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Back in 1990, after the Iraqiarmy was evicted fromKuwait, Saddam Hussein,then the President of Iraq,

told his people to prepare forwhat he called the “mother of allbattles” against the American-ledcoalition forces.

Though Hussein did not inventthe phrase, since that time thephrase “the mother of all…” hasspread through the Englishlanguage and is often used to

define not only the origin orsource of something, but also thesignificance or the greatestexample of something.

Two MothersIn Galatians 4:21-31, we read thestory of two mothers. Thehistorical background to Paul’slesson is recorded in Genesis 16 and21. Paul presents an allegory ofthese facts. An allegory is a symbolicinterpretation of a historical facts orevents. More specifically, in thebiblical sense, it is a spiritualmeaning that transcends literal factsor actual historical events.

To set the stage, let’s brieflysummarize the historical factsupon which Paul draws hisChrist-centered conclusions viaan allegory. In Genesis 16 we readthat Abram, as he was then called,and his wife Sarai, to whom Godhad promised a son, becameimpatient with God.

Back in Genesis 12 and again inGenesis 15, God had promised tomake a great nation of theirdescendants. It was a wonderfulpromise, but as the clock keptticking and the pages of thecalendar kept turning, thepromise became more and moreunbelievable.

At the time of the promise,Abram was 75 and Sarai was 65.

Double TroubleTwo women sharing onehusband. One of them pregnant,the other one desperatelywanting to be pregnant butfeeling she probably never wouldbe. It was a recipe for disaster.Storm clouds were looming.

Sarai was continually livingwith the reality that her servantHagar was pregnant, all the whileknowing that God had promised

her that she herself would oneday become a mother. Sarai nodoubt concluded this entire messwas God’s fault. Hagar wasprancing around, displaying herobvious pregnancy. Sarai startedto despise her because Hagar waseverything Sarai wasn’t: younger,and beautifully with child.

Sarai started to mistreat Hagar,so much so that Hagar—nowconspicuously pregnant—ranaway. The angel of the Lord had torescue her and bring her back

They had no children and itdidn’t look like their bodieswould produce one. They hadgiven up hope—they knew theirbiological clocks had eitherstopped ticking or at the veryleast, needed new batteries. Tenmore years passed after the initialpromise of a child. Now Abramwas 85 and Sarai was 75. And stillno child.

So Sarai came up with whatseemed like a good idea at the

time—a good human resolutionto the problem. She was too old toget pregnant, too old to givebirth, but Abram was a youngbuck filled with testosterone atthe age of 85.

At 85 Abram was apparentlystill capable of impregnating awoman, so Sarai decided to sendhim to the tent of Hagar, herservant. Sarai and Abram couldhave a son, she reasoned, by asurrogate. Abram agreed andHagar became pregnant.

The Mother Of Us AllGreg Albrecht

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home. In due time Hagar gavebirth to a son named Ishmael.

Homelife in Abram’s tentsbecame even more complicatedwhen God finally did fulfill hispromise.

Abraham, who had beenrenamed by God through all ofthis, was 100 years old and Sarah,his wife, was age 90 when finallySarah gave birth to their son Isaac.Isaac was truly the child ofpromise.

There’s no way on God’s greenearth for a 99-year-old man andan 89-year-old woman to becomepregnant. Isaac’s birth obviouslyhappened by God’s grace. Nohuman effort could produce thischild of promise, and it was forthat very reason that God waitedso long to give Isaac to Abrahamand Sarah. God wanted to makesure there was no way thatAbraham and Sarah could claimtheir own aged bodies hadproduced this child naturally.

It was a supernatural birth, itwas a miracle of God’s grace. Aswe’ll read in Galatians, Ishmaelwas born the natural way whileIsaac was born as a result of God’spromise. But miracles do notalways produce humanhappiness, do they?

Two Women, Two SonsThe plot continued to thickenand the relationship betweenSarah and Hagar worsened. Notonly did sparks fly between Sarahand Hagar, but we read in Genesis21 that Ishmael, the older brotherof Isaac, persecuted and made funof Isaac. The two women and thetwo sons could not coexist underthe same roof…that is, under thesame tent.

Sarah demanded that Abrahamget rid of what she called, “that

slave woman” (Genesis 21:10).Sarah’s demand, born of envy

and jealousy, filled with a gooddegree of animosity, wasnonetheless correct in thedefinition she gave to Hagar.Indeed, Hagar was a slave woman.

So Abraham, to keep peace withhis wife, expelled Ishmael his son,and Ishmael’s mother, “that slavewoman.”

Before considering Paul’sallegory of this historical accountfrom Genesis, we should pause toremember the book of Galatiansis Paul’s “Magna Carta” ofChristian freedom. He’s dealingwith people who have beenconvinced they need to pleaseGod via legalism and religiousdeeds. Paul is making adevastatingly true and accuratecase for grace:

“Tell me, you who want to be underthe law,” [who believe they provetheir worth to God by obedience to

the law] “are you not aware of whatthe law says? For it is written thatAbraham had two sons, one by theslave woman and the other by thefree woman. His son by the slavewoman was born according to theflesh, but his son by the free womanwas born as the result of a divinepromise. These things are being takenfiguratively: The women represent two

covenants. One covenant is fromMount Sinai and bears children whoare to be slaves: This is Hagar. NowHagar stands for Mount Sinai inArabia and corresponds to the presentcity of Jerusalem, because she is inslavery with her children. But theJerusalem that is above is free: she isour mother. For it is written: Be glad,barren woman, you who never bore achild; shout for joy and cry aloud, youwho were never in labor; becausemore are the children of the desolate

woman than of her who has ahusband. Now you, brothers andsisters, like Isaac, are children ofpromise. At that time the son bornaccording to the flesh persecuted theson born by the power of the Spirit. It isthe same now. But what does Scripturesay? ‘Get rid of the slave woman andher son for the slave woman’s son willnever share in the inheritance with thefree woman’s son.’ Therefore brothersand sisters, we are not children of theslave woman but of the free woman”(Galatians 4:21-31, my comment).

The purpose of this allegory, aspiritual interpretation of a factualhistorical event, is to demonstratethe glory of the new covenant inChrist.

• This allegory is about twowomen, Sarah and Hagar; two sons,Ishmael and Isaac; and twocovenants.

• Sarah represents the covenantof grace.

• Sarah’s son, Isaac, representsthe children of the promise whoare spiritually transformed andreborn by the power of God’s grace.

• Hagar represents the covenantof human performance, thecovenant of religion.

• Hagar’s son, Ishmael, representsall those who attempt to build arelationship with God on the basisof their own righteousness ratherthan on the divinely givenrighteousness of Christ.

You Want to be Under theLaw?

One of the key verses in this passageis the first one: “Tell me, you whowant to be under the law [who believethat you need to prove your worthto God by your obedience to the law]are you not aware of what the lawsays?” (Galatians 4:21, my comment).Taking the liberty to paraphrasePaul, it’s as if he is saying, “So, youwant to prove your obedience toGod, you want to earn his favor, youwant to please and appease him bykeeping religious rules andregulations? You do, do you? Wellnow let’s just take a look at the storyof two women.”

No two forces ... are more absolutelyopposed than law and grace.

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In the book of Galatians, Paul keeps reiteratingthe central theme of salvation: eternal relationshipwith God is by grace alone through faith alone inChrist alone. The purpose of the book of Galatians isto demonstrate and teach that all who trust inChrist and receive him by grace are free from thelaw.

The background of Galatians is that Paul iswriting to a group of Christians who once fullyembraced God’s grace, who once fully accepted thegospel of Jesus Christ, but then, after Paul left themand continued to travel to other places, falseteachers came and called God’s grace into question.These false teachers insisted that God’s grace, gracealone, was a pipe dream. These false teachersclaimed that God expects (in fact he stipulates anddemands) obedience to laws as requirements wemust fulfill for salvation.

Let’s pause a moment. Let me underline theimportance of the central theme of Galatians. Notwo forces or dynamics or philosophies are moreabsolutely opposed to one another than law and grace.It is a religious heresy to suggest ordemand that God loves and accepts uson the basis of his grace as well as thebasis of our obedience to laws. Anymixture, any intermingling of grace withlaw is a complete dilution anddevaluation of God’s grace.

Spiritually speaking, such a teachingis toxic and deadly.

Two WaysIn this allegory Paul is clearly, withoutequivocation, explaining there are twoand only two ways to approach God.

There is the way of law and rules andrequirements, of legalism andperformance-based religion, of works-based righteousness. You can attemptto become holy on the basis of all thethings you do.

On the other hand, God can makeyou holy, by his grace. One is the way of slavery, Paul says.

The other is the way of freedom. In thispassage, Paul consistently draws thecontrast to these two diametricallyopposed views: on the one hand, theway of Christ-less religion, and on theother, God’s grace, religion-lessChristianity.

• Two contrasts. • Two mothers, Sarah and Hagar.• Two sons, Isaac and Ishmael.• Two covenants, works and grace.

• Two cities, the earthly Jerusalem and religiouscenter of the world (when Paul wrote Galatians), asover against the heavenly Jerusalem.

• Two relationships, bondage and freedom.

The Days of Our Lives The story that Paul relates, put in simple terms, readsalmost like a soap opera, doesn’t it?

One father, two mothers, two sons. One son who was born the ordinary way, and one

son born by God’s intervention. One son born by human effort, the other son born

to two individuals so old and so incapable of havingchildren that this child could only be known as amiracle baby.

One son was born by human scheming to “help”God, a child produced based on the belief that God’sgrace needs human help. The other son bornaccording to God’s promise.

Ishmael, the son of a slave woman, was born intoslavery as the result of human attempts to solve

problems by human efforts.Isaac, the son of a free woman,born free because of God’spromise, born by grace, not byworks.

To make sure his point iscrystal clear, Paul says thatHagar stands for Mount Sinai.Some of his readers might wellhave read Paul’s words andasked, “Mount Sinai? Isn’t thatwhere the Ten Commandmentswere given?” You might beasking the same question. AndPaul says, “yes, exactly.”

Hagar stands for the oldcovenant—those who try to mixthe old covenant with the newcovenant. Hagar stands for thosewho attempt to earn God’s favorby keeping the Ten Command-ments, and any of the otherstatutes and stipulations of theold covenant.

Hagar, Paul says, is like thepresent city of Jerusalem, thenand now, mired in slavery andsin for all of its religion.

In spite of all the deeds doneby which the city and system ofJerusalem attempts to makeitself more holy and morepleasing to God and to man, allof its religious efforts will fail!

Our Divine MotherPaul says Jerusalem above,heavenly Jerusalem, is free andshe is our mother. Sarah represents grace, and Hagar

represents law. Sarah stands fortrusting in God to do for us what wecan never do for ourselves. Hagarstands for trying to please andappease God through humanefforts.

And the sons born to themrepresent two ways of relating toGod, on the basis of law or onthe basis of grace. There is nothird way. There is no otheroption!

Mount Sinai is a clearreference to the law given toMoses.

The earthly Jerusalem is aclear reference to the religion atthat time, headquartered in thecity of Jerusalem, a religion thatdepended on law-keeping as ameans of salvation.

Sarah stands for the gospel, forthe promise of God given to usby the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sarah stands for God’s gracegiving us his favor, his mercy, hisforgiveness and his love freely.Here’s the fundamental

difference between Christ-less

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religion and authentic Christ-centered relationship with God.

One man had two sons by twomothers. The two mothersrepresent two ways of relating toGod, two covenants; one old, onenew. The two mothers representlaw and grace. Law producesslavery and bondage. Graceproduces freedom in Christ. There is no equivocation, there is

no other option. Just as Sarah realized that she

and Hagar could not live in thesame household, just as Ishmael,the slave child of law could notabide God’s grace as exemplifiedby Isaac and thus he persecutedhim, we too must not be underany illusions. We may not chooseto live our lives both ways. It willbe one or the other. Choose law orchoose grace—Mount Sinai or thecross of Christ.

Do not allow yourself to bedeceived by some religiouslyfabricated compromise thatwould dilute the purity andbeauty and holiness of God’sgrace by adding old covenant,law-based, ritualistic, law-keepingelements.God does not recognizeany third way.

And realize this—the chiefopposition and objections toGod’s grace do not come fromthose who do not claim to beChristians at all, like Buddhists orMuslims. The chief objections toGod’s grace come from those whocall themselves Christians, butthey are trapped by legalism andare in the swamps of Christ-lessreligion. No one hates God’s grace so much

as those who work hard to convinceGod that their efforts are holy andrighteous. It was religion thathated Jesus.

We must not compromise withGod’s grace, my friends. We mustnot allow God’s grace to bewatered down. Each of us willeither be children of faith, graceand of the promise, and thus freein Christ, or we will be slaves oflaw in bondage to religion. q