Therefore the Law or the old covenant contains only physical promises, to which some such condition as this is always attached: “If you will hear My voice” (Ps. 95:7); “If you will keep My covenant” (Ex. 19:5); “If you walk in My ways, you will be My people” (Deut. 28:9). The Jews did not pay attention to this; but they took hold of these conditional promises and made them absolute and unconditional, which they thought that God could never revoke but had to keep. And so when they heard the prophets—who were able to distinguish properly between the physical promises of the Law and the spiritual promises about Christ and His kingdom—predict that the city of Jerusalem, the temple, the kingdom, and the priesthood would be laid waste, they persecuted and killed them as heretics and blasphemers against God; for they did not see the condition that was attached: “If you keep My commandments, it will be well with you.”

Therefore Hagar the slave gave birth to nothing but a slave. And so even though Ishmael was a genuine son of Abraham, he was not an heir but remained a slave. What was lacking? The promise and blessing of the Word. Thus the Law given on Mt. Sinai, which the Arabs call “Hagar,” gives birth to nothing but slaves; for there was no promise of Christ added to the Law. “And so if you forsake the promise and faith and turn back again to the Law and works, O Galatians, you will remain slaves forever. That is, you will never be free of sin and death; but you will remain under the curse of the Law. For Hagar does not give birth to a child of promise or an heir; that is, the Law does not justify, does not grant sonship and an inheritance but rather hinders it and works wrath.”

Martin Luther | Luther’s Works, Vol. 26: Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 1–4, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 26 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 437–38.

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Post authored by:

• Tony Phelps

  

  Tony grew up in Rhode Island. He was educated at BA (University of Rhode Island) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He worked in the insurance industry for ten years. He planted a PCA church in Wakefield, RI where he served for eleven years. In 2015–18 he pastored Covenant Reformed Church (URCNA) in Colorado Springs. He is currently pastor of Living Hope (OPC). Tony is married to Donna and together they have three children.

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