Hagar and Sarah, Two Covenants

Paul addresses those who “desire to be under the law” by asking whether they actually hear what the law says. He then interprets the Abraham narratives concerning Hagar and Sarah. Abraham had two sons: one by the enslaved woman “according to the flesh,” and one by the free woman “through promise.” Paul calls the interpretation allēgoroumena, “being interpreted allegorically,” though his method resembles typological rereading as much as later allegory.

Hagar corresponds to Mount Sinai and “the present Jerusalem,” which Paul says is in slavery with her children; Sarah corresponds implicitly to “the Jerusalem above,” which is free and “our mother.” The geographical statement connecting Hagar and Sinai in Arabia is textually and interpretively difficult, and scholars debate whether Paul draws on a linguistic association, geographical tradition, or rhetorical symbolism. He then quotes Isaiah 54:1, applying the promise to the eschatological community created by God’s promise.

Paul identifies his readers with Isaac, “children of promise,” and reads the conflict between Ishmael and Isaac as a pattern for present opposition. Genesis 21:10 supplies the command to expel the slave woman and her son, because the slave’s son will not inherit with the free woman’s son. The conclusion is covenantal: believers belong to the free woman, not the slave. The argument functions polemically against making Torah observance the basis of Gentile inheritance.

Galatians 4 continues the argument of 3:23-29 by explaining the transition from minority under guardianship to mature inheritance in Christ. Verses 1-7 use household and legal imagery: heirs under guardians are functionally little different from slaves until the appointed time. Paul applies this to salvation history, declaring that when the fullness of time arrived, God sent his Son to redeem those under law and sent the Spirit of his Son into believers’ hearts, establishing their status as sons and heirs.

Verses 8-20 shift from theological exposition to pastoral appeal. Paul fears that the Galatians’ observance of calendrical practices signals a return to slavery and recalls their earlier reception of him. Verses 21-31 then interpret the Abraham narrative through Hagar and Sarah as representing two covenants, contrasting slavery associated with Sinai and the present Jerusalem with the freedom of the Jerusalem above. The chapter prepares directly for the appeal to stand firm in freedom in 5:1.