The Mother of All Freedom

Faith in Jesus rewrites our family tree, making spiritual freedom not only our inheritance but our birthright. Apparently the Judaizing Christians in Galatia were claiming to be the “real deal” because they descended from Abraham and Sarah. Actually, says Paul, those who try to earn God’s favor by keeping the law are not children of the free woman (Sarah), but of the slave woman (Hagar). As a result, even first-century Jerusalem had become a center of spiritual slavery! The Gospel, however, grafts everyone who believes into the true family of God. This means our spiritual family is way cooler than we think. It also helps explain why we don’t quite fit with the world around us: because both religious and irreligious people operate from a default posture of works that is hostile to the Gospel of grace.