ガラテヤの信徒への手紙4:21-23 Galatians 4:21-23,

ところで、女奴隷の子は肉によって生まれたのに対し、自由な女から生まれた子は約束によって生まれたのでした。（ガラテヤ4:23）

イスラエル民族の先祖であるアブラハムとサラの夫婦とその子どもたちの話を、パウロは22節で「アブラハムには二人の息子があり、一人は女奴隷から生まれ、もう一人は自由な身の女から生まれたと聖書に書いてあります」と要約しています。そして、パウロの関心の焦点は、神様の約束の確かさに絞られています。神様は約束なさったことを必ず実現してくださり、神様の約束してくださったことを人間の思いによって変えることはできない、ということです。

そこで、パウロは23節で人間の思いと神様の約束を対比させて「ところで、女奴隷の子は肉によって生まれたのに対し、自由な女から生まれた子は約束によって生まれたのでした」と記しています。「女奴隷の子は肉によって生まれた」というのは、女奴隷ハガルの子どもは、人間の自然なプロセスで生まれたということです。すなわち、若くて子どもを産むことのできる状態の女性から生まれたということです。他方、自由な女サラの子どもは、神様の特別な約束によって生まれたということです。すなわち、年をとって普通であれば子どもを産むことのできない状態でありながら、神様が特別に子どもの誕生を約束してくださったことによって生まれたということです。なお、言うまでもないことですが、サラが子どもを産んだのは、処女マリアが聖霊によってみごもってイエス・キリストを産んだのとは違って、アブラハムとサラの夫婦関係の中で妊娠して出産したということです。

パウロはハガルの子どもとサラの子どもの話を引用することによって、何を言おうとしているのでしょうか？まず、人間的な思いと手段によって生まれたハガルの子どもは、「キリストを信じるだけでなく旧約聖書の律法で定められた割礼の儀式を受けなければ完全な救いは得られない」という人間的な思いと手段によって救われようとしている人たちを表しています。そして、神様の約束によって生まれたサラの子どもは、「人はキリストを信じることによって救われる」という神様の約束によって救われようとしている人たちを表しているのです。つまり、救われるためには神様の約束だけで十分であって、人間的な思いや手段を付け加える必要はない、ということです。さらに正確に言うと、救われるために人間的な思いや手段を付け加えてはならない、ということです。（2月18日の説教より）

Many people in general may think that the Bible is a book of ethics and morals, saying that people should live in this way. Certainly, the Bible contains important ethical and moral texts, such as the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament, the so-called Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament and the exhortations in Paul’s letters. But not only that, the Bible is also a book that describes the reality of human beings, that they are such and such creatures. The Old Testament, in particular, does not hide the raw reality of human beings, which surprises us with its frankness.

For example, the story of David, the pious, God-fearing king of the ancient kingdom of Israel, having relations with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, while brave retainer Uriah was at war, is a frank illustration of the sinfulness of man. David then deliberately sent his retainer Uriah to the fiercest part of the battle to be killed in battle, making Bathsheba one of his own wives. Later, King David repented when the prophet Nathan pointed out his sin. The fact that the sins of such an outstanding king as King David are recorded without concealment is a clear indication that the Old Testament is a book that frankly describes the reality of human beings: they are such and such creatures.

Today’s biblical passage is also written against the background of the Old Testament articles that frankly describe human reality. Namely, in verse 21 of today’s passage, Paul says to the believers of the churches of Galatia, “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?” “You who desire to be under the law” refers to the believers of the churches of Galatia who had been misled by the evangelists who came after Paul into thinking that they could not attain full salvation unless they not only believed in Christ but also underwent the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law.

When we speak of “the law,” we think of documents such as Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, which contain the laws of ancient Israel. The Jewish people of New Testament times, however, referred to the entire five books from Genesis to Deuteronomy as “the Law.” In these five books, which describe the period from creation to the death of Moses, various laws are written down as they were woven into the history of the people of ancient Israel. For example, the law that God’s people must undergo the ritual of circumcision is found in Leviticus 12:3, but it can be traced back even further to Genesis 17:9-14, where it was commanded to Abraham, the forefather of the Israelites, that “every male among you shall be circumcised.” Another law requiring a tenth of the harvest from the land to be offered to God is found in Leviticus 27:30, and goes back to Genesis 28:22, where Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, swore to God, “Of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.” Therefore, when Paul asks in verse 21, “do you not listen to the law?” he is asking the Galatian believers to listen to the teachings of the entire five books from Genesis to Deuteronomy.

Paul then turns to the sons of Abraham in Genesis, where verse 22 says: “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.” This verse 22 is a short summary of the Genesis account that Abraham, the ancestor of the Israelites, had a son Ishmael, born to Hagar, a female slave, and a son Isaac, born to his wife Sarah. The fact that Paul wrote without naming the specific characters of the Genesis account assumes that the readers of the letter were familiar with the Genesis account. We therefore want to read carefully the Genesis account of Abraham and his sons.

We do not know the exact time period in which Abraham lived. If we follow the classification of human history as developing in the order of the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age, he was probably a Middle Bronze Age man, from the 18th to 16th centuries BC. Abraham and his wife Sarah were an elderly childless couple. By common sense, they were long past the age when they could have children. However, God showed Abraham stars in the night sky and said, “So shall your offspring be,” promising him a child. And Abraham believed it and was counted by God as righteous (Gen. 15).

Now, if this was the case, Abraham and Sarah should have waited quietly for the birth of their child. However, Sarah, the wife, became numb from waiting. Sarah said to her husband Abraham: “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her” (Gen. 16:2). “Go in to my servant” means to have sexual relations with Hagar, a female slave in Sarah’s service. In modern thoughts, this would be an unacceptable statement that disregarded Hagar’s human rights, but in ancient times it seems to have been an accepted way for childless couples to obtain children. How would Abraham have reacted? Would he have said, “Let’s not do that, let’s wait for God to fulfil his promise”? No. Abraham did as Sarah asked and had relations with Hagar, a female slave in Sarah’s service. Then, Hagar became pregnant.

However, Hagar’s pregnancy caused strife in Abraham’s family. The pregnant Hagar became proud and disrespectful of her mistress Sarah. Since the original cause of this conflict was Sarah’s attempt to provide her husband with Hagar as a concubine, she should have been remorseful and patient. But instead of being remorseful, Sarah blamed Abraham, saying, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me” (Gen. 16:5)! It is as if Hagar’s pride and disrespect for Sarah had been the fault of her husband Abraham. This is a statement in which Sarah tries to shift her responsibility to her husband Abraham. However, when you think about it, Abraham was partly to blame because he did as his wife told him and got Hagar pregnant. However, rather than accepting his responsibility, Abraham, who was blamed, said, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please” (Gen. 16:6). What an irresponsible couple! Poor Hagar, the female slave. When she was told to “do to her as you please,” she gave Hagar a hard time, and Hagar ran away from Sarah. It must have been a sad journey with nowhere to go. But God took care of Hagar and sent an angel. The angel told Hagar, “Return to your mistress and submit to her. I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude” (Gen. 16:9-10). Thus, Hagar returned to Abraham and Sarah and gave birth to a son, Ishmael.

Many things happened afterwards. After the angel of God again told Sarah of the promise that she would have a child, she also had a child, just as God had promised. She gave birth to a boy called Isaac. With the birth of Sarah’s son, did Sarah’s jealousy of the female slave Hagar cease and did Abraham’s family become a peaceful family? It was not so. Sarah saw Hagar’s son Ishmael teasing the young Isaac. She then said to her husband Abraham: “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac” (Gen. 21:10). Perhaps Sarah was worried that Ishmael might in future be heir to her husband Abraham along with her son Isaac, and rule over Isaac as his elder brother. Ishmael was the son born by Sarah’s having said to her husband Abraham, “Go in to my servant.” It is too selfish to say, “Cast out this slave woman with her son” because her own son Isaac was born. But this is the human reality that the Bible tells us about. Although given the promise of the birth of a child by God, the couple Abraham and Sarah tried to obtain a child through human thoughts and means. And when Sarah had a child Isaac born to her, she tried to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael as a hindrance. How self-centred!

Abraham was very distressed when his wife Sarah told him to cast out that Hagar and Ishmael. He was distressed because Ishmael was also a son of his own blood. God then said to Abraham: “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring” (Gen. 21:12-13). Surprisingly, God did not judge the self-centred Sarah or condemn the indecisive Abraham, but instructed him to get Hagar and Ishmael out of the house as Sarah had said. In doing so, it became clear that Abraham’s heir would be Isaac, born according to God’s promise. But God also promised that Ishmael, born of human thoughts and means, would have his descendants increase and prosper so much that he would become the father of a nation. What a caring God!

When Abraham heard God’s announcement, he rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. Thus, poor Hagar wandered through the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the skin sack ran out, Hagar prepared herself and the child for death and laid him down under a bush, saying, “Let me not look on the death of the child” (Gen. 21:16), and sitting opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. Then the angel called to Hagar from heaven, saying, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation” (Gen. 21:17-18). After that, Hagar was able to find a well with water. She gave the child a drink of the water, and she herself also drank and became well. Thus, Hagar and Ishmael survived in the wilderness. The child Ishmael grew up with God and became a man who lived in the wilderness and hunted for a living.

This is the story of the ancestors of the Israelites, the couple Abraham and Sarah, and their sons. Paul summarises this story in verse 22 of today’s passage: “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.” Paul’s focus is then on the certainty of God’s promises. God will fulfil what He has promised, and what He has promised cannot be changed by human thoughts. In verse 23 of today’s passage, Paul contrasts human thoughts with God’s promises: “But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.” “The son of the slave was born according to the flesh” means that the son of the female slave Hagar was born through natural human processes. This means that he was born of a woman who was young and capable of bearing children. On the other hand, “the son of the free woman was born through promise” means that the son of the free woman Sarah was born through God’s special promise. In other words, he was born through God’s special promise to give birth to a son, even though Sarah was too old to bear children under normal circumstances. It goes without saying that Sarah did not give birth to a child like the virgin Mary, who conceived and gave birth to Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, but that she conceived and gave birth within the marital relationship of Abraham and Sarah.

What is Paul trying to say by quoting the story of Hagar’s and Sarah’s sons? First, the son of Hagar, born of human thoughts and means, represents those who are trying to be saved by human thoughts and means: “one cannot attain full salvation unless one not only believes in Christ but also undergoes the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law.” And Sarah’s son, born of God’s promise, represents those who are trying to be saved by God’s promise that “one can be saved by believing in Christ.” In other words, God’s promise is sufficient to be saved, and no human thoughts or means need be added. To be more precise, it means that no human thoughts or means must be added in order to be saved.

A biblical scholar has interpreted Sarah’s attempt to have children by providing her husband Abraham with a female slave Hagar as a concubine, as actually an attempt to help God’s promises come true. This is an interesting interpretation. In other words, Sarah believed that God’s promise to give her a child would be fulfilled through the human means of providing her husband Abraham with a female slave Hagar as a concubine. In simple terms, the interpretation is that Sarah thought, “I can’t leave it to God alone, I have to do something too.” Perhaps those who thought that “one cannot attain full salvation unless one not only believes in Christ but also undergoes the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law,” also thought that “I cannot leave it to God alone, I have to do something too.” But they were wrong. When it comes to human salvation, it is important to trust in God’s promise alone: “Human beings are saved by believing in Christ.” To add something to it, to think that one cannot attain full salvation unless one does something, is in fact to hinder the fulfilment of God’s promise. Human work is a grateful response to the salvation given by the promise of grace, not a condition or means to attain salvation.