ere laid on the freedom of Christ's disciples recalls the conversation of Christ with the Jews in John viii. 32 ... but the bondage is there more distinctly associated with actual sin.
Ver. 27. The prophecy of Isaiah liv. 1, here quoted from the LXX, describes the restoration of Zion, the enlargement of her borders and increase of her people, under the figure of a wife long neglected and barren, but now restored to the favour of her husband and fruitful in children. This picture was perhaps suggested to the prophet by the history of Sarah’s prolonged barrenness before she became the fruitful mother of Israel, and is peculiarly ΜῊΝ riate for describing the long delayed but textile growth of the Christian Church, of which she was the typical mother.
Ver. 29. ἐδίωκεν. This imperfect de- notes a tendency and disposition rather than actual persecution on the part of Ishmael. The nearest ae ain to it recorded is in fact his mockery of Isaac on the occasion of his weaning (Gen. xxi. g). The LXX gives a different version of his conduct on that occasion,
183
σάρκα γεννηθεὶς ἐδίωκε τὸν κατὰ πνεῦμα, οὕτω καὶ νῦν: 30. ἀλλὰ
τί λέγει ἡ γραφή; Ἔκβαλε τὴν παιδίσκην καὶ τὸν υἱὸν
αὐτῆς" οὐ γὰρ μὴ κληρονομήσῃ ὃ υἱὸς τῆς παιδίσκης
μετὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς ἐλευθέρας.
31. Διό, ἀδελφοὶ, οὐκ ἐσμὲν παιδίσκης τέκνα, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐλευθέρας
V. 1. TH} ἐλευθερίᾳ ἡμᾶς 2 Χριστὸς ἠλευθέρωσε - στήκετε 8 οὖν καὶ
1 τῇ ελευθεριᾳ NABCDP; τῃ ελ. ουν C°KL; τῃ ελ. ῃ DSEKL; ῃ ελ. FG. ημας Χρ. NABDEFGP 17, etc.; Χρ. ηµας ΝΕΟΚΙ., ὅστηκετε ουν NABCFGP 17, etc.; om. ουν DEKL.
which is accepted in the margin of the Revised Version, and seems more in harmony with the circumstances, viz., that he was playing with the child, bearing himself in short as an elder brother in the family, and that the jealousy of Sarah was aroused lest he should claim an elder brother’s share of the inheritance. But the Apostle adopts the traditional view of his conduct which was accepted by the Jews, in conse- quence perhaps of the subsequent feud between the two races; and discovers in Ishmael the same jealous temper that was exhibited by Jewish persecutors towards the infant Church.
Ver. 30. Again, the expulsion of Ishmael gives warning that those who observe the letter of the Law only, and lack the true spirit of sonship, though they render formal obedience to the will of the Father, have no abiding inheritance in His house.
CHAPTERS IV. 31—V. 12. FREEDOM IS OUR BIRTHRIGHT IN CHRIST AND AN ESSENTIAL CONDITION OF OUR CALL. ACCORDINGLY THE APOSTLE PROTESTS AGAINST THE CLAIM THAT ALL CHRIS- TIANS SHOULD BE CIRCUMCISED, AS A DEPARTURE FROM THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, A DANGEROUS INNOVATION WHICH THE CHURCHES WILL CERTAINLY CONDEMN, AND A SUPERSTITION OF THE FLESH ON A PAR WITH THE GROSSEST HEATHEN SUPERSTITIONS.—Ver. 31. The preced- ing allegory has illustrated the essential difference between the heritage of Jews and Christians. Whereas Jews inherit bondage to Law, freedom is the Christian birthright, derived from their heavenly mother. The Apostle now proceeds to enforce the truth that Christ bestowed this freedom upon us, and that it is an essential principle of our call.
CHAPTER V.—Ver. 1. In the original text, which I have adopted in accord- ance with the best MS. authority, the first clause of this verse is clearly de-
tached from the second στήκετε οὖν, and attached to the preceding ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐλευθέρας without any connecting particle. But this primary connection with the preceding verse was apparently obscured at an early period of Church history, owing probably to the frequent use of the important section v. 1 ff. asa Church lesson by itself apart from the preceding allegory. It is difficult other- wise to account for the reat variety of connecting particles c.oployed in MS. versions and quotations to transform the fragment τῇ ἐλευθ. ἡμᾶς Χριστὸς Hrevd. into a complete sentence, e.g., the ad- dition of 7, οὖν, or γάρ, and the omission of οὖν after στήκετε, all evidently correc- tions made with one object. The division of chapters has unfortunately perpetuated this error. But the removal of the full stop after ἐλευθέρας at once restores the full force of the original passage: Where- fore, brethren, we are not children of a handmaid, but Christ set us free with the Sreedom of the freewoman. ‘The threefold iteration, free, freedom, freewoman, marks with expressive emphasis the importance of this Christian birthright.—pas Xpic- τὸς. The best MSS. place the object ἡμᾶς before the subject Χριστός, invert- ing the usual order of words. This in- version throws an emphasis on ἡμᾶς; as the previous context demands; for the whole passage forcibly contsasts the free- dom granted to us Christians with the bondage which the Jews inherit.—py πάλιν . . . Converts had all alike, whether Jews or Greeks, been under bondage to some law, human or divine: all had been set free by Christ, but might now, by the voluntary adoption of cir- cumcision, forfeit this freedom and rivet the yoke of Law about their own necks.