Galatians 4:28-31 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does the Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Paul concludes his allegory of the slave woman and the free woman with the admonition: “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” This yeast of works can easily contaminate the message of salvation in our lives, for the idea of works spreads easily. In another place, Paul repeats what Jesus said about yeast, Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? (1 Corinthians 5:6, See also Matthew 13:33) Too often, after we have committed our lives to Jesus, we begin building a structure of righteousness in our lives based on our works rather than on faith in the sacrifice of Jesus. We begin to compare our lives with the lives of others, even Jesus' life. Not that this is terribly wrong in the right context, but if our works become our obsession, our thoughts, our worries, we lose the thankfulness for the completed sacrifice of Jesus, his efficacious works. Rather than live in joy because of who Jesus is and what He has done, we live in sadness and recrimination because of what our works often fail to accomplish. We find sadness in our lives rather than the joy of victory through Christ our Lord. Paul says get rid of this idea of trying to please God through your works, for we know perfectly well that our righteous acts are like filthy rags before the Almighty. (Isaiah 64:6) Our self efforts of obtaining righteousness will never fulfill the righteous requirements of God's holiness. The works of the flesh always fall short of pleasing God because any failure at all means complete unrighteousness: For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10) One slip in following the law is just as dangerous to you as if you fell into the pit of unrighteousness in every part of your life. Therefore, Paul tells us: Get rid of the slave woman, for the product of her womb will never please God. The natural means to salvation cannot span the rift between God and us: only Jesus' works can acceptably present us to God. Only his acts can place our heavenly names in the Book of Life. We are sons and daughters because of the free woman's womb that birthed the son of promise, not the slave woman's womb, representative of man's works.
In Colossians 2:20 Paul asks us this question, Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? Why are you trying to be right with God by following rules established to control the flesh? These rules have a form of godliness, but they deny the power of righteousness that comes through the works of Christ by the Holy Spirit. These (rules) are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. (Colossians 2:22) They are finite, they are powerless to change the heart. Because of their temporariness and weakness, they do not have the power to grant eternal forgiveness. These rules cannot create sons and daughters of God. To create these new creatures, a heavenly Creator is needed. Through him (Jesus) all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:3) Since Jesus is the Creator and because his works are perfect, Paul is asking us to cast out the idea that righteousness, perfection, comes from what we do or do not do. Such thinking leads us into lives of perpetual wandering and seeking when the work is already finished in Christ. As surely as Hagar and Ishmael found themselves wandering in the desert after being cast out, so will we be if we reject God's plan for our lives. Following the errant path of works will not lead to the oasis of joy, where God's spring of life exists, but to the bitter spring of self, where works try to make everything right. One path leads to death, the other eternal life. We must choose life, for we know, if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8:10-11)
God's Word is our foundation. Christ Jesus is our only hope of righteousness and life eternal. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:13-15) Our hope of life eternal is found in Christ alone. He has given us the Holy Spirit to lead our lives, to ensure that we could live lives of love. Jesus' work on the cross has changed us forever, made us children of God, joint heirs with Christ. He has forgiven us our sins. The power of the law and its regulations over us has been cancelled, never to condemn us again. He has taken away that power and nailed it to the cross. Not only that, the cross has silenced the powers of the air that would prosecute us before God in his heavenly court. The cross has won the day! "IT IS FINISHED" (John 19:30) Grace and mercy have won the day! Paul tells us to get rid of the slave woman and her son, for works and grace cannot coexist. We must cling to the grace of God, not to the works of men. We cannot mix the two in our lives. We cannot have a little bit of the yeast of works in our lives for it would soon penetrate everything we do. We must live by the grace and mercy of God, not by the law and its consequences. “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” As children of God, we walk in newness of life. John writes: We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. (1 John 3:14) We are children of a new day, a new beginning. Embrace this day of freedom, grace, peace, and love. Share the mercy of the Lord with someone who is trying to run the race alone.
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