KJV or NIV, they both say the same thing. "[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.... [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." Gal. 4:24, 30-31 (KJV)
We had a good time with this in class yesterday, so it's fresh in my mind.
Galatians contrasts Hagar/Ishmael and Sarah/Isaac, as a way to contrast the Old Covenant with the New. What's the contrast?
Before we go there, let's see what it was NOT contrasting. The promise was that Abraham would have a son. In both cases, doing what God said - Abraham gets a son - was the goal. So also, in both the Old and New Covenants, doing what God said - living in harmony with Him - was the goal. So the common idea that the Old Covenant required obedience to God's law but the New Covenant abolished it, is not supported by Galatians.
What is the contrast Paul was making? The goal was for Abraham to have a son. The Hagar plan was that Abraham would use human effort to fulfill God's word. It was an ingenious plan, and it worked. However, it was not what God wanted.
What God wanted was for Abraham to accept His promised blessing, without trusting to human works. Isaac was to come in spite of the obvious human impossibility - an unmerited gift from God.
That's the difference between the Old and New Covenants. The Old Covenant was based on the people's promise to obey God by their own untiring efforts. The New Covenant is based on the people receiving God's merit, in spite of their feeble efforts.
But let's not forget that the New Covenant requires effort also. Isaac was not a virgin birth. But it would be foolish to say that the efforts of Abraham and Sarah went an iota toward the miracle of Isaac. So also in the New Covenant.
But to say that the New Covenant abolished the law is wrong. It made it even more crucial. Rather than a list of requirements on stone, it becomes a list of blessings that God writes on our hearts.
