Galatians Journal: Chapter 4, Verse 28

Galatians 4:28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

“Now you, brothers” Paul comes back to addressing the Galatians in a familiar tone, in intimacy. Paul has shifted the tone of his writing style back and forth from tenderness and caring (Galatians 1:11, 3:15, 4:12) to harsh rebuke and even sarcasm (Galatians 1:6, 3:1, 4:10). What strikes me here, however, is not so much a return to tenderness or intimacy here, but a statement of reality – the Galatians were truly “brothers,” they had a real relationship with Christ (see Galatians 3:2-5), and this verse defines the spiritual reality of the new birth. Paul uses the word “Now” – the Galatians are still right with God, despite the issues of unbelief and sin among them. This is the essence of “promise” – it has nothing to do with what we do. They are “brothers” – always!

“like Isaac, are children of the promise” Here, Paul pushes a concept that would have outraged his Jewish critics. First, the Judiazers insisted that a person needed to be circumcised to enter the covenant with Abraham and Isaac and all their descendants, and become their “spiritual descendants.” While there is some strong support in the Old Testament for at least an understanding of why Paul’s opponents insisted on this (see Genesis 17: 10-14), Paul argues that what he is arguing for transcends Jewish tradition and ethnicity. The Judiazers (and Jews generally at that time) expected that when the Messiah came, at the “end of time,” the law would be strengthened, not radically changed. Paul shows us that the coming of the Messiah inaugurated a new age in which the old rules no longer strictly apply (see Galatians 4:4, 4:6), or, better still, that the old rules were never meant to be the basis of salvation, but to show us the way, to point towards the fulfillment of the promise. The concept of the traditional Jewish belief system of Paul’s time is turned on its head – Paul is proving that the new covenant allows that these uncircumcised Gentiles are the spiritual children of Isaac, and the Judiazers – the ones who arguably are faithfully trying to fulfill the terms of the law – are the spiritual children of Ishmael. Ethnicity and culture cannot define the kingdom.

However, in a nutshell, while this verse seems like just a bridge in the argument, its bare essence is truth – the Galatians were brothers – spiritual descendants of Isaac, and children of the promise. For all who are truly born again, it is exactly the same.