The Choice of Freedom or Slavery (Fri. Oct 4)

The Word of the Day is “under.” Today in our reading of Galatians 4:8-13, St. Paul asks the pivotal question, “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?” (Gal 4:21). Today, we consider Paul’s teaching of what it means to be under the slavery to the Law or under the reign of freedom.

In Paul’s day, the “Judaizers,” a group of Jewish Christians, had insisted that the Gentiles had to be circumcised to become “real” Christians. The great Jewish teacher Gamaliel had trained Paul, and the apostle knew that circumcision was the rite of binding one to the Law of Moses. So if the Gentiles were circumcised, they would be bound to keep the entire Jewish Law, its rituals, dietary restrictions, and division of clean and unclean, as well as its moral and spiritual requirements. This idea insulted Paul’s understanding of the Gospel and undermined his mission to the Gentiles.

OBLIGATED TO KEEP THE WHOLE LAW

Paul knew that the Law was of one piece. One could not choose what parts of the Law to obey. He said, “I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is bound to keep the whole law” (Galatians 5:3). With that in mind, Paul asked the Galatians whether they wanted to be obligated to the whole Mosaic Law, especially since Christ had freed them from such tyranny (Galatians 5:1).

In Galatians 4:22-31, Paul continues his argument for freedom by appealing to scripture.  In an allegorical approach to interpretation, he contrasts Sarah, the free woman, with Hagar, the slave. The difference between the two is the crucial understanding that they represent two covenants (Galatians 4:24). The line between them separates one way of God’s relationship with humankind from another. And that line goes right through the distinction between slavery (Hagar) and freedom (Sarah).

SARAH AND HAGAR: TWO COVENANTS

In Paul’s mind, the Gospel gives us a choice of living under one or the other of these covenants. We can choose either the freewoman Sarah as our mother or the bondservant Hagar. In this way, Paul graphically asks what family, covenant, and way of life we choose to belong to. The critical concept is obligation. Why do we keep the Law? In the household of Hagar, we must obey it out of the sense of duty that involves reward and punishment, righteousness and judgment. But in the home of Sarah, we do it willingly, following the way of Christ out of love and devotion.

FOR REFLECTION

Paull’s teaching is so radical that it might shock us. And indeed, that is what the apostle is trying to do in Galatians. In response, we might conclude that Paul goes too far. We might try to rescue at least some parts of the Law--some commands that we are bound to uphold out of obligation. But note what we just said. We want to choose something that will bind us to the Law. But as soon as we try to obey the Law out of duty, we make the work of Christ to no effect (Galatians 5:2). Whatever Law we choose to obey slavishly will judge us. And Christ will not be our Savior in that part of our lives. This is the stark reality of the choice between freedom and slavery.

No, we cannot have two mothers. Grace must not be compromised. We are not under the Law but under the Spirit of freedom. Thus, if, as children of Sarah, we keep the Law of God, it is out of freedom, in love, and by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us.