4:25
In Paul’s allegory, Hagar represents Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai was where the law was given. Mount Sinai is in the land of Arabia. Arabia was where the descendants of Hagar’s son lived. They were descendants of the slave woman. So Paul associated the law with slavery.
Hagar also represents Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a figure of the Jewish religion. Paul said that the people who follow the Jewish religion are like Jerusalem’s children. They are slaves to the law.
So Paul equated the law-keeping Jews with Hagar and her son. They were all slaves. The law-keeping Jews were outside of the covenant of promise, just like the Gentiles.
4:25a
Now: In Greek, 4:25 begins with a conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now. This conjunction introduces another point. Here, this conjunction is not a time word.
Some English versions do not translate this conjunction. In some languages, it will not be necessary to translate it either.
Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia:
This clause means that Hagar represents the covenant of the law that was given at Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is in the land of Arabia. This is the land where the descendants of Hagar’s son Ishmael lived.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
Hagar, who stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia (Good News Translation)
-or-
Hagar represents Mount Sinai in ?the land of? Arabia
-or-
Hagar illustrates Mount Sinai in Arabia
4:25b
and corresponds: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as corresponds is literally “she stands in the same line” or “she belongs to the same category.” Here this verb means she “is a figure of.”
Some other ways to translate this verb are:
She is like (God’s Word)
-or-
she can be compared to
to the present-day Jerusalem: The phrase the present-day Jerusalem refers to the earthly Jerusalem in Paul’s time. This earthly Jerusalem is in contrast with the heavenly Jerusalem in 4:26a.
The city of Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish religion. So Jerusalem represents obedience to the law of Moses as a means of being made right with God.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
to the ?earthly city of? Jerusalem of our day
-or-
to the Jerusalem of today
4:25c
because: Verse 4:25c is an explanation of what is similar between Hagar and Jerusalem. The Greek introduces this explanation with a conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as because.
Another way to introduce this explanation is:
for (English Standard Version)
Some English versions do not translate this conjunction. In some languages, it will not be necessary to translate the conjunction either.
she is in slavery with her children: This clause is a figure of speech called personification. In this personification, Paul spoke of Jerusalem as a mother who has children. Both the mother and the children are slaves.
In this allegory, Jerusalem represents the Jewish religion. The people who follow the Jewish religion are the children of Jerusalem. Here Paul implied that everyone who follows the law as a means of justification is a slave. Just as Hagar and her child were slaves, so also the unbelieving Jews of Jerusalem and all who attempt to keep the law are slaves to the law.
Some other ways to translate this clause are:
• Keep the personification. For example:
she and her children live in slavery to the law (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
the city and her children are slaves ?to the law?
• Translate the meaning without using personification. For example:
The people of this city are those who are slaves ?to the law? .
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