2 Corinthians 4

14 In spite of his illness and weakness, the Galatians could see the power of Christ in Paul’s life and speech (1 Corinthians 2:3-4; 2 Corinthians 4:7). God had told Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). The Galatians had regarded Paul as if he were an angel, as if he were Christ Himself (see Acts 14:815). Why, then, do they now turn away from him?

15-16 What has happened to all your joy? asks Paul. In other words, what had become of the Galatians’ joy in their new freedom, in their salvation? They had once been joyful and free. Now Satan was taking away their joy and freedom. Satan cannot take away a Christian’s salvation (John 10:18), but he surely can take away a Christian’s joy and his sense of freedom.

When Paul speaks of joy here, he is really talking about spiritual joy, a joy that does not depend on worldly circumstances. Joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). We experience joy because we are no longer in bondage to the law, to the world. But now these Galatians had begun to turn back to the “basic principles” of the world, to the Jewish rules and regulations; and, as a result, they had lost their joy.

When we observe followers of other religions carrying out their various rituals, do we see joy and satisfaction on their faces? No, more often we see fear. They fear lest they fail to observe some rule or ritual, and thereby incur the anger of their gods.

But those who are in Christ have no such fear. God is their loving Father. For them rules and rituals are no longer necessary. There is freedom and joy in God’s family. Paul does not want to see the Galatians lose this freedom and joy.

Those of other religions often suppose that the Christian religion is very easy to follow: There are no rules! And in one way they are right (see Matthew 11:2829). But it is not because there are no rules that it is easy to follow Christ. Rather, it is easy to follow Christ because He gives to us through the Holy Spirit the power to follow Him, as well as the joy of doing so.

In the beginning the Galatians had been so joyful and grateful for hearing Paul’s Gospel that they would have done anything for him. They would even have torn out their own eyes²¹ and given them to him, had it been possible. Paul hopes that they will not now become his enemies simply because he has told them the truth about their errors.

How easy it is for those who were once our friends to become our enemies! And how quick we are to count as enemies those who tell us the truth about our faults!

Nevertheless, we must always be prepared to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), even if in so doing we sometimes make an enemy. But let us be sure it is the truth that we speak! And let us be sure that we speak it in love, face to face, and not behind a person’s back. If we follow these precautions we shall avoid speaking many unwise and harmful words.

17 Paul says: Those people (the false Jewish teachers) are zealous to win you over. These teachers were zealous to persuade the Galatians to follow them. They wanted to be big and important and to have many disciples. They wanted the Galatians to serve them instead of serving Paul. Therefore, they tried to alienate the Galatians from us; that is, they tried to separate the Galatians from Paul, so that the Galatians would be zealous for them.

18 In the beginning the Galatians had been zealous for Paul. They had zealously sought to hear his Gospel. But now Paul was no longer with them, so they were beginning to be zealous for these false teachers, whose purpose was no good (verse 17). Let this not be, urges Paul. Even though he is now absent from them, let them not abandon the true teaching he has given them.

19-20 Paul, like a mother, has given birth to the churches in Galatia. But now again he is in the pains of childbirth. The reason is because the Galatians have turned from the Gospel. They will have to be “born” all over again.

Paul’s main goal and desire is that Christ be formed in the Galatians (verse 19). This is the goal of every true pastor and preacher. Just as a mother’s birth pains do not cease until the child is formed (delivered), so Paul’s pain will not cease until Christ is formed in the Galatians.

… until Christ is formed in you. To have Christ formed in us means to have Christ live in us through His Spirit (Romans 8:10-11). It also means to be conformed to the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18). And finally, it means to become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

21 If the foolish Galatians really want to live under the Jewish law again, then they had better learn what the law says! Here, by the word law Paul means the first five books of the Old Testament.²²

22-23 Here Paul mentions two women, one slave, one free. The slave woman is Hagar, who was the slave of Abraham’s wife Sarah. Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, was born from Hagar (Genesis 16:1-4,15).

The free woman is Sarah. Sarah had been barren all her life. She had reached ninety years of age. It was physically impossible for her to have a child (Genesis 16:1; 17:17). Yet God had promised that she would conceive and bear a son for Abraham (Genesis 17:15-16). Sarah’s son was born by the power of the Spirit (verse 29), that is, by God’s power. His name was Isaac (Genesis 21:1-3).

24-25 Hagar represents the law, that is, the old covenant (or Old Testament). Sarah represents grace, that is, the new covenant (or New Testament).

Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai (verse 25); that is, she represents Mount Sinai. It was on top of Mount Sinai that God gave the Jewish law to Moses (Exodus 31:18). Hagar, therefore, represents all those who are under the law, namely, the Jews. She also represents Jerusalem, because Jerusalem is the holy city of the Jews. (Recall that it was from Jerusalem that the false Jewish teachers had come to Galatia in the first place; it was because of them that Paul has written this letter.)

Because Hagar was a slave, her children are slaves also. They are slaves to the law. The Jews prided themselves that they were the true sons of Abraham according to the flesh, that is, by natural descent. But here Paul says that they are not sons, but slaves. They are like the sons of the slave woman.

26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free. The Jerusalem that is above is the heavenly Jerusalem—that is, the kingdom of God (see Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 21:2). It is the city where Christ lives, and where there is freedom from the law.

Sarah corresponds to the Jerusalem that is above. She is the “mother” of all believers in Christ. She is the mother of all true heirs of Abraham born as the result of a promise (verse 23)—that is, born as a result of the promise God gave to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child.

27 Here Paul quotes from Isaiah 54:1. The barren woman is Sarah. Let her break forth and cry aloud with joy. Because she will have more descendants than Hagar who has a husband.²³

28 God’s promise—that is, His word—is powerful. It is a living word. It gives life. Through God’s word Sarah gave birth to a child, Isaac, even though she was ninety years old! In the same way, through God’s word of grace, the Galatians have been born by the power of the Spirit (verse 29). They too are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, the true off spring of Abraham, not by natural descent but by the grace of God. Why should the Galatians now turn back and seek to live like children of Hagar the slave woman?

29 According to Genesis 21:9, Hagar’s son Ishmael, who was born in the ordinary way according to the flesh, persecuted Sarah’s son Isaac, who was born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now, Paul says. In Paul’s time, believers in Christ, born according to the Spirit, were being persecuted by the Romans and Jews, who had been born according to the flesh. The heirs of the flesh always persecute the heirs of the Spirit.

30 According to Genesis 21:10, which Paul quotes here, Sarah said to Abraham, “Get rid of the slave woman (Hagar) and her son (Ishmael).” And Abraham did as Sarah said (Genesis 21:12-14). In the same way, the Galatians should get rid of the false Jewish teachers, who were sons of the flesh.

31 We who believe in Christ are children of the free woman, Sarah. We are children of promise (verse 28). We are God’s children by grace, that is, by the gift of God. We have been made His children by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14), which we have received through faith in Christ (Galatians 3:26).

Therefore, let us not throw away so great a gift. Let us not throw away the grace of God by putting our faith in the works of any law or any religion. Let our faith be in Christ, and in Christ alone.