Monday 13 October 2008

Background

In this rather complicated passage, Paul uses the story of Hagarand Sarah from the Old Testament (Genesis 16) toillustrate the different choices people can make in theirrelationship with God. Paul is writing to the Christian communityin Galatia around AD 50. They had been visited by Jewish-Christianmissionaries who claimed that Paul's gospel was incomplete and thatin order to be true Christians they must first become Jewish andsubmit themselves to the Jewish Law. So Paul is writing to reasserthis authority and set the record straight.

Here, when Paul talks about "law", he's referring to thebehavioural rules and religious observances that Jews wereobligated to fulfil as part of their relationship with God. TheGalatian Christians were trying to figure out whether this law wasstill binding for them now they counted themselves among Christ'sfollowers.

So Paul draws an analogy with Abraham, Sarah and Hagar to set outthe new boundaries for a Christian relationship with God. Hagar wasSarah's servant. God had already promised Abraham that his wifeSarah would bear him a child, but Abraham lost sight of thatpromise and slept with Hagar in order to produce an heir. Hagargave birth to Ishmael and later Sarah bore Isaac.

Here, Paul is inviting the Galatian Christians to see themselves asthe child of freedom (and thus, the child of Sarah), no longerenslaved to Jewish law (as the child of Hagar was born intoslavery). They do not need to conform to the law in order to fit inas part of God's family, because through Christ they have alreadybeen adopted and nothing they do or say could possibly changethat.

To Ponder

How do we interpret Paul's call to "drive out theslave and her child"? Who do you think he is talking about? TheJewish people? The law? Or simply those things that enslave us?

What enslaves us today?