Abraham Had Two Sons

"Abraham had two sons..." So begins Paul's allegory regarding Israel and the Church, the two peoples of God. Let's look at this allegory from Galatians 4:21-31.

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar — for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children — but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear. Break forth and shout,You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.”

Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “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.

Paul had a problem in the churches in Galatia. Some Jews had infiltrated the churches telling the Gentile Christians that they had to be circumcised to be saved. They were saying that Gentiles must become Jews in order to become Christians. This is contrary to the gospel. Unfortunately, some Christian ministers even today are trying to put the church under the Law of Moses. Some insist that we ought to keep the Jewish festivals like Passover and others that we need to eat kosher and obey other OT laws that have nothing to do with living a godly life.

At the root of these false doctrines is a misunderstanding of the biblical covenants and the relationship between the (unsaved) Jews and the born-again Christians, the church. One must understand that three covenants are relevant to this question. The first is the covenant God made with Abraham. The second is the Mosaic covenant, or the Law of Moses. The third, of course, is the New Covenant.


God made a covenant with Abraham promising a "Seed" coming forth from his own body. God told him that his seed would be as "the sand of the sea" and the "stars of the sky". Now it is interesting that God gave Abraham two distinct images of what his seed would be. Many commentators believe that this indicates that there would be a natural seed of Abraham (the Jews like the sand of the sea) and a spiritual seed (the church like the stars of the sky). This would correspond with Paul's idea about the "two sons".

There is a covenant that belonged to Israel that God made with them when He brought them out of Egypt:

So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.” Exodus 24:3-8

This was not a renewing of the Abrahamic covenant but it was another covenant that was needed because Israel violated the Abrahamic covenant. "It was added because of transgressions until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made." (Galatians 3:19) "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, 'and to seeds' as of many, but as of one, 'and to your Seed', who is Christ." (Gal. 3:16) During the period from the exodus from Egypt until Christ (the Promised Seed), the natural son (Israel) was under the Mosaic Covenant (the Law). Once Christ came and fulfilled the Law, He inaugurated a New Covenant not based on physical descent but on faith in Him. "Therefore, it is of faith that it might be by grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed … to those who of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all." (Romans 4:16)

So, Christ is the Promised Seed of Abraham and because we are in Christ, we are also the seed of Abraham. "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:27-19)

Getting back to Paul's allegory, we find that unbelieving Israel is represented by Ishmael (Abraham's son born according to the flesh) who will not inherit with the promised seed Isaac, who was born by the Spirit, by a miracle. Isaac represents the church, the spiritual seed of Abraham. We do not need to be circumcised or to celebrate the "feasts of the Lord" or eat kosher or follow any other law except what we are given us under the New Covenant.

You might be tempted to say, "What about the scripture in Romans 11 that tells us that we are grafted in and the scriptures that say that Jew and Gentile will be "one new man"? Does that not indicate that Jews and Christians are to be one and that Christians should celebrate the feasts, etc. alongside our Jewish brethren?"

This is a misunderstanding. We need to examine scriptures that talk about these things in the context they were written and not isolate them from other relevant passages. It is only by taking into account all scripture on a particular subject can we get a proper understanding of it.

First, let's examine the context where Paul tells us we are "grafted in", Romans 11:17-26

If some of the branches (unbelieving Jews) were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved."

Notice that Paul speaks of some being broken off from, andsome grafted into, the "olive tree". So, we must first determine what the "olive tree" is. Some are claiming that the olive tree is Israel because olive tree imagery is used throughout the OT. But that does not prove that the olive tree is referring directly to Israel or all Jews, because if the olive tree is Israel how could Jews be broken off from it?

No, the olive tree does not refer to Israel and the Jews but to Abraham and his covenant. The key passage in understanding this is actually in the book of Judges. I will not quote the whole passage, but it is written that there is 'the olive tree', 'the fig tree' and 'the vine' in that order. The vine is obviously referring to the church. Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches." (John 15:5) The fig tree refers to the nation of Israel. Jesus told two parables about fig tree. In the first, the owner (God) says he will cut down his fig tree if it does not bear fruit. This corresponds to Israel rejecting their messiah and subsequently going into exile again. In speaking about the end times, Jesus uses the figure of the fig tree to indicate that Israel will become a nation again before His return. Israel became a nation again in 1948.

That leaves the olive tree and since it is before the fig tree in Judges, we should assume it came before the nation of Israel. This must mean Abraham and his covenant. We, as Gentile Christians, are grafted into Abraham, not Israel. Most Jews were broken off not from Israel but from Abraham because of their unbelief in rejecting their messiah. Believing Gentiles were grafted in. Eventually, when Christ returns, the remnant of the Jews at that time will receive Jesus and be grafted back in.

This view exactly corresponds with the allegory of Abraham and his two sons. Ishmael was "broken off" from Abraham while Isaac, including Gentiles who are grafted in, remains. The two sons will be reunited when the Jews, as a whole, receive Jesus as Messiah and Lord. Those Jews will be "grafted in" again.

This also agrees with what Paul said about Jews and Gentiles becoming "one new man."

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

This wonderful passage, in context, tells us that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but both are one in Him. It is not saying that Christians need to become Jews. In fact, it is quite the opposite. They are one because they are in Christ and this is possible because that which was between them, that which separated them is gone, that is, the Law. It was the Law of Moses that was the "wall of separation" between Jews and Gentiles. It is not Gentiles who need to practice the Law; it is Jews who no longer need to do so. Christ abolished the law with its commandments. Now, those who are in Christ are not even considered either Jew or Gentile, but as members of the Church. "Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks (Gentiles) or to the church of God." (1 Corinthians 10:32) So, our identities have been changed. In OT times, there were two kinds of people, Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). Today, there are three - Jews, Gentiles and the Church. The church is made up of believing Jews and Gentiles, but they are really the "one new man" in Christ.

When the Jews, en masse, receive Jesus as Messiah and Lord, then they become part of the 'one new man' or, better, 'the new humanity, the new creation in Christ.' "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation". Our outward, ethnic identity is irrelevant. It is who are in Christ that matters. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation." (Gal. 6:15)

I know that there are some who will disagree with this and quote other scriptures in support of their view. But I think that our basic understanding of the standing of unbelieving Israel and the believing church before God needs to come from the above mentioned allegory. As much as we are desirous to see "all Israel saved", it seems that that is still in the future to be completed when Christ returns to earth. In the meantime, we should be aware that Abraham has two sons and that the son born of the flesh will not inherit with the son born by promise.