Are you a Christian?
If so, Who is Your Mother?
Theologian Frank J. Matera observes that “Although Paul may have known that the name of Jesus’ mother was Mary, he does not refer to her by name in his writings” (Matera, 150). Paul does, however, make certain distinct references to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and one of those references is in Galatians.
Have you read Paul’s Epistle (Letter) to the Galatians?
Some sections are quite straightforward, while other sections can create a bit of confusion.
Even if you are trained in theology, there are elements of Galatians that can create challenges.
Take Martin Luther, for example; Martin Luther completely misses the point of Paul. While Paul aggressively refutes relying on compliance with the Mosaic/Levitical Law for the sake of Salvation, everywhere Paul says “works of the law” Martin Luther strikes through “of the law.” The result is his teaching that sets all works aside (even those commanded by Christ, such as the corporal and spiritual works of mercy), for the sake of promoting a theology of “faith alone” that is nowhere to be found in the Bible.
Today, however, I want to look at a question recently asked of me by a friend, who is new to Bible study, regarding how Galatians chapter 4 ends.
Paul starts speaking of being born of Hagar or being born of Sarah, and in Paul’s fashion – he jumps rather quickly from concrete examples to much wider implications. When a person is experienced in Bible study, Paul can be a challenge (see ML above), and when a person is new to Bible study, Paul can leave that person lost in the sauce because Paul assumes his readers have a certain level of familiarity with his topics.
Here, Paul assumes the reader knows Hagar (a house slave who in the power of the flesh gave birth to Abraham’s son Ishmael), and Sarah is Abraham’s wife who, through the power of the promise of God, was able to provide Abraham’s son Isaac.
To have a clear understanding of Paul’s concrete illustration, from which he will build the remainder of his point, a person has to already know the story of how when God promised him a son Abraham tried to fulfill the promise himself through the flesh by getting his slave pregnant. In contrast, God fulfilled His promise by making the previously barren Sarah fruitful to bring forth Isaac.
Hagar, then, is the symbol of the power of the flesh and slave to sin.
Sarah, on-the-other-hand, is the symbol of the power of God and freedom from slavery.
Paul then transitions to the symbolic, with Hagar being the earthly Jerusalem of the time indicating the Jewish people enslaved to the Law they attempted to keep through the power of the flesh. Sarah, in contrast, is the heavenly Jerusalem to which we gain free entry through the power of the Spirit working in us as a result of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus.
Paul then becomes somewhat oblique in his reference as he transitions from Hagar and Sarah, to Eve and Mary (which, as was noted above, Paul makes clear references without use of her name).
Paul moves his conversation from the direct references to the dependence on the flesh slavery of Hagar, and the freedom of the power of God in Sarah, to the more nuanced references to the slave woman and the free woman – with the closing comment that we, as Christians, “are not children of the slave but of the free woman” (v31). We, as Christians, are the children of the free woman. Furthermore, the children of the free woman are inheritors. Christians, as adoptive sons and daughters of God – as Jesus’ spiritual brothers and sisters are, as it says in Romans 8:17, co-heirs with Christ.
Using a saying from sports, when reading Paul, you sometimes need a program to know who all the players are.
In his simple moving from the concrete to the implied and back to the concrete (but without naming names), Paul has brought us to a discussion of Jesus and (as Jesus refers to His own mother) the woman. If we quickly look back to Galatians 4:4-5, we see that Jesus has come to the world in human form, born of a woman. The New Testament scholar, Richard N. Longenecker, explains clearly that Paul’s use of “‘born of a woman,’ emphasizes his true humanity” (Longenecker, 171). Being a reference to Christ’s humanity, the woman being referenced can only be Mary. As we continue to read in Galatians 4:5-6, we see that Jesus is born of the woman, born of Mary, so that we can, as Christians, become adoptive sons and daughters capable of calling God “Abba, Father!”
Further though, is an embedded reference to the first promise of the coming Savior, creating a reference to an interconnection between Eve, and the future Mary (the virgin/the young woman) who will give birth to the Savior, given all the way back in Genesis 3:15. “Here at last is the promised ‘seed’ of the woman who will crush the serpent’s head. Paul was no doubt also thinking of the promise of Isaiah 7:14 concerning the bearing of Immanuel by the ‘young woman’ mentioned there” (Cole, 161).
As chapter 4 comes to its close, Paul speaks of the Son who is born not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. The woman who gives birth to the son by the power of the Spirit is the free woman of Galatians. When the Angel Gabriel promised Mary a son, “Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God’” (Luke 1:34-35).
The natural progression and outcome of Paul’s argument is that Mary is the woman who gave birth to Jesus. Mary gave birth to Jesus by the power of the Spirit. Jesus took on human form to make it possible for a sin-wrecked humanity to become the adoptive children of God – co-heirs with Christ Jesus. The free woman of Galatians is the woman who gave birth to the son by the power of the Spirit. Mary is the woman who gave birth to the Son, Christ Jesus, by the power of the Spirit – hence, Mary is the free woman of Galatians. Christians “as children of the freewoman are heirs of the promise” (De Witt Burton, 268). Meaning, as Jesus is the spiritual Brother of all Christians, God the Father is the spiritual Father of all Christians, and Mary is the spiritual Mother of all Christians.
Buen Camino,
Fr Steve
Steven G Rindahl, DMin STM
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cole, R. Alan. Galatians: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 9, edited by Leon Morris. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. 1965; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989.
De Witt Burton, Ernest. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians. International Critical Commentary. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920. Reprint, New York, NY: T&T Clark, 2004.
Longenecker, Richard N. Galatians. Vol. 41, edited by Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard, Glenn W. Barker, and Ralph P. Martin. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1990.
Matera, Frank J. Galatians. Edited by Harrington, Daniel J. Sacra Pagina 9. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992.