But that Jerusalem which is above is free: which is our mother.
η δε ανω ιερουσαλημ ελευθερα εστιν ητις εστιν μητηρ παντων ημων
10 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Therefore those born in it are not slaves. Hagar was the image of the lower Jerusalem, evidently because of the mountain that bore this name. The Church is the image of the Jerusalem above. Yet the Apostle is not satisfied with types alone, but brings in the testimony of Isaiah to confirm his words. Having said that the Jerusalem above is our mother and having given this name to the Church, he points to the prophet, who says the same thing that he has said.
In Hagar there is that type. Look also at the type of Sarah, for she prefigured the Jerusalem above. This is the city of believers, from which also comes our law, for the Gospel is from heaven. This city is free from the observances of the law, and everything in it is ordered freely and with noble dignity. For nothing among us is done for a visible reward, nor are bodily punishments threatened against us. The promises are more divine, and the punishments are fitting for the noble: exclusion from the mystical table and penances.
But the Jerusalem above is free, like Sarah, and is above all authorities and powers. She is our mother, the holy Church, which we confess.
The Jerusalem that Paul calls our mother is the mystery of the Lord, through which we are reborn into freedom, just as that Jerusalem itself is free. It is called above because its place is in the heavens, and those whom it brings forth will be there with it. The Lord says, “Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, may be with Me where I am” (Jn 17:24).
The divine Apostle said, "which things are allegorized," that is, they can also be understood in another way. He does not reject the historical meaning, but explains what was prefigured by the history. Therefore he adds: "For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai, bearing children for bondage, which is Hagar. For Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all." Why, says the Apostle, do you who are resolved to serve the Law not believe the teachings of the Law? For the Law teaches you that Abraham had two wives and became the father of two sons. One of them was born of the bondwoman, and the other of the freewoman.
This accords with what is taking place among us. There, there is one father, but two mothers and two sons. So here there is one God, but two covenants and two peoples. Hagar is the figure of the first covenant, and Sarah of the second. For the old Law was given from Mount Sinai, and near that mountain dwells the race of Hagar. That mountain corresponds to this earthly Jerusalem. Sarah, however, is the figure of the heavenly city, whose sons we are called. It is free, that is, it does not bear the yoke of the Law. The earthly Jerusalem is enslaved, and so are those subject to the Law. The Apostle also points to a prophecy that accords with this prefiguration.
If you wish, here four figures of speech merge at once into one. One and the same Jerusalem can be understood in four senses. Historically, it is the Jewish city. Allegorically, it is the Church of Christ. Anagogically, it is the heavenly city of God, the mother of us all. Tropologically, it is the soul of man, which the Lord often either encourages or praises by this name. Historically means in the literal sense. Allegorically means in the figurative sense. Anagogically means in the elevated, spiritual, or mystical sense. Tropologically means in the moral sense.
“The Jerusalem above is free.” In contrast to the present, earthly Jerusalem, the Apostle should have said “future.” But since it has already been revealed to Christians (Heb 12:22), the contrast is not referred to time, but to position: one on earth, the other in heaven. This latter Jerusalem signifies the Christian Church, free in spirit from the slavery of sin and of the Law.
“But the Jerusalem above,” whose type, Sarah, the Apostle omits because the opposite inference is obvious, “is free; she is the mother of us all,” that is, of Christians. The Apostle calls the New Covenant the Jerusalem above because, in its essence, it is nothing other than the transformation into the most exalted and spiritual form of the whole Old Covenant, which weighed upon ancient and earthly Jerusalem (Mt 5:18; Jn 4:23).
Continuing his discourse on the needless character of the Law, the Apostle depicts the superiority of faith over the Law through an allegorical interpretation. Abraham begot Ishmael according to the flesh, and Isaac according to the promise. The first is presented as an image of the Old Covenant, and the second of the New. To the New Covenant belong sonship of the Jerusalem above, birth into freedom, and the inalienable inheritance of heavenly blessings. Meanwhile Hagar, the bondwoman, bore slaves. The Sinaitic Law bears children for bondage and is in bondage with its children, ruling in the present Jerusalem, the center of life under the Law. In unfolding such a profound allegory, the Apostle was visibly adapting himself to the needs of his readers.
Perhaps he was also adapting himself in part to the methods by which his opponents acted. St. John Chrysostom says: "Since the patriarch Abraham was held in great honor among the Jews, the Apostle shows that the figures began in him. In him too the present events were foreshadowed. First he shows that the Galatians are sons of Abraham. But since the sons of this patriarch did not have equal dignity, for one was born of a bondwoman and the other of a freewoman, he then says that they are not only sons of Abraham. They are such sons as his free and noble-born son was." "Therefore do not be troubled that you were not born of Abraham according to the flesh. For you are kin to him precisely because you were not born of him according to the flesh. Birth according to the flesh does not increase dignity, but diminishes it. By contrast, birth not according to the flesh is a wondrous and spiritual birth. Only those who themselves have been born from above beget in this way." It is worth noting that Sinai in the language of the Arabs is called Hagar. According to St. John Chrysostom's explanation, "Hagar was called a bondwoman, and Mount Sinai in the language of the same land likewise means a bondwoman." "The Jerusalem above is the Church, and those born in her are not slaves." "She is the Jerusalem above because she is heavenly in her perfections and powers, and by her close union with heaven. With heaven she forms one whole and within herself forms heavenly citizens. She is free and gives birth to the free. If we bind ourselves to the Law, we shall become unfree and renounce the mother who bore us. At the same time this suggested: you also were and are such. Why then bind yourselves?" (Bishop Theophan).
St. Paul said that these two women, Hagar and Sarah, depict two covenants. He then explained in detail that Hagar depicts the Old Covenant, given on Sinai, demanding bondage and giving birth into bondage. Its realization is represented by the present Jerusalem, which is in bondage with its children. One would expect him to say that Sarah depicts the other covenant, the Gospel covenant. It demands free service to God and gives birth into freedom. Its full realization is represented by the Jerusalem above, the Church of Christ, free with all her children, that is, with all of us who believe in the Gospel of Christ. But St. Paul judged it better to shorten such a comparison. It is so simple and evident that anyone can easily make it for himself.
He paused only on his last word about the present Jerusalem, the center of servile life under the Law. He did this in order more quickly to set against it the Jerusalem above, the Holy Church, the seat of evangelical freedom. He did not obscure this contrast with other images, so that the comparison would make a stronger impression. The Jerusalem above, as opposed by St. Paul to the present Jerusalem, calls forth the idea of what is to come. All that was bright and to come was then joined in one conception of the promised Kingdom of the Messiah. St. Paul understands nothing else by this word. For him it is the Kingdom of the Messiah, formerly promised and now realized, represented by the Holy Church. "The Jerusalem above is the Church, and those born in her are not slaves" (St. Chrysostom). She is the Jerusalem above, not because she is in heaven, but because she is heavenly in her lofty perfections. She is heavenly by the powers acting in her, and by her close union with heaven, with which she forms one whole. She is heavenly because she has no earthly aims, and because, being filled with heavenly elements, she forms heavenly citizens within herself. "Is free." In her very essence she is free, "that is, she does not bear the yoke of the Law" (Blessed Theodoret). If she is opposed to the present enslaved Jerusalem, then she must be free, and must be recognized as such by you and by all. Or again: the Jerusalem above, the Holy Church, is free. As though pointing to her, he says: the Holy Church is free. Look, see! So she ought to be. He does not set something mental and ideal against the real Jerusalem. He sets against it a real society of persons who freely serve God and are free from every bond of life under the Law. His thought is that this is how it must be, as follows from the comparison of the covenants he has given. The Galatians themselves are witnesses that one could point to such a society as real. Until now they were completely free, and only now had begun to bind themselves, without any necessity, contrary to all God's indications and signs. "Which is the mother of us all." These words are set over against the words, "she is in bondage with her children." The present Jerusalem, the synagogue, the Law, gives birth to slaves and is in bondage with its children. But the Holy Church is free, gives birth into freedom, and is free with her children, whom she has begotten. These children are all of us who believe. If we keep ourselves free from every bond to the Law, it is because it cannot be otherwise. Such is our mother, free, giving birth to the free. If we bind ourselves to the Law, we shall become unfree and renounce the mother who bore us. At the same time this suggested: you also were and are such. Why then bind yourselves?
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 10 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS