Galatians 4:28-31
28 “And you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But as at that time the son who was born according to the flesh persecuted the one who was born according to the Spirit, so it is even now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.”31 So then, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave woman, but of the free woman.”
Children of the promise: Paul is highlighting the divide existent in the church. Those who were affiliating with the law were persecuting the true Gospel and consequently true Christians. Legalists don’t like grace because it removes ego from the equation.
Drive out the slave woman: Paul is encouraging believers to have no unity with the law or those who promote the law. Instead, Christians are to drive out the slave woman because we can’t mix law and Gospel and preserve the Gospel. We are to live by the promise and not by our own performance otherwise the promise is made void. Those who live according to the law are trying to balance the knowledge of good and evil through works just as Adam and Eve did.
We are not children of a slave woman: Christians are not children of God because of the law. We are children of God because of the promise. Consequently, there is no compatibility between the law and Gospel.
