How to Avoid Being Dragged Off Like a Slave
“Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant, and one by the free woman. However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” (Galatians 4:21-26 WEB)
Hi dear patron,
Hagar was Sarah’s maidservant. The name “Hagar” has three probable meanings based on its etymology: 1) To flee, 2) To be dragged off, 3) To be forced into service.
None of the three meanings have positive connotations.
The Apostle Paul revealed in his epistle to the Galatians that Hagar is a picture of the Law of Moses, whereas Sarah represents Grace.
When God gave Abraham and Sarah the promise of a son, they tried to ‘help’ God to fulfill that promise according to their own understanding.
Sarah was barren, so she gave Hagar to Abraham for her (Sarah) to obtain a son through Hagar.
This decision which was born of the flesh led to lots of domestic strife between Sarah and Hagar, as well as eventually between Israel and Ishmael.
Whenever you introduce the Law of Moses into your mind and in your actions, you’re subjecting yourself to the three meanings of the name “Hagar”.
Fleeing implies fear. Instead of faith, you’ll be living under fear.
When you try to live by the Law, you’re being dragged off from being established in righteousness by faith.
Lastly, you are forced into service like a slave, because the curse of the Law is upon whoever tries to put themselves under the Law. You have effectively taken the position of a slave instead of a son.
Can you see why the devil wants to deceive people into legalism and religiosity?
If he can trick you into trying performance-based justification, you’ll be fearful, unprofitable and living as one who is accursed.
The Law of Moses is holy, righteous and true, but man is unable to become righteous through it.
If man tries to keep the Law and fails, the Law confers its curse without any mercy. Can you see how the devil has wielded the Law to become his ultimate cloaked weapon?
Man thinks he’s doing the right thing by trying to keep the Law, but actually he is just subjecting himself to death and the curse!
If Hagar never came into the picture, and Abraham just waited for God to fulfill His promise at the right time by His power, there would be no suffering.
God wants us to rest in His promises, have faith in Him and just wait for Him to cause the breakthrough to happen at His appointed time.
Don’t let yourself be dragged off from the Gospel which is righteousness by faith in Christ Jesus. Stand firm in the gift of righteousness and rely on God’s abundant grace which is constantly being supplied to you!
Just like Abraham and Sarah, we need to learn how to flow with God’s system of times and seasons by which He does everything under Heaven. This will break the cycle of disappointment and acting by the flesh. Understand this important revelation from “God’s Appointed Time: Being Fruitful in Every Season of Life”:
https://bit.ly/god-appointed-time
epistle 3 在 Milton Goh Blog and Sermon Notes Facebook 的最讚貼文
Hi dear patrons! We will be starting a new series today onwards, called [ Revelations of Grace in “Romans” ].
We will be going through the apostle Paul’s epistle to the Romans, not in chronological order, but as led by the Spirit.
This letter is full of New Covenant truths and powerful revelations to help us receive the good things that God has for us.
It empowers us to do this by showing us our true identity in Christ.
I know that this will be a beneficial series, as we go through the foundational truths of our faith, knowing that there is still much to learn from the same Scriptures that we have heard and read so often!
If you are not yet a patron and would like to be one, you can join as a “God Every Morning” tier or above patron on Patreon to be added in the group chat and receive this new Bible Study series, daily devotionals by email, all my eBooks, and more: http://Patreon.com/miltongohblog
epistle 3 在 Sam Tsang 曾思瀚 Facebook 的最讚貼文
IF you're in St Andrews and you're into this sort of thing, feel free to attend. My friend and wife of a former student Hiu Ki Chan is presenting on Aldhelm of Malmesbury’s Theology of Virginity and its “Dilemma” in De Virginitate...
The Centre for Late Antique Studies, the University of St Andrews, and the University of Tübingen are organising the first in a series of interdisciplinary graduate workshops. This year the topic is The First Millenium AD, and it will take place at St Andrews on 23-24 May 2019. See below for the programme.
ST ANDREWS/TÜBINGEN GRADUATE WORKSHOP
THE FIRST MILLENIUM AD
St Andrews, 23-24 May 2019
An interdisciplinary workshop generously sponsored by St Leonard's Doctoral and Postgraduate College, St Andrews
Venue: Lecture room 2, The Gateway, North Haugh
PROGRAMME
Thursday, 23 May
09.00 - Arrival and welcome
09.15-10.45 - Panel 1 (20 minutes presentations + 30 minutes questions)
* Georgios Mouratidis (St Andrews): Grants of citizenship and boule-membership to successful performers during the Empire
* Theresia Raum (Tübingen): There and back again: Herakleios and the Survival of the Eastern Roman Empire, 610-630
* Carolyn La Rocco (St Andrews): Some material evidence for inter-religious interaction on the late antique Iberian Peninsula
10.45-11.15 - Coffee break
11.15-13.15 - Panel 2 (20 minutes presentations + 40 minutes questions)
* Gabriel Gabbardo (St Andrews): Pigs and Nuns - A Julianic Anti-Christian persecution?
* Maurits De Leeuw (Tübingen): Beyond the bold bishop and the angry empress: Opposition against John Chrysostom
* Federico Montinaro (Tübingen): Abbasid Syria in the Acts of the Council of Constantinople of 869/870
* Ian D. Morris (St Andrews): A pillow of figs: Late Antique ‘sleeper’ legends in Early Muslim exegesis
13.15-14.30 - Lunch
14.30-15.00 - Research at Tübingen
15.00-16.30 - Panel 3 (20 minutes presentations + 30 minutes questions)
* Dennis Jussen (Radbout/St Andrews): The Collection and its Collective: Pliny, Pacatus, and the Panegyrici Latini
* Andreas Abele (Tübingen): Reading the ‚Dullest Epistles in the Latin Language’ by the Book. A Narratological Approach to the Letters of Symmachus
* Maria Merino (St Andrews): Riddles and Praise: A Poetic Epistle to Charlemagne
16.30-17.00: Coffee break
17.00-18.30: Plenary lecture
Prof. Mischa Meier (Tübingen): The Roman Context of Early Islam
Friday, 24 May
09.00-11.00 - Panel 4 (20 minutes presentations + 40 minutes questions)
* François Rouvinez (St Andrews): The Gospel of Mark in the Context of Ancient Biography
* Martina Vercesi (St Andrews): Quale regnum exinde iustorum! Qualis civitas nova Hierusalem!: Revelation 19 – 21 in the exegesis of the Christian communities of Roman Africa from the II to the V century.
* David De Marco (Tübingen): Augustine’s presentation of Porphyry in De ciuitate Dei 10
* Hiu Ki Chan (St Andrews): Aldhelm of Malmesbury’s Theology of Virginity and its “Dilemma” in De Virginitate
11.00-11.30 - Coffee Break
11.30-13.00 - Panel 5 (20 minutes presentations + 30 minutes questions)
* Marzia Fiorentini (St Andrews/Sapienza): Liberalitas in the 4th century: a rhetorical analysis
* Sarah Bühler (Tübingen): Ordo renascens: Coping strategies of the imperial élites in Italy, 395-493 CE
* Caroline Belanger (Tübingen/St Andrews): The Right to Roman Hegemony: Virtue and Empire in Avienus' Descriptio
13.00-14.30 - Lunch
14.30-15.00: Research at St Andrews
15.00-16.30 - Panel 6 (20 minutes presentations + 30 minutes questions)
* Paolo Tedesco (Tübingen): The Political Economy of the Late Roman Empire: An Essay in Speculation
* Cameron Houston (St Andrews): The Politics of Ethnic and Spatial Discourses Concerning Late- and Post-Carolingian Lotharingia
* Luise Nöllemeyer (Tübingen): Provence Around 900: Modern and Medieval Narratives
16.30-17.00 - Coffee Break
17.00-18.30 - Plenary Lecture
Prof. Jill Harries (St Andrews): Pliny's Private State