Galatians 4:29-31 (NIV)
At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does the Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

Paul points back to an event in Genesis (21:8-10) at a feast to celebrate Isaac’s weaning. At that time, Ishmael mocked the toddler, which sent his mother, Sarah, into a rage. She would not tolerate what she saw as the persecution of her son. She demanded that Abraham send Ishmael away, and that he not have a share in Isaac’s inheritance.

Paul sees in these events a parallel to what was happening with the Galatians and the Judaizers. The “sons of the slave woman”, the Judaizers, were persecuting and pressuring the “sons of the free woman”, the Christians, mocking them and telling them that they weren’t really children of God.

Just as in those early days, those who tried to earn their salvation through adherence to the rituals of the law were going to end up missing out on the inheritance of eternal life that was being enjoyed by those who had opted into God’s kingdom by receiving Jesus’ sacrifice by grace through faith. And, just as it would have been foolish for Isaac to consider himself an illegitimate son of Abraham and Sarah because he was conceived in a miraculous way, it would be foolish for him to try to act like Ishmael so that he could be a “normal”, and somehow more legitimate, child.

Just so, the Christians in Galatia needed to resist the persuasive tactics of the Judaizers. Rather than move backwards, they needed to celebrate their status as legitimate children of God, and to live it out.

Father, it is easy for us to scoff at the confusion of the Galatians, sure that WE would never fall into that trap. But today, just like two thousand years ago, there is a tendency for us to fall into the same trap, the same feeling that our salvation is too easy, that it is somehow illegitimate because all that is required is faith. If we forget Paul’s words to the Galatians, that mindset makes us very easy prey for cults that promise to help us to earn or deserve our salvation, the spiritual descendants of the Judaizers. Help us, Lord, to stand firm in our salvation, secure in the knowledge that “Jesus paid it all.” Amen.