Part 1 — Henry Marte's sermon, walked through

The Two Covenants in Galatians 4

Henry Marte sets out to follow Paul's argument through Galatians — because Paul is making a case, and to understand it you have to track the case. Here's the sermon, section by section.

"For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman… which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants." Galatians 4:22–24 (KJV)

The problem at Galatia

The church started well, then "certain things were introduced" that knocked it off balance. Jewish believers had accepted parts of the cross but kept clinging to traditions — and taught law-keeping in order to be saved. Paul calls this "another gospel," and his charges are severe:

Paul's charges against the false gospel It makes one fall from grace and be alienated from God; it makes Christ's death of no effect (Galatians 2:21); it puts one under a curse (3:10); and it puts one under the Old Covenant (chapter 4). "Count them," Marte says — death, fallen from grace, alienated, Christ's death nullified.

Paul's letter in three parts

Marte divides Galatians into three movements — and notes Paul always writes doctrine first, then application:

The structure 1 · Personal (ch. 1–2): Paul defends that his gospel came by revelation of Jesus Christ — not from men, "not Andrews University or anything like that" — and that it's the same gospel the other apostles preached. 2 · Doctrinal (ch. 3–4): he defends justification by faith in Christ alone. 3 · Practical (ch. 5–6): he defends Christian freedom in the Spirit.

Why so personal? Because the Judaizers attacked the man to destroy the message — "you can see this all throughout politics; whenever you want to destroy somebody's message, you destroy the person." So Paul first re-establishes his credibility, then gets to the gospel.

"Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was set forth"

Paul appeals to the Galatians' own experience (Galatians 3:1). When they first heard the gospel, the cross was so vivid it was "as if they were standing right there at the foot of the cross."

Marte's aside "Imagine what would happen to the Christian Church today if men and women everywhere would seek Christ in that way… people would truly be convicted, and the Christian Church wouldn't be the same." They received this righteousness by grace through faith — confirmed by the gift of the Spirit (3:2,5) — and then Paul uses Abraham as Exhibit A (3:6–14): Abraham was saved by faith, and the law cannot annul the promise.

The two women (Galatians 4:22–31)

Now the allegory. Abraham had two sons. Marte lays it out plainly:

Hagar — the bondwoman

Old Covenant

Son: Ishmael, born "after the flesh"
Mount Sinai, "which gendereth to bondage"
The earthly Jerusalem, "in bondage with her children"
A city built by human hands — self-effort

Sarah — the free woman

New Covenant

Son: Isaac, born "by promise"
"Jerusalem which is above is free"
"the mother of us all" — for every believer
A city "built by God, with no man's contribution"

The promised child, Isaac, came by God's promise. But Abraham and Sarah "took too long" waiting, so they "went on trying to help God" — and produced Ishmael through Hagar. Marte: "God makes a promise, and then they in turn tried to finish the promise." That is the Old Covenant instinct — trying to fulfill God's promise by human effort.

The key that unlocks it all: condition, not time

Marte quotes E.J. Waggoner (the 1888-era expositor) — and calls this his favorite part:

"We see then that the two covenants are not a matter of time, but of condition." E.J. Waggoner, on Galatians

Why this changes everything Most Christians think the Old Covenant was "God's deal with the Jews" that ended at the cross, replaced by a New Covenant for the church. But both covenants "existed from the time sin entered the world." They are not a matter of time but of the condition of the heart. "Let no one flatter himself that he cannot be bound under the Old Covenant, thinking that its time has passed — that's why Satan wants to hide it."

Proof it's not about time: Abraham already lived under the New Covenant. "Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws" (Genesis 26:5) — long before Sinai. How? "Because the law was written in his heart… a new heart that God gives you." Abraham "saw Christ" (John 8:56) — he was born again.

The two promises

The Old Covenant = man's promise At Sinai, "all the people answered together and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:8). Sincere — but Marte (with Patriarchs and Prophets 371–372) notes they were "feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness." It's the promise of man, with an unchanged heart, "to do — not realizing that without the new heart it is impossible to obey God of love."

The New Covenant = God's promise "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you… and I will take away the stony heart" (Ezekiel 36:26). Notice the "I will… I will… I will" — "it is all of God; it is God's work in us." The New Covenant is God's promise to write His law on a heart He Himself makes new.

Ropes of sand

So how good are human promises without the new birth? Marte lands on the image used by a well-known Christian author:

"Without the new heart and the Spirit of God, our promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand." cf. Christ's Object Lessons, p. 159

And the law's two roles: "The law written on stone is a condemning force that shows us our sin and guilt — that's the law that brings us to Christ. But that same law written in the heart is made powerful and effective in my life. One is unchanging; one is transforming. The law doesn't change people, but when that law comes into my heart with Christ, it changes you inside out."

The order Marte insists on "We do not get life by keeping the commandments — God gives us life in order that we may keep them." Even the Ten Commandments open with promise: "I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 20:2) — deliverance first, then "thou shalt have no other gods," which Marte reads as God's promise of what the new heart will do.

The closing appeal

Paul ends the allegory: "Cast out the bondwoman and her son… we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free" (Galatians 4:30–31). Marte applies it personally: "Cast it out — if you have sin in your heart, cast it out; it doesn't belong there, that's not true of you anymore." And he leaves the congregation with 2 Corinthians 13:5: "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith" — or, as he puts it, "examine yourself whether you're under the New Covenant relationship with God, and whether you have a new heart."

Sam says So here's the whole sermon in a sentence, friend: stop handing God your promises (sand) and start standing on His promise to give you a new heart (rock). Hagar is self-effort; Sarah is the free gift. And it's not about which century you live in — it's about which covenant your heart is in today.

Next: Old vs. New, side by side → Take the Covenant Quiz