Later text
But what does the Scripture say? "Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son."
Intertextuality Pair
Galatians 4:30 → Genesis 21:10
Quotation
Earlier text
and she said to Abraham, "Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!"
+ 2 more earlier texts
Earlier text
So the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son, and she said to Abraham, "Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!" Now this matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son Ishmael. But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned. But I will also make a nation of the slave woman’s son, because he is your offspring.” Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
Earlier text
But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.
Significance
Paul quotes the LXX word for word except he changes the final phrase "my son Isaac" to "the free woman's son." In Genesis Sarah is speaking, but Paul presents the statement as divine declaration. Since God subsequently instructed Abraham to do as Sarah said (Genesis 21:12), Paul's readers couldn't object to this handling. The modification is theologically significant—it universalizes the principle: the issue isn't merely Isaac specifically but the category he represents (freedom, promise, Spirit). Just as Ishmael (born according to flesh) couldn't inherit alongside Isaac (born according to promise), so those insisting on law-observance and circumcision (Judaizers) cannot share inheritance with those living by faith and Spirit (true children of Abraham). The quotation carries shocking practical implications: Paul isn't merely arguing theology but calling for separation. Just as Hagar and Ishmael were expelled from Abraham's household, the Judaizers must be rejected from the Galatian churches. The Genesis narrative provides scriptural warrant for drawing a firm line: there can be no compromise between the gospel of grace and the slavery of law.
- Found via
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Reference Type
- Direct Quotation
- Connection Method(s)
- Analogy (Pauline allegory) + Contrast — the Galatians 4 allegory is owned by TT 068 Hagar and Ishmael, which classifies it as Analogy and Contrast rather than a type