Paul turns yet another corner in this second half of chapter 4. He continues to contrast grace & law; faith & works.
His formal argument having ended in v8, his personal appeal of the heart now concluded in v20, Paul returns to the OT character Abraham, or his wives Sarah and Hagar more specifically, to make his next point.
V21 Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law?
With a lively, “Tell me,” the great apostle calls his opponents to task. He challenges them to think.
And he accomplishes this by way of analogy. This is not so much an argument as an illustration.
Our translators use the English word “allegorically” from the Gk allegoreo (v24). But usually an allegory is a fictional story that carries a hidden meaning within it.
As such, this can be a dangerous word to use in this case because Paul is not intending that the story of Hagar and Sarah was meant to be an allegory.
This only feeds the common sort of liberal theology that allegorizes many portions of Scripture as it leaves each interpreter up to his or her own imagination.
Treating the Scriptures allegorically is quite often influenced by “personal predispositions. It frequently leads to biased and often bizarre conclusions” (MacArthur; p122).
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