We are talking about Galatians 4:21-31, the passage where Paul
sets out the allegory 1 of Sarah and Hagar. 2 As the apostle makes
clear, the law, given to Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai, was
a covenant of bondage, a covenant that was in stark contrast to
another covenant (Gal. 4:21,24-27). The two women, Sarah and
Hagar, represent these two covenants. Which covenant did Sarah
represent? The answer is patent: the Abrahamic covenant fulfilled
in the new covenant. How do we know this? Well, how would the
Galatians have understood Paul’s allusion? Not having the benefit
of 2 Corinthians 3 or Hebrews 8, and limited to what they knew
from the apostle’s letter they were now reading (or having read to
them), nevertheless their minds would have leapt to the covenant
with Abraham, and for two reasons. |
