Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.
Summary: Paul has been using Sarah and Hagar as examples of faith and works. Abraham had faith, but Sarah wanted to rely on works. Faith worked out better.
The more I think about what Paul has written here, the more I marvel at the insights he draws from the situation with Abraham and Sarah. In this passage, Paul points out that Isaac was a “child of promise.” This prompts a question: “Did Isaac know he was a ‘child of promise’?”
The answer to that question is, “Yes, he probably did.” If that is true, what did that mean for Isaac and his parents?
Relationships are complicated.
Hagar didn’t ask to be given to Abraham as a concubine. She didn’t ask to be made pregnant, and as far as we know, she didn’t ask for a son. When all these things happened to her, she became prideful (Gen 16:4). She was able to conceive when her mistress could not. When she became pregnant, her attitude changed towards Sarah.
What was she to think? She had been commanded to sleep with her mistress’s husband. Now, she was pregnant with Abraham’s firstborn. Could she ever go back to being just a slave?
This attitude of arrogance was never resolved. Hagar passed the attitude on to her son, Ishmael. When Sarah finally had a child of her own, Hagar’s son mocked Sarah and the baby. Even though Ishmael was not a child of promise but a child of the flesh, he likely felt secure in his position as the firstborn son of Abraham.
Oops.
That didn’t work out so well.
Now that she had her own son, Sarah didn’t want Hagar or Ishmael around anymore. After consulting with God (Genesis 21: 11-12), Abraham did what Sarah wanted and sent Hagar and Ishmael away. Meanwhile, Isaac is under God’s blessing. He is not a child of fleshly passion. He is, instead, a child of God’s promise. Moreover, even though he is not Abraham’s firstborn, God had promised Abraham that his descendants would be reckoned through Isaac.
And so they were.
Sarah tried to bend God’s timeline to her will. Instead of waiting on God, she went to work to make God’s promise happen. This is why Hagar became the symbol for works under the law. When Isaac was born, it was not because Abraham had been feeling frisky. Sarah was past the age of childbearing (Genesis 21: 11). It was because of God’s promise. Nothing more.
Application: Understand that we are children of God’s promise, too.
Food for Thought: How does being under the law compare with being a child of God’s promise?
Paul is claiming the following comparisons:
Law is to Grace = Slave is to Promise = Sinai is to Jerusalem = Hagar is to Sarah = Ishmael is to Isaac
The Law given at Sinai makes you a slave like Hagar, and does not include you in the promise like Ishmael.
The Grace given at Jerusalem (on the cross) makes you free like Sarah, and includes you in the promise like Isaac.
The important aspects I would see as differences:
The life under the Law restricts you in a burdensome way, giving you continual proof that you are not good enough. This way makes sense to you, why would God give anyone else a place in His kingdom, but those who did all off the things on the list? Mistakes happen and weigh on your mind,
did you offset it enough? After a toil filled life, you have not gained access to heaven, a huge motivation through your life slips away.
The life of Grace gives you freedom to live without condemnation. It encourages you to live righteously and to do what is good for neighbor. Mistakes are expected and shouldn’t burden you, but to learn and make fewer mistakes is a sign that you are taking your gift seriously. People who don’t believe in grace will say things and do things to make life hard for you. After a life of doing your best and not being perfect, with a cry of Jesus paid for my imperfection, God accepts you into heaven.
Nicely Done, A!
I like your equivalency formulation. Your comparison of law and grace is excellent. Thank you!
Someone once told me where there is anger, there is hurt, and where there is hurt there is love. That person told me this to help me to look beyond the words or actions of someone and try to get to the root of what was happening. Looking at things from that perspective helps view others as people instead of “monsters.” The opposite to that would be to simply say “there has been a trespass and there needs to be restitution.” Restitution doesn’t really solve the real issues.
The law is a bit like that. If a person was even capable of obeying the entire law, but in their heart they did not love God or heir neighbor, then they have missed the mark. The law then just becomes a sin-atonement scale. There are lessons of love that are lost. Being a child of promise is rooted in love. God’s love, Christ’s love, given to us, and it turn, we are able to return that love. In doing so, we begin to obey the law out of love.
1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
How does being under the law compare with being a child of God’s promise?
Being a child of God’s promise means our foundation is Christ, and in Christ is love. Our transgression are redeemed, not only not counted against us, but God uses them to teach us how to love. We understand the impact our sin has on ourselves and others. When similar circumstances arise in our lives, we are able to turn away from sin. The lessons of love are gained.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Chris,
You have drawn a connection between grace and love that is both challenging and important. Thank you!
Good comments A and CH. Thank you.
I like A’s breakdown of life under the law verses life under grace. To me, that really is the comparison. And there really is not much of a comparison as life under grace is far superior and leads us to eternal life in Christ. I would rather have the promises of God than the curse of the law due to my sinful inability to keep the law.
Thank you, Rich!
I love the focus on the “promises of God.” Our Father is generous and loving. We are deeply blessed!