Interpretation of Galatians 4

In Galatians 4, when some individuals started to insist that the Old Testament festivals should be kept, Paul stated that observing the Old Testament festivals was a return to weak and beggarly elementary principles, and that it was akin to becoming a slave to them.

[Galatians 4:9-10] "But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!"

However, Paul's paradox does not stop here. He goes on to use the example of Abraham's family to argue that believers must free themselves from the law (the Old Testament). He compares Hagar, Sarah's maidservant, to the Old Covenant given at Mount Sinai, and her son, Ishmael, represents the Jews and their earthly Jerusalem (the Old Testament temple). Meanwhile, Sarah, Abraham's legitimate wife, represents the New Covenant, and her son Isaac symbolizes the Christians who live in freedom through the heavenly Jerusalem.

[Galatians 4:28-29] "Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born according to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit; it is the same now."

Those born by the Spirit = Isaac, the free one

Therefore, the Holy Spirit is the one who gives freedom.

The Bible teaches that freedom is found through the truth (God's word), and truth can only be understood by receiving the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is both the truth and the one who grants freedom. The Holy Spirit, which came from heaven, makes heaven the place where the saints—who are temples of the Holy Spirit—gather. Wherever the saints gather, that place becomes the heavenly Jerusalem and our spiritual motherland.

[John 8:32] "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

[Acts 2:2-4] "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting... All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit..."

[Hebrews 12:22] "But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God..."

[Galatians 5:1] "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

Because the members of the Church of God fail to understand these spiritual teachings, they end up calling religious frauds the "heavenly Jerusalem" and worshiping them.