The Road Less Traveled
Galatians 4:21-5:1
Introduction:
Robert Frost in
the famous poem, “The Road not Taken,” said:
I
shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere
ages and ages hence:
Two
roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I
took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the
difference.
I am not sure of Frost’s purpose in his poem, but we can agree
that there are many moments in our lives when we make a choice over which path
we are going to take. Some of those
decisions are of small consequence, others are life changing. When it comes to the question concerning our
hope of eternal salvation, the Bible teaches that there is only one way to
God, one path to life: Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone,
to the glory of God alone. The Road Less Traveled. Jesus used a similar
illustration when He said,
"Enter
by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to
destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the
way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few…” (Matthew 7:13-14).
The road less
traveled. Jesus says pretty clearly that most of humanity continues on the
broad way to destruction, while only relatively “few” find the way to
life. The broad way seems to be the same in all the religions of men:
thinking that somehow, we can make ourselves good enough to come to God by
human effort. The Judaizers were right there. They had been insisting that the
Galatian believers needed to obey the Law in addition to trusting in Christ in
order to be right with God. The issue was this: are we justified before God by
faith alone, or by faith plus works? Paul is arguing that “the just will live
by faith,” that is, the Christian life must be lived in a trusting
faith relationship with Jesus, and not by relying on human effort or ingenuity.
Since they had been
using the requirements of the law to confuse the Galatians’ understanding of
the Gospel, Paul turns toward the “Law,” in the broader sense, the Torah,
or “teaching,” that is, the Hebrew Scriptures, and he uses the familiar
story from the first book of Moses, the book of Genesis, to illustrate the
contrast between faith in God’s promise, and human effort. The story of
Abraham, Sarah, and Sarah’s servant Hagar, and the sons born to them, were
known to every Jew. Paul is saying that the choice before Abraham and Sarah is essentially
the choice that was before the Galatians, and us: will we take God at His Word
and trust in His promise, or will we try to find our own way, through own
efforts, to come before God? That brings us to…
I. Our only
Hope: The
Gospel of Grace is contrary to religion based on works (4:21-23). The story to which Paul refers illustrates those two contrasting paths: one leads to
freedom, the other continues in bondage. He is saying here that these legalists
are wrongly telling people that true spirituality comes from human effort. They evoke the Law, but they have not even
learned from the Scriptures themselves. Paul
turns to Genesis for an illustration in contrasting the births of Ishmael and
Isaac…
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.
Many first-century
Jews put their hope of salvation in their physical decent from Abraham. John
the Baptist rebuked the leaders who came to him warning, “Do not say, ‘We
have Abraham as our father,’ for out of these stones God can raise up children
for Abraham!” (c.f. Matthew 3:9). John
was saying, don’t trust in your physical lineage! Let’s look back with Paul to
Genesis for a moment, to the story of Abraham and Sarah, and consider the
contrast between trusting God and relying on human effort…
We can start in Gen
12:1-9, at the age of 75 Abram is called to leave his home and all that he
knew, and to head to a new land that God would show Him…
Now the LORD
said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's
house to the land that I will show you. 2
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name
great, so that you will be a blessing. 3
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and
in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Gen 12:1-3).
God said “Go!” and Abraham went. He
trusted God and took Him at His word. Sometime later, we read about it in chapter
15, God promised Abraham a son, and not only a son, but a multitude of
descendants. And Abraham believed God…
3 And Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, and
a member of my household will be my heir."
4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: "This
man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir." 5 And he brought him outside and
said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number
them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 And he believed the LORD, and
he counted it to him as righteousness…
(Gen 15:3-6).
When we get to Genesis
16:1-3, we come to a key point in the narrative in terms of Paul’s purpose in
Galatians. At the age of 85, the promised son has not yet arrived. Sarai (then 75) knowing that her time for
bearing children had long since passed, gives her servant Hagar to Abraham. This
was culturally acceptable, and seemed practical, but it contradicts God’s
design for marriage revealed in Creation. And the consequences of that decision
are quickly evident… In Genesis 16:4-16 When Abram is 86, Sarai gets jealous of
Hagar’s pregnancy and, with Abraham’s permission, she treats her harshly and
eventually drives her out – God intervenes and brings her back. The Lesson is already
apparent: Whenever we attempt to run outside of God’s will, or to take matters
into our own hands, there are always consequences, and often heartache. Not
only God’s will, but God’s time and God’s way are important. When Abram is 86
Hagar bears him a son, Ishmael. But this was not the son of promise!
We read in Genesis 17
and 18, that at the age 99 God promises Abram a son by Sarah, who was then 89!
They both laughed at the idea, but Abraham believed God. When Abraham is 100
and Sarah 90, Isaac is born (Gen 21:1-7; cf. Rom 4:16-25). Jealousy and
conflict continue, and when Abraham is 103 or so, Ishmael, then about 17, mocks
Isaac, and Abraham is forced to put him out!
That is the
background in Genesis. Back in our text, in Galatians 4:23, we read, “But
the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free
woman was born through promise.” It was according to the flesh because
the scheme was motivated by purely selfish desires and fulfilled by purely human
means. Paul is saying that human
effort is not the means to live the life for which we were created (Titus 3:5).
The just shall live by faith! That means believing God, taking Him at
His word.
The contrast is in
the second part of the verse, 4:23b, “…and the son of the free woman was
born through the promise…” The son of the free-woman, Isaac, was born
through promise. When Isaac was
born, Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90!
The certainty that God had intervened was beyond question (Heb 11:11;
Gen 17:17; 21:5). The son of the bond
woman was born according to the flesh, that is, out of human effort and human
ingenuity. Having to wait another 14 years, it was clear that Sarah would only
give birth if God intervened. Lesson learned! Humanly speaking, the birth of
Isaac was impossible. Get this: humanly
speaking, the Christian life is not difficult, it is impossible (in our own
strength!). Just as Sarah was long past
the age of child bearing, with no hope of giving birth, “as good as dead,”
so we were dead in our trespasses and sins, we were as Paul says in I
Cor 2:14, “unable to understand the things of the Spirit of God…”
Yet we were saved, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy. Only God
could do it! The Bible presents two contrasting paths: one is focused on
human effort, the other on trusting God’s promises. One way leads to bondage,
the other to freedom. Only one is the way of life. Trust Him, and find life!
II. The
Scriptures illustrate the futility of trusting in our human efforts, and show
the need for Grace (4:24-27). Paul is
using this passage as an analogy or an illustration of the New Testament
truth. Bondage begets bondage! Only faith, taking God at His Word, leads to
life. Instead of relying on what we can “do,” we trust what God has “done.”
Paul explains the parallel between the Gospel and the Genesis story,
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; 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. 27 For it is written,
"Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you
who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than
those of the one who has a husband."
Let me say that I
don’t think Paul is saying that the conflict between Sarah and Hagar was
intended as a prophecy of the conflict facing the Galatians. I think Paul is
showing parallels between then and now, and so some of the same principles are
there in both the Old Testament story and in the situation troubling the
Galatians. First, he says that “Hagar” represents Mount Sinai, or
the “Earthly Jerusalem” of Paul’s day. (4:24,25). That had to be shocking, since the
Judaizers had come from Jerusalem, and no doubt considered themselves children
of Abraham! The covenant in view is Law
and works, which no one is able to keep perfectly (c.f. 2:16; James 2:10). In
having relations with Hagar and trying to “help God out,” Abraham was doing
something culturally acceptable and humanly logical, but it was
contradictory to the purpose, plan, and promise of God!
Question: Why do you
think God had Abraham and Sarah wait so long for the promised son? So that they could recognize that the
situation was not only difficult, it was impossible, and the promise could
only be realized by the grace and power of God. The natural man does not want
to acknowledge dependence on the Creator God…
The Jerusalem
above is free (4:26-27). The Jerusalem above, here paralleled with Sarah,
is the mother of the children of promise.
Isaac was born of promise, out of faith, not because of human ingenuity
or effort, but according to the mercy and miraculous intervention of God. Paul is using this as a picture, an
illustration, of salvation and the Christian life. There is a spiritual
birth, a birth from above that takes precedence over physical decent. The
Bible presents two contrasting paths: one is focused on human effort, the other
on trusting God’s promises. One leads to bondage, the other to freedom. Trust God…
and find life!
III. Our new
Life: There
are essentially two paths before us, one is trusting what God has done, the
other is trusting in what we can do. Paul’s point: Take the road less traveled!
The way of faith will lead to conflict with the world, but it is the way to
true freedom, the way to living the abundant life for which we were created (4:28-5:1).
28 Now you,
brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the
flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is
now. 30 But what does the
Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the
slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." 31 So, brothers, we are not
children of the slave but of the free woman.
5:1For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore,
and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
“…and WE
brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise…” (v.28). The NKJV using the Majority Text, translates
“we” while the NIV and ESV translate from some earlier manuscripts, “you
brethren…” The difference is only one letter in the Greek manuscripts! The
point is the same, Paul surely included himself among the children of promise,
by grace through faith, and importantly, he wants the believing Galatians to
know that that is their position as well. He calls them “…brethren…”
as he did in 1:11 and 4:12, they are part of the same spiritual family, by
faith. Every believer, like Isaac, is supernaturally conceived,
miraculously born, and the offspring of God’s promise to Abraham fulfilled in Christ. They needed to remember that just as Isaac
owed his physical life to the miraculous intervention and gracious working of
God, so did they owe their spiritual life in the same way. The just shall
live by faith.
Flesh and Spirit are incompatible
(4:29,30). As Ishmael resented Isaac, so the spiritual descendants of Isaac
will be persecuted by the spiritual descendants of Ishmael, Those who wished to
continue under Law and Works would resent and persecute those who recognized
their liberty in Christ. We are
children of the free woman (v.31). This is an indicative, stating who we
are, in reality in Christ. You are children, free in Christ!
Therefore, let
us live as free! (5:1). “Stand fast,” Christ has set us free! Whereas
the law showed the impossibility of salvation by works Jesus provided the Way
of Grace, therefore, because of what Christ has accomplished on our behalf,
because in Christ, we are “children of the free woman.” Stand fast
therefore… don’t waver on the truth of the Gospel – Jesus did it all, our
salvation is by grace through faith – don’t fall into the trap of legalism. That
would be saying the work of Christ was not enough. It is finished, the debt is paid. Do you believe that?
What is God saying to me in this passage? There are two contrasting paths: one is focused on human effort,
It looks reasonable, it has its attraction, but “there is a way which seems
right to a man, the end thereof are the ways of death.” The trust is that Jesus
is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
He did it all for us. Our part is simply trusting God’s promises, taking
Him at his Word. Trust Him, His way is the way of life!
What would
God have me to do in response to this passage? Paul prayed for another group of believers in Ephesians 3:14-21, that
they would grasp the reality of what they have in Jesus, and live in the light
of the Gospel;
“…I bow my
knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is
named, 16 that He would grant
you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might
through His Spirit in the inner man, 17
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted
and grounded in love, 18 may
be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and
depth and height -- 19 to
know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all
the fullness of God. 20
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all
generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
If you can grasp what God has done for you in Christ, it changes
everything! That is God’s desire for us today, that the eyes of our
heart would be opened (cf. Eph 1:17-19), and we would know and
understand more fully the salvation that we have in Jesus… The Lord’s Table is
an opportunity to reflect on the Cross, and the Good News that God was, in
Christ, reconciling us to Himself. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe… That
is the Gospel! To God be the Glory! AMEN.
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