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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Galatians 4:30 - 4:30
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
What saith the Scripture?
Giving emphasis to the following statement. Comp. Rom 4:3; Rom 10:8; Rom 11:2, Rom 11:4. Quotation from lxx of Gen 21:10. For the words of this bondwoman - with my son Isaac, Paul substitutes of the bondwoman - with the son of the freewoman, in order to adapt it to his context. This is according to his habit of adapting quotations to his immediate use. See 1Co 1:9; 1Co 15:55; Eph 5:14, etc.
Shall not be heir (οὐ μὴ κληρονομήσει)
Or, shall not inherit. One of the key words of the Epistle. See Gal 3:18, Gal 3:29; Gal 4:1, Gal 4:7. The Greek negation is strong: shall by no means inherit. Comp. Joh 8:35. Lightfoot says: “The law and the gospel cannot coexist. The law must disappear before the gospel. It is scarcely possible to estimate the strength of conviction and depth of prophetic insight which this declaration implies. The apostle thus confidently sounds the death knell of Judaism at a time when one half of Christendom clung to the Mosaic law with a jealous affection little short of frenzy, and while the Judaic party seemed to be growing in influence, and was strong enough, even in the Gentile churches of his own founding, to undermine his influence and endanger his life. The truth which to us appears a truism must then have been regarded as a paradox.”