Study Guide
Galatians Chapter 4: “Freedom”
The key theological themes and interpretations from Shingi’s Bible Commentary: Galatians Chapter 4, specifically focusing on the transition from the Old Covenant (Law) to the New Covenant (Grace) and the concept of sonship in Christ.
1. Core Argument: Freedom from Bondage through Sonship in Christ
The central theme is the stark contrast between the “bondage of the law” under the Old Testament and the “freedom” and “sonship” available through the New Covenant in Christ.   Shingi, asserts that adherence to the Law leads to spiritual bondage, akin to being a child who “differs nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all.” True freedom and inheritance come through the Spirit of God, which raises believers into sonship.
2. Key Concepts and Distinctions:
A. Bondage vs. Sonship:

The Law and Bondage: Mount Sinai, where the Law was given, is allegorically linked to the “bondwoman” Hagar, giving “birth to bondage.” The Old Testament is consistently presented as a “testament of bondage.”
“Mount Sinai, Moses and Mount Sinai is like the bond woman that gave birth to bondage. So it says Ishmael was bondage and then Isaac was what? Was freedom!”
“Why do you desire to be under the bondage of the law?”
Sonship through the Spirit:  Shingi teaches on how receiving the Holy Spirit after believing is crucial for escaping bondage and entering into sonship.“The Spirit of Christ comes into your heart and now raises you, and now brings you, and raises you into becoming a son, places you into the place of the sonship of Christ.”

“Only the Spirit of God can do that for you. Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? Because if you have not received the Holy Spirit since you believed, you’re going to be in bondage.”

“Wherefore you are no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

B. The Allegory of Hagar and Sarah:

Ishmael (Bondwoman/Flesh/Law): Hagar and her son Ishmael represent the Old Covenant, born “after the flesh,” leading to bondage. Those who adhere to the Law are likened to Ishmael, whose destiny, as prophesied, was to be a “wild man” whose “hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him.” This is prophetically linked to the historical persecution faced by Israel.

“He who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh.  The one from Mount Sinai, it says, which gendereth – it gives birth to bondage.”

“The destiny of those that were under the law, he says that, he shall be like a wild man. Your hand is going to be against every man, and every man’s hand is going to be against you.”
Isaac (Free Woman/Promise/Spirit): Sarah and Isaac represent the New Covenant, born “after promise,” leading to freedom. Believers in Christ are “children of promise,” like Isaac, and are “of the free.”

“But he who is of the free woman was born after promise.  Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise....

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