Ministry of Grace Church

 

 

 

Galatians 4:26

but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Truth to Learn

We can choose freedom through simple faith in Christ or bondage through observance of a set of commands.

Behind the Words

The word translated “above” is ano, which means “up high” or “above.”

Meaning Explained

Paul has been using an allegory comparing Ishmael, the son of Hagar who represents an agreement that is embodied in a set of spiritual rules and regulations, and Isaac, the son of Sarai who represents an agreement based on the promises made by God. He is using this allegory because the Galatian Christians had been taught by false teachers that in order to be completely Christian they had to become sons of Abraham through observance of the Jewish ceremonial laws and rituals, especially that of circumcision.

In the previous verse Paul said that Hagar represents Mount Sinai where the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses were given and that she corresponds to Jerusalem as it existed at the time of the writing of this letter. The significant thing about Jerusalem at that time was the fact that it was under Roman rule. Its inhabitants were not free but were under the yoke of Roman bondage.

He now talks about another Jerusalem, the high up Jerusalem or the above Jerusalem. The word that he uses for Jerusalem is the Hebrew rendering of the name Ierousalēm, rather than the Greek rendering, Ierosoluma. And, according to Marvin R. Vincent in his Word Studies in the New Testament:

The phrase Jerusalem which is above was familiar to the rabbinical teachers, who conceived the heavenly Jerusalem as the archetype of the earthly. On the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom, the heavenly archetype would be let down to earth, and would be the capital of the messianic theocracy.

In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John describes the heavenly Jerusalem this way:

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:1, 2)

And John later says of this city:

But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. (Revelation 21:27)

This heavenly Jerusalem, according to Paul, is the mother of us all, referring to Christians. The heavenly Jerusalem is free just as God’s promises to us are free to all who will receive them.

Application

Who would want to be part of a city in bondage when they could be part of a city that is free? Do you want to be in bondage to church rules and man-made regulations or set free to live as God intended through faith in Jesus Christ?

In God’s service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2008 Will Krause. All rights reserved.

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