God promised to make of Abraham many nations, so that meant he had to have many offspring. But at the time of the promise he had no sons. His wife Sarah was too old to bear children, so she convinced Abraham to have a son by her maid servant Hagar. She bore him Ishmael. After that God miraculously opened Sarah’s womb and she bore Abraham his son Isaac. Thus Ismael was born after the flesh, but Isaac after the promise.
It is quite instructive to read Galatians 4:22-31 and let the Holy Spirit instruct us on the flesh or spirit debate.
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a female slave, the other by a free woman.
Galatians 4:22
This is an important difference.
23 But he who was of the female slave was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise.
Galatians 4:23
One son was born into bondage and the other was free. The son born of the flesh was in bondage, but the son born of the promise was free. Being born of the promise is being born of the Spirit by grace and not by works or anything of the flesh. The two are mutually exclusive.
We can quote Jesus here because it is the same application.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said to you, You must be born again.
John 3:6-7
For the avoidance of any doubt the Apostle Paul wrote:
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which genders [leads] to bondage, which is Hagar.
Galatians 4:24
It is an allegory, a picture of salvation through Christ. There are two covenants, two agreements. The one from Mount Sinai where Moses received the Law leads to bondage. That is the Jews under the law. It is Egypt and bondage in slavery.
25 For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Galatians 4:25
Old Jerusalem, the Israelites in the flesh, under the law are in bondage to the flesh. That can never lead to salvation, to the promise of eternal life in the kingdom of God. This is because the promise is not by the flesh; it is not by natural birth.
The second covenant is salvation by grace. That is why Jesus said, ‘You must be born again’. You must be born anew! It must be by supernatural birth.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Galatians 4:26
The ‘all’ here are those who believe in Christ, whether or not we are Jew or Gentile. It makes no difference.
Jerusalem from above is the heavenly city, the bride of Christ, all the born-again believers. Earthly old Jerusalem is not free and does not lead to salvation.
63 It is the Spirit that quickens [gives life]; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.
John 6:63
The words that Christ speaks are the words of the promise, supernatural salvation, that leads to rebirth in and by the Holy Spirit.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, you barren that bore not; break forth and cry, you that travail not: for the desolate has many more children than she which has an husband. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Galatians 4:27-28
The desolate are those born after the flesh, the Israelites. Even though it was Ishmael who fathered Arabs, the allegory here is Israel born after the flesh.
The allusion here is to Sarah, the barren. Those born to her are of the promise and not after the flesh. Those born after the flesh will be many more than those after the promise. This is true today, only a remnant of Jews have accepted Jesus as Saviour. The believers are the children of promise, born by the Spirit not by the flesh.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what says the scripture? Cast out the female slave and her son: for the son of the female slave shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.
Galatians 4:29-30
The Jews persecuted Jesus and those who followed Him. And they have done through the millennia ever since.
Those born after the flesh, no matter what their ethnic lineage, can never inherit the kingdom. Inheritance can only come by grace through faith, by the promise from God, never by the flesh. The Jews therefore have no claim to the kingdom. If fact, they are old Jerusalem in slavery to the flesh.
31 So then, brothers, we are not children of the female slave, but of the free.
Galatians 4:31
We are new Jerusalem from above. We are the free and not in bondage to the flesh. This freedom, won by Christ on the cross, can never be taken from you.
Recommended Reading
Book: Apocalypse Now: On the Revelation of Jesus Christ
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