Fathers

Galatians 4

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Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 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. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

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What the Fathers say

Galatians 4:27

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

Who is this who before was "barren," and "desolate?" Clearly it is the Church of the Gentiles, that was before deprived of the knowledge of God? Who, "she which hath the husband?" plainly the Synagogue. Yet the barren woman surpassed her in the number of her children, for the other embraces one nation, but the children of the Church have filled the country of the Greeks and of the Barbarians, the earth and sea, the whole habitable world. Observe how Sarah by acts, and the Prophet by words, have described the events about to befal us. …

Homily on Galatians 4 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

He is not satisfied with these prefigurations, but refers to the testimony of Isaiah, who calls the church from the Gentiles barren and not having a husband; and indeed, she was deprived of the knowledge of God and childless, since she produced not a single prophet of God or teacher. And the Jewish synagogue he calls the one having a husband, either because she had the law, which guided her actions, or because she had God Himself. …

Commentary on Galatians ↗

Oecumenius

"For it is written." And therefore, he says, Sarah was a type of the Jerusalem above, that is, of the Church, because she too being barren and without children, like the church once from the Gentiles, triumphed in offspring over Hagar; and the Church triumphed over the synagogue. And Isaiah is witness to these things: "Rejoice, you barren, who do not bear." (Isa. 54:1) Is Isaiah speaking to the Church composed of Gentiles? He commands her to cry out with joy. …

Commentary on Galatians ↗

Western Saints

Jerome

For it is written: rejoice, O you barren one, who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in labor; for the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband. (Isaiah 54:1.) The Synagogue had a husband, the Law; and according to the prophecy of Anna, she who was once barren in children was fertile. (1 Samuel 1.) But the Church, barren without Christ, without any conversation with the bridegroom, lay for a long time in the desert. …

Commentary on Galatians ↗

Thomas Aquinas

"For it is written," namely in Isaiah (54:1) according to the Septuagint. Here is mentioned the prophecy through which is proved, first of all, that the mother referred to is free, and secondly, that she is fruitful. With respect to the first, it should be noted that in a fertile woman there is first sorrow in giving birth, but this is followed by joy in beholding the child: "A woman when she is in labor hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but when she hath brought forth the child, she remembereth no more her anguish for joy that …

Commentary on Galatians ↗

Hippolytus of Rome

He is not undone, he says, but revolves as it were, and goes round himself. Moreover, also, cities in which we dwell, because we turn and go round in them, are denominated "Poleis." In this manner, he says, the Phrygians call this one "Aipolis," inasmuch as he everywhere ceaselessly turns all things, and changes them into their own peculiar (functions). …

The Refutation of All Heresies - Book 5 ↗