GALATIANS 4:21-31

FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2007

DO YOU KNOW ENOUGH TO MAKE A CHOICE?

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— 26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written:
" Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband."
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. Galatians 4:21-31 (NKJV)

As I have done in the past I have chosen to do a series of Devotions by going verse by verse through a Book of the Bible. This time I have chosen the Letter of St. Paul to the Galatians. The first Devotion, for Chapter 1, verses 6 - 10, was written earlier and can be found by going to the Devotion Archives. Each following devotion will remain on this page for approximately 6 days before it will be transferred to the Archives. It is my prayer that these devotions will assist you in your Bible Study and in your growth in Faith and in the Love of Jesus. Here then is the thirteenth in this series of Devotions.

St. Paul continues to emphasize the need for the Gospel over the Law. In these verses once again he relies on the knowledge the people have of the Old Testament teachings as he seeks to call them to faith in the Risen Lord. The Galatians knew enough to make a choice, but do you? Do I?

I often mention the need to do more than just read the verses, but to do the extra that is needed to understand what you read, I want to give you some suggestions for the study of these verses so that you know enough to get more of an understanding of what St. Paul is writing about.

First a question. What do you know about the following people? Who are they? What, if anything do they have to do with Abraham?

1. Isaac.
2. Hagar.
3. Ishmael.
4. Sarah.

All of the above are important to our verses and are found in the book of Genesis.

I often suggest that you use a cross reference Bible. So that you can see how this helps, click on biblegateway.com When you do that, you can select one of many versions or translations of the Bible. I use the New King James Version. Select the version of your choice and when it comes up, scroll down the Books of the Bible and select Galatians, then select Chapter 4 and scroll down to verse 21. As you read the verse, you will find footnote marks such as (e) and (f). The footnotes are found at the bottom of the page.

When you go to the passage suggested in the footnote, don’t just read the suggested verse, also read the complete section of which the verse is a part. If you do this, you should have a little more knowledge and be equipped to make better choices.

If you do this and have questions, send me an e-mail and I will attempt to answer them.

WE PRAY: LORD, help me to understand your Word so that I might grow in faith. AMEN.

A SUGGESTION FOR LIVING THE DEVOTION

When I copy the verses for the devotion, I remove the footnote marks as I do not include the footnotes. My suggestion is to go to the bible gateway web site or another cross reference Bible to see if there are references. If so, look them up.