Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 4 Study # 1
October 21, 2012
Dayton, Texas
(216)
1769 Translation:
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he
who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman
was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice,
thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
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 saith the scripture? 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.
1901 ASV Translation:
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the handmaid, and one by the freewoman.
23 Howbeit the
son by the handmaid is born after the flesh; but the
son by the freewoman
is born through promise.
24 Which things contain an allegory: for these
women are two covenants; one from mount Sinai, bearing children unto bondage, which is Hagar.
25 Now this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to the Jerusalem that now is: for she is in bondage with her children.
26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; Break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: For more are the children of the desolate than of her that hath the husband.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him
that was born after the Spirit, so also it is now.
30 Howbeit what saith the scripture? Cast out the handmaid and her son: for the son of the handmaid shall not inherit with the son of the freewoman.
31 Wherefore, brethren, we are not children of a handmaid, but of the freewoman.
- I. The Ignorant Desire.
- A. There are those who "desire to be under the law".
- 1. The issue of the word translated "desire" is typically an expression of an unqualified "wish".
- a. In 1 Timothy 2:4 Paul used the same word when he declared that God "will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth". If God were to actually force His "desire" to fulfillment, He would eliminate any real sense to all of the words of Scripture that warn of the reality of Eternal Death and present that reality in vision. If this was an actual part of the Grand Plan of God, it would destroy all of the meaning of all of those biblical declarations that God has the revelation of His glory in mind.
- b. The reality of Scripture is that "desire" is simply one aspect of all of the differing elements of the glory of God. "Mercy", "grace", "compassion", "justice", "wisdom", "love", "hate" ... these all "desire" to govern God's actions in every situation. When it comes to those attributes which focus upon dealing with people who are in dire straits, the "desire" is in the direction of "deliverance". Unconstrained by any other considerations, this "deliverance" would underwrite the salvation of all men. But in the process, they would truncate that salvation so that it was significantly diminished. That, of itself, would not necessarily be a bad thing, but it would demand that all creatures be "locked into a final state that is necessarily a diminished thing".
- 1) The issue of a "diminished salvation": consider the difference between the salvation of robots who can do nothing not "wired into them" and the salvation of persons whose "loves" and "beliefs" have to be developed alongside their "personalities". Saving robots would be no big deal and result in only the continuance of their robotism. Saving persons is a very big deal because it results in an on-going development of "love" and "faith" into highly valued realities when contrasted to the "values" of a robot.
- 2) Another issue is the inescapable reality that "desires", in a fallen world, are very often at odds with each other in the same person. For example, a drug addict can genuinely "desire" to be free of his/her addiction while simultaneously desiring to experience the impact of another "hit".
- 3) In dealing with a fallen world, God also finds Himself "desiring" mutually exclusive things: this is the reality of John 3:16. The measure of God's love for the world is revealed by His "giving" of His only begotten Son, but that "giving" would be of no consequence if it was accompanied by an actual care-less attitude toward that Son. It was because God loved His Son that His love for the world came into focus. So, sin and the divine attributes combined together to press the selection of one desire over the other.
- 2. The question behind Paul's question is this: What is driving this "desire"?
- a. This "desire" is, necessarily, an evil thing.
- b. Being evil, it is necessarily an outworking of some deficiency of, probably, both Love and Faith.
- c. The greatest liklihood is that this desire is rooted in twin objectives: the intention of producing "security" through personal "control" and the intention of enhancing personal "glory" through "superior wisdom".
- B. Those "desiring" to be under Law are deluded in respect to the actual message of Law.
- 1. Do you not hear "the Law" is a question that clearly implies that they do not.
- 2. Not being able to "hear" while thinking one's hearing is "just fine" is a terrible difficulty for men in their sins.