Galatians 4:24-25

Paul wanted to explain again the difference between the law and freedom. He compared it to Hagar and Sarah. He used the principle rather than all the details.

Ishmael’s sons and their families lived in the region called Arabia (Genesis 26:18). Mount Sinai is in Arabia. Moses had to climb up Mount Sinai to receive God’s laws. But the people who obeyed the law were slaves to the law. Hagar was a slave. When a slave has children, they are slaves too. A slave can never have children that are free. In a similar way, the people who received the law could never be free.

Jerusalem was the capital city of the *Jewish nation. So in verse 25, Jerusalem refers to all the *Jews. They are slaves because of the *Jewish law. They wanted God to approve of them. They always tried to please God by their own effort. So they remained as slaves. They could not become God’s true children.

People who try to obey the law may belong to Abraham’s natural family. Ishmael too belonged to Abraham’s natural family. But Ishmael was not the child that God promised to Abraham. And so, nobody who tries to please God by his own effort is a real child of God.