Shingi’s Bible Commentary: Galatians Chapter 4
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.”
C. Two Jerusalems:
- Earthly Jerusalem (Hagar/Bondage): The Jerusalem that “now is” (referring to the physical Jerusalem at the time of Paul’s writing, and prophetically, to the present day) is in “bondage with her children.” This is linked to Hagar and Mount Sinai.
“For this agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children.” Shingi points out that this prophecy is “still playing out today before our eyes.” - Heavenly Jerusalem (Sarah/Freedom): The “Jerusalem which is above, is free,” and is “the mother of us all.” This represents Sarah, the free woman, and signifies the spiritual origin of believers in Christ.
“But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all.”
“We that are Christ are of the heavenly Jerusalem.”
D. Redemption and Adoption of Sons (Huiothesia):
Christ was born “under the law” to “redeem them that were under the law” (specifically Israel).
The “adoption of sons” (Greek: Huiothesia) is clarified as not simply adopting a child, but the formal placement and training of a son (heir) to inherit the father’s estate or throne. This training is accomplished by “His Word and His Spirit.”
“To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons, the Huiothesia.”
“The adoption of sons is speaking about the Huiothesia… with a child being placed under tutors and governors and being trained to become the son that is the heir to the father’s estate, inheritance or throne.”
“The tutors and governors that the Holy Spirit and the Lord now gives us is His Word and His Spirit.”
E. Baptism and Immersion in Christ:
Shingi explains how the Greek word baptizo (baptize) literally means “to dip into” or “to sink into,” rather than specifically referring to water baptism.
Being “baptized into Christ” means being “put into Christ,” “immersed into Christ,” and “sunk into Christ,” indicating a complete spiritual union where “Christ is now all around you.”
“The word baptize is from the Greek word baptizo, and the English just borrowed the word baptizo and, you know, decided to use it to mean. To translate it directly to mean to put into water… But the Greek had really nothing to do with putting some. Someone in water.”
“For as many as of you have been put into Christ, right? They have been put into Christ. And then he says, you have put on Christ… it means to sink into Christ.”
F. Equality in Christ:
Shingi highlights Galatians 3:28 (“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus”) as establishing equality among believers.
- No Racial/Ethnic Superiority: “In Christ, they are not racial groups. There is no race that is superior to the other.”
- No Classism: “There’s no classism in Christ, all right? No matter your ethnic background, your racial background, your social status and the class.”
- No Gender Inequality: This refers to the equal blessing and dominion given to male and female by God in Genesis 1:28, not to gender roles within marriage, which Shingi distinguishes as a “different context.”
“God blessed them. Them who? Them male and female. So man and woman was blessed equally by God.”
“He’s not talking about the context of where you have some people are now in our day between the man and the woman. Because in the context of marriage now, he later went on to now emphasize certain things, certain conditions that have to do with man and woman in marriage.”
3. The Apostle Paul’s Concern and Message:
Paul expresses concern and “travails in birth again until Christ be formed” in the Galatian believers due to their desire to return to observing the Law.
“I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.”
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.”
Paul identifies the “infirmity of the flesh” he experienced as an issue with his eyes, inferring from his statement that the Galatians “would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me.”
He warns against false teachers (Jews) who were “zealously affecting” (zealously pursuing/enticing) the Gentile Christians to abandon his gospel and observe the Law. These teachers sought to “exclude you that ye might affect them,” meaning they wanted to isolate the Galatians from Paul’s teaching so they would seek spiritual guidance from them, leading them back into bondage.
“They zealously affect you, but not well. Yea, they would exclude you that ye might affect them.”
“They’re zealously trying to entice you away from me and from my message and from my preaching and from the gospel that I’m teaching you so that they can isolate you from this message that I’ve been teaching you.”
4. Conclusion:
Shingi Mudyirwa strongly advocates for the new life in Christ, emphasizing that Christians (both Jews and Gentiles) are not under the Law but are sons and heirs through faith in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Adherence to the Law is portrayed as a return to bondage, symbolized by Hagah as the earthly Jerusalem, in contrast to the freedom and blessings found in Christ, symbolized by Sarah as the heavenly Jerusalem. Shingi further emphasizes how the epistles, particularly Galatians, are presented as powerful, prophetic scripture guided by the Holy Spirit.