Yahweh born from above, and return to place themselves under the poor elements of the world. In conclusion, it is worldly, even fleshly, to rely on rituals for one's sense of righteousness.

10 You observe days, and months, and times, and cycles; 11 I fear for you, whether or not I have toiled for you without purpose.

The Greek phrase καιροὺς καὶ ἐνιαυτούς may have been rendered “seasons and years”, rather than “times and cycles”, although our rendering is more literal, for while καιρός (Strong's # 2540) may be a season there are other words which also express that, and it is generally a measure or a time, while ἐνιαυτός (Strong's # 1763) may be a “year” although other words also express that, and it is generally “any long period of time, a cycle, period”, according to Liddell & Scott.

Perhaps the 3rd century papyrus P46 gives us some insight, whether it is correct or not, into the meaning of verse 10 where it has “They are watching days, and months, and times, and cycles”. In any case, Paul's fear for the Galatians includes their having taken to calendar-keeping and the observation of days and months, or perhaps moons. In Colossians chapter 2 Paul had written “16 Therefore no one must judge you in food and in drink, or in respect of feast or new month or of the Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of future things. Whereas the body is of the Anointed”.

In the context of this epistle, by saying this here Paul must be referring to feasts and new moons which had been ordained in the law. That these appointed days were kept according to the law is evident, for instance, in 2 Chronicles chapter 2, in words attributed to Solomon: “4 Behold, I build an house to the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for the continual shewbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel.”

Seeking one's justification by keeping feasts and appointed days is therefore no different than performing the other works of the law. While Paul had advised the Corinthians to keep the Passover (in 1 Corinthians chapter 5) that was ostensibly for the purpose of fellowship, but not for the purpose of justification. So here Paul expresses his concern for the Galatians, that they are slipping back into the elements of the society, seeking to by justified by the society.

12 You be as I am inasmuch as I am also like you, brethren, I ask this of you. You have wronged me in nothing.

Paul asks the Galatians to mimic his own walk in the faith, and attests that he would not be offended for what they have done so far.

13 Now you know that in sickness of the flesh I had announced the good message to you earlier, 14 and of my trial in my flesh you did not despise or loathe,

The 3rd century papyrus P46 wants the words for “or loathe”. Here the 27th and 28th editions of the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece follows the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Alexandrinus (A), Vaticanus (B) and Bezae (D) which have the beginning of verse 14 to read “and of your trial in my flesh”, where our text follows P46, the Codex Ephraemi Syri (C), and the Majority Text.

The nature of Paul's “trial in the flesh” is revealed below, in verse 15, and later in the salutation of this epistle. If it is the alternate reading which is legitimate, then Paul indicates that it was the Galatians who were tested by his infirmity, as to whether or not they would accept him with his poor eyesight, or think little of him instead. In the Greco-Roman world, much import was customarily given to physical beauty and bodily perfection. But Paul then commends them by saying:

but as a messenger of Yahweh you accepted me, like Yahshua Christ.

Paul has his critics for this statement, and by criticizing him they demonstrate that they do not understand the Scripture. As Christ had instructed His apostles in Matthew chapter 10, for that same thing Paul is commending the Galatians here, where Christ had said: “40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.”

15 Then what is your blessing? I testify to you that, if possible, your eyes being extracted you would have given them to me.

Paul’s “trial in the flesh” is proven here to be his poor eyesight, and he testifies to the kindness of these Galatians who, when he had previously visited them, would have given him their own eyes as a replacement. Paul must be referring to his sojourn among the Galatians recorded briefly at Acts 16:6. Later, at the end of this epistle, in Galatians 6:11 where it is evident that he wrote the salutation himself, Paul said “Do you see, in how large letters I have written to you in my own hand?” The necessity of writing in large letters would be an effect of having poor eyesight.

16 Therefore, have I become your enemy, speaking truth to you?

As it says in Proverbs chapter 12: “17 He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.” Men should love those who speak the truth to them, even if the truth is discomfitting. However too are men are comfortable in deceit. From the same chapter of Proverbs: “19 The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”

17 Not rightly do they envy you, rather they desire to exclude you, in order that you would envy them.

The Codex Bezae (D) interpolates a clause at the end of this verse which is similar to the text found at 1 Corinthians 12:31, and it adds: “but you admire the better gifts.”

As David prayed in the Psalms: “2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.” The Judaizers wish to exclude the Galatians, meaning that by enticing them to follow the rituals and ceremonial ordinances of the law they would be excluded from the liberty which Christians have in Christ, that liberty which was referred to as the “perfect law of liberty” in James chapter 1 and also referred to by Peter in 1 Peter chapter 2 where he warns “15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.” Likewise, in chapter 2 of Galatians Paul had explained that “4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage”.

Here Paul continues to address these problems with the Judaizers which he has been addressing throughout this epistle, although he took a necessary diversion to address the rituals of the law as opposed to the nature of the promises to Abraham. The apostle Peter was once again speaking of these same Judaizers, whom he calls “false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies” in 2 Peter chapter 2, where he is writing to the same Christians assemblies of Anatolia that had originally been founded by Paul, and he says: “17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.”

Generally, men who rely on the works of the law, or on rituals and ceremonial ordinances for their assurance of salvation, end up envying those who dispense those rituals, and become subject to them. This is the key ingredient to the control which the professional priesthoods have over their own congregations. If you believe that you have salvation at the hands of a man, you become obligated to that man and your allegiance will be to that particular man or to what he represents. In this manner the blind lead the blind, and both fall into a ditch. Rather, one's full allegiance should only be to Yahshua Christ, in whom is the only true salvation, and in whom rituals and ceremonies are no longer necessary for justification.

18 But it is right always to envy in good, and not only at my presence with you.

From Psalm 34: “4 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.” As Paul told the Colossians: “10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9).

19 My little children, whom I travail once more, until the Anointed have taken shape among you; 20 I have desired to be present with you even now, and to change my tone [apparently, to become more stern], because I am perplexed with you.

Christ is already descended to the heavens, and He is not taking shape among the children of Israel. Rather, it is the body of Christ, which is the Anointed collectively, that is taking shape among the children of Israel in their dispersions as the gospel spreads throughout the Abrahamic οἰκουμένη.

Christ had warned us not to use titles such as father or rabbi, because they are so often used in a manner which confers undue authority to their bearers. However that does not preclude men from having affection for those whom they teach, and Paul, like the apostle John had also expressed in all three of his epistles, saw those to whom he had taught the Gospel as his own children. In Greek, one common word for a teacher is from the same root as the word for child, which is παιδαγωγός, from which we have the English word pedagogue, the same word found in Galatians 3:24 and 3:25 as schoolmaster. A παιδαγωγός is literally a leader of children since a παῖς is a child.

Paul also used the allusion to his students as his children in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 where he had written: “15 For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” We may read from Isaiah chapter 38: “19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.”

21 Tell me, those who are desiring to be subject to law, do you not hear the law?

The Codex Bezae ends this verse instead “… have you not read the law?”

This question is posed to all those among the Galatians who had been convinced by the Judaizers. As we have pointed out several times here already, even according to the law itself a man cannot be justified by the law. It is good to keep the law, even as Paul himself consistently recommends in his epistles, and as Christ had said “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” But since all men sin, justification is granted to men only by the mercy of God. Paul explained in Galatians chapter 3 that for those nations which are sprung from the anointed seed of Abraham, justification is granted freely as a matter of Yahweh God's promises to Abraham. So speaking of the inheritance, Paul said in Galatians chapter 3: “18 For if from law, the inheritance is no longer from promise, but to Abraham through a promise Yahweh has given it freely.”

22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one of the servant woman and one of the free. 23 Yet indeed he of the servant woman was born in accordance with the flesh, but he of the free by a promise.

Here Paul is making another analogy, and he is not literally talking about either Edomites or Ishmaelites. In fact, when he prayed in Romans chapter 9 for those Israelites in Judaea who had not yet come to the faith in Christ, he only prayed “for the brethren” whom he had specified as his “kinsmen in regards to the flesh”. In that chapter he explained that they were not all Israel who were of Israel, and he went on to compare Jacob and Esau, describing the Edomites as “vessels of destruction”, as many of the Judaeans were indeed Edomites, and Paul certainly had no care for them. Therefore we cannot ever imagine that he means to describe actual Edomites or actual Ishmaelites here, for as he explained in chapter 3 of this epistle, they have already been excluded from the promises to Abraham in Genesis, and the Word of Yahweh God cannot be changed. Rather, Paul's analogy here is to compare those Israelites who were still clinging to the works of the law for justification to those Israelites who were already relying upon Christ for their justification.

24 Such things are, being allegorized: For these are two covenants, one from Mount Sinai having resulted in bondage, which is Hagar. 25 So Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem: for she is enslaved with her children.

The 3rd century papyrus P46 and the Codices Sinaiticus (א) and Ephraemi Syri (C) have verse 25 to begin “So Mount Sinai is in Arabia...” The text follows the Codices Alexandrinus (A), Vaticanus (B), Bezae (D), and also the 5th century uncial 062 in which only a portion of Galatians chapters 4 and 5 survive and the Majority Text which both vary slightly, but not meaningfully in English.

In his analogy Paul is using Hagar allegorically, she being a bondwoman, as a type for those Israelites in the remnant of Judaea in the earthly Jerusalem who sought to remain bound to the rituals of the law found in the Old Covenant. He then contrasts the children of Israel who have accepted Christ:

26 But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother.

The Codex Alexandrinus (A), the 5th century uncial 0261 in which only a portion of Galatians chapters 1 and 4 survive, and the Majority Text have “...which is mother of us all.” The text follows the 3rd century papyrus P46 and the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Vaticanus (B), Ephraemi Syri (C) and Bezae (D).

Paul is not comparing Hagar to Sarah, but rather he is only using Hagar as a representative of bondage, that the children of bondage in the rituals of the law shall not be accepted by Yahweh their God, because they had rejected Yahshua Christ. He is making this allegory for the benefit of the Galatians, explaining why it is that they should not revert to relying upon the works of the law.

Paul is comparing these Israelites remaining in bondage to the rituals to the Jerusalem which is above, which is the true seat of Yahweh's government, and which is ostensibly the New Jerusalem come down from heaven as it is later described in Revelation chapter 21. There it is written “2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” The Revelation was given to John approximately 40 years after Paul had written this epistle.

27 For it is written, “Be gladdened, barren who is not bearing; break fourth and shout, she who is not travailing; because many more are the children of the desolate than of she who has the husband.”

Here Paul quotes from Isaiah chapter 54, and reading that passage in Isaiah, we find that here Paul is actually contrasting the ancient remnant in Judaea who were kept bound to the law to those of the Assyrian deportations and other dispersions of Israel who were cut loose from the bondage of the works of the law, but nevertheless had the promise of salvation in Christ on account of the promises which had been made to the fathers. To understand this, we must read the entire passage of Isaiah which Paul is citing here.

From Isaiah chapter 54: “1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. 2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. 4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.”

[I had interpreted this passage quite differently in a presentation of Galatians done with another and supposedly Christian Identity pastor several years ago, and I had interpreted it wrongly. Perhaps I had other motives at the time, but I nevertheless must admit the mistake and correct myself. Reading the passage in the context of both Paul's statements here and in its original source, it has nothing to do with those who have already been excluded from the covenants and the promises of God in Christ. Rather, it has everything to do with the fact that while Israel had forsaken Yahweh, and while Israel was put off by Yahweh, the promises to Abraham would be kept in spite of the disobedience of Israel.]

Isaiah had lived to the time of the reign of Hezekiah, and he both prophesied and witnessed the deportations of Israel and the destruction of Samaria by the Assyrians. It is even possible that he lived to see the later deportations of most of Judah by Sennacherib, and the failed siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians which took place around 700 BC, in regard to which he had also prophesied in his famous “as birds flying” oracle in Isaiah chapter 31.

The chapters of Isaiah leading up to Isaiah 54 contain several Messianic prophecies. Then here in Isaiah chapter 54 we see the words “for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife”, and “enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Nations.” But this is not addressed to the married wife. Rather, it is addressed to “O barren, thou that didst not bear”. In this case, the desolate are those kingdoms and cities of Israel which had been destroyed and their people taken into captivity by the Assyrians, while the married wife would be the remnant of Judah and the other tribes remaining in Jerusalem.

By quoting this passage in Isaiah, Paul is telling these Galatians exactly how the promises to Abraham were ultimately fulfilled. While there were already some nations in Europe which were at least in large part descended from the Israelites, such as the Romans and the Illyrians (who had other Adamic peoples among them) and the Dorian Greeks and those of the west which descended from the early Phoenicians, the final fulfillment of the promises to Abraham would be realized in the Germanic and other nations, such as the Parthians, which had come from the Israelites taken into Assyrian captivity, among whom were these Galatians that Paul is addressing. These are the people Yahweh God had forsaken, and these are the people whom He had promised to gather, a gathering which begins in Christ. Paul then assures these Galatians of his intent in quoting this passage by saying:

28 And we [P46, B, D, and 0261 have “you”, the text follows א, A, C, 062, and the MT], brethren, down through Isaak, are children of promise.

Now the King James Version has here “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise”, and nearly every other modern translation follows, having “as Isaac” or “like Isaac”, with many of them adding the word was, which does not appear in any manuscript of the Greek even though the King James Version does not mark it as having been added, as it should have placed it in italics. In the manner in which this reads, the mainstream commentators wrongly imagine Issac to be a mere type, an example, rather than correctly imagining the Galatians to be a part of the literal fulfillment of the promise, which is that Abraham “might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.” Once again, the mainstream commentators isolate this single verse from the balance of what Paul had said here, and then they pervert its intended meaning.

The Greek preposition translated as “as” or “like” by nearly every mainstream translation is κατά, a word which the King James Version often translates as after, or as in the manner of, or as according to. But the preposition most literally means down from or down through. There are other and indisputable ways to say like or as in Greek, and in even less letters as the usual word for like or as is ὡς, a word translated as like or as hundreds of times in Scripture. But κατά is not merely a synonym for ὡς.

In some contexts, for instance in Hebrews 4:15, κατά can be interpreted to mean in like manner. However if the Galatians are children of the promise in like manner with Isaac, then they too must have come from Abraham's loins like Isaac did. Therefore, because the children of the promise also must be the children of Abraham's anointed seed, as not even Abraham was allowed to make a substitute, we chose the most literal meaning of the word κατά when we translated this verse. The Galatians certainly came into the world down through Isaac, or they would not be sons of the promise.

In Isaiah chapter 66 we see a prophecy which foretells where the children of Israel of the Assyrian captivity were going to be sent by Yahweh their God, where He said: “19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Nations.”

The Galatians, who were unknown to the Greeks by that name before the 4th century BC, and their ancestors the Scythians and Kimmerians, who were unknown to the Greeks before the late 7th century BC, were indeed of the Bit Khumri, the descendants of the children of Israel deported by the Assyrians in the 8th century BC. Here they were dwelling both adjacent to and within the ancient lands of Lud (ancient Lydia) and Javan (Ionia), the Tibarni which dwelt nearer to the Black Sea (Tubal), a small part of the dispersions of Israel fulfilling a portion of Isaiah's prophecy. Other tribes of their Germanic brethren fulfilled the rest of the prophecy.

29 But just as at that time he who was born according to flesh had persecuted him according to Spirit, so also now.

Paul continues his analogy using Hagar as a symbol of bondage in the works of the law, and now in the person of Ishmael where he cites Genesis chapter 21, which says, describing the time after the birth of Isaac: “8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. 9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.” Ishmael would be 14 or 15 years old at this time. Paul continues his analogy and says:

30 But what does the writing say? “Cast out the servant woman and her son, for by no means shall the son of the servant woman inherit along with the son of the free.”

Very strangely, the Codex Bezae (D) has the end of this verse to read “… for by no means shall the son of the servant woman inherit along with the son of my Isaak.”

Here Paul quotes directly from Genesis 21:10, which is Sarah's response to the mocking of Ishmael in an appeal to Abraham, which Yahweh God had then commanded Abraham to abide in, informing him that “in Isaac shall your seed be called”, and in spite of the fact that this “was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son”, Ishmael and Hagar were indeed cast out.

So with this, Paul informs us that those Judaeans who would cling to bondage under the rituals and ceremonial ordinances of the law were to also be cast out of the community of the children of Yahweh in Christ. He then concludes:

31 Well, brethren, we are not children of a servant woman, but of the free.

And the Galatians, in the same manner as the Israelite Judaeans, were indeed a portion of the children of the promise and among the descendants of Isaac through his son Jacob. The Edomite Judaeans, who call themselves Jews today, are another story entirely.

These two chapters of Paul's epistle to the Galatians are a full exhibition of the truth of Covenant Theology and they fully elucidate the manifest truth of the promises of Yahweh made to Abraham 4,000 years ago. However any attempt to replace the seed of Abraham with a motley and diverse collection of so-called gentiles is an attempt to deny Yahweh the God of Israel of His fore-spoken truth. Making that attempt, men shall certainly fail, and we as Christians ought to obey God rather than men.