PAUL'S ALLEGORY by R. F. C.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · June 3, 1880

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 23

PAUL'S ALLEGORY.

By R. F. C.

A correspondent desires an explanation of the bond-woman and the free of Gal. 4:21-31. The apostle uses facts of the history of Abraham and his family in an allegorical manner; that is, he applies them to another subject, to which those facts bear a resemblance. He says, “Which things are an allegory,” “are allegorized,” or “are used as an allegory,” as given by different translators.

The apostle had fear concerning some of the brethren in Galatia, because they desired to be under the law. It is evident that this has no reference to their desire to keep the commandments of the moral code. No apostle or prophet, nor any other good man, ever had any fear of evil consequences resulting from having no God but Jehovah, making and bowing down to no images, refraining from taking the name of God in vain, honoring one’s parents, refraining from murder, adultery, theft, false witness, and covetousness. And as for the Sabbath day, which I have omitted in this enumeration, it is not named nor alluded to in the whole book of Galatians. But circumcision is repeatedly mentioned and its further use condemned, and the conclusion directly drawn from the subject allegorically illustrated is, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.” Chap. 5:1-3. Circumcision was the badge of the Hebrew people and of the system of worship which God delivered to them. Therefore those who were circumcised were held as a consequence to perform all the rites of the ceremonial law—all things that were “written in the book of the law.” See Gal. 3:10. The book of the law was written by Moses. The “law of Moses” was something besides the ten commandments which God wrote in tables of stone, namely, all that system of the service of the sanctuary which typified the offering of Christ and his service in the priesthood in the sanctuary in Heaven. Indeed, the writings of Moses in general were designated as “the law.” This is evident from the apostle’s introduction of the subject, “Tell me,” says he, “ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written [in the law], that Abraham had two sons.” Where is this written? Not in the tables of stone, but in the historical part of the book of Genesis.

The two women, Hagar and Sarah, allegorized, represent the two covenants. The “first covenant” was made at Mount Sinai, where God spoke his law from Heaven, and also instructed Moses concerning the sanctuary and all the ritual of its service. Says Paul, “The first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary.” Heb. 9:1. It was by being circumcised and practicing the rites of the ceremonial law that the Jews, who did not believe in Christ as the “mediator of a better covenant,” hoped to be “justified by the law of Moses,” that is, obtain remission of sins by obeying those rites. This service could not justify the sinner—could not take away sin. See Heb. 9:9, 10. Hence those who sought justification by the law were fallen from grace. But by Christ “all that believe are justified from all things [all their past sins], from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.” Acts 13:39. This justification signifies the forgiveness of sins. The law of ten commandments was not given as a means of procuring pardon; and no sane man ever obeyed any one of its precepts with the hope that future obedience would insure pardon for past transgressions.

“The word Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia.”—American Bible Union. “The name Hagar denotes Mount Sinai in Arabia, and she answers to the present Jerusalem.”—Campbell. In the application of the figure Mount Sinai, where the system of the sanctuary service was ordained, represents Jerusalem, the central place of that form of worship; and her children are all those who still adhere to circumcision and expect justification, pardon, salvation from sin, by the means of those rites, instead of accepting of the new covenant by faith in Christ its sacrifice and mediator, and thus becoming children of the heavenly Jerusalem, the free woman, the mother of all that believe in Christ. The Son having made them free, they are “free indeed.” And therefore Paul exhorts them to stand fast in that liberty, and not be entangled again in the yoke of bondage, a yoke which, in the language of another apostle, “neither our fathers nor we were able to bear.” Acts 15:10. This language was called forth by the fact that some of the Pharisees who believed had said of the believing Gentiles, “That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” Some from Judea had taught the brethren, “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” This shows how the apostles harmonize on this subject. Acts 15:1, 10.

Trusting for remission of past sins through faith in Jesus Christ, while yielding obedience to the moral law, the transgression of which made an offering for sin necessary, is one thing; and being circumcised and trusting for remission in those typical rites which only pointed the faith of the people forward to Christ, and were taken out of the way, being nailed to the cross, is quite another. These two positions cannot harmonize. To hold to the old covenant with its ordinances and sacrifices is to reject the new. The blood of those sacrifices could not take away sin; the blood of Christ can. Hence the “better promises” of the new covenant are, 1. The writing of the moral law in the heart; 2. The taking away of sins, the transgressions of that law, so that they shall be remembered no more; and, 3. The giving of an “eternal inheritance” to all who are truly its subjects. Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:6-12; 9:15; and 10:1-4, 14-18. These promises compared with those of the covenant at Sinai, namely, making the Hebrew people a peculiar treasure above all people, giving them an inheritance in one of the best portions of the earth, and making them a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, are indeed better promises.

Casting out the bond-woman and her son, refers to the rejection of Jerusalem and her children, who cling to the old covenant with its ritual, and reject or ignore the new. They are in the bondage of their sins; for sins can only be remitted through Jesus, the mediator of the better covenant.

R. F. C.