But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Parallel Translations
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But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
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But Ierusalem which is above is fre: which is the mother of vs all.
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But Hierusalem, which is aboue, is free: which is the mother of vs all.
Cross-references (24)
Passages linked to Galatians 4:26 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels,
- Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
- Revelation 21:2 I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
- Micah 4:1-2 But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of Yahweh’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will go and say, “Come! Let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the law will go out of Zion, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem;
- Revelation 3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.
- Isaiah 66:10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her;
- Isaiah 65:18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a delight, and her people a joy.
- Psalms 87:3-6 Glorious things are spoken about you, city of God. I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me. Behold, Philistia, Tyre, and also Ethiopia: “This one was born there.” Yes, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one was born in her;” the Most High himself will establish her. Yahweh will count, when he writes up the peoples, “This one was born there.”
- Romans 6:14 For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
- Isaiah 62:1-2 For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp. The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You will be called by a new name, which Yahweh’s mouth will name.
- Joel 3:17 “So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.
- Romans 6:18 Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
- Isaiah 2:2-3 It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the law shall go out of Zion, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem.
- Galatians 5:1 Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
- Revelation 21:10-27 He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal; having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. He who spoke with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. The city is square, and its length is as great as its width. He measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand twelve stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal. Its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass. The foundations of the city’s wall were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; and the twelfth, amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was made of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there), and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter. There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
- Song of Solomon 8:1-2 Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me. I would lead you, bringing you into the house of my mother, who would instruct me. I would have you drink spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate.
- Isaiah 50:1 Yahweh says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
- Isaiah 52:9 Break out into joy! Sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for Yahweh has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.
- Hosea 2:2 Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
- Hosea 2:5 For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
- Hosea 4:5 You will stumble in the day, and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother.
- John 8:36 If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
- Galatians 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant, and one by the free woman.
- 1 Peter 2:16 as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
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Martin Luther 1535 · Public Domain VERSE 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free,…
VERSE 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
The earthly Jerusalem with its ordinances and laws represents Hagar and her offspring. They are slaves to the Law, sin and death. But the heavenly Jerusalem is Sarah, the free woman. This heavenly Jerusalem is the Church, that is to say the number of all believers throughout the world, having one and the same Gospel, one and the same faith in Christ, one and the same Holy Ghost, and the same sacraments.
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Do not mistake this one word "above" to refer to the triumphant Church in heaven, but to the militant Church on earth. In Php 3:20, the Apostle uses the phrase: "Our conversation is in heaven," not locally in heaven, but in spirit. When a believer accepts the heavenly gifts of the Gospel he is in heaven. So also in Eph 1:3, "Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Jerusalem here means the universal Christian Church on earth.
Sarah, the Church, as the bride of Christ bears free children who are not subject to the Law.
Martin Luther — Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1535), English translation by Theodore Graebner (Zondervan, 1939) — public domain (U.S. copyright not renewed). Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 26. But Jerusalem, which is above. The Jerusalem which…
26. But Jerusalem, which is above. The Jerusalem which he calls above, or heavenly, is not contained in heaven; nor are we to seek for it out of this world; for the Church is spread over the whole world, and is a “stranger and pilgrim on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13.) Why then is it said to be from heaven? Because it originates in heavenly grace; for the sons of God are
“born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,” (John 1:13,)
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but by the power of the Holy Spirit. The heavenly Jerusalem, which derives its origin from heaven, and dwells above by faith, is the mother of believers. To the Church, under God, we owe it that we are
“born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,” (1 Peter 1:23,)
and from her we obtain the milk and the food by which we are afterwards nourished.
Such are the reasons why the Church is called the mother of believers. And certainly he who refuses to be a son of the Church in vain desires to have God as his Father; for it is only through the instrumentality of the Church that we are “born of God,” (1 John 3:9,) and brought up through the various stages of childhood and youth, till we arrive at manhood. This designation, “the mother of us all,” reflects the highest credit and the highest honor on the Church. But the Papists are fools and twice children, who expect to give us uneasiness by producing these words; for their mother is an adulteress, who brings forth to death the children of the devil; and how foolish is the demand, that the children of God should surrender themselves to her to be cruelly slain! Might not the synagogue of Jerusalem at that time have assumed such haughty pretensions, with far higher plausibility than Rome at the present day? and yet we see how Paul strips her of every honorable distinction, and consigns her to the lot of Hagar.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Which is excellent, and of great account.
Which is excellent, and of great account.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which…
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Ver. 26. But Jerusalem which is above] That is, the Christian Church, the heavenly Jerusalem, the panegyris and congregation of the firstborn, whose names are enrolled in heaven, Heb 12:23. The Hebrew word for Jerusalem is of the dual number; to show, say the Cabalists, that there is a heavenly as well as an earthly Jerusalem, and that the taking away of the earthly was intimated by the taking away of the letter jod out of Jerusalem, 2Sa 5:13. {Hebrew Text Note} (Amama in Coronide.) Let us upon the sight of any famous city lift up our hearts with holy Fulgentius and say, Si talis est Roma terrestris, qualis est Roma caelestis? If there be such stateliness and sweetness here, what is there in that "City of the great King?"
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The new covenant, or the dispensation of the gospel,…
The new covenant, or the dispensation of the gospel, or the Christian church,
which is above, or from above, which answereth to Sarah, and is said to be above, because revealed from heaven by Christ, sent out of the bosom of the Father, not as the law was revealed upon earth, upon Mount Sinai. Hence apostates from the doctrine of the gospel, are said to turn from him who speaketh from heaven, Heb 12:25. Or else it is said to be above, because it is the assembly of the firstborn written in heaven, Gal 4:23; hence the gospel church is called the heavenly Jerusalem, Gal 4:22. Of this gospel church the apostle saith, that it is free; i.e. free from the yoke and bondage of the ceremonial law, or from the covenant and curse of the law. Which church, he saith,
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is the mother of all believers, they embracing the same faith, and walking in the same steps; from whence it was easy for the Galatians to conclude their freedom and liberty also from the law.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For it is written,.... Isa 44:1, which is cited…
For it is written,.... Isa 44:1, which is cited to prove, that the heavenly Jerusalem, or Gospel church state, is the mother of us all, and has brought forth, and still will bring forth, many souls to Christ, even many more than were under the legal dispensation by the Jewish church, though the Lord was an husband to them, Jer 31:32. The words are,
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; by her that was "barren", and "bore" not, and "travailed" not, and was "desolate", is not meant the Gentile world, which before the coming of Christ was barren and destitute of the knowledge of him, and from among whom very few were called by grace; but the Gospel church in the first beginnings of it, in Christ's time, and especially about the time of his death, and before the pouring forth of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, when the number of its members were few; for the names of the disciples together were but 120, when it seemed to be barren, and desolate, and deprived of its husband Christ, but was quickly to have a large accession to, it, both of Jews and Gentiles; and therefore is called upon to "rejoice, break forth", and "cry"; that is, to break forth into songs of praise, and express her spiritual joy, by singing aloud, and setting forth in hymns and spiritual songs the glory of powerful and efficacious grace, in the conversion of such large numbers of souls, the like of which had never been known under the former administration. Three thousand were converted under one sermon, and added to this first Gospel church; and the number of its members still increased, and the number of the men that afterwards believed was about five thousand; and after this we hear of more believers being added to the Lord, both men and women; and also that a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith; and when out of this church, the apostles, and other preachers of the Gospel went everywhere into the Gentile world, thousands of souls were converted, and a large number of churches formed, and a spiritual seed has been preserved ever since; and in the latter day Zion will travail in birth, and bring forth a numerous offspring; a nation shall be born at once, and the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in. Agreeably to this sense the Jewish writers, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Aben Ezra, understand this passage of Jerusalem; as does also the Chaldee paraphrase, which renders it thus:
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"Praise, O Jerusalem, which was as a barren woman that bringeth not forth; rejoice in praise, and be glad, who was as a woman which conceives not, for more are the children of Jerusalem forsaken than the children of the habitable city, saith the Lord.''
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain But the other covenant is derived from Jerusalem that…
But the other covenant is derived from Jerusalem that is above, which is free - Like Sarah from all inward and outward bondage, and is the mother of us all - That is, all who believe in Christ, are free citizens of the New Jerusalem.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 26. But Jerusalem which is above] The apostle…
Verse 26. But Jerusalem which is above] The apostle still follows the Jewish allegory, showing not only how the story of Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac, was allegorized, but pointing out also that even Jerusalem was the subject of allegory; for it was a maxim among the rabbins, that "whatsoever was in the earth, the same was also found in heaven for there is no matter, howsoever small, in this world, that has not something similar to it in the spiritual world." On this maxim, the Jews imagine that every earthly thing has its representative in heaven; and especially whatever concerns Jerusalem, the law, and its ordinances. Rab. Kimchi, speaking of Melchizedec, king of Salem, says: זו ירושלם של מעלה zu Yerushalem shel malah, "This is the Jerusalem that is from above." This phrase frequently occurs among these writers, as may be seen in Schoettgen, who has written an express dissertation upon the subject. Hor. Hebr., vol. i. page 1205.
Is free, which is the mother of us all.] There is a spiritual Jerusalem, of which this is the type; and this Jerusalem, in which the souls of all the righteous are, is free from all bondage and sin: or by this, probably, the kingdom of the Messiah was intended; and this certainly answers best to the apostle's meaning, as the subsequent verse shows. There is an earthly Jerusalem, but this earthly Jerusalem typifies a heavenly Jerusalem: the former, with all her citizens, is in bondage; the latter is a free city, and all her inhabitants are free also. And this Jerusalem is our mother; it signifies the Church of Christ, the metropolis of Christianity, or rather the state of liberty into which all true believers are brought. The word παντων, of all, is omitted by almost every MS. and version of antiquity and importance, and by the most eminent of the fathers who quote this place; it is undoubtedly spurious, and the text should be read thus: But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is our mother.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain But Jerusalem which is above - The spiritual Jerusalem;…
But Jerusalem which is above - The spiritual Jerusalem; the true church of God. Jerusalem was the place where God was worshipped, and hence, it became synonymous with the word church, or is used to represent the people of God. The word rendered “above,” (ἄνω anō) means properly “up above,” that which is above; and hence, heavenly, celestial; Col 3:1-2; Joh 8:23. Here it means the heavenly or celestial Jerusalem; Rev 21:2, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven.” Heb 12:22,” ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” Here it is used to denote the church, as being of heavenly origin.
Is free - The spirit of the gospel is that of freedom. It is freedom from sin, freedom from the bondage of rites and customs, and it tends to promote universal freedom; see the note at Gal 4:7; compare Joh 8:32, Joh 8:36; and the note at 2Co 3:17.
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Which is the mother of us all - Of all who are true Christians, whether we are by birth Jews or Gentiles. We should not, therefore, yield ourselves to any degrading and debasing servitude el any kind; compare the note at 1Co 6:12.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain This verse stands instead of the sentence which we…
This verse stands instead of the sentence which we should expect, to correspond to Gal 4:24, "One from Mount Sinai," namely, the other covenant from the heavenly mount above, which is (answers in the allegory to) Sarah.
Jerusalem . . . above-- (Heb 12:22), "the heavenly Jerusalem." "New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God" (Rev 3:12; Rev 21:2). Here "the Messianic theocracy, which before Christ's second appearing is the Church, and after it, Christ's kingdom of glory" [MEYER].
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free--as Sarah was; opposed to "she is in bondage" (Gal 4:25).
all--omitted in many of the oldest manuscripts, though supported by some. "Mother of us," namely, believers who are already members of the invisible Church, the heavenly Jerusalem, hereafter to be manifested (Heb 12:22).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 26. Jerusalem… above—Literally, the above, or upper Jerusalem. The…
26. Jerusalem… above—Literally, the above, or upper Jerusalem. The same Greek phrase Josephus uses to designate the upper city of Jerusalem; and a parallel phrase, the upper city, was used in Athens to designate the Acropolis. Paul does not, however, mean the upper part of the then present Jerusalem, but a spiritual Jerusalem, higher, not only than the material one, but higher than the conceptual one,—the old theocracy;—namely, the new theocracy, the Church of the New Testament. This is called in Heb_12:22, the heavenly Jerusalem: not because it is heavenly in locality, but heavenly in nature. And in Revelation 21, John beholds the glorified counterpart of this earthly-heavenly Jerusalem descend from heaven, and identify itself with the earthly-heavenly Jerusalem, (the beloved city of Rev_20:9.) In Paul’s allegory the correspondent item to Sinai is not formally supplied, and, as the above synopsis shows, Zion seems to be needed. Yet St. Paul skips it, really because, though needed to make out a regular programme, it is not needed for the complete exhibition of the truth. Wieseler furnishes in good Greek the apostle’s “missing link” (as quoted by Schmoller) thus: “The second covenant from mount Zion, bearing children unto freedom, which is Sarah. For Zion is a mountain in the Land of Promise, and corresponds to Jerusalem, for she is free with her children.”
Is free—Her legal bonds are fallen off. She is like Sarah, whose name meant princess—free and queenly.
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Mother of us all—Not a barren princess, as Sarai was, but a miraculously fertile mother of countless free and princely sons. They are the very progeny predicted by Jehovah, to be as numerous as the stars of heaven.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 26. the mother of us all] Probably we should…
26. the mother of us all] Probably we should read with R.V. our mother, where of course ‘our’ is emphatic. Comp. Gal_4:31.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (26) Jerusalem which is above.—The ideal or heavenly Jerusalem.…
(26) Jerusalem which is above.—The ideal or heavenly Jerusalem. (Comp. Heb_12:22, “Ye are come to . . . the heavenly Jerusalem;” Rev_21:2, “the holy city, new Jerusalem.” This “new” or “heavenly” Jerusalem is the seat or centre of the glorified Messianic kingdom, just as the old Jerusalem had been the centre of the earthly theocracy. The conception of the “heavenly Jerusalem” among the Jews, like the rest of their Messianic beliefs, took a materialistic form. It was to be a real but gorgeous city suspended in mid-air, “three parasangs” (11¼ miles) above the earthly city. Sometimes it is regarded as the exact copy of its earthly counterpart, and at other times as forming a perfect square. (Comp. Rev_21:16.) No such materialistic notions attach to the idea as presented by St. Paul. “Jerusalem which is above” is to him a spiritual city, of which the Christian is a member here and now. It is part of the Messianic kingdom, to the whole of which the Apostle gave an ideal character. He could not but do so, seeing that the kingdom began with the coming of its King, though there was no earthly and visible realisation of it. The Christian “conversation” (or, rather, commonwealth, the constitution that he was under) was “in heaven,” while he himself was upon earth. (See Php_3:20.)
Which is the mother of us all.—The true reading is, undoubtedly, which is our mother, omitting “all.” The heavenly Jerusalem was the metropolis of Christianity, just as the earthly Jerusalem was the metropolis of Judaism.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain But Jerusalem which is above is free (hJ dem…
But Jerusalem which is above is free (hJ dem ejleuqera ejstin); but the Jerusalem that is above is free. The mystic Jerusalem in which Christ reigns, the Son of David, who is at the right hand of God. For the word "above," anw, comp. nw Col_3:1, Col_3:2, "Seek the things that are above (ta a where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God: set your mind on the things that are above; your life is hid with Christ in God;" and teuma) Php_3:20, "Our citizenship (poli) is in heaven." This is identical with the "heavenly Jerusalem" Heb_12:22, which, standing in contrast with the "mount that might be touched and that burned with fire," Sinai with its soul-crushing terrors, appears associated with the pacifying blood of Jesus, and with communion with all that is holiest and most glorious. The essential identity of the contrast in the two passages, which are mutually illustrative, bespeaks a common origin in one and the same mind. The supernal Jerusalem is not chiefly contrasted with the Jerusalem "that now is," in point of time: she is not the future only, though in the future to be manifested the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down (as St. John writes) from God out of heaven; (Rev_21:2) but she is there now, with God. It would be in harmony with St. Paul"s representation to suppose that he conceives of her having been there with God in heaven of old, her citizens upon earth being the true servants of God in all ages. In former ages, however, she was comparatively barren; it needed that the enthronization of the God-Man, "the Mediator of the new covenant", (Heb_12:24) on "God"s holy hill of Zion," should take place before she could become the prolific mother here shown to us. Commentators refer to rabbinical speculations relative to a Jerusalem which was conceived of as existing in heaven, as illustrated by Schottgen"s "Dissertatio de Hierosol. Caelesti" ("Hor. Hebr.," vol. 1. diss. 5.), and also by Wetstein both here and on Rev. 21. It would be interesting if we could determine when those rabbinical speculations first arose, and how far it may be judged probable that they or some earlier form of them out of which these sprang suggested anything to St. Paul for the form in which he clothed his own conception of this idea; there may have been such. Meanwhile, we cannot but be struck by the purely ideal and spiritual character in which the apostle here exhibits his conception of it; though something like a terrene manifestation in the future seems indicated in Rom_8:21. "Is free;" the counterpart of Sarah, as mentioned in vers. 22, 23. That this Jerusalem is free, the apostle feels it needless to state; she to his very consciousness is the very home and bosom of God"s love, having her very existence, as well as her outward-acting power, in his pervading, actuating Spirit. Bondage, constraint, there cannot be; for all volitions are there harmonized, absorbed, by the Spirit of love uniting her component elements both with each other and with God. Which is the mother of us all (htiv ejstithr hJmwn Receptus, pantwn hJmwn) which is our mother. Here again, as in ver. 24, htiv means which, being such as she is, is our mother." We look at the Jerusalem that is above, and in her princely freedom we recognize what we her children are. The pantwn, which the Textus Receptus has before hJmwn, and which is by the general consent of critics rejected, is with much probability supposed to have come into the text by the copyist"s recollection of the similar sentencem, Rom_4:16, Rom_4:17, jAbraa ov ejsti pathntwn hJmwn. But pantwn, which there belongs to the essential thought of the context that God had made Abraham "the father of many nations," is unnecessary here, where the apostle is chiefly concerned with the freedom which characterizes the family of promise. If documentary evidence proved it to be genuine, it would find its justification in the notion of the fruitfulness which now at length, as the apostle presently shows, is given to the supernal Jerusalem.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain But Jerusalem, which is above, is free.
Gal_4:26
But Jerusalem, which is above, is free.
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Notes of the Church
The Church is--
1. Heavenly.
2. One.
3. Invisible.
4. Free.
5. Propagative.
6. Careful of her children.
Jerusalem a type of the Church
Cf. Heb_12:22-23; Rev_21:2.
I. God chose Jerusalem above all places to dwell in; the catholic Church is composed of those in the midst of whom He dwells (Mat_18:20; Mat_28:20).
II. Jerusalem is a city compact in itself by reason of the bond of love and order among the citizens (Psa_122:3); so the members of the Church are linked together by the bond of one Spirit.
III. In Jerusalem was the sanctuary, a place of Gods presence and worship and truth; the Church is now in the room of that sanctuary; in it we must seek the presence of God and the word of life (1Ti_3:15).
IV. In Jerusalem was the throne of David (Psa_122:5); the Church, is the throne and sceptre of Christ (Rev_3:7).
V. The commendation of a city, as Jerusalem, is the subjection and obedience of its citizens; in the Church all believers are citizens (Eph_2:19), and yield voluntary obedience and subjection to Christ the King (Psa_110:2; Isa_2:5)
VI. As in Jerusalem the names of the citizens were enrolled in a register, so the names of Christians are recorded in the Book of Life (Rev_20:15; Heb_12:23). (W. Perkins.)
The heavenly Jerusalem
The Church in the creed has three properties: holy; catholic; knit in a communion. The word above intimateth that she is holy; mother, that she is knit in a communion; of all, that she is catholic.
I. Jerusalem a type of the church.
1. In election (Psa_132:13; cf. 1Pe_2:9).
2. In collection (Isa_5:2; cf. Eph_4:3).
3. In nobility (Psa_122:5; cf. Rev_3:7).
II. This new jerusalem is heavenly.
1. In respect of her birth and heavenly beginning (Jam_1:18).
2. In respect of growth and continuance (Php_3:20).
3. In respect of the end (Joh_17:24). (T. Adams.)
The heavenly origin and nature of the Church
The Church is said to be above--
I. In respect of her beginning, which is from the grace of God.
II. Because she dwells by faith in heaven with Christ. Wherefore we are admonished--
1. To live in this world as pilgrims and strangers (1Pe_2:21).
2. To carry ourselves as burgesses of heaven (Php_3:20).
(1) By seeking heavenly things;
(2) by leading a heavenly life. (W. Perkins.)
Characteristics of the Church
In that it is said she is above it signifies her heavenly origin; that she is Jerusalem, her peaceful multitude; that she is free, her great liberty; that she is mother, her abundant fecundity; that she is mother of us all, her wide charity. (Cardinal Hugo.)
Jerusalem our mother
The holy Church is our mother, and the most holy God our Father. She feeds us with sincere milk (1Ti_3:15) from her two breasts, the Scriptures of both Testaments, which God hath committed to her keeping. God doth beget us of immortal seed by the Word (1Pe_1:23), but by the instrumentality of the Church. (T. Adams.)
The comprehensiveness of the Church
The city of God, of which the Stoics doubtfully and feebly spoke, was now set up before the eyes of men. It was no unsubstantial city, such as we fancy in the clouds; no invisible pattern, such as Plato thought might be laid up in heaven; but a visible corporation, whose members met together to eat bread and drink wine, and into which they were publicly initiated. Here the Gentile met the Jew whom he had been accustomed to regard as an enemy of the human race; the Roman met the lying Greek sophist; the Syrian slave the gladiator born beside the Danube. In brotherhood they met, the natural birth and kindred of each forgotten, the baptism alone remembered to which they had been born again to God and to each other. The edict of comprehension conferred citizenship upon every class. Under it, whatever law of mutual help and consideration had obtained between citizen and citizen obtained also between the citizen and his slaves. The words foreign and barbarous lost their meaning. All nations and tribes were gathered within the pomoerium of the City of God; and on the baptized earth the Rhine and the Thames became as Jordan, and ever sullen desert-girded settlement of German savages as sacred as Jerusalem. (Ecce Homo.)
The Judaizers would have made the Jerusalem which is above, which is free, and which is the mother of us all, a mere cramped and narrow faubourg in the metropolis of Jerusalem. (Paul of Tarsus.)
Christian freedom
Jesus Christ not only called Lazarus into life, but he commanded the grave-clothes to be taken off him, that he might have liberty in life. Life, without liberty from the grave-clothes, would scarcely have been a blessing. So Jesus Christ not only gives life to the soul which believes in Him; He also commands the Spirit to descend upon him, to set him free from all enslaving habits. If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed, (J. Bate.)
True Liberty.
Who then is free? the wise who well maintains
An empire oer himself; whom neither chains
Nor want nor death with slavish fear inspire,
Who boldly answers to his warm desire;
Who can ambitions vainest gifts despise,
Firm in himself who on himself relies;
Polished and round who runs his proper course,
And breaks misfortune with superior force.
(Horace.)
St. Pauls allegory
And because similitudes and figures will hold faster in the memory of the unlearned, who are the greater number, than powerful arguments; after weighty reasons premised, the apostle concludes with an allegory at the end of his disputation, as a banquet after a meal of solid meat. And thus it runs, that they who sought righteousness by the law were no better than Ishmael, the son of Hagar; they that sought righteousness by faith were as Isaac, the heir of his father. That the law came from Sinai, which was seated in Arabia, a mountain quite out of the confines of the Land of Promise; the gospel began at Sion, or Jerusalem, which was the heart of the Holy Land. In this little abstract of the excellency of the Church, six portions of its glory are contained in six words.
1. She is a Jerusalem, a visible fair city, thats her external communion.
2. A Jerusalem above, thats her internal sanctity.
3. A Jerusalem that is free, which is her supernal redemption.
4. A mother, thats her fruitfulness.
5. The mother of us, which comprehends her unity.
6. The mother of us all, which expresseth the universality.
1. Jerusalem is the substantive or fundamental word that bears up the whole text, and it is as musical a word as most that run upon syllables; but it offers more pleasantness to the understanding than to the ear; full of happy signification; a name given, as the philosopher Plato was wont to say, so accommodate to the Church apostolical, that unless God had foreseen that His saving truth should first grow up within the walls thereof, it had never been called Jerusalem. And I refer myself to two things especially, how the name descended upon the Church.
(1) While the old tabernacle stood, Jerusalem was the chief place wherein men called upon the name of the Lord.
(2) Out of the same Sion went forth the new law, and Jerusalem was the mother of the first-born in Christ.
2. It was not enough in St. Pauls judgment to denominate the spouse of Christ from the best habitation (for earth is but earth be it never so much a selected portion); therefore he carries her aloft in his praise, and adds, that it is Jerusalem which is above, an heavenly city (Heb_12:22), as if it had not its original here, but fell down from the starry firmament.
(1) Because Christ our head is ascended into heaven, and governs all things beneath from thence, sitting at the right hand of His Father. As a king, upon whose safety the weal of the kingdom depends, is said to carry the lives of his people with him, when he adventures his person into danger; so our souls do hang upon Christ our Redeemer in Him we live and move, wheresoever He goes He draws us after Him; if He be lifted up on high, so are we also by virtue of concommitancy; it is His will, and we have His word for it, that where He is, there should we be also. When we pray unto Him, if our spirit do not issue out from us, and prostrate itself before Him in heaven, that petition solicits faintly, and is not like to speed, because it comes not nearer to Him who is our advocate with the Father. When we come to His Holy Supper, unless we carry up our heart unto Him by strong devotion, and presume that we see that very Body which was crucified for us before our eyes, we pollute the Sacrament for want of faith. There are such joints and bands which knit the body unto the head, as mortal reason cannot express; but through faith and love we are often with Him by invisible ascensions; but most assured be we that there He intercedes for us, from thence He assists His sacraments, sanctifieth His ministry, gives grace unto His Word. And if they did not escape who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn from Him that speaketh from heaven.
(2) Our Jerusalem is above, not only in the head, but in the members. I do not say in all the members; for the Church is that great house in which are vessels of honour and dishonour. Terms of excellency, though indistinctly attributed to the whole, are agreeing oftentimes only to the chiefer or more refined part. Some there are in this body, whom though we salute not by the proud word of their sublimity, yet in true possession, which shall never be taken from them, they are those that are above. Witness that the angels make up one Church with us, being the chief citizens that are reckoned in the triumphant part; fellow servants with us under one Lord; adopted sons under one Father; elect under one Christ. This is the language of the Scripture, and surely members of one mystical body, for the same Jesus is the head of all principality and power (Col_2:10). Of this family also are the saints departed, even all those holy spirits that obey God in heavenly places, and do not imitate the devil and his angels.
(3) We have obtained this dignity, to be ranked as them that are above, because our calling is very holy: He hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling (2Ti_1:9); called to doctrine which is above, which flesh and blood did not reveal, but the Father that giveth wisdom plentifully.
(4) This holy city of God is above, because it pursues not the things beneath, but it seeks those things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God; it is above in its affections. The delights of the synagogue were victory over their enemies, length of days, a land of wine and olives, and flowing with milk and honey, poor accessories of a transitory happiness. This was tolerated unto them, when the first rudiments of the fear of God were taught; but these are too childish for us to look after, inasmuch as long continuance of time hath taught us to choose the better part.
(5) The Church evangelical is Jerusalem above in respect of the Jewish Hagar, propter sublime pactum, the covenant that is made with us is sublime and magnificent; not the dreadful law of works, but the mild and gentle covenant of faith in the blood of Christ.
3. Jerusalem, which is above, is free. The precedent praise of the Church adheres unto this word for the consummation thereof. If there be any that take upon them to belong to the New Jerusalem, and to the city which is above, let them show the copy of their freedom, that they are not led by the spirit of bondage, but by the spirit of adoption.
(1) What this freedom is. Our freedom consists in a manumission from a fourfold servitude.
(a) We are delivered from the yoke of ceremonies, called the bondage of the elements of this world, in this chapter, verse 4.
(b) We are most free for the new covenants sake, which is made with us. For salvation is not offered us through the works of the law, but through the promise of grace. We brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise (verse 28).
(c) We have not received the spirit of bondage to fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father (Rom_8:25). Says Theophylact upon my text, The gospel exhorts us gently, it doth not affright us tyrannously.
(d) The rewards of the New Testament are not momentary things, such as the law propounded, but heavenly. Says the same author, We are not servants that do our duty for visible wages. And all these together make the copy of a perfect freedom.
(2) How we got this freedom. We all know the procurer, and what He did to gain it for us; it is a flower that grew out of the blood of Christ. We were not protected, as Joshuas spies were, by a common woman; nor set at large, as Samaria was, by the tidings of lepers; our Deliverer is more honourable to us than our freedom. The Son of God was made a servant, that we servants might become sons. As God made nothing in nature but by His Son, by Him He made the worlds, so He did nothing for the restoration of the world without Him. He is all in all. He bath freed us from the bondage of shadows by taking a body; from the covenant of works by satisfying His Fathers justice; from the dread of fear by the sweetness of His mercy; from the sordid desire of earthly things by the operation of His holy Spirit.
(3) How we should use this freedom. No blessing hath been more abused than this. Under colour hereof the Galileans would be free from tribute, the Nicolaitans from the bond of marriage, the Gnostics from all justice and temperance, the clerks of the Roman Church from the courts of the civil magistrate, and the Anabaptists from all moral duties. No, says St. Peter to all these, As free, but not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. It was St. Austins by word, You are free, therefore love God, and do what you will. If ye love Him keep His commandments. We are not so soon loosed but we are tied again, both freed and bound at once. We must recompense His goodness with our imperfect obedience. It is the law of gratitude; it is the bond of nature. As we commonly say, that nothing is more dearly bought than that which comes by gift; so we owe the greater service to Him of whom we got our freedom. Nay, we are bound to endure all for His sake. We feel the pain as much as they that curse and rage in their sufferings, but our love unto Christ doth overcome it. A free man, that will thrive, follows his trade as close as any apprentice, though not by austere compulsion. So our freedom will not make our hands slack from working, if we mean to lay up a treasure in heaven.
4. And as the Church hath taken upon it the proper name of Jerusalem, yet without any contract to the local and material building of Jerusalem, so she hath taken up the appellation of a mother, yet without any respect to nature, no way bending to natural causes, or natural affections. For not only our parents in the flesh, ,but the whole world, hath quite lost us in this word. As Moses remembered the great devotion of Levi, that he said of his father and mother, I have not seen them, or I respect them not, and of his brethren, I do not acknowledge them (Deu_33:9); so by deriving ourselves from this mother, we east our fleshly parentage aside, and we say to her, who did give us to suck from her breasts, as oar Saviour did to the blessed Virgin; What have I to do with thee? Jerusalem is ours, and we are hers, First, to know our mother, that we may not be ignorant either of her fruitfulness or our own obedience. He is a wise son, says Telemachus, in Homer, that knows his father; but he is a foolish son that doth not know his mother. Secondly, note the unity and indivision of the children of this mother. They are a cluster of grapes hanging upon one stalk, a brood of chickens clockt under the wings of one hen; there is but one stem and one progeny; one in relation to this parent, the mother of us. The third and last part puts us to observe, that the note of universality was large in Pauls days, but now much more amplified than in those times--the mother of us all. (Bishop Hacker.)
The new Jerusalem
Liberty is the element of a Christian. The fall placed nature under the bondage of sin; but then the law placed sin under the bondage of fear; but Christ first delivers sin from fear, and then delivers nature from sin. That the Jerusalem above means the present Church militant, as well as the Church triumphant the kingdom of heaven within you, as well as the kingdom of heaven above you--both grace and glory--is evident from the manner in which the expression Jerusalem, or Zion, is used in its connection of thought in many other parts of Scripture; as, for example, in the Psalms; or Isa_62:1-2; or Heb_12:22; or Rev_3:12; or Rev_21:2. Of all this Jerusalem, then, or Church-state, the character, the determining character, is liberty. If I wanted a proof of this, I might see it in the fact that everything which is not free is from beneath. Every machination of Satan against Gods people--every dark heresy that comes to confine the Church--every spiritual temptation which ensnares a mans conscience--every distress which cramps a believers mind--is from beneath; therefore, because it is from beneath, it is bondage. Bondage is from below. Jerusalem above,--that which your citizenship is--is free. Endeavour now to catch, for a moment or two, a feature, one or two features, in the liberty of the Church in heaven, that we may, by Gods grace, copy it into our liberty of the Church below. I observe that in heaven everything is very large, to us infinite. The room is boundless; the inhabitants are beyond computation--even as those stars in the heavens, which no man can reckon. But yet, as God does with those stars, so God does with everything in heaven. The gates, the fruits, the seats, the elders, the crowns, are all numbered--so that I see in heaven at once vastness and accuracy; the freest scope with the minutest observation. So be out freedom here. Our mercies are infinite. Still, every one of my mercies is known, and written down in Gods book, as a separate item. It is written; it is catalogued, and responsible. The multitude is vast; but, for each one that goes to make that multitude, I have to give a separate account how I have used it in this world. That is my liberty. Again, look at the cervices of heaven. I note that they use forms in heaven. We are told the very words, which they cease not day and night to say (never weary, though)--Worthy is the Lamb!--Amen!--Alleluia!--For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth! But oh! what a freshness, what spirit there is in those celestial formularies! Let us take our liberty. Free thoughts and full affections, in prescribed currents of regulated words, go to send up our separate feelings in all the individualities of unpremeditated prayer; and now we blend in social worship, as in the beautiful prayer and language of the holy services in which we have been this night engaged; and, in all, with the equal liberty of Zions children. That is heavens free worship, and that is the liberty of the Church around. There must be law to have freedom. The greater the law, the greater liberty; but the deeper that law is engraven in the hearts fine feelings, and the more a man is the spring of his own obedience, the more of habit, the more of anticipations boundings, the less of misapprehensions without a man, and the more felt presence of the love of Christ in a man, the nearer are we to the Jerusalem which is above, which is free, and which is the mother of us all. The mother of us all. There is no confidence which the world ever shows, so intimate and so tender, as that which a son feels for his mother. There are feelings which a man will deposit nowhere but with his mother. The mother of us all! Children of the New Jerusalem--children of the Church--set much by your Church. She is to you no other than a parent. Children of the new Jerusalem--children of heaven--remember into what a registry your name is now, by your second birth, enrolled. Demean it not; sully it not; sit loose to this world in the spirit of your minds; for, behold! she, which is your mother, will come presently, in her perfect beauty; and where should your eye be, and where should your anticipation daily be, but to that new Jerusalem, which shall come from heaven. Children of the new Jerusalem--children of liberty--take the image of your parents features. Be free in the spirit of your minds. Have freer prayer--freer hope--freely take the freedom so freely given you. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The liberties of the Church
We must understand St. Paul here to speak of the Church; and not of the Church triumphant in heaven, as some of the schoolmen have asserted, but the Church militant here on earth, that glorious edifice of the faithful, whose names are written in the book of life, and who are united with Christ above in a fellowship of His sufferings. But the word above is not to mislead you, as Luther has well observed; for all the processes of spiritual generation and adoption are from above; all intercourse between God and His faithful worshippers is from above; and our conversation is in heaven. All, then, that are allowed to see the kingdom of God, are to be born from above: this is the decree of the Head of the Church. As Christ, therefore, is in heaven, and as He is Head of the Church, so is the Church spiritually in heaven, even whilst she is militant here below; for the Church is an unmeasured edifice, and never can be measured till some one by searching can find out the limits of the Almighty: It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than hell, what canst thou know? The Head of the Church is at the right hand of God; the feet are walking here on earth; and yet one mighty eternal Spirit animates the whole, one will and principle of action pervades the immense body; one thought and intention directs and disciplines all the mass;--for in Him we live, and move, and have our being; and the whole company of true and faithful believers, from the day that Christ was crucified, down to the hour when the last trumpet shall sound from heaven, do form but one mystical body, with one soul and One spirit, entire in union and perfect in co-operation. But the beauty of this city is her freedom: the real Church of Christ has ample privileges; and all her laws are comprehensive and liberal. There is no spirit of bigotry, no local attachments, no exclusive jealousy, no straining on the conscience, no turning of the fancies of man into the decrees of God. St. Paul, the illustrious scribe of that holy city, lays no heavier burthen on the chartered inhabitants than this--Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free; and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage (Gal_5:1.) How easy, one would think it must be, to love the freedom which God has given us I But, alas! that which has been given us as our freedom by God, has been, by the world in general, considered irksome and intolerable. The world cannot endure a spiritual Church; it loves neither a spiritual worship nor a spiritual faith; and to worship God in spirit is what it can neither understand nor tolerate. (R. M. Beverley.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free. The…
26. But Jerusalem which is above is free. The freewoman and her free child represent the heavenly Jerusalem, the church of Christ. Our mother. The mother of those in Christ.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain But the Jerusalem that is above [ Phi_3:20 ;…
But the Jerusalem that is above [ Phi_3:20 ; Heb_12:22 ; Rev_3:12 ; Rev_21:2 ] is free, which is our mother.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 is free
is free
"is not bound" or "is not a slave"
Read full note →
Rejoice
be happy
you barren one ... you who are not suffering
Here "you" refers to the barren woman and is singular. (See: Forms of You)
translationWords
Jerusalem
free
barren
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:26 Just as Hagar represents slavery to human effort…
4:26 Just as Hagar represents slavery to human effort based on Mount Sinai (4:24-25), Sarah represents freedom in the heavenly Jerusalem, the ideal city of God. Abraham’s true children by faith (3:29) now live in the reality of God’s reign in Christ. • she is our mother: Sarah’s child, Isaac, was the freeborn recipient of all of God’s promises apart from the law. Similarly, Jews and Gentiles who live by faith in Christ are Sarah’s true children—they receive God’s promises to Abraham freely apart from the law (3:26-29; 4:4-7).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.