Children of the Free Woman: Stand Fast in Freedom (Continued) (Galatians 4:21–5:12)

“which is the mother of us all”. These words are set in opposition to the words: “serves with her children”. The present Jerusalem, the synagogue, the Law bring forth slaves and serve with their children. But the holy Church, being free, brings forth into freedom and is free with her children, born of her. These children are all of us who believe. If we hold ourselves free from every bond of the Law, it is because it cannot be otherwise. Such is our mother, free, bringing forth the free. If we bind ourselves by the Law, we become unfree, we renounce our mother who brought us forth. By this was also suggested: you are the same, and were and are. Why then bind yourselves?

Gal. 4:27. For it is written: Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; break forth and cry out, woman who is not in labor. For the children of the desolate woman are more than those of the one who has a husband.

In confirmation of what is this prophecy brought forth? Not that the childless woman bears and that she has more children than the one who has a husband—these are subsidiary thoughts—but that the children of the new Jerusalem, the Church, are born not in the flesh but spiritually, by power from on high, as Sarah bore according to promise. “The Apostle is not satisfied with mere images alone, but in confirmation of his words brings forth the testimony of Isaiah (Is. 54:1). For having said that the heavenly Jerusalem is our mother, and calling the Church by this name, he points to the Prophet who says the same thing that he said” (St. Chrysostom). By this prophecy the Apostle explains how the holy Church is our mother. According to this prophecy she brings forth without a fleshly husband, without fleshly seed (barren), without the pangs of bearing and without fleshly birth itself (not bearing, as they bear according to the flesh): she is empty of all this, has nothing of this fleshly thing; and yet she has more children than the one who has all this, because spiritual birth is hindered neither by time, nor by place, nor by other contingencies. It can happen always, everywhere, in an instant and in great quantity. Ambrosiaster writes: “the earthly Jerusalem the Apostle calls having a husband, because it brings forth according to the flesh; but the heavenly Jerusalem, mother of us all, he calls barren, because it does not bring forth according to the flesh, nor does it suffer the pangs of birth, but brings forth without suffering, spiritually.”

Understanding the prophecy thus, we have no need to point out specifically who this barren woman is from among the actually existing religious communities. The Prophet beheld the Church of God spiritual, having nothing fleshly, and yet having many children. It is neither the Jewish Church, even if one understands the better, hidden part within it,—nor a pagan assembly, barren of all good and truth; but the future Church, which did not then exist, but which was promised and hoped for. Not some actual barren mother who suddenly became rich in children, but a new mother appears and brings forth many children, altogether not according to the laws of fleshly birth. Here neither does the Jew have an advantage, nor does the Greek encounter rejection; but whoever he may be, he is born anew independently and becomes a child of the new Jerusalem.

Both heaven and earth rejoice in this. This is why the Prophet beholds it under the image of solemn rejoicing. “Rejoice, break forth”—burst forth in joyful exclamations—“cry out” from the abundance of joy. He takes as comparison the condition of a woman just having given birth or a mother having borne many children, all so fine that she cannot cease to rejoice, looking upon them. Such are all true Christians. And they are a joy to one another, and to the Angels sent to minister for those who will inherit salvation, who also rejoice at the conversion of sinners, and to God worshipped in Trinity, Who reposes in them with His good pleasure, saying as it were to them: here is My rest, here I will dwell.

There is no need to dwell upon the occasion on which the prophecy was spoken; for this would in no way help the understanding of it in the present place. But we cannot fail to attend to the interpretation of the holy Fathers, who all understand the barren woman as the Gentile church, and the one who has a husband as the Jewish Church, the former of which through the action of the grace of the Gospel became richer in children than the latter. St. Chrysostom says: “who are these ‘barren’? Who are these desolate? Is it not evident that this is the church of the Gentiles, deprived beforehand of knowledge of God? And who has a husband? Evidently the synagogue of the Jews. But the barren surpassed it in abundance of children. The synagogue embraced only one people; but the children of the Church filled Greece and barbarous lands, land, sea and the whole universe. Do you see how Sarah in deed, and the Prophet in word, pre-wrote our future? But observe—Isaiah said that the barren woman before became rich in children afterward. This happened in type with Sarah; for she also, having been barren before, afterward became the mother of numerous posterity.” Blessed Theodoret adds: “just as Sarah bore in old age beyond all human expectation, so also the Gentiles at the very end of their life were deemed worthy of knowledge of God, and the barren woman by many born surpassed the one who had been rich in children before.” Here is another word of Ecumenius: “he calls the synagogue of the Jews the one having a husband, either because it had the Law, or because in ancient times it enjoyed the favor of God.” Thus all the other ancient interpreters except, as we have seen, Ambrosiaster.

The Church, which the Prophet causes to rejoice, did not consist of Gentiles alone; therefore, strictly judging, one cannot assume that the prophecy refers to them. But by accommodation such an interpretation is not out of place. First, because of the ease of understanding; but more because of the vividness of the matter. The Church of Christ truly was constituted mainly of Gentiles, so that the Jews disappeared among them, both because of their small number and because, casting off Jewish particulars, they merged with others almost without a trace. The holy Fathers, beholding the Church pointed out by the Prophet, beheld it in this form pure of everything Jewish, as though none of her children had ever been Jews beforehand. Therefore they pointed to the mother prophesied of outside Jewry. But that in the prophecy the holy Paul wished to point precisely to the spiritual birth of the children of the Church, this is justified both by the preceding discourse or its course and by the subsequent words:

Gal. 4:28. But we, brethren, are children of promise like Isaac.

Having said that we are children of the new Jerusalem, he then brought forth the prophecy, causing our mother to rejoice as she brings forth us; now he says we are children according to Isaac, that is, we are born as he was born; as he was born not according to flesh but according to promise, by the action of God’s power, so also we are born by the gracious action of the Holy Spirit. Is it not evident that the prophecy set in the midst of these indications points to nothing else but spiritual birth?

“St. Chrysostom sees in these words precisely the image of the spiritual birth of Christians. He says: “not even this is sufficient for the holy Paul” (the prophetic indication); he shows further how the barren woman became a mother, so that from this also he might show how close the image is to the contemplated truth. Therefore he adds: ‘But we, brethren, are children of promise like Isaac.’ For just as Sarah became a mother not according to nature but according to the promise of God; for He Who said: ‘At this time I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son’ (Gen. 18:10, 14), He Himself having come, formed an infant in Sarah’s womb: so also in our regeneration nothing belongs to nature; but the divine words, pronounced by the priest, these very words in the bath of water, as it were in the womb of the mother, build up anew and regenerate the one being baptized.”

Regarding how these words cohere with the preceding, it is from this verse that the holy Apostle begins the application of the indicated (verses 22–23) event and the proposed (verses 24–27) explanation of its mysterious significance—an application in which, as noted above, the excellence or glory of faith before bondage under the Law is shown, for drawing and inclining the will toward it. The first mark of this glory is the spiritual, supernatural birth of the children of faith. Therefore the turn of speech: “But we”—may be understood both as a consequence: so, behold who we are! — and as a subsumption under the preceding interpretation. He explained that Hagar, bringing forth according to flesh, is an image of the Sinai covenant, of slavish bondage under the Law, now operating in Jerusalem; and Sarah, bringing forth according to promise, is an image of the new, Evangelical covenant and of complete spiritual freedom, now operating in the new Jerusalem—the Church of Christ. Now he decides, as it were, the question: to which then should we belong, tend, cleave? To that to which we belong by birth. By our birth in the Church, which each of you has received in deed and knows by experience, having been deemed worthy of the grace of the Spirit, we in no way can belong to the fleshly, slavish, Hagar kind and, consequently, be enslaved in bondage under the Law, as is done in Jerusalem, from whence came the false teachers who have confused you. We are children according to Isaac, Sarah’s offspring, brought forth by power from on high, as was Isaac. Consequently, there is nothing for us to direct our eyes in that direction, being in such a glorious position and at risk of losing it if we turn that way.

Gal. 4:29. But just as the one born according to flesh then persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so also now.

The second mark of the glory of faith and the faithful is the right to a certain inheritance, about which in the following verse. This verse also, clarifying the parallel of the faithful with the childhood of Sarah, serves as a transition to that. The Apostle says as it were: Hagar with Ishmael depicts those under the Law; and Sarah with Isaac—the believers. By what has been said before this you ought to be convinced of this. But you can also see this tangibly now. Then Ishmael the fleshly wronged Isaac the spiritual. And now the same: the false teachers, those under the Law foreshadowed by Ishmael, who serve the elements, persecute us, foreshadowed by Isaac, who serve God spiritually, persecute us for the reason that we, spiritually born of God, serve God spiritually, and not according to the elements. You ought therefore to have no doubt whatsoever that we, the believers, are indeed according to Isaac children of promise. And if such we are, then to us, and not to those under the Law, belongs the right to the inheritance, as it belonged to Isaac and not to Ishmael.

Gal. 4:30. But what does Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son; for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.

Do not regard their persecution. Isaac was wronged by Ishmael; but what came of it? The inheritance all the same fell in full to Isaac alone. So also those under the Law persecute us and oppress us, but this means nothing. The inheritance prepared by the Father in Heaven belongs to those whom He brings forth spiritually, according to Isaac, to us, if we remain faithful to the principles of the new, grace-filled life placed in us. Those under the Law are excluded from it; they, the sons of the slave synagogue, will not inherit with us, the sons of the free, grace-filled Church.

The expulsion of Hagar with Ishmael was demanded by Sarah, with the addition also of the words which the holy Paul cites here. But when this word seemed harsh to Abraham, then God confirmed the demand of Sarah, and consequently also her word about the inheritance (Gen. 21:10–12). This word became the word of God. Therefore the Apostle says: what does Scripture say?

St. Chrysostom places these two verses (29th and 30th) in such relation to one another and to the general course of discourse: “So if we are children of the barren woman, then we are also free. But what kind of freedom is this, someone may say, when the Jews everywhere rule and beat believers with scourges, and those considering themselves free are everywhere persecuted? Indeed it was so at that time, when the faithful were persecuted everywhere. But neither should this disturb you, says the Apostle. For this too was prefigured in that same image. Isaac, being free, was persecuted by the slave Ishmael. Therefore he says further: ‘but just as then’—and so on. What then? Is the comfort only that the free will understand they will (in prefigurement) endure persecution from slaves? No, answers the Apostle. I do not dwell on this; but listen further, and then you will obtain sufficient comfort and will not lose heart in persecutions. What then is further? ‘Cast out’ the son of the slave woman: ‘for the son of the slave shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.’ Do you see the recompense for brief tyranny and for senseless presumption? The boy is deprived of his father’s inheritance, cast out from the paternal home and wanders together with his mother. But mark the wisdom of what is said: he did not say he was cast out only because he persecuted, but so that he would not be an heir. He suffered punishment not for temporal persecution, for this is unimportant and in no way touches the matter,—but because God did not permit him to be a participant in what was prepared for the son, showing thereby that this was ordained for him, even had he not persecuted Isaac,—and it depended not on his persecution, but on God’s determination.”

Gal. 4:31. Therefore, brethren, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.

This is both the conclusion of the preceding discourse and the indication of a special mark of the glory of faith, consisting in freedom from every tie of the external ceremonies of the Law—such a mark which runs through the preceding two as well. The believers are free from all this because, having received from the Spirit a new spiritual birth, they also serve God spiritually. They are heirs of the promised blessedness from God, because they are sons; but insofar as they are sons, they are also free: they work in God’s house not by compulsion, as slaves under the whip and rod, but of themselves, caring for the house as owners in a house—all doing it to the glory of God. This is the most attractive mark of the advantage of faith and the faithful; neither time, nor place, nor any other external thing binds them; always and in everything they have God and His glory.

The turn of speech is such: so we are not sons of the slave woman, to be under the yoke of bondage under the Law, but sons of the free woman, to act freely in God’s house. So this is ordained and prefigured from the beginning, as you see from the type presented. What sense is there for you, possessing such dignity, to voluntarily crawl under a useless yoke?! “Is it not foolish, after so many centuries earlier to be chosen and now already to have received freedom, to voluntarily subject yourselves under the yoke of slavery?” (St. Chrysostom).

“Therefore what do you command?” (blessed Theodoret).

Gal. 5:1. Stand firm, therefore, in the freedom by which Christ has set us free, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.

The thought of the preceding verse continues with the application of new representations that compel one to value freedom. Freedom is so dear to all; it suffices to point out that one or another thing takes away freedom, to turn from it; but here is presented, moreover, that it is also a high gift from God, which it would be even impious not to value, and not merely unprofitable, offensive, and debasing for oneself.

Freedom from bondage under the Law is the gift of Christ the Lord. For all bondage under the Law, as its ultimate end, was directed toward Christ the Savior. When the Lord Jesus Christ came, the course of life under the Law was to come to an end. Believers in Christ Jesus the Lord do not look back, behind Christ, but, concentrating their gaze on Him in faith and all the desires of their heart in love and obedience to His will, live by Him alone, by the new life proceeding from Him. In this, says the Apostle to the Galatians, stand firm, and do not go behind Christ, turning around Him and making a detour, to voluntarily lay upon yourselves the now purposeless yoke of slavery to the Law, which has lost its force.

“Again under the yoke of slavery be held.’ – Again” – either refers to the Jews who were among the Galatian churches and, having received faith in Christ, abandoned the Law, but now, by the promptings of false teachers, have turned back to the Law; or expresses this thought: the Law has lost its power and legalism has no significance, yet you raise both these up again, you bring Law and legalism forth into the midst. In this sense: “again” – embraces all persons who made up the Galatian churches.

Holy Chrysostom speaks on this text: “By freedom then, by which Christ has set you free, stand firm. Have you yourselves obtained your freedom, that you now strive again under your former despotism? Christ has redeemed you, another has paid the ransom for you. Do you see how many means the Apostle employs to turn the Galatians away from Jewish delusion? First, he shows here that it is utterly senseless for those who have become free from slavery to desire to become slaves again from freedom; second, he makes them understand that, despising their Liberator while loving their enslaver, they will prove to be cruel and ungrateful against their Benefactor; third, he impresses upon them that it is already impossible to go again under the despotism of the Law, for the Law has lost its dominion once another redeemed us from it once for all. In short: ‘stand firm’ – he exposes their instability and shaking. In the word: ‘yoke’ – he depicts the weight of the Law, and saying again, he exposes their great folly. If you yourselves had not experienced, he says, this weight, you would not yet deserve such reproaches; but when you know by experience the full weight of this yoke and again submit to it, how can you deserve any excuse?”