Galatians 4:31

31 itaque fratres non sumus ancillae filii sed liberae qua libertate nos Christus liberavit

Galatians 4:31 Meaning and Commentary

Galatians 4:31

So then, brethren
This is the conclusion of the whole allegory, or the mystical interpretation of Agar and Sarah, and their sons:

we are not children of the bondwoman;
the figure of the first covenant, which gendered to bondage, and typified the Jews in a state, and under a spirit of bondage to the law; New Testament saints are not under it, are delivered from it, and are dead unto it:

but of the free;
of Sarah, that was a type of the new and second covenant; and answered to the Gospel church, which is free from the yoke of the law; and whose children believers in Christ are, by whom they are made free from all thraldom and slavery; so the children of the mistress and of the maidservant are opposed to each other by the Jews ^F11. The Vulgate Latin version adds to this verse from the beginning of the next chapter, "with the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free"; and the Ethiopic version, "because Christ hath made us free"; and begin the next chapter thus, "therefore stand, and be not entangled" and so the Alexandrian copy, and three of Stephens's.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 Tzeror Hammor, fol. 152. 1.

Galatians 4:31 In-Context

29 sed quomodo tunc qui secundum carnem natus fuerat persequebatur eum qui secundum spiritum ita et nunc

30 sed quid dicit scriptura eice ancillam et filium eius non enim heres erit filius ancillae cum filio liberae

31 itaque fratres non sumus ancillae filii sed liberae qua libertate nos Christus liberavit