Come Follow Me LDS- Galatians Part 2

'Sarah & Hagar, Higher & Lower Laws'
- The title, 'Son of God' meaning
- Abraham, Sarah & Isaac as the Higher Law, Hagar & Ishmael as the Lower Law
- Bear each others burdens
- Be responsible for your own agency, create your own consequences

 

Come Follow Me

LDS Mormon New Testament Galatians Bible

 

in this episode we'll talk about Sarah

and Hagar the higher and the lower laws

here we go in this episode we're gonna

cover chapters four five and six of

Galatians and we'll just dip down again

here in just a few of the scriptures

that are offered up here and to talk a

little bit more about some of the things

that we've talked about previously

because Paul kind of he really brings

out a lot of the themes that we've been

talking about from the very beginning of

the Gospels and kind of confirms what

the Gospels had said and brings together

the higher in the lower law hierarchy

we've seen faith hope and charity he

talks about the son of God here and so

that's where I'm gonna start on this in

chapter 4 of Galatians we see here in

verse 4 but when the fullness of the

time was come God sent forth his son

made of a woman made under the law so

again this is what I've been trying to

say the entire time the entire year with

a new the new testament about the title

and the phrase the son of god this is a

title and it means something different

than what we might usually think of

we're used to having the son of god kind

of implied in maybe lessons and maybe

through our readings we infer this that

the son of god means the son of the

father well of course that's true but

the reason we think of that is obviously

the phrase the son of god and then of

course the father is the one that

introduces Jesus in or Jehovah in at his

baptism and to Joseph Smith and the

first vision and so that's our reference

point with the idea of the son of God

however

that's not the way the Jews in the

ancient Israelites thought of this the

Son of God is very specific and very

important to remember that through the

Nehor principle that the thought

about God coming down to earth so in the

Old Testament Jehovah God the God of the

Old Testament coming down to earth and

receiving a body and taking on the sins

of the world that whole principle was

lost over and over and over again and we

can see this principle playing out in

the Book of Mormon it wasn't completely

lost but there were several attempts at

a coup of the gospel and the central

point of the gospel which is the father

sending his son down to earth for the

atonement for the atoning sacrifice so

the key here in understanding what the

Jews here would understand as the Son of

God is to understand that that the Jews

at this time had lost the idea of the

Son of God which means Jehovah coming

down and being born of Mary and

receiving a body that's what the Son of

God means not the son of the father

although he is it means that he would

come down and receive a body be born of

a woman Mary and physically be here

through trials and tribulations and take

on physically and spiritually the sins

and sicknesses and sorrows and all

negative things all chaos of the world

and so when the Jews at this time had

thought about it at the time of the

Gospels had thought about the Messiah

they were not looking for that type of a

messiah right they were not looking for

Jehovah God to be coming sent down from

the Father they were looking for a

political leader who would be inspired

who would fight off the Romans at that

time or those from Antioch previous to

that

whoever else it might be in the past of

Assyria or Babylon whoever else it might

be and so when they talk about when

Paul here is talking about the Son of

God there is this legacy for at least

six seven hundred years of what the

Messiah was to the Jews that remained

after the northern kingdom was conquered

and the ten tribes were carried away and

it was not what we know about the

Messiah again and I've gone over this

before but I'll say it again here the

thought that oh the Jews are just still

waiting for the Messiah and we'd believe

that Jesus was the Messiah and that's

the differences it's not true

that doesn't jive that doesn't make

sense the difference is we believe

that Jesus was the Messiah and that

Jesus was the was Jehovah that he would

come down and take on the sins of the

world

so Paul using the term here he says it

right here God sent forth his son and

then immediately after that he says made

of a woman and made under the law that

means in mortality in the lower law he

was born here in to a lower law into a

temporal physical carnal law into the

temporal world that we all live in that

has different rules than the spiritual

world does so that's important to

understand as they claim throughout the

Gospels and use that title especially

John the son of God they were saying

something very specific that was against

the theology and the beliefs the

doctrine of the Jews at the time and

this ties all the way back to Isaiah and

their interpretation of Isaiah that's

why Jesus when he announced who he was

right through Isaiah in the synagogue

and that's why John the Baptist refers

back to Isaiah and so many refer back to

Isaiah because that understanding of

what the Messiah was and who the Son of

God was had been removed for many many

hundreds of years at that time and

they're trying to bring it

to an older tradition an older theology

that was the proper theology of course

and that's how they're disrupting

everything at this time and that is what

Paul is referring to the son of God

means he's born into mortality of Mary

and then he ties us together in the

following verse here he says that he was

made under the law and to redeem them in

verse 5 to redeem them that were under

the law that we might receive the

adoption of sons

so again Christ is lowering himself from

the spiritual world right Genesis 1:1

God made the heavens and the earth the

heavens and the earth and he came down

to the lower earth and lowered himself

to us and of course through the

atonement Lord Himself below every

single one of God's children

so he's lowering himself into the law of

God which is justice and he is

overcoming it so that we can all be

adopted as sons and this would be sons

and daughters of God through his

atonement and then dipping down here to

verse 18 he says but it is good to be

zealously affected always in a good

thing what does that remind you of me it

reminds me of doctrine covenants acts

section 58 verse 27 that says we should

always be anxiously engaged in a good

cause right always trying to build up

and support righteousness this is all

the same gospel the doctrine covenants

the pearl of great price the Book of

Mormon the New Testament and Old

Testament and then he does something

really interesting here he takes the

idea again of Abraham remember Abraham

is Abraham and Christ basically

represents the higher law the New

Covenant and he says here in verse 22

for it is written that Abraham had two

sons the one by a bondmaid the other by

a freewoman so he's talking about

bondage and freedom and how we are all

under bondage with the lower law with

the law of Moses or the law of God

period because of justice we are bound

we are we are shackled because we cannot

move beyond that without the higher law

of Christ and of mercy and charity and

so Hagar right is representative of the

bondwoman that's who Abraham came out of

Egypt with who was given to him as a

maidservant by Pharaoh and when Sarah

could not have a kid then Abraham had a

child with Hagar who was Ishmael and he

says in verse 23 but he who was the

bondwoman was born after the flesh

so without the Covenant the higher

covenant but he of the freewoman was by

promise so there we get that idea again

that we have just recently gone over

that the promise is the new covenant

remember we just talked about the oath

and covenant of the priesthood the oath

is the promise of the higher law so

promise is exaltation and the promised

land and the glory of a family of an

eternal family that is all under Abraham

and Sarah and he says exactly that here

in verse 24 about this being an allegory

says which things are an allegory for

these are the two covenants the one from

the Mount Sinai right that's the one of

Moses the law of Moses that was brought

down the second time what they ended up

with which gendereth to bondage which is

agar or Hagar okay and then 25 for this

agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and

answereth to Jerusalem which now is and

is in bondage with her children because

they don't have the higher law 26 but

Jerusalem which is above is free which

is the mother of us all that would be

the representative being Sarah

remember Jerusalem in all cities but

especially Jerusalem is always viewed as

the woman we see that in the book of

Revelation right we see that when she's

righteous she is wisdom the city right

because it's kind of like a vessel and

vessels are always women because they're

the ones that carry the future they're

the ones that carry a baby so a boat a

building you know typically these are

always named after women and a city

carries all the people that live in it

and when Jerusalem is wicked then that

woman is a harlot or a center of some

sort breaking the Covenant which would

be represented by marriage and so

looking at this allegory that Paul is

putting forth here we have Ishmael from

Hagar and Isaac from Sarah we see the

difference here where there was a bond

made that is law and justice and a free

woman which is Sarah who along with

Abraham had to wait and trust and have

faith in having the right air and having

Isaac and that is the way they looked at

that right that is the higher covenant

you see Paul often times referring to

works as part of the lower law and faith

as part of the higher law so Abraham is

of faith because he and Sarah they

waited they had to trust in the Lord to

produce the air and to produce the

promised land and all the blessings of

the Abrahamic covenant and you can even

look at the house of Abraham where

eventually Sarah the mother of the

promised child ends up booting Hagar and

Ishmael out of the home and so

allegorically we can see that as the

promise the faith overcoming the law and

justice and the shackles of the lower

law that's allegorically speaking of

course

and he caps that off here that thought

here that allegory in verse 30 exactly

with that he says nevertheless what

saith the scripture cast out the

bondwoman and her son for the son of the

bondwoman shall not be heir with the son

of the freewoman in other words the

lower law does not have the promise it

does not give us the hope in the future

we can't grow and progress and get to

where we need to be through works alone

through our merit alone that's what that

represents and then here in chapter 5 he

kind of goes over that again referencing

the people here of Galatia and he says

Christ has become of no effect unto you

in other words you've had the gospel you

have the higher law you have the ability

now to have faith in the sacrifice of

Jesus Christ but whosoever of you are

justified by the law you think that

you're a justified again means complete

you're going to get where you need to be

in the afterlife you're righteous those

of you who are justified by the law or

think that you are ye are fallen from

grace which is what the higher law is

right the grace is the power of God that

comes through the sacrifice of Jesus

Christ and then he talks about our

agency because that is paramount in the

plan of salvation and how look I mean

you've got the choice now of the higher

law or the lower law you can live just

by the lower law as our the Jewish

ancestors have done for a very long time

or you can pick the higher law you have

that agency he says here in verse 13 for

brethren ye have been called unto

Liberty Liberty is the higher law

because Christ frees us for our

progression only use not Liberty or your

agency for an occasion to the flesh in

other words look Adam and Eve that's you

you have the two trees here you have now

you can see the Tree of Life here you

can see the tree of knowledge of good

and evil

one of them is works and justice one of

them is love and mercy you need both but

if you are just choosing this over here

and you do not accept the higher law you

do not accept the Tree of Life then

you're using that agency which is

important but you're using that a-z

agency for something lower and he's

trying to say look choose the high road

so to speak right don't choose the low

road choose the high road here and the

Tree of Life and in verse 14 for all the

law is fulfilled in one word even in

this thou shalt love thy neighbor as

thyself

and that is what Christ did and that is

how he epitomizes that phrase right love

thy neighbor as thyself through his

sacrifice and through his example

through his miracles and he fulfilled

the law because of what he did and we're

supposed to do the same thing so it's

not just a matter of okay Christ has

done this now and I will have faith in

the atonement it's a matter of us also

apart from repentance and hope that we

have it is charity right faith hope and

charity which charity is the highest

which is love your neighbor as yourself

so we also have to follow the example of

the sacrifice of Jesus not just rely on

his sacrifice and then he goes through

and he makes comparisons of what the

fruit of the lower law is alone and what

the fruit of the higher law is and it's

all the negative things all the sins of

the lower law and then of the higher law

he says the fruits are love joy peace

long-suffering gentleness goodness faith

meekness temperance against such there

is no law or the lower law and they that

are Christ's have crucified the flesh

we've killed off the natural man isn't

probably a better way to put

because they're talking about the flush

we have crucified the flesh with the

affections and lusts and that means

everything right that is not just

promiscuity or the lust of sexual drive

that is all of the wants and needs and

emotions and everything that this body

generates that is not touched by the

spirit all of our passions all of our

bad habits laziness diet addictions

emotional issues things that are pulling

us back or holding us down with the body

and then in Chapter six he talks about

this charity and this love of the higher

law he says in verse one brethren if a

man be overtaken in a fault ye which are

spiritual restore such an one in the

spirit of meekness considering thyself

lest thou also be tempted so don't fall

for what somebody else is doing but help

that person that has been overtaken with

this mistake it's not us for us to judge

that person it's for us to help that

person and then we get this that we also

read an Alma bear ye one another's

burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ

it is interesting that in Hebrew the

same word for forgiveness means to bear

like in bearing somebody else's burdens

that's a part of that dynamic of

forgiveness in a sense we kind of take

that person's burden on to ourselves

it's not just a matter of service it's

sympathy it's being empathetic to that

person and carrying that burden with

them that's part of forgiveness and then

he starts talking again about agency but

indirectly and he talks about the fruits

of our decisions and he says here in

verse four let every man prove his own

work and then shall he have rejoicing in

himself alone and not in another and

that's an important thing eventually

right we need to make our own decisions

and live with those decisions hopefully

good ones but we're also going to live

with our bad decisions and that agency

comes along with the

consequences that go with those choices

good or bad in verse seven be not

deceived God is not mocked for

whatsoever a man soweth that shall he

also reap so there are laws that are in

place there are spiritual laws that are

in place that doesn't mean we don't have

bad things that happen to us that have

nothing to do with our agency that's

part of the law here on earth as well

but what we so we're going to reap as

well there are responses to those

decisions that are kind of set already

for us as laws

so which consequences do we want the

good ones or the bad ones I can just see

my parents listening to this and saying

yeah Greg we try to tell you that when

you're a kid you know I mean which

consequences do you want which decisions

are you gonna make probably still do and

then I'm gonna finalize this episode

with verse 9 here where he goes back

again to what we talked about being

zealous in your work he says and let us

not be weary in well-doing for in due

season we shall reap if we faint not so

again don't tire of doing good be

zealous in being productive for goodness

for goodness sake that's our job when

you have the knowledge where much is

given much is required and much is

expected so if you have the fullness of

the gospel in your life and you have

this understanding then don't be weary

in producing goodness and righteousness

and that I think he's trying to say here

this is part of the key of not falling

back down into the flesh or into a lower

law you need to be productive and you

need to live a life where you are

creating righteousness along with the

Savior and not just relying on him

through your faith and having that hope

through his

five but having charity for those around

us just like he did I'll talk to you

next time