Galatians 4:25

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Galatians 4:25

is . i.e. represents. answereth to = stands in same rank with. Greek. sustoicheo . Only here. Compare Galatians 5:25 . is in bondage = serves. Greek. douleuo . App-190 . with . Greek. meta . App-104 , children . Greek. teknon . App-108 . read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Galatians 4:25

25. Translate, "For this word, Hagar, is (imports) Mount Sinai in Arabia (that is, among the Arabians—in the Arabian tongue)." So CHRYSOSTOM explains. Haraut, the traveller, says that to this day the Arabians call Sinai, "Hadschar," that is, Hagar, meaning a rock or stone. Hagar twice fled into the desert of Arabia (Genesis 16:1-16; Genesis 21:9-21): from her the mountain and city took its name, and the people were called Hagarenes. Sinai, with its rugged rocks, far removed from the promised... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Galatians 4:21-31

3. The biblical illustration 4:21-31Paul interpreted allegorically (i.e., figuratively, NIV) features of the history of Abraham’s two sons to convince his readers that they were in danger of joining the wrong branch of Abraham’s family. The apostle appears to have used the story of Abraham the way he did because this was a common rabbinic method that the Judaizers probably employed in their teaching in Galatia. [Note: R. Alan Cole, The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, pp. 128-29. Longenecker... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Galatians 4:24-27

The allegorical interpretation 4:24-27 read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Galatians 4:25

Hagar represents the Mosaic Covenant made at Mount Sinai in Paul’s analogy (illustration). Her descendants represent the Israelites who lived in bondage under the Law. Sarah, not mentioned in Galatians 4:25, represents the Abrahamic Covenant, and her descendants are free, living under the promise.The earliest identification of Mt. Sinai with Jebel Musa in the Sinai Peninsula, the most popular probable site, comes from the writing of Egeria in the fourth century A.D. Perhaps in Paul’s day the... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Galatians 4:1-31

The Bondage of the Law. Freedom in Christ1-7. Under the Law we were in bondage; under the Gospel we have received the freedom of sons.Paraphrase. ’(1) The heir before he comes of age can no more enter upon his inheritance than a servant in the family can possess himself of it, (2) but must continue, until the set time, in a subordinate position, and under the authority and training of others. (3) So, when we were under the elementary Law system, we were in a position like that of the heir in... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Galatians 4:21-31

(21-31) The next eleven verses contain an elaborate argument from the history of the two sons of Abraham, as types of the two covenants, in further proof that freedom is the essential character of the Christian dispensation.We have seen that St. Paul applies the history of the natural Israel allegorically to the spiritual Israel; and not only does he do this with reference to the history of the formed theocracy, but he goes back to its origin in the time of the patriarchs, and traces there the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Galatians 4:25

(25) For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia.—This clause will be, perhaps, best dealt with in an excursus, of which we will at present merely summarise the result by saying that the true (or, rather, most probable) reading appears to be: Now this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; and the sense: “By the word Hagar is meant Mount Sinai in Arabia.” There appears to be sufficient evidence to show that Hagar may be regarded as the Arabic name for Sinai, so that there would be a special reason for... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Galatians 4:1-31

The Incarnation Galatians 4:4 Of all births this Bethlehem birth was the most unique. A superhuman life demands a superhuman birth. Let us gaze reverently into the abyssmal depths of that manger-cradle in the Bethlehem-khan. I. The first question that presents itself to us is this: 'Was it necessary that God should more fully reveal Himself to man?' We reply in the affirmative. Man had quarrelled with God; and to a rebel sinner the dim light of Nature and Providence was wholly insufficient.... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Galatians 4:21-31

Chapter 19THE STORY OF HAGAR.Galatians 4:21-31 - Galatians 5:1THE Apostle wishes that he could "change his voice" (Galatians 4:20). Indeed he has changed it more than once. "Any one who looks closely may see that there is much change and alteration of feeling in what the Apostle has previously written" (Theodorus). Now he will try another tone; he proceeds in fact to address his readers in a style which we find nowhere else in his Epistles. He will tell his "children" a story! Perhaps he may... read more

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