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contending, by echoing several Old Testament and Second Temple passages, that the inheritance of the coming world will be received by those who place their faith in Christ, the son of God and Messianic king. The fact that the inheritance is rooted in Jewish tradition makes it appropriate for him to place this theme within the context of the exodus (4:1–2) and new exodus stories (4:3–7), the former bringing to mind Israel’s deliverance from slavery and journey towards the inheritance, which then serves as a type of the new and better exodus that will culminate when Paul’s readers inherit the earth. Paul’s
masterful employment of these stories drives home for his readers that the Spirit is leading them through the wilderness of the present evil age until they at last possess the world.
150 Galatians 4:21–27: Sarah
and Hagar as Typological Allegory
Paul begins this section by asserting that Isaac was born “through the
promise” (Gal 4:23). This statement alludes to Genesis 17:19–22 and 18:10–14, passages which promise that Sarah will give birth to a son called Isaac, and in turn resonate with Genesis 13:14–17 and 15:1–19, which testify that Abraham’s offspring will inherit the land. Paul’s use of this tradition suggests that through Isaac’s birth the promise of numerous, landowning offspring is being fulfilled.
The birth of Isaac takes place in the story of Sarah and Hagar, which, Paul claims, “is an allegory” (ἐστιν ἀλληγορούμενα, Gal 4:24). Some contend that Paul employs the kind of non-historical allegory espoused by Philo, “where one thing stands for another, and the biblical text is sundered from the historical context from which it was birthed.”111 Others claim that Paul employs typology, since the Sarah and Hagar story is rooted in the Old Testament narrative and fits a salvation-historical reading.112 In spite of these polarizing interpretations, neither the typological nor allegorical reading may be ruled out, for both elements appear to be present. Perhaps, then, it is best to label this passage a “typological allegory.”113 As Schreiner explains,
Probably the best solution is to see a combination of typology and allegory. Paul argues typologically with reference to Isaac and Ishmael, especially in 4:21–23 and 4:28–30. Hence, his reading of the text fits with his salvation-historical
understanding of the Scriptures as a whole. There are clearly, however, allegorical elements in the argument, particularly in 4:24–27. The fundamental reason for seeing the text as having an allegorical component is the identification of Hagar
111Schreiner, Galatians, 292.
112See, for example, Moisés Silva, “Galatians,” in Commentary on the New testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 807–08, and Bruce, Galatians, 2 7. See also A. B. Caneday, “Covenant Lineage Prefigured: ‘Which things are Interpreted Allegorically’ (Galatians 4:2 –3 ),” SBJT 14, no. 3 (Fall 2010): 50–77, who argues against interpreting Gal 4:21–31 as strictly allegorical or typological.
113Schreiner, Galatians, 300. Betz, Galatians, 239, sees Gal 4:21 –31 as a mixture of typology and allegory.
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with the Sinai covenant. Such a move does not comport with typology, where there is historical connection between type and its fulfillment. It is difficult to see how Hagar functions as a historical type of the Sinai covenant.114
Simply put, Schreiner argues that Galatians 4:21–23 and 4:28–30 are typological, whereas 4:24–27 are allegorical. While this perspective is helpful, it seems that the allegorical elements are confined to 4:24–26, because in 4:27 Paul cites Isaiah 54:1, a verse that foretells the innumerable offspring of the desolate woman will inherit the entire earth and is grounded in the historical Abrahamic covenant promise in Genesis (15:1–
21). The historically rooted nature of the inheritance prevents Galatians 4:27 from being interpreted allegorically.
Following this claim, Paul states that in this passage there are two covenants, one from “Mount Sinai” (Σινᾶ ὄρος, Gal 4:25) and one that corresponds to the “Jerusalem above” (ἄνω Ἰερουσαλήμ, Gal 4:26). The latter, being allegorically associated with Hagar, represents those who are in slavery under the Law, and the former is related to the
heavenly Jerusalem. Often these “two covenants” are identified as the covenant at Sinai and the new covenant in Christ.115 While the words Σινᾶ ὄρος (4:25) display that the Sinai covenant is in view, the new covenant has no such support.116 A more warranted option is the Abrahamic covenant, which, like Galatians 4:24–27, stresses that Abraham’s offspring will inherit the land (cf. Gen 12, 15). Thus, in this passage, it is likely that the Sinai and Abrahamic covenants are in view.
Paul then claims that the “Jerusalem above” (ἄνω Ἰερουσαλήμ) is the “mother”
114Schreiner, Galatians, 300.
115See, for example, Bets, Galatians, 243; Longenecker, Galatians, 2 . Joel Willits, “Isa 54, and Gal 4, 24b–27: Reading Genesis in Light of Isaiah,” ZNW 96 (2005): 198–99.
116So Hays, Echoes, 114. Schreiner, Galatians, 300–301, argues that the new covenant is probably in view because the “citation of Isa 54: in Gal 4:27 signals the eschatological fulfillment of the covenant enacted with Abraham.” While Isa 54 points to the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, the promises of offspring and inheritance have not been fulfilled, for Abraham’s descendants are still being gathered and the renewed world has yet to be revealed. Thus it cannot be claimed that the new covenant is in view, for the covenant with Abraham has not been entirely fulfilled.
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(μήτηρ) of the Galatian readers (Gal 4:26). The “Jerusalem above” is equivalent to 4 Ezra’s description of the “New Jerusalem,” which exists in heaven, awaiting the time when it will come down on the “future land” (e.g., 7:27; 10:27, 42, 44, 54, 13:36). It also corresponds to Revelation’s portrayal of “the holy city, the New Jerusalem,” which will descend on the “new heavens and new earth” (cf. Isa 65–66). Like these texts, it is likely that Paul envisions the New Jerusalem to be the city that will exist on the new heavens and new earth, the inheritance (Isa 54, 65–66). Since this city is the Galatians’ mother, Paul assures his readers that their home is in the city that will be revealed in the coming world.
Paul supports (γάρ) the notion that his readers are citizens of the New Jerusalem by quoting Isaiah 54:1:
Rejoice, O sterile woman!
Break forth (ῥῆξον) and cry out, O woman who suffers no birth pains!
For the children of the desolate woman are many—
more than the one who has a husband (Gal 4:27).117
Though Galatians 4:27 cites the prophecy that assures Sarah of numerous descendants, it is difficult to determine how this sole citation supports that Galatian Christians are citizens of the New Jerusalem. It is more probable that the quotation of Isaiah 54:1 initiates a ripple of echoes that extend, at the very least, to the whole of chapter 54.118
The first of these ripples is found in Isaiah 54:2–3, which uses the story of Sarah to foretell that God’s people will be so numerous that they will possess the nations of the earth. That is to say, they will inherit the world. Such a prophecy assures Isaiah’s exilic community that the promise of a territorial inheritance to Abraham’s offspring will be fulfilled. Subsequently, the remainder of Isaiah 54 describes the gloriously restored nature of the inheritance (vv. 4–16) and assures the exilic community that this is indeed
117I am following the structure of the NA 28.
118See Joel Willits, “Isa 54, and Gal 4, 24b–27,” 92.
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“the inheritance of the Lord’s servants” (v. 7).
There is doubt, however, as to whether the context of the quotation in Galatians 4:27 is limited to Isaiah 54. Richard Hays argues that the context begins in Isaiah 54 and extends back to 51.119 This broad scriptural framework, he asserts, is necessary in order “to grasp the sense of the quotation.”120 ays’s observation is correct, given that Isaiah 52:1–10 and 51:1–3121 echo the thought of both Galatians 4:27 and Isaiah 54:1. In particular, Isaiah 52:1–10 speaks of the future redemption of Jerusalem, the holy city, whose salvation is a cause for her to “break forth” (ῥηξάτω)122 in singing (v.
9). Here the call to “break forth” is the same as that in Galatians 4:27 and Isaiah 54:1.
Similarly, Isaiah 51:1–3 pictures Sarah as the mother of Jerusalem and assures Israel of the future deliverance from exile by reminding them that their parents, Abraham and Sarah, were greatly multiplied by God (cf. 51:17–20).123 In this future liberation, the Lord will restore Zion to an Eden-like paradise, which will result in “joy and gladness” being found in her, thanksgiving and the “voice of song” (φωνὴν αἰνέσεως). The “voice of song,” like the call to “break forth” in singing in Isaiah 52, is the same voice summoned in Galatians 4:27 and Isaiah 54:1.124 Such evidence supports that the context for Paul’s citation indeed begins in Isaiah 54 and extends back to 51.
119Hays, Echoes, 118–21.
120Ibid., 119.
121I list these chapters in descending order, since the echo in Gal 4:27 extends back from Isaiah 54 to Isaiah 51. I will continue to do so in this section.
122LXX Isaiah citations are from Joseph Ziegler, ed., Isaias: Vetus Testamentum Graecum, vol.
14 (Göttingen: Dandenhoed & Ruprecht, 1939).
123Hays, Echoes, 119.
124Ibid., 119–20. ays interestingly argues that “Isaiah’s description in 54: of Jerusalem as a
‘barren one’ creates an internal echo hinting at the correspondence between the city in its exilic desolation and the condition of Sarah before Isaac’s birth, a correspondence that also implies the promise of
subsequent blessing. Consequently, Paul’s link between Sarah and redeemed Jerusalem surely presupposes Isa. 5 :2, even though the text is not quoted in Galatians 4. It is Isaiah’s metaphorical linkage of Abraham and Sarah with an eschatologically restored Jerusalem that warrants Paul’s use of Isa. 54: ” (ibid., 20).
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By implication, the scriptural support for the Galatians being citizens of the New Jerusalem extends from Isaiah 54 to 51. Paul employs this background to remind his readers that they will dwell in the glorious city (Gal 4:26; cf. Rev 21:1–2) that will exist on the new heavens and new earth (i.e., the inheritance) described by Isaiah. Life in this New Jerusalem will not be desolate, but will be a return to an Edenic paradise. This picture is intended to persuade the Galatians that the anticipation of life in the New Jerusalem is far better than being enslaved under the Law with agar’s descendants (Gal 4:24–25).