GENESIS 17:9-21
God did not refuse to bless Ishmael, but He caused Abraham to clearly understand that the
covenant would be established with Isaac, who was not yet born. Ishmael was not to be an heir
with Isaac. The Scriptures build on this principle in showing that the flesh (Ishmael) cannot be heir
with the Spirit (Isaac).
In the New Testament, the apostle Paul referred to Ishmael and Isaac and drew a parallel to
Christians. Paul was emphasizing that the Christian is made mature through the freedom of the
Spirit and not through the bondage of the Law.
He wrote: “Nevertheless what saith the scripture? 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” (Gal. 4:30-31).
Paul continued the parallel in Galatians 5 when he said, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye
shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would”
(vv. 16-17).
In this same chapter, Paul also wrote: “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (vv. 24-25).
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me;
but how to perform that which is good I find not (Rom. 7:18).
Theodore Epp
www.backtothebible.in