Gal. 4:22-23

Abraham had two sons. One was born according to the flesh by the bondwoman, and the other was born through promise. The first was born according to the will of man; the second was born according to God’s will. Sarah and Hagar correspond to the two covenants, and there is a deeper meaning behind this which we should make sure we understand. Hagar is Mount Sinai, the Jerusalem here below, and gives birth to children of bondage. Sarah is the Jerusalem above.

After we have received the forgiveness of sins, we will come to a time in our lives when we try to serve God to the best of our ability. But since we have not yet received God’s power, we do it in our own strength, with an upright mind and to the best of our knowledge. We belong to the Jerusalem below and are born to bondage. We always fall short. By being faithful under the first covenant, we will eventually find that the law is holy, just, and good; and that it is the evil that is present with us that makes us unable to keep the law, despite our good intentions. We give up and cast out the bondwoman and her son. The law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ. From now on, Isaac is to live and grow in us. What was impossible for the law now comes by faith.

However, it is worth noting that the law from Mount Sinai and the perfect law of liberty are both from one and the same God. The difference is not in the law, but in me. I need to be treated according to my present condition. Isaac is the heir—not Ishmael. The more we are faithful, the more we understand Him with whom we will share the inheritance.

Gal. 3:17

Christ became a curse for us. We could ask, “Did this curse come upon Him in a moment on the cross, when He was about to die?” No, Jesus lived His whole life as crucified to His own will according to the flesh. His will according to the flesh was cursed and always remained nailed to the cross, because He always said, “Not My will, but Yours, be done.” This will was crucified more and more. In His humanity He had taken upon Himself this human will in order to save humanity, and now He brought it into its final death. He had come to do God’s will and bring an end to the human will forever. The blessing of Abraham can now come upon us by faith in Him when we receive the Spirit of Jesus, in which we are given power to do God’s will. Our human strength along with our human will is incapable of serving God. Jesus had to give us the Spirit and power for us to be able to follow in His steps. We know where He went, and we know the way He went. Paul saw another law in his members. Jesus has totally conquered this law by obedience, and now by His Spirit and power, He gives us the opportunity to take up the battle against it. Yet we sense that this other law is still present in our members, warring against the law of our mind, causing deeds of the body to come forth. We have received power to put to death these deeds of the body in the Spirit and by the Spirit. Having the law of sin in my members is not sin, but it becomes sin the moment my mind agrees with the temptation which comes from within me. When we do works of faith, as Abraham did, the law of sin in our members receives one blow after the other. Then we are truly children of Abraham.

1 John 5:1-12

Here the apostle refutes the false prophets. By this we can know the false prophets: they have a horror of anything called “suffering in the flesh.” We have been raised with Christ and placed on resurrection ground. We have been born of water and Spirit. We have received two of the witnesses upon us and in us, but we still lack the third witness, which is the blood. The fellowship of Christ’s sufferings brings this about, so that eventually what is true in Him also becomes true in us: there are three who bear witness—the Spirit, the water, and the blood. When Jesus poured out His soul unto death, He received the mighty ones as spoil—because here even the strongest people have to give up. The fact that blood comes forth means that death has taken place. We are always delivered into this death, which is the death of Christ. Souls who are in this death will not be left in Sheol. Anyone who draws back from the death of Christ draws back from sufferings; he draws back from being delivered to the death of Christ. But whoever draws back from the death of Christ also draws back from the life of Christ. But we are not of those who draw back; we are of those who believe to the saving of the soul. If anyone desires to be a prophet in spirit and truth, let him join us on this way. If not, he is nothing but a false prophet who has no knowledge of the sufferings and death of Christ, nor of the glories that will follow.