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UNTWISTING THE TRUTH (12)

by Robert Dawson

Scripture: Galatians 4:21-31
This content is part of a series.


Untwisting the Truth (12)
Series: Galatians
Robert Dawson
Galatians 4: 21-31


When John Mark was just a little guy and learning the art of playing and teasing, he threw a ping-pong ball and hit me with it. Then he grinned, giggled and said, ''I just teas'n daddy.'' So, I did the natural thing and threw it back and hit him. That's the game, right? Rather than throw it back and play, he falls to the ground like he'd been shot with a deer rifle and starts crying. He hollers, ''Momma, daddy hit me and knocked me down!''

The little sinner! That little guy took an actual event and twisted it to get what he wanted, which was sympathy and attention from his mom. Have you ever seen someone take a story, twist the facts or the meaning of it to fit their narrative and further their agenda? If you've watched the news (conservative or liberal) you have.

That's what the troublemakers in Galatia were doing. They took OT Scriptures and the Law and twisted them to fit their narrative and further their agenda. In Galatians 4.21-31 Paul takes an OT story, one the false teachers had presumably been twisting to further they faulty agenda and untwists it so the truth could be read clearly.

This passage is probably the most difficult in Galatians. It is somewhat technical, steeped in OT history and deals in allegory, which is a literary device that uses a story, poem, or picture to communicate a deeper or hidden meaning. (It is not a good hermeneutical tool for us to us, to go looking for some hidden meaning, but when Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit tells us this is an allegory then we are safe to read and understand it that way). When we read this story, we should understand the characters in it serve to represent something else for Paul. We could really see them as types, OT shadows foreshadowing NT realities/truths.

Now that we've had a mini literary lesson, let's read the passage together.

Galatians 4.21-31 - Tell me, you who want to be under law, d ...

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