So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. (Gal.4:31)

Galatians is one of Paul's most forceful exhortations. It is a heroic effort to stem the tide of Judaizing among the Gentiles who had received the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This was a major issue confronting the witness of the early church and it later resulted in the first council of the whole church, held in Jerusalem, with the apostle James, presiding. At stake was the sufficiency of the grace of God in Christ as opposed to the efficacy of good works.

Paul and Barnabas argued against Gentile Christians being under the Jewish law. Peter (who was NOT in charge of this meeting -hardly an argument for the Roman Catholic papacy) summarized the arguments for Gentile obedience to the law. The council resoundingly agreed that Gentile Christians were not under the Jewish ceremonial and rabbinical law.

In Galatians, St. Paul spends much of his epistle dealing with the issues raised by these same Judiazers, who were teaching that every Christian had to comply with all the requirements of the Jewish religion. These include not only the moral law (which we call the Ten Commandments) but also the whole of the ceremonial law, which included ritual circumcision, the Jewish festivals, and the food laws.

St. Paul responds emphatically with an allegorical argument using Hagar and Sarah as an illustration of the fundamental incompatibility of Judaism with Christianity. The word "allegory" comes from Greek words allos (other) and agoreuein (to speak in public). According to the Wikipedia, an allegory is "a figurative representation conveying a meaning other than and in addition to the literal". St. Paul does not deny the actual historical narrative, but rather uses it in an allegorical sense to illustrate his point for the benefit of his readers who are being told by "Judiazers" that they must conform to the whole of the Jewish law in order to be saved.

Let us review briefly the account of SARAH AND HAGAR from Genesis:

• Sarah, who is barren, has a handmaiden named Hagar (Gen. 16:1)
• Sarah doubts God's promise of an heir, and so she takes it upon herself to give Hagar to Abraham to bear a child in her place ( Gen. 16: 2-3) It should be noted that like Adam, Abraham listens to his wife instead of God and brings disaster on his household
• Hagar conceives and looks down upon her mistress Sarah (Gen. 16: 4)
• Sarah responds by dealing harshly with Hagar (Gen. 16:5-6)
• Hagar bears Ishmael (Gen. 16: 7-16)
• God renews his promise that Sarah will have a son (Gen. 17: 15-17) and confirms that the covenant he promised Abraham will be through Isaac, not Ishmael ( Gen. 17: 18-21)
• Sarah then bears Isaac as God promised and convinces Abraham to send Hagar away (Gen. 21).

St. Paul uses this biblical account in an allegorical manner (Gal. 4: 21-31). He points out that Abraham had two sons. One, Ishmael, was the son of a slave woman. The other, Isaac, was the son of a free woman. The son of the slave woman was born "of the flesh" that is, Ishmael was conceived the natural way, and according to man's plan (in this case Sarah's plan to have God's will accomplished her way.) The other son, Isaac, was conceived by the promise and the will of God, and was accomplished to fulfill God's promises.

Paul teaches that the two women are allegoricialy speaking, representative of two covenants. Specifically, Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia, bearing children for slavery. Paul says that Hagar corresponds to the present Jerusalem (the Jews) and that she is in bondage her children.

Paul compares Hagar to Sarah, who represents Jerusalem above, being those who are free, and that Sarah corresponds to heaven (the New Jerusalem). Sarah is the "mother" of all who are in Christ and all those who are in Christ are like Isaac, the "children of promise."

Paul then compares the way the world treats Christians. All who are Christ's are persecuted. Ishmael (born of the flesh) persecuted Isaac (born according to promise). In Paul's time, Judaizing teachers (equated with those born of the flesh) persecuted Christians (born according to the Spirit)

Just as Ishmael, born out of a plot to bypass God's plan, could not inherit the blessing of the covenant, so the Judaizing teachers will not inherit the kingdom of God. Rather, the covenant will pass through the son of the free woman, which is to be understood as those redeemed in Christ.

Christians are to be seen as the children of the free woman (and belong to the heavenly Jerusalem above, ands are not to be confused with the offspring of the slave woman, (who belong to the present Jerusalem, and who live under the Law of Moses).

Thus Paul declares that the Galatians should not heed the Judaizing teachers because bringing Christians under the regulations of Judaism would be a return to slavery, would be a rejection of the Holy Spirit, and would be a turning away from the promises of heaven in order to satisfy men.

Forcing Christians to submit to Jewish ceremonial and food laws would amount to rejecting grace and making salvation depend upon works. In Titus 3: 5-7, Paul writes that we are saved "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The Old Covenant is replete with signs and types of Christ and foreshadowing, but while Judaism is a forerunner of Christianity and points towards it, Judaism is inferior in every way, and the requirements of it were temporary and supplanted and fulfilled in Christ.

The Gospel for today is John's account of the feeding of the 5,000. Inherent in this is the difference between Christ, who is the Bread of Life, and the Moses, who prayed that God would provide Manna. Jesus reminds us that those who ate manna in the wilderness are dead, but that those who partake of Christ, the Living Bread, have eternal life in Him.

In a similar fashion, circumcision points towards baptism, but is both inferior to it and is fulfilled and replaced by the sacrament of Baptism. The Passover meal points towards both the Atonement of Christ on the Cross of Calvary and the Holy Eucharist, and finds its completion in that sacrament.

The Ten Commandments express the mind and will of God, and are morally binding on all men, but they cannot save, according to Paul they can only condemn.

The Jewish temple and sacrificial system provided a temporary covering over of sin by divine decree, but did not reconcile man to God. Only Christ, once offered on the Cross could accomplish that.

Therefore, to subject Christians to Jewish discipline and ceremonial constitutes not a step forward, but a step backwards, a return to slavery. In John 8:31-34 Jesus says: "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committed sin is the servant of sin.

The Jews had made a religion of the law, had come to worship the law, and had used the law to circumvent the will of God by rabbinical sophistry and had set themselves up as being righteous, not by God's grace, but by their own keeping of their own vain interpretation of the law. This was in actuality, not righteousness, but a bondage to sin.

Those who belong to Christ must look to Christ for justification and for salvation, not to the works of the law. Paul writes that in our life in Christ, we must cast out the bondwoman and her son.

We are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.