The passage
      v21. Addressing those members of the church who now feel it necessary to place themselves under the law of Moses, Paul asks them if they have really understood how the law impacts on their life.
      v22-23. Three facts are pinpointed in the story of Hagar and Sarah. i] Abraham has two sons, Ishmael and Isaac; ii] There are two mothers, one a slave and the other free; iii] The birth of the two boys was different: Ishmael is born in the normal manner, but Isaac, although he underwent a natural conception and birth, was a child of promise. With Ishmael, Abraham relied on his own ingenuity and effort, while for Isaac, he relied on God's grace.
      v24-25. Paul presents an interesting typological interpretation of this story. He doesn't suggest that the original writer intended these conclusions, just that in light of the revelation of the mystery of the kingdom of God in salvation history, "figurative" conclusions can be drawn. The two women stand for two agreements ("covenants"). Hagar the slave represents the agreement between God and Israel on Mount Sinai, an agreement which promised right standing in the sight of God, along with its attendant blessings, through obedience to the law. As Hagar, the slave, bore children into slavery, so the law bears children into slavery. The story of Hagar tells us something about "the present earthly Jerusalem and her children, that is, all those who adhere to the law as the means of justification", Fung. The law's message is that it enslaves us to sin and death.
      v26. On the other hand, the story of Sarah tells us something about the heavenly Jerusalem, that is, all those who adhere to grace as the means of justification. The gospel's message is that grace through faith sets us free from sin and death.
      v27. Isaiah 54:1 foretells that the new Jerusalem, rising from the ashes of the exile, will far exceed the glory of Solomon's kingdom. The children of the free woman will exceed that of the slave. Ultimately, the children of faith will surpass the children of obedience.
      v28. Paul now gets into application. The Galatians are not Hagar's children, but the children of Sarah, and along with Isaac, are the inheritors of a promise that is by grace through faith and not works of the law.
      v29-30. Paul draws two extra points from the story. i] As Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so Jews, particularly Judaizers (legalist believers), will harass Christ's disciples. ii] As the slave-woman and her son are cast out, so must believers disengage from the law and its adherents. Promise and works, grace and law, faith and effort, these cannot coexist.
      v31. In this and the next verse, Paul gives a concluding exhortation. Who then are Abraham's true children and heirs of the promise made to Abraham and his descendents? Those who, by faith, rest on God's promise of freedom from the curse of sin and death. Believers are the children of the free woman, Sarah, not the slave.
      5:1. Christ, by means of his death and resurrection, has set us free from the snare of sin and death. "Whatever you do, never surrender the freedom Christ has won for you", Hunter. Be sure of this, we lose our freedom when we submit to Biblical law to gain, confirm or progress our eternal right-standing in the sight of God.

The lure of slavery
      In democratic societies there is a constant tussle between the will of the people and the will of the political elite. This is particularly so in former English penal colonies such as Australia where, although now a free people, there remains a tendency to look to political masters to "make the hard decisions." In a true democracy it is the wider community, the people, who resolve matters of national importance.
      Compared to say America, many Western democracies are by no means "the land of the free." Citizens may constantly affirm democracy, the rule of the people by the people for the people, but when it comes to the crunch, they submit to the will of the politician, the expert, the special interest group, ...... It is widely assumed that only they know what is best. There is this pervading assumption that the general population cannot really be trusted to "correctly" make the right decision for the national good.
      Luckily, when faced with criminal charges, democratic communities know their well-being rests with twelve fellow citizens, and not with the police, lawyers or judges. When it comes to the law, we do not put our life in the hands of experts. Yet, with national affairs we seem to trust the experts rather than the people. In truth, it is more likely that the people together make the best decisions for the well-being of a nation. Democracy is always a better option than autocracy.
      In the spiritual realm, as in the political realm, it is very easy to find ourselves slaves and no longer free. In writing to the Galatians, Paul the apostle addressed believers who were ensnaring themselves again in the bondage of sin and death. These believers were replacing the gospel of grace with submission to Biblical law, as if obedience could establish, confirm, maintain or advance their right-standing in the sight of God. Only faith, in Christ's promise of eternal life, can set the believer free from the curse of sin and death. So, whether it be the political or spiritual realm, "never bow your necks again under the yoke of slavery."

v22
      Barrett, noted by Longenecker, argues that the Hagar and Sarah story would be well known to Paul's readers because it was used by the judaizers (legalist Jewish believers) to argue that only those who submit to the covenant of the law, share in the promised blessings and thus Gentile believers must submit themselves to the Mosaic law if they are to share in Isaac's blessings, as opposed to being cast out with Ishmael.
      gegraptai (grafw) perf. pas. "it is written" - it has been written. Not referring back to "the Law" as if "the Law" means "the scriptures", "it says", TEV, but rather a formula term for a scriptural reference; "scripture tells us", Bruce; "in the scriptures we learn that ..", CEV.
      thV paidiskhV (h) "the slave woman" - the maidservant. A shorthand description of Hagar's status in Abraham's home, given that most Jews would know the story back to front. "A woman (Hagar) who was his wife's slave gave birth to one of his sons (Ishmael), and his wife (Sarah) gave birth to the other (Isaac)", TH.

v23
      alla "-" - but. Contrastive. A textual variant exists, "indeed", ie. Paul agrees with the Judaizers at this point.
      gegennhtai (gennaw) perf. pas. "was born" - has been born. An allegorical perfect where an action referred to in the Old Testament is applied in the present.
      kata + acc. "born in the ordinary way" - according to [flesh]. "In the ordinary course of nature", REB.
      dia + gen. "as the result of a [promise]" - through, by means of [a promise / the promise]. Translators tend toward "because of", "on account of", and therefore "as a result of", so NIV, but the preposition followed by a genitive usually means "through" or "by means of", "by the agency of", so "by the power of God's promise", Knox.

v24
      atina pro. "these things" - which things. This longer form is used instead of the simple plural relative pronoun; an example of Pauline style. "These things" = all that has been said about the Hagar Sarah story so far.
      estin allhgoroumena (allhgorew) pres. pas. part. "may be taken figuratively" - are allegorized. A periphrastic present (a roundabout way of expressing a simple verbal idea). Paul announces that he is going to treat the Hagar Sarah story as an allegory, spiritualizing the story and applying its truths to the life of his present readers, using an inductive method of exposition, rather than deductive. Paul's Biblical theology will control the exposition such that it is more typology (the identification of theological correspondence) rather than allegory, even so, it is hard to know to what extent he thought his conclusions properly derive from the text. "Interpret allegorically", Longenecker.
      gar "for" - An explanatory "for", as used in the NIV, is unlikely. A continuative sense is more likely and so left untranslated.
      auJtai pro. "the [women]" - these. Demonstrative pronoun singling out "the women."
      eisin "represent" - are. The sense of the verb to-be here is something like "represents", or "stands for", both terms being used in the bulk of translations. "Signifies", Bruce.
      diaqhkai (h) "covenants" - The two women represent two agreements between God and humanity, one the Sinai agreement, a gift righteousness through obedience to the law, and the other, the righteousness that is by grace through faith. "Agreements with God."
      men "-" - indeed [from Mont Sinai bringing forth to slavery]. Again, Paul is probably agreeing, at this point, with the general thrust of his opponents' exposition of this passage.
      gennwsa (gennaw) pres. part. "bears [children]" - bringing forth, bearing. Possibly referring to Hagar, but more likely to the "one covenant" whose children end up as slaves, as do the children of Hagar.

v25
      The shorter reading, "Sinai is a mountain in Arabia and represents ....", REB, is not widely accepted. There is also textual variants regarding the opening of the verse, either a connective, "now, but, and" or a causal "for, because."
      estin "stands for" - is. The literal translation "Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia", NRSV, makes no sense, so it is likely that the verb to-be again takes a meaning like "stands for, represents", as NIV, or better, "serves as a type". Paul is simply making the point that Hagar represents the divine agreement to bestow righteousness through law obedience, which agreement was made at Mount Sinai. "Corresponds", Bruce.
      sustoicei (sustoicew) pres. "corresponds" - stands in the same line. Note the military sense of soldiers standing in the same line. "Represents", even "a figure of", so possibly "tells us something about the present Jerusalem (the children of the law, the people of the Sinai covenant)."
      gar "for" - because. Causal.
      douleuei (douleuw) pres. "she is in slavery" - she is in bondage. The subject is probably Jerusalem, although Hagar is possible.
      meta + gen. "with [her children]" - with. "The present earthly Jerusalem and her children, that is, all who adhere to the law as the means of Justification", Fung.

v26
      de "but" - but. Adversative.
      hJ anw Ierousalhm "the Jerusalem that is above" - the above Jerusalem. Different descriptors are possible: "the heavenly Jerusalem", Barclay; "the Jerusalem on high", Moffatt; "Jerusalem in heaven", CEV. The crucial issue is to understand what this image represents. "The community of the new covenant", Bruce, certainly fits with the heavenly assembly image of the eschatological Zion, which image is dominant in both Jewish and Christian writings, although Paul steers clear of the obvious parallel, "the now Jerusalem" with the "Jerusalem to come."
      hJtiV pro. "she" - The longer compound personal pronoun is again a feature of Pauline style.
      hJmwn "our [mother]" - The textual variant "mother of us all" seeks to underline the inclusiveness of "our", the mother of all believers, but is probably not original. The simple "our" makes the point well enough.

v27
      The quote, Isaiah 54:1, promises that Jerusalem, now desolate due to the Babylonian exile, will be restored and will outshine the old.
      gar "for [it is written]" - because. Confirming the truth of v26, namely that believers, the children of grace, the heavenly Jerusalem, are the children of promise (Sarah's children), and that even now the heavenly Jerusalem is being realized and is outshining the present Jerusalem (the children of law).
      thV erhmou (oV) "the desolate woman" - "The deserted wife", REB.

v28
      de "now" - Here functioning as a connective, "so", not adversative "but." "So", in the sense of "so here is the point that I have been making in v21-27." uJmeiV "you" - you. Variant "we" is probably not original. Paul is reinforcing the fact that believers, many of whom are now Gentiles, are the children of promise, are Sarah's children, and are therefore the inheritor's of Abraham's promised blessings. "You Gentiles."
      adelfoi (oV) "brothers" - Used of fellow believers.
      epaggeliaV (a) gen. "promise" - Emphatic, due to the position of the word in the sentence. The genitive may be causal, "you were born because of this promise", CEV; "as a result of his promise", TEV; even instrumental, "we are children born by promise", Phillips. "Children who owe their existence to God's Promise", Ridderbos.

v29
      alla "-" - but. Unlikely to be adversative or transitional, "and", Longenecker, probably contrastive, "but", REB, etc.
      wJsper tote ..... ouJtwV nun "at that time ....... it is the same now" - as then ...... so now. A temporal conditional sentence where Paul draws another correspondence from the Sarah Hagar story, namely, the harassment of the child of promise by the natural born child, ie. believers by Judaizers.
      ediwken (diwkw) imperf. "persecuted" - was harassing, pursuing. "Made trouble for the child who was born because of the Spirit", CEV.
      kata pneuma "[son born] by the power of the Spirit" - according to spirit. Possibly just the human spirit is intended, "the spiritual son", Phillips, but more likely the Holy Spirit, even though there is no article. The language switch from "promise" to "Spirit" indicates, certainly in Paul's mind, that the agent of the promise, both the giving of it and its realization, is the Holy Spirit.

v30
      Genesis 21:10
      alla "but" - Adversative. "Yet", Phillips.
      ekbale (ballw) imp. "get rid of" - cast out. Possibly a strong "drive out", Barclay, or a lighter "send away", TEV, even lighter still, "separate from / disengage."
      gar "for" - because.
      klhronomhsei (klhronomew) fut. "will never share in the inheritance" - will not inherit. The children of promise ("born as a result of the action of the Spirit", Barclay) should disengage from the natural born children because the natural born will never receive what God has promised.

v31
      Paul concludes his exhortation in 4:31-5:1. Leaving aside the analogy, the sense is: "Who then are Abraham's true children and heirs of the promise made to Abraham and his descendents? Those who, by faith, rest on God's promise of freedom from the curse of sin and death. Therefore, let us not submit to effort applied to the law which can only again enslave us to sin and death."
      dio "therefore" - Introducing a conclusion to 4:21-30 (so Lightfoot, although Bruce suggests 2:14 on), a conclusion which probably includes this verse and the next. "So then", TEV.
      esmen (eimi) "we" - Paul now includes himself in the children of the free woman.